Day 13: 20231005 Thursday, October 5, 2023- At Sea Hawaii to Tahiti

 Day 13:  20231005 Thursday, October 5, 2023- At Sea Hawaii to Tahiti

As we are headed nearly due south from Hawaii to Tahiti, the sun rises on our side of the ship(port).  This is good because it gives us an incentive to work on getting or staying on an earlier schedule, and because when the sun is on our balcony, it is during the cooler part of the day, so we can actually sit out on the balcony and do a little sun bathing when the sun’s rays are not burning hot.  It has gotten very warm with the air temperature in the high 80’s˚F and matching humidities in the mid 80’s%.  The weather has been calmer regarding the wind and seas, so the ship is sailing a lot more smoothly than earlier in the cruise.  These may have been the conditions that lead Magellan to name this the Pacific Ocean.  It is quite a contrast to the conditions we saw between Vancouver and San Francisco.  

Ben’s cold has continued to rapidly improve, but to be safe, he repeated a Covid test, and it was again negative.  Janet has started noticing some congestion similar to Ben’s earliest symptoms, but so far, no fever or other systemic symptoms.  As we wander around the ship, it is apparent that a lot of the ship has been going through this respiratory virus.  It was somewhat refreshing not to have had many bugs since the Pandemic shut things down two years ago.  We usually got at least one cold during or shortly after returning from other cruises.  Most people have learned to mask or cover their coughs since the Pandemic, although there are a few clearly raised by wolves.  

Our morning and afternoon trivias went well.  We were one point behind the lead on the progressive trivia after the first day, and today’s progressive was seemingly easy as we achieved a perfect score.  One thing about the trivia programs is they do keep us intellectually motivated and engaged.  When was saw an ABBA trivia was coming up, we brushed up on our ABBA. There is usually a soundtrack playing over the ship’s PA in most public areas that features popular music and we can’t help think “Who is the artist, and what is the name of that song” when a new song comes on.  

Surf 'N Turf

Rasperry Lychee Mousse

After dinner there was a James Bond Trivia so we spent some of our spare time brushing up on our James Bond knowledge.  It paid off because we actually won that tonight as a couple.

The Princess Theater showtime was an instrumentalist/vocalist Craig Richard who sang, played the guitar, and played the saxophone.  He is from Colorado and his back story includes becoming an American Ninja Warrior finalist, but in the last round of the competition, he said it felt like his whole body just fell apart.  It was worse than Simone Bile’s developing the twisties during the Tokyo Olympics.  He fell into a depression but was eventually diagnosed with lyme’s disease, which responded to treatment.  Then while training to climb El Capitan, he fell and shattered one of his legs.  He had to crawl out of a canyon over 18hrs to self rescue.  Granted, he didn’t have to saw off his arm with a dull pocket knife, but he has promised us a tale of survival presentation later in the cruise.  As for his musical and vocal skills, they were just adequate.  The show was reminiscent of Branson level entertainment.  It didn’t help that they had some problems with balancing the microphones, or that his voice just wasn’t one that carries well into an audience.  At least his intonation was solid.  We probably won’t see any repeat musical performances by him, but hearing his survival story might be interesting.

As the day progressed, we noticed public areas of the ship were getting warmer and more humid.  The main dining rooms seemed to be the most comfortable temperature, but our stateroom has been consistently over 76˚F despite our thermostat being set at maximum cooling.  We had our room steward make a report in the morning but by 11pm our room was 79˚F (31% humidity), and too warm to sleep comfortably.  This is a bit puzzling because the outside temperature is only 84˚F (but 81% humidity).  Even our RV’s air conditioner would be able to drop the temperature at least 20˚F below ambient outside temperature.  We had to request a technician at 11:30pm. 

Tomorrow we cross the Equator.  There will be pollywogs turning into shellbacks under Neptune’s watchful eye and a certain amount of embarrassing exposure for those passengers who volunteer to be subjected to the ceremony.  When we did it with our kids in the Galapagos, it was more fun because we were just amongst family and friends on a private charter with the crew.  We’ll probably take advantage of the distraction to hit the gym with fewer crowds.  The ship discharged 60 passengers in Honolulu but apparently took on another 300, so the ship is now sailing near capacity.  This is noticeable particularly in the buffet. It is harder to find a place to sit, so we prefer to be seated in the main dining room.  The air conditioning also works much better there.  The buffet is subject to drafts which are now heavy with humidity.

The ship discharged 60 passengers in Honolulu but apparently took on another 300, so the ship is now sailing near capacity.  This is noticeable particularly in the buffet. It is harder to find a place to sit, so we prefer to be seated in the main dining room.  The air conditioning also works much better there.  The buffet is subject to drafts which are now heavy with humidity.