Old News (March 3rd 2006 through June 28th 2006)

January 3, 2010 - Punto Arenas, Chile

On the way here last night we went through a pretty strong storm. Gusts of wind up to 60 mph I think I heard, though we were only exposed to the open sea at two different 15 minute intervals, the rest of the time being protected by islands. Still, with 20 foot swells it was a fun ride.

Today the weather looked iffy for the tour to the penguin colony. It was cloudy and the bus was getting rained on on the whole ride out there. However, as is common in this area of the world, the weather changes rapidly, and by the time we arrived at the colony it was a partly cloudy, sunny day. The colony of penguins resembled what I'd imagine the Hobbit's Shire looks like. Mounds and underground nests, with paths connecting everything that the penguins hop and wobble along on their way to go play in the ocean, and then come back. This is mating season, and each nest has two parents and 1-2 chicks. Also, a jackrabbit, and some cousins of the ostrich made appearances as well.

After leaving the colony, the rain came right back. Looks like we timed it perfectly.

At least tomorrow, and perhaps the day after, we will be in steep Chilean fjords, and I'm told that at least tomorrow I will be without internet. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures of the fjords by the time I get internet again!

January 2, 2010 - Ushuaia, Argentina

Today (and yesterday), we were in at what they call "The End of the World", the southern most city on the planet. I'm not sure what defines a "city", and if there are any smaller settlements further south becuase there is a little land south of this city, but it is close enough.

Last night I didn't really have time to do anything, and today, given that we were to leave in the early afternoon, I didn't have a lot of time either. Still, I got up early and was able to get a taxi to a chair lift, at the top of which I heard was a nice hike. The chair lift was closed for the next 45 minutes, so I decided just to walk up from there. This was a good choice because it was only a 15 minute walk (along a mountain creek) to where the chair lift extended.

I was only able to hike beyond that another 45 minutes or so, which I guess I'll estimate is 1200 feet above the start of the chairlift, and maybe 2000 feet above sea level. This far south though, I was well above the timber line, and getting strong winds off of the surrounding mountains that were cold enough to only have been coming from the nearby glacier. I got a few pretty good pictures or the surrounding mountains and waterfalls, but deciding that I couldn't go any further without gear, turned around.

But the time I got back to the top of the chair lift, the people had just begun arriving. I tried to sneak on for a ride down, but that didn't fly, so I just walked the rest of the way. It wasn't a particularly long walk anyway.

I just left Argentina for good, and tomorrow I'll be in one of the southern-most Chilean cities. I'm scheduled for a penguin tour, so hopefully I'll get up close to one of those guys.

December 28-30, 2009 - Antarctica

I probably should have written after each day, but such was the activity on the ship that only now, on the 30th, am I getting to writing. Two days ago we passed what I guess are considered two of Antarctica's most northern islands, Elephant Island and King George Island. While the scenery was great, it was nothing compared to the following two days, so instead of describe those islands, I'll move onto the evening, when myself, a couple of the other bandmembers, and some members of the cast went up to the guest hot tub for a midnight bath. We are never going below the Antarctic Circle, so the sun does set, and it did this evening around quarter to midnight. But it never was dark. There is nothing like sitting in a jacuzzi in 40 degree air watching chunks of ice float by.

I'm surprised at what most people consider cold. I was on my way up to the jacuzzi, which involves a 50 foot walk in open air (though protected from the wind), and people thought I was crazy to walk it in my t-shirt and shorts. After all, there was a jacuzzi at the end of it, and I bet the air was 30 degrees F at the coldest.

The next day I set my alarm for 6 am because that was about when we entered "Iceberg Alley". It was a bit windier this day, though still only about 30-40 degrees F, so I couldn't really understand what the big deal was. But the icebergs were a big deal. Many were long enough to land an airplane on. They looked flat enough too, though I'm sure up close they were loaded with fissures and bumps.

After that, we arrived at a Deception Point. I forget the story as to why it is called Deception Point. But it was complete with towering cliffs, icebergs, and penguins. The penguins, being at least a mile away, couldn't really be seen by the naked eye. But you could smell them when downwind. Obviously, there were a lot of them. And a lot of penguin poo.

Today is what is most fresh in my mind, and was by far the most spectacular. This morning we went through some narrow channels and fjords, surrounded by cliffs and ice (this time much closer), and the sun was shining brightly. At the back of the ship, out of the wind and in the sun, the thermometer read 55 degrees F. However, at the bow of the ship, in the direct wind, it was actually quite cold. I felt like I had just gotten done skiing. We made our way through the channels to Palmer Station, which is an American research station. I'm not exactly sure if it was on an island or mainland Antarctica, but I guess it doesn't matter too much. Particularly in the wintertime, where the total surface area of Antarctica doubles due to the surrounding frozen waters.

At Palmer Station, we picked up 10 people that work there, a collection of scientists and maintenance engineers, who gave a 90 minute talk on what they do there, the science they are working on, and also on life in Antarctica. It was very fascinating. I wish I had had an opportunity to speak with them, but they had to get back, we had to get going, and a lot of people had questions of them. Not surprisingly, the question of climate change came up, both in the presentation and in the guest's subsequent questions. Their answers were both politically diplomatic, and at the same time unanimous about the interpretation of their data in so much as 1) yes, the climate is getting warmer, particularly in Antarctica, 2) Carbon Dioxide levels have been rising proportionally and over the same time period. They made no predictions however as to how long it would take for such changes to cause any sort of mass or cataclysmic change, since there are simply too many variables.

I probably snapped a gigabyte of photos, which will be up as soon as my web site problem is taken care off. Tomorrow we will be again crossing the Drake Passage up to Cape Horn, where we will have an overnight stay. Hopefully I'll get on a penguin tour this time.

December 26, 2009 - Stanley, Falkland Islands, U.K.

I guess more often than not, the weather is too harsh to allow people to tender to shore here. Today we were fortunate to have a calm sunny day. I got ashore early hoping to find out where the penguins were hanging out, and also hoping to find a war museum. After learning that the penguins were a 5 mile hike away, one way, I looked into getting a taxi or a tour. However, given that I had no money other then Argentinian (and I think they are still sensitive about that whole invasion thing), I decided to take the walk. Even though my shoes weren't the best for it (I got a few blisters), it was a nice scenic walk. There was hardly a tree on the island(s) (the only trees I saw were at the Government House, and I think they were transplants). Even though I guess there are parts of the island that are off limits due to the possibility of the random land mine still present, a local told me of a short cut, and given that there was no fence, I took it. So for much of my walk, I was on the water's edge, on a dirt footpath. I didn't see any wildlife until I found the penguins, and when I found them, there was a fence (with a landmine warning), so I only saw them at a distance. It was still very much worth the trip.

After returning back to the pier, I walked in the opposite direction towards a few memorials and the museum. Sadly, the museum had closed at 1 pm, so I missed out on that. But there were a couple of nice monuments, both to the liberation in 1982, and also to the naval victory against Germany early in the first world war. They also had a nice solar system representation, where they had a globe model of the sun, and put the planets along the jetty at distances to scale with the globe's size. Given that the globe was a good 3-4 feet in diameter, and that I had already walked 10 miles, I only walked to Mars and back.

Even though I thought I had heard that the ozone hole was closing, and I also didn't think that the hole went that far north, the lack of ozone was apparent in my sunburn. I've been burnt worse, but I was only in the sunlight for 5 hours at a summer latitude similar to that of Saskatoon. I would expect some color, but I really got a red face. I should have brought a hat.

In a couple days I'll be off the coast of Elephant island (off of the Antarctic peninsula), and from there on will be moving closer to the continent. More later!

December 18, 2009 - Montevideo, Uruguay

It was nice to be in a largish city that felt reasonably safe and didn't smell like urine (most of the time). Not to knock the other places on this trip, but Montevideo certainly felt...I don't know if European is valid or even what I'm going for, but it is the only word I can think of. All I did today was walk around the downtown area, which suited me just fine. There were seemingly endless tables on the main cobblestone market street and in a small park filled with antigues, trinkets, books, coins, and junk for sale. I briefly thought about getting an antique pair of binoculars, but the guy asked $50 for them, and they weren't worth a tenth that (since I'm guessing, as old as they looked, they may have been 50 years old). I also found an old Ben Franklin half dollar from the 40s...he wanted $10 for it. I passed as well.

The most interesting thing I found requires a little background. Recently I completed reading The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich, a very comprehensive history of Nazi Germany. I recalled, even before docking today, that in 1939 a German cruiser, the Admiral Graf Spee, having been severly damaged in a battle with the British in 1939, docked in Montevideo for a day, before the government required that it leave or be interned. The Captain decided to take the ship out and scuttle it.

Anyway, as I was walking down this cobbletone street, I saw that it extended to a pier. I decided to walk out as far as the pier went. There were various fishermen on the pier with enormous poles catching tiny fish. Towards the end of the pier, on one of the many huge stones that lined the pier, I saw faintly painted on the rock "Panzerschiff Graf Spee 1939". Panzerschiff means "armored ship". Of course, anyone could have painted that on the rock, but I suppose there is a decent chance that an actual person from the Graf Spee did it before taking the ship out to be skuttled. I thought that was neat.

That's all for today. I'll try to get a good internet connection in Buenos Aires from which to fix my website and upload pictures.

December 15, 2009 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Given that we had a rehearsal late in the morning today, and the fact that I didn't want to spring for a taxi by myself, I didn't have a chance to do everything I wanted to do. Nevertheless, myself and 4 other band members all sprung for a taxi to take us almost 3000 feet up to Corcovado. This is of course, home to the statue of Christ The Redeemer which keeps a watch on the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. The trip was pretty uneventful...haggling with the taxi drivers was probably the only difficulty in getting there, and helpful as our driver was (we were planning on tipping 25 Reals on top of the 100 promised), when we left the taxi he tried to up the fee to 140. Successfully I may add in that James proceeded to give him 140. Whatever...split 5 ways, it was an inexpensive excusion.

There really is nothing else to note...I never got to the beach, which I guess is a shame because of how famous it is, but I really don't find myself regretting much anyway. In 3 days time we will be in Montevideo, Uruguay.

December 7, 2009 - Boca De Valeria, Brazil

Since the powers that be on Crystal have seen it fit to increase musicians' "Port Manning" duties to one port in 4, this was to be one of the many ports that I was to miss. Thankfully, after having lunch with one of the singers, Liam, he volunteered to take over my duty as he was worried about about what going ashore would to do his voice. I only had 2 hours, but it was a very interesting time.

Boca De Valeria is the kind of port that I enjoy the most, in that it is hardly a port, or hardly a town at all. At best one could describe it as a permanent settlement. I counted maybe 10 houses total (which probably housed 100 adults and children). Before going ashore, I'd heard chatter from some of the crew about the extreme poverty of the people there, how kids are begging for money and such. While the kids did go out of their way to get tips and such (often times by giving the tourists a tour of the area), I didn't feel pressured, nor did I get the feeling that poverty really had a meaning there. Certainly, the people weren't well off. There was one generator in town that produced electricity (and I doubt it ran 24 hours a day as it smelled like it burned oil inefficiently when I walked past it). I'm not sure they had running water, though I did see a elevated water basin next to the church, which was the only building that wasn't simply a thatched hut on stilts.

The people seemed friendly and healthy if not overly fed. A lot of truly free range chickens roamed about, as well as numerous sluggish stray dogs (including another Sammy impersonator).

Having gotten off the ship late, I somehow avoided the onslaught of kids trying to earn tips from me. I set out to a trail that went up a bluff and found myself completely alone in the Amazon jungle. While I'm sure the bugs come out at night in force, the people that get concerned about always wearing long sleeves and using bug repellent apparently haven't spent any time in northern Minnesota. I never once was bitten by anything. Most of the bugs I saw were large dragonflies, but only in certain areas. Having now hiked a little in the Amazon, the forests of Alaska (also notorius for mosquitos), and northern Minnesota, the bugs are most annoying in Minnesota hands down.

I walked past patches of land that had been slashed and burnt, but I think these are the areas that, according to reports I've heard, have had this treatment in a traditional and responsible fashion. It seemed to me that the settlement is almost completely self-sufficient, except for a small need for gas/oil/parts for the town generator and the 10 or so boats with small outboard motors.

Down one particular trail I came across a fallen tree that was hollowed out. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and it turns out that about 100 tree frogs were hiding out from the sun in the trunk. I managed to get my camarea in there and get some neat pictures. However, that, and an agile lizard scurring across the path were the only examples of wildlife I came across. I did only have about an hour to hike.

Tomorrow we are in Santarem. I have no idea if it will be the same thing or a more developed town or city. I hope it is another small settlement, but I guess most of the passengers weren't very happy with port today. They probably only are content when there enough vendors selling Brazilian junk and trinkets that were probably made in China anyway. One can hope.

December 6, 2009 - Manaus, Brazil

It's probably a shame that I haven't added anything significant here in 3 years, but I may as well break that streak right now. So far on this contract there isn't a heck of a lot to report. A week ago I was on Devil's Island, which until the 50s was a penal colony for French political prisoners. It doesn't sound like it would have been a pleasant experience. Oddly now, even though the island seems bleak and a little creepy, people vacation here, living in what used to be the old guard barracks.

More recently I've arrived in Manaus. It's hard to believe that I'm actually closer to the Columbian and Peruvian borders than I am to the Atlantic Ocean, and the ship took us all this way. I had no idea the Amazon was so massive, but there times coming up the river when you couldn't see across it. Of course, this has at least to much to do with the fact that it is very smokey. The moment the ship entered the amazon, I could smell wood smoke IN MY CABIN. Of course, my first reaction was to check around for a fire. Turns out it is the slashing and burning of the Amazon that I was smelling. You don't always smell it, but when the wind is right it is very pervasive.

Two days ago I took a crew tour, which was supposed to involve canoing in the Amazon, but due to something going wrong, all they did was drive 60 crew on a big ferry for 30 minutes up the Amazon (which wasn't really a pleasant ride) up to what's called the "Meeting of the Rivers". Where the Amazon and the River Negro meet. The River Negro is "black water"...I guess the water, while clean, is stained like tea because of the leaves that fall in it up stream. The Amazon is brown and silty. They come together with an obvious striation right in the middle of the river. I guess the black water is low in PH while the brown water is high in PH. But they didn't seem to be chemically reacting, so I say the jury is still out on that. However, I never took chemistry, so what do I know?

Anyway, as the guide was talking about this, I was sitting on the edge of the boat for pictures. I noticed a canoe with a few local people driving up to us...right at ME actually. A woman had a stuffed animal in her hands. Suddenly, she pulls up right next to me and thrusts the stuffed animal directly into my hands. It was only then did I realize it wasn't stuffed at all, but a live sloth. I was shocked to say the least. Every crew member on the boat a picture of me looking stunned holding a grinning sloth. I'd heard from a nature show that sloths deficate through their fur as a defense mechanism, so I was careful to not touch my eyes after I held it. However, wikipedia makes no mention of this tendancy, so I don't know which is correct.

That's pretty much all to report for now. Coming up soon will be Rio and Buenos Aires. I'll be getting to the Corcovado in Rio, so I'm sure I'll have pictures of that.

December 7, 2007 - Milwaukee

I'm just making a quick entry to show Kenni how to edit his web page easily! :)

August 21, 2006 - Gibralter

Not having had time to get to the top of the "Rock" last time I was here, I made sure to get up early (well, 10-ish...) to make the trip. It really is only 1.5 hours from the ship, but even though there are roads all over the place on the rock, it is easy to get lost, especially if you don't have a map. Which I didn't. Someone told me to keep going past St. Michael's cave, so I did just that. However, that someone would be wrong, because I ended up at the south edge of the rock when the road ended, and I wasn't on top either. However, there was an area right there that made for easy climbing, so I scurried up that until I came to the top.

I wasn't surprised so much to see huge batteries of cannons there (and they were really big), but I was surprised to see no tourists. Still, I knew I was pretty far south of where the cable car goes.

Unfortunately, the only road out of the area went down before it went up, so my shortcut, while interesting, wasn't all that short. Also, on my way out, I found out why there were no tourists. The area was locked and gated shut, and so I had to scale the gate just to get out of the area. Oops.

Eventually, I came to where the cable car takes everyone. Unfortunately, this isn't the actual top. It is basically on a large saddle that runs from the absolute maximum (north part of the rock) and a relative maximum that I had climbed up already. Also, the only road that seemed to go to the real peak had a "do not enter" sign. I decided that I'd had enough fun for the day by this point though, and so I turned around. Not before watching the monkies for a while though. They were feeling feisty (maybe because it was kind of cool out), and they were riding on buses and jumping all about the trees and the rocks and frightening annoying little tourist girls.

Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention it. On my way to Naples (back on the 18th), at night we went past an active volcano. This was much more impressive than what I saw in Hawaii. There were jets of lava shooting 100 feet into the sky, accompanied by a loud "thud". Too bad we only made one pass.

August 19, 2006 - Naples, Italy

I'm so buzzed on Italian coffee...and coffee flavored Italian Gelato (with real coffee beans) that I can hardly type. It didn't make the Glenn Miller show easy tonight. But I suppose it was worth it. But before eating a pizza and getting high on coffee, I spent the morning running around the ruins of Pompeii. I think Pompeii was even cooler than the ruins in Athens. Nothing was quite as big in Pompeii, except that instead of just having monuments, Pompeii is a whole city, much like Nora, except that it is much larger, and much better preserved. Pompeii had endless alleys and crossing cobblestone streets, lined on both sides by what would be the ancient equivalent of townhomes. Homes, marketplaces, baths...all sharing the same wall along a street.

Along some of the streets you could see pipes...lead plumbing added by the ancient Romans. They had an entire running water system (though their waste management may have been less than stellar...there were stepping stones in the streets because the sewage often just flowed out there). Also a little too close to modern times, one villa had a tiled floor with a picture of a dog with a collar and leash. This was the Pompeii "Beware Of Dog" sign.

While the people and dogs all died in 79 A.D. with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the dogs have recolonized the area. Strays found shelter from the sweltering heat in the buildings, some right under a display of a plaster mold of one of the Romans who died in the eruption. They all died not of lava, but of the poison gases from the eruption. Then, the whole town was buried in 40 feet of ash. With time, the ash compacted and the bodies disintegrated, leaving a hollow mold from which to make a replica of the bodies at the time of their death.

That pretty much ends my archeological tour of the Mediterranean. I was offered an extension of my contract, but I turned it down. It was a really hard decision, but I just couldn't turn down the work at home. I only hope the flight from the U.K. goes smoothly.

August 17, 2006 - Athens, Greece

I think it fortunate that I didn't escort a tour today. I probably covered twice as much as a group of elderly Brits could in half the time, even if I had a tour bus. And a bus would take away from the whole experience anyway.

I started the day, after a boat drill, by taking a leisurely 10 minute jog from the cruise terminal to the metro station. Finding anything in Greece is really tough because they don't tend to label all of the streets with signs, and any map I had only had the English version of the street names anyway. Now I understand the phrase "it's all Greek to me". In any other European country I can at least figure out the jist of what something is talking about. But Greece still uses, surprise surprise, the Greek alphabet. And even Greek proper names look far different from their English counterpart.

Still, I managed to find the metro in little time, and managed to work up quite a sweat in the 90 degree temperature too. I brought water, but not enough and was forced to refill on Greek tap at one point (filtered). Hopefully I won't develop any GI problems.

Anyway, a quick train ride, costing $2 roundtrip, to Athens, and once I left the train station, the Acropolis was plainly visible, with its main attraction: the Parthanon.

I had to start a game of Civilization last night in anticipation. The ruins in Athens were like no other ruins I've ever seen. I've been to the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi people in New Mexico, and those only date back to 1300 AD (and they only lived in those dwellings for about 50 years). I've been to some old cathedrals built a millenium ago, and I thought _those_ were old. But the Parthanon and all of the rest of the ruins are more than twice as old, being built around 400 B.C., and it is amazing how intact they are. Granted, only one building still had a roof. But these are some _huge_ structures.

In the distance the Temple of Zeus was visible, at the front of a vast sea of urban sprawl. I don't recall ever having such a view of an endless stream of homes. I don't know how many people are in Athens, but it is wonder looking out over a panoramic view of the city that their sanitation system even works. I had heard a lot about the pollution in Athens. Maybe it was the steady wind, but it didn't seem all that smoggy to me. And it didn't smell at all either. But it was obvious that this was a crowded city, where the only oasis from the desert of sprawl and low-cost housing were a few parks of 2400 year old buildings and artifacts.

Of course, the oasis has its own version of sprawl. It was crawling with tourists. Americans, Brits, Europeans, Asians, Muslims, most all getting sunburned and short of breath and of water. Fortunately, there was so much to see that the density faltered at times. After I spent some time walking around the Parthanon and looking at a few other buildings, such as a temple called the Erechtheion, I decended to go find the Theater of Dionysys. Unlike the Odeion of Herod Atticus (a Roman coliseum) also seated below the acropolis, the Theater of Dionysys hasn't been renovated. Additionally, people were allowed to go sit in the bleachers. So I went out into a 2400 year old stadium and sat down. But since there was no show, I soon got up to go seek out the Temple of Zeus.

I think I like my picture of that Temple from a distance better than the close up because of the perspective it gives. It was really an impressive structure. But I think I enjoyed the Temple of Hephaesus most of all since it was so well preserved. It even had a roof still. I overheard a tour guide talking about it. Apparently, there was a civil war in 1945 and people were using this building as a fortress. I did find bullet holes in the columns.

Besides there structures, there were still ruins everywhere. Numerous sites had walking baths where you go through ancient ruins as you would normally walk through a forest. It is a shame that I only had one day to walk around, because it is too easy to miss things. But I'll probably have time again at some point in the future.

After getting back to the port town of Piraeus, I jogged it back to the ship in plenty of time for my rehearsal. I need a nap.

This isn't the end of the ruins I'll see on my trip. I'll be in Naples soon, and from there I'll be able to go check out Pompeii. After that, then I guess all I have left to see will be the Pyramids. (Incidentally, ships to go to Alexandria, Egypt sometimes, but I guess it is quite a challenge dealing with the people there, especially for Americans, who aren't held in high regard in Egypt. Nevertheless, someday...

August 16, 2006 - Zakynthos, Greece

Though a bit of confusion with the tour office, I didn't do a tour today, which was perhaps for the best because I kind of wanted to chill out today anyway, and I tagged along with a group of people to a local beach. We made a point to getting the cab driver to take us to the local's beach, not to the tourist beach. I did get pretty beached out in Tahiti, and it was funny to hear everyone rave about the beach we were at when it was really nothing compared to any Tahitian beach I was at. But the scenery was still really cool, and now I can say I've swam in the Mediterranean. I basically spent a couple hours tossing a frisbee or hitting a ball around. Nothing major to report.

Tomorrow is Athens however. Once again, I'm not on a tour, and I'm not sure why. I think I may have ticked off the tour office. Anyway, I'm not excused from boat drill as a result, which really sucks. But I'll still be off the ship by noon, and I'll have plenty of time to get to downtown Athens, and see all of the sights, the best of which is going to be the Parthanon. I'm sure pictures will be forthcoming, though uploading them will be a pain since the internet is no longer free around here.

August 14, 2006 - Cagliari, Sardinia (Italy)

I almost wasn't able to do my tour today. The tour was scheduled to be a 4 hour tour leaving at 1:30. And I had a last minute rehearsal scheduled for 5:30. It was only for a comedian's show, but still, that's the job. I tried all morning to find the other trumpet player so that we could trade jobs tonight. After all, my job tonight is easier than his. However, I couldn't track him down, and I was going to bail and give my tour to a friend on the ship who said he'd do it for me if I couldn't. However, he left the ship by this time, so I was stuck. Having left many messages for the other trumpet player, I decided to do the tour and hope that he gets the message in time.

As it turned out, I returned late...about 6 pm, but Al got the message and was at the rehearsal. Therefore, tonight I'm playing back in the Queen's room, which is fine with me anyway, as it will give me some good practice before tomorrow, which is probably the hardest show of the cruise.

But back to the tour. I went to Nora, the name of which is Phoenecian in origin and surprisingly stuck. While the Phoencians founded the town around the 8th century BC, I'm told that most of the ruins are Roman in origin, dating only back to about the 2nd century AD. The Phoenicians apparently weren't all that interested in colonization, unlike the more powerful Carthinigans, that took over the time sometime before the birth of Christ. When the Romans finally came to build over most everything, the town was already 1000 years old. And yet, having abandoned the town in the 3rd century, it hasn't been occupied for almost twice that time.

One thing I thought was neat was the presense of the holy road, which went directly through the town to the temple. The temple was a place to worship all of the Gods that we've come to name all of our celestial bodies after, but such worship was only common in Imperial Rome, not the later Republican Rome. Thus, eventually the temple wasn't used anymore, and they built homes over this road. I think it is neat because it is too easy to assume that the ruins of which I was witness were one-dimenionally the result of a single static town. However, that such a prominant holy road was callously built on is a reminder that this town was around for a long time, and a lot changed during that time.

Also, being there is a reminder that I know pretty much none of the ancient history of the area. I think I need to make a trip to the library.

August 12, 2006 - Lisbon, Portugal

My tour today took me to neighboring cities of Cascais and Sintra. Cascais used to be a village that in the recent century has developed into a resort town, full of houses, hotels, and condos built in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, some of these functions have been applied to old derelict coastal fortresses. Many of them are now 5 star hotels or restaurants. I had 40 minutes to walk around a coastal shopping area this morning, and I took the opportunity to find a quiet cobblestone walkway that had a coffee shop. Their coffee is really good here, and it was nice to just sit and enjoy the surroundings for a while.

After Cascais, the tour took us to the mountain town of Sintra. First settled and named by the ancient Celts, later in about the 8th century it was settled by the Moorish people. The mountain peaks in Sintra are home to an 8th century Moorish castle. However, we didn't have time to get up there, so I had to enjoy it from the town below. The town was quite nice, offering a lot of views of the many palaces. I managed to walk quite a bit away from the city center up the hill and found a park that seemed quite unpopulated. The climate appeared dry and arid (and in fact they are in a bit of a water shortage at the moment), but the vegetation was lush, with both native pine trees, other deciduous plants, and artifically introduced Eucalyptus trees.

Walking back to the where the bus was to pick us up, I came across the studio of a local artist, where a sign invited people to come in and take a look at his paintings, which I, while decidedly lacking any real knowledge for what "good" art is, knew that I liked. Most were well out of my price range, but there was a smaller piece that was a view of the street outside his home and of the moorish castle above was only 75 euros. So I figured I could splurge a little...after all, my walls back home are still pretty bare, and this is an original painting by a local Portuguese artist. There is probably no better souvenir.

After the tour was over, I still had a couple hours to take the shuttle from the ship into the city center of Lisbon. I just wandered around, looking at all the neat statues and buildings, until I came across an archaeological museum that was housed in the ruins of an old cathedral. I'm not sure why the church was in ruins, but it was neat to see the collection of artifacts, ranging in age from 150 years old to 2000 years old. Of course, the really old artifacts, such as pieces of pottery, arrowheads, and spearheads, were housed in an environmentally secure portion of the church...the one area that wasn't in ruins. Not a bad find considering I had no idea what I was going to do in Lisbon.

Speaking of archaeology, my next stop will be Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia which is part of Italy. There, I will visit the archaeological site of Nora. Nora has been a Phoenician trading post, a Carthaginian city, and a Roman town. It was abandoned in the 3rd century and partially submerged by the sea. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this tour. However, it is a late tour, so if it conflicts with a rehearsal then I will have to cancel.

August 9, 2006 - Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands (U.K.)

Today was a trip back to World War II as I escorted a tour on the German Occupation of Guernsey from 1940-1945. We started our tour going to an underground hospital the Germans dug during their occupation to protect their wounded from enemy bombardment. They even went so far as to install air cirulators that were resistant to chemical attacks. Despite all of their precautions, they never had to defend their claim to Guernsey until their order came down to surrender in 1945. Still, they left behind plenty of artifacts, some of which were stored in the underground hospital, but most of which were stored in the German Occupation Museum, which was only other stop worth mentioning.

They had jeeps and motorbikes, pistols and machine guns, anti-aircraft rangers and weapons, and most interestingly clips from the Guernsey daily newspaper, which had German censorship apparent everywhere. Not that the locals believed any of it, but it was the kind of stuff to at least make the invaders feel like they were doing the right thing, and that the locals were getting along ok with their watchdogs. I managed a few shots of the clips that are legible.

One thing I wasn't ever aware of was the tendancy of people in resistance to paint red V's for victory on their homes. The Germans would then come around and paint green laurel branches underneath, to symbolically balance out their opponents gesture. I am reminded of the mini-series in the early 80's called "V", where Earth was invaded by lizard like men and the resistance also painted red V's everywhere. I recall (from watching this decidedly cheesy mini-series again only 4 years ago) that they really didn't pull any punches when alluding to parallels with Nazi Germany, but then again, most drama from the 80's lays things out extra-obviously by today's standards.

August 8, 2006 - La Rochelle, France

Today I reentered the foray of escorting ship tours after a 7 year hiatus. I had forgotten that herding old people on vacation is harder than either sheep, children, or young sheep.

Despite this, and another night of 2 hours of sleep (interrupted, thanks to my roommate), I stayed awake for most of the tour of a few highlights of La Rochelle, France, a town described as "quite young, founded a late as the 10th century". Our bus took us to nearby Saintes, where there were ruins of a Roman coliseum from about 40 AD. Unfortunately, the bus didn't drop us off, instead taking us to the old town and giving us a mere 25 minutes to look at some arches from a similar time period (from a distance, and also from the bus), and otherwise walk to a cathedral. I can't recall how old it was, but it certainly far pre-dates the reformation. The entrance has little statues of all sorts of saints adorning it, and some of the heads have been lopped off. Turns out that this happened when France went protestant. The church was no longer Catholic, and all of the Catholic saints' heads were disposed off. I guess those Lutherans really take it seriously.

After Saintes, our bus took us to the main attraction, a castle called La Roche Croubon (this isn't accurate, but when I figure out the right name, I'll edit this). The castle was first built for military purposes during an English occupation in the 15th century, but the English withdrew near the time of completion, so it wasn't really used much until it was converted into a residence in the 17th century.

Pictures may be forthcoming.

August 7, 2006 - Bilbao, Spain

Last night as the cruise director was addressing our audience, he made quite a few tounge in cheek jokes about how people don't tend to spend too much time ashore in Bilbao. The jokes were more or less well founded. I took the 20 minute shuttle into downtown, where all there really was to do was walk around the canal area, or go to the Guggenheim. I did go there, only to find a line that would have taken at least an hour to get through. They were only letting in so many people at a time, so I decided to just walk around.

When I left downtown to go back to the pier area, I did more walking, and this time running, along the waterfront, which was actually really nice. I'm surprised nobody seemed to talk it up. Probably because there were no tourist things to do on the waterfront. There were a lot of nice houses, mansions, and even something that could probably pass as a castle. At the end of my run was the Vizcaya Transporter Bridge, which was the first bridge of its kind, built in 1893. The design is influenced by Eiffel. Of course, a lift bridge like the one in Duluth would be far more useful, as the platform that travels across the bridge only fits about 6 cars or so.

One could take an elevator to the top and walk across, but it costs 4 euros, and I brought none with me. Plus, I'm not sure it is worth 4 euros just for an elevator ride. But I'll probably run there next time I'm here later in the month, and maybe I'll just take the ride anyway.

There were some "nice" beaches nearby, and I debated going swimming. But a nice beach, even by the standards here, really don't compare to the beaches in Tahiti, which I found more or less uninteresting after not too long. So I don't feel like I missed out too much.

August 5, 2006 - Southampton and Salisbury, England

While things seemed to go right yesterday, things wen't equally wrong today. So far on this contract, I'm not impressed with the flow of things transporation-wise in England. I always seem delayed. I took the shuttle into town on my first visit to Southampton, and including the wait, it was longer than the walk in would be. So I'm walking it every time from now on.

And that's what I did today. 25 minutes to the music store where I had ordered new pads for my in-ears. I wasn't totally planning on picking them up at this time, but when I found that they were to open in 10 minutes, I waited, and waited, and at 9:05 they opened the store. Another 15 minutes, I had my pads, which were sitting somewhere in a place that nobody really knew for, well, 150 minutes.

I went straight to the train station only to realize that I had missed the train to Salisbury...by 15 minutes. Not to worry, another would come in 45, and I'd still have plenty of time. So I went back out, bought some laundry detergent that I was in need of, and got back in plenty of time for the train.

Unfortunately, everybody else in Southampton was on the train too, and after 2 hours on my feet, I had to stand on the train, with hardly room to do even that.

Still, I made it to Salisbury in 30 minutes and I was off to get a bus ticket to Stonehenge. Turns out I only had a 10 minute wait, and the ticket (an expensive 8 pounds) was to count for both the bus fare and the admission to Stonehenge. The bus was to pick me up "right outside". I asked again because "right outside" could be anywhere, but the woman behind the counter assured me "right outside".

Turns out "right outside" means "down a ways" in Metric English. Fortunately, I had the sense to wander at 11 (the time the bus was to arrive) and I found a gaggle of people waiting in line to get on a double decker that was already packed. The driver was slowly letting people on...turns out you can buy your ticket on the bus, and this caused things to move much more slowly.

To add a little humor to it, this was my first official encounter with the stereotypical "irritable Brit"...seemed right out of Fawlty Towers. People weren't allowed to stand in on the upper deck and he kept yelling at them to come to the bottom floor. Some kid kept hitting the "stop" bell and he kept yelling at the kid. Nothing was right apparently.

After 15 minutes of boarding, I get a few people away from the door of this bus that was totally jammed with people standing everywhere they could possibly fit. The bus driver declares that he can fit no more on board, and he says he'll call another bus, which will be here in "5 minutes". 20 minutes later (totally wasn't surprised by that), another bus arrives, and at least for this ride I could sit and stretch my legs.

30 minutes later, I arrived at Stonehenge...and another 20 minutes later I was let off of the bus. I find the admission gate (a long line of people) where the person attending informs me that my ticket is only good for the bus. So I shell out another 7 pounds for a ticket to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was really cool. I wish I had read a bit more about it before...I still have yet to read and learn much about it. Tonight I think I'll spend some time online. But it was still impressive. Equally impressive was the army of tourists, mostly Asian, not that there is anything long with that, taking up much of the field surrounding the ancient ruins. If I had gotten there on time I would have been able to leave in 30 minutes, as this would have been plenty of time, but I had to wait for the next bus, which gave me a full hour to wander around, take pictures, and think about the monument. I couldn't resist....I had my ipod with me and I put on Spinal Tap's recording of their song Stonehenge. Hilarious! After that, I had no music dating back to 1000 AD, so I just listened to some late medivial stuff to prepare me for the Salisbury Cathedral, which I would visit if I had time.

By the time I got back to the train station (which it turns out is a 10 minute walk from the Cathedral), I only had 25 minutes before I had to be back for the train. So I pushed it to the cathedral, which was truly spectacular. I don't know old it was, but it was HUGE. If I had time to pay the admission, I would have gone in, and in fact I may yet go back just to go in. But I had to settle for outside views, and I still had to run back to insure I was back in time for the train's departure. At least I'm getting exercise...it is nice being able to run places.

Of course, I got there only to find that my train was to be delayed 20 minutes due to some sort of criminal chase. Hehe. No kidding. Unfortunately, this would only give me 30 minutes to get from the Southampton train station to the boat, and from the station it is a 45 minute walk.

So I ran the whole thing in 15 minutes flat. Back in plenty of time really. Still, I'm not a fan of travelling in England. I really doubt I'm going to take the train to London, which is at least a 90 minute ride, and it has at least 1 connection too. We'll see.

Pictures are posted. In a couple days I'll be in Bilbao, Spain I think. I've signed up to escort some of the ship's tours...I'm not sure which tour I'll be on, but at least it will be free :)

Addendum: I just looked up Stonehenge at wikipedia. Interesting. And a lot more detailed than anything they gave at the ruins.

August 4, 2006 - Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Netherlands

A lot of things could have gone wrong today, but it turns out that most everything went right. We arrived in port at 6:30 am, scheduled to leave at 3:30 pm (which means crew have to be back by 2:30). Thus, if I was going to make it to Amsterdam with enough time to explore sufficiently, I had to get up quite early. I really had no idea how long of a train trip it would be...I figured an hour, and I was right on. I knew there was a shuttle from the ship to the train station, but the shuttle service didn't start until 9, so I figured I'd just hope it was in walking distance.

Not surprisngly, I didn't fall asleep until 3 am again. I felt tired at midnight, but I made the mistake of doing a little email first, and then after that I was on a second wind. Oh well, I'm getting quite used to functioning on minimal sleep.

I got up at 6:30, got some breakfast, and headed for the gangway. When I got there I was informed that we hadn't cleared customs yet (oops, forgot that the ship had to do that), and that I would be needing my passport here because of some surprise immigration rule for today only. Maybe crew were to be issued a crew card or something similar, but whatever it was, it wasn't going to happen until 9 am. Still, I headed to the crew office, to at the very least find out when they would be open.

At the office I saw Gray (lead vocalist) and Graham (dance band bass). They were both escorting tours, which I'm going to start doing next cruise to get free tours. They were both there to collect their passports right away, because they had a duty. Well, I just waited with them...Graham told me where the train station was (40 minute walk away). When Katherina came to give them their passports, I just waited with them. She gave me mine too. Fortunately, she didn't ask "are you on a tour?". She just assumed. Of course, I would have lied at this point anyway, but at least I didn't have to.

I get my passport, and head for the gangway, and right before I get there, I hear an announcement over the PA that we have cleared immigration. Perfect. I was the FIRST person off the ship. I don't think crew are ever first, so this is, well, a first.

I enjoyed my walk to the train station. No tourists at this point, just a few locals going to work. Most of them travelled by bicycle. They had special paved bike lanes...not just a shoulder on the side of the road, and not just part of the sidewalk, but their own special lane. And everybody uses them. It is convenient because most everybody lives densely together. And I noticed that gas was about 1.20 (Euro) a liter, which is about $5.80 a gallon. If I lived there I'm pretty certain I wouldn't even own a car.

Once at the train station, I'm informed that the next train to Amsterdam leaves in 15 minutes...perfect. I buy my 22 Euro round trip ticket and head for the train.

The ride out was enjoyable. Lots of urban areas surrounded by the stark contrast of rural meadows for cattle, sheep, and occasionally goats. No suburban spral here.

An hour later, I was in the heart of Amsterdam. I had only about 3 hours, but I made it worthwhile. I walked all around and about the city center area, seeing many churches and museums (most not open though), a very intricate canal system, and of course, the red light district. I've heard stories about the red light district, but at this time of day, there wasn't a lot happening. However, I stopped at a coffee place (and there was a "coffee" place every other building) for some coffee. Fortunately, the place I stopped at actually served coffee...really good coffee too. But the first thing I noticed was the acrid oder of a certain plant being burned inside. I didn't see them selling any of it, but people were smoking openly. I was getting a little light headed just sitting there enjoying my coffee.

Nearby there was a place called the "Cannbis College", that was a place promoting the legalization of hemp for all of its myriad uses. I became engaged in a conversation with on of the volunteers that worked there. He was very passionate about this "beautiful plant", as he commonly referred to it. He talked about Willian Randolph Hearst's campaign to make it illegal because paper from hemp threatened his paper industry (which I had heard before, but I think I'd also heard from another source that this wasn't exactly accurate). He mentioned that at some time (I'm not sure if it was a few decades ago or more recently) a plastic was made out of hemp, which surprised the hell out of me. At any rate, he brought up some interesting points that I'm going to read up on further. I don't know how much of what he said was true, but one thing is certain. He was clear-headed, intelligent, and passionate. In fact, he's native Irish, and he moved to Amsterdam...mainly because he was caught growing in his home and so he left to avoid 5-10 years or some such thing. Eh. At any rate, he was an interesting guy to talk to.

After 2.5 hours of walking around, I headed back to the train station. The trip back was uneventful, as was the walk back to the ship, except I was walking across a lift bridge when the bells starting going off, warning that it would lift soon. I actually had to duck under the bar that had dropped to block the road and sidewalk.

Tomorrow should be an equally fun day. Another hour long train ride, as I get out to Salisbury and from there to Stonehenge!

August 2, 2006 - Oslo, Norway

It didn't bode well for today that we had a crew drill at 10 am, and I had a rehearsal at 4 pm. But it turns out I can get a lot of sightseeing done in 4 hours. Killing two birds with one stone, I got a little jogging in as I went the 3 kilometers from the ship to Gustav Vigeland's sculpture park. This is the one location that I've visited on this contract that I'm sure I've been to before on my Gustavus trip back in 1998. Fortunately, this time I had a little more time on my hands to walk around the park and I also had camera. The park in itself is worth the trip to Oslo.

After leaving the park, bad weather started to set in. But I had a little time, so I only walked back, through a different area of town. Plus, my left foot's plantar fasciatis has been acting up ever since that 7 hour walk in the uncomfortable shoes. So I just walked from landmark to landmark in downtown Oslo, mainly getting a good look at the residental complexes. But the rain came in full force eventually, drenching me and the rest of the tourists. With little time left and feeling somewhat wet and cold, I decided to go back to the ship, but not before I went into the castle and fortress of Akershus. This impressive structure was built around 1300. If I had had time and Norweigan Kroners, I could have toured the castle, but unfortunately, I had neither.

Nothing now until Rotterdam in two days. I'm told that the one thing I have to do in Rotterdam is, well, go to Amsterdam. So I'm planing on getting a train ticket there. Still, I feel like I should explore Rotterdam a little, having recently read Ender's Shadow (a sci-fi-ish book that starts the story in Rotterdam). We'll see how much time I have.

August 1, 2006 - Stavanger, Norway

I don't know why, but I'm still having trouble sleeping at night. During the day, if I need a nap, I can fall asleep in 30 seconds, but at night I can't seem to fall asleep. Even though I didn't nap at all yesterday (but wanted to), I stayed up until 5 am. Still, I set my alarm for 8 am to get out to Stavanger.

Finally, the many nights of only 3 hours of sleep are catching up with me and I was really dragging today. Plus, there weren't that many interesting things to do in the immediate vicinity of the dock. Still, I was smack dab in the middle of town, and I did manage to look around the cathedral for a bit, which is the oldest Catheral in Norway, finished sometime around 1130. However, there were surprisngly no old sarcophagi or tombs laying everywhere, and unfortunately no disturbingly graphic artwork either.

By noon I was back on the ship and I threw in the towl and slept for 4 hours. I have no doubt I'll be up until 5 am again, but it looks like I'll get a poker game going, and I'll probably be the most alert too.

Hopefully I'll have energy to go explore Oslo tomorrow again on 3 hours sleep.

Today was a long day, as I walked around Bergen for about 7 hours. I can appreciate how awesome my hiking boots are...or rather how not awesome my regular shoes are. My feet are far sorer now than in Colorado with my boots. But it was well worth it. The first thing I did was find a popular trail up a mountain. Well, actually, there is a train that goes half way up (at a 25 degree grade), and then I walk the rest of the way. It did offer incredible views of Bergen and the surrounding fjords below. And there is something nice about being above the tree line at 2000 feet.

After a while, I left the normal trail following what I came to realize was a shehperd's path around a few of the subalpine lakes that were overabundant up there. At one point I took my iPod and figured that Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 would be fitting for the occasion. Nothing says Norway like that first movement. Or the last one, for that matter (Hall of the Mountain King). On the way down the mountain I chased some sheep to that music...I think I'll have to put some of that movie footage to the music and see what happens.

Upon returning to the train station, the tourists had finally all flooded in, and it would have taken at least 30 minutes to wait in line for a train, so I decided to walk down, which was a great choice because eventually I got to walk through some of the more well-to-do neighborhoods. Finally, back in the City Center of Bergen, I was free to explore some of the old churches and such. The oldest I found was one that was finished in 1169. Most notable inside were some odd paintings, including one of the 4 horsemen, and another where a guy was beheaded, had his head on a platter, and a dog was drinking the spurting blood from the beheaded body. I really can't fathom why that was in, of all places, a church.

Bergen seems to be a really nice city in the summer. In a main plaza area there were street performers, including kind of a country/folk duo that travels throughout Scandanavia in the summer, a "statue" that moved every so often, and a pair of Norweigan Marimba players playing things like The Entertainer and Winter from the 4 Seasons. It kind of reminded me of Key West, except the surroundings were pretty much exactly the opposite.

Tomorrow I'll be in Stavanger. Hopefully my feet will recover...those shoes I wore were not kind to my feet. It hurts to stand now! Argh.

July 25, 2006 - Gibralter

Pretty fun day today. I think I'm already pretty recovered from jet lag...not sure if staying up until 3 am last night helped or not. I guess that is just the same as staying up until 8 pm in Minnesota, except I didn't sleep one night. Whatever.

I had yet another medical exam today. I guess while every cruise line is owned by one parent company (and probably Time-Warner-AOL-Microsoft too...they merged, right?), each line has their own set of doctors that they require check your eyesight and reflexes. So once again I passed my medical exam. Surprise surprise :)

Afterwords, while I didn't plan on any hiking on this cruise, I guess am I am at _the_ rock. So I have to climb it. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure if I had a 6 pm sound check or not, so I had limited time. However, half way up the hill there is a spot to observe Barbury Apes. T hey are obviously accustomed to having people around because I practically put my arm around one for a picture. So while I only went half way up (and had to run all the way back to the ship, only to find that there was no rush) the day was a good one. However, it is 6:30 right now and I'm starting to feel like I need a nap. After all, I _did_ have to set a noon alarm today.

Two sea days coming up, which is actually pretty welcome, as it will give me a chance get comfortable with my surroundings. Tomorrow I'll also put some pictures of the monkeys up.

July 24, 2006 - Barcelona, Spain

After a long but tolerable flight, I arrived in Barcelona today. Of course, I didn't really have any time to sight see, so I merely enjoyed the cab ride from the airport to the port...there was an odd cemetary that was basically built in the side of a hill. It looked more like a fort, but the cab driver assured me it was a cemetary, and soon I could see crypts to prove it.

So far, it seems that this will be a very good ship to work on. It is by far the oldest ship I've ever been on, and in walking around, the corridors and decoration drip with history. Nothing seems level, as if the ship is always listing, even while in port. Walking around is like a trip back in time...not so old as the Titatic, but frankly, more reminiscent of that ship (a Cunard vessal I'm told) than any of the newer ships I've worked on.

My cabin is also by far the largest I've ever had...I don't even have to bunk. There are rules on this ship, but they seem reasonable and aren't tainted by the typical BS that I've gotten all too accustomed to. It seems that this is a place where I can just do my job, keep a low profile, and everybody will hopefully stay happy.

Today I spent the day either napping or walking around the ship. It is very easy to get lost here. They built the ship with a caste society in mind...it wasn't meant to be easy to get from the lower decks to the upper decks. This makes it very difficult to find my way around the lower crew areas, but it is far better than that tiny Tahitian Princess. At least I have to keep my brain on when I'm walking around.

Tomorrow I'll be in Gibralter. Hopefully I'll have time to go see "the rock" after my medical is complete.

July 22, 2006

Well, 4 days ago Proship called me. They offered me 1 month in the Mediterranean, and a little of Norway and other countries as well, on the QE2. I hate picking up and leaving again, especially on such short notice, but the money is good, and the itinerary is better. So, I guess tomorrow I catch a plane to Barcelona and from there I set sail for another month.

As before, I will (hopefully) be posting pictures and log entries about my travels. I will return August 29, 2006.

July 17, 2006

I just arrived back from Colorado from a backpacking excusion with a few friends of mine. We all had a great time. We estimate that we each put about 60 miles on our feet in the week in Rocky Mountain National Park, most of it going up, or down, or up, or up....

Among the highlights of the trip were camping at "Boulder Field", which is at about 12,800 feet and right below the base of Long's Peak (14,250 feet). The summiting of Long's Peak was exciting to say the least.

I'm not sure if I will write a play-by-play here. I think I'd rather simply put pictures with captions up. However, with over a gig of pictures to sort, it may be a few days until I get anything of that sort up. Still, I will put a few pictures of the trip up soon.

June 28, 2006

I had written an entry on my Dell during the last cruise of my contract, but I seem to have misplaced that document. No matter. My last cruise was eventful, in good ways and in bad ways. But ultimately, it is over, which is also good and bad.

My summer looks light. A few jobs to do, but the main focus will be a backpacking trip to Rocky Mountain National Park with a few friends of mine. Pictures will be forthcoming.

In the mean time, it is good to be back!

May 27, 2006

This has been without a doubt the least active cruise on my contract. I lot of IPM this cruise, combined with the fact that I skipped my last time in Huanine simply to rest after my long excursion in Tahiti, resulted in me only having gotten off the ship twice this cruise. A couple of days ago in Raiatea, my usual routine of going up the hill (2 hour walk, good for some exercise but not too difficult) was broken by the fact that Steve was on IPM and couldn't leave the ship. Fortunately, I just met someone relatively new to the ship who happens to be an avid hiker. We've since tried to schedule a hike in Bora Bora, but her schedule combined with my IPM this cruise means that we won't have the chance, which is too bad because there are so few people on this ship who actually appreciate the climb.

Yesterday I did have time off in Bora Bora and I decided to merely be lazy and snorkel a bit, followed by a little light reading on the beach. It may well be my last trip to the beach this contract, since next cruise it looks like I'll be IPM on 2 of the 3 French Polynesian ports, and the 3rd one will have me ascending (fully this time hopefully) the mountain on Moorea. After that, we head up to Hawaii! I only have one day of IPM in Hawaii, and I was able to trade it away with our bass player Gary, who has been to Hawaii often before and will be there again, where as I only have one shot at each island.

Our first stop will be at Christmas Island, which is two days travel south of the Hawaiian islands. To be honest, I have no idea which hemisphere it is in as I have no map with me, and any quick internet search only shows the Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, which this one is surely not. I guess all that is left there is pavement and broken glass from an abandoned military base, but that sounds interesting enough to me.

I'm not sure what exactly I'll be doing on all of the islands, but I'll be using the web in my last Papeete to try to plan ahead, and I know people on the ship who have been to Hawaii before, so they are going to give me tips. There are volcanos to hike, lava to see, and bikes to ride, so I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding things to do. My main mission is to find a river of lava somewhere...apparently they are somewhat common on Volcano National Park (which island that is on, I forget). On my last day I'm going to rent a car in Honolulu with Courtnay, the soon-to-be ex-bandmaster who is signing off with me. He's going to have a hotel because of a late plane ticket, and I'll need a place to store my stuff before my 5 pm flight.

This is my last entry since I will be computerless soon. I'm going to sell my Mac so that I can buy one of the new intel Macbooks when I get home. But I'll be going 12 days without it! Argh.

For Ryan and/or Sara, as I think (hope) that one of them will be picking me up at the airport, I'll be arriving on NW 98 at about 5:57 am on June 11th. I didn't know that there were direct flights from Honolulu to Minneapolis, but the only information I've given suggests that this is the case.

So that's all until I return to Minnesota! (even though I'll still be emailing from the ship.)

May 20, 2006

This is going to be an exceptionally long entry, as it details my overnight excursion up Mt. Aorai, Tahiti's 2nd highest point. My plan was to hire a taxi to take me and my bike up to the Belvedere Restaurant, which is at 600 meters of altitude, and also coincidentally at the trailhead. From there it is about 4-4.5 hours to the peak, which is just over 2000 meters of altitude. There are "refuges" as they call them, basically lean-to type cabins that consist of 4 walls, a roof, and if lucky, a floor. The second of the two refuges is at 1800 meters, so I planned on dropping my stuff there, and then hiking to the summit on day 1, and again before sunrise on day 2.

But first things first. Every so often I have a conversation (or at least just listen to someone talk) that I really wish I could have recorded. My taxi ride was just one of those "conversations". Alan, the driver, is from...well, I don't know where he is from and I doubt that he does either. But his accent actually sounds like he's from Boston, so I'll just assume that. Not that it matters. What matters is this guy is seriously messed up. The drive took 30 minutes (he was sure it was going to take an hour...sometimes it felt like it did take that long) and he never shut up. Occasionally he would ask a rhetorical question and I would mutter something and he'd continue no matter what I said. Here is an except, best as I can remember:

"So I used to try to be nice to people but now I just say SHUT UP just like that SHUT UP because people have to know limits as the good book says 'love thy enemy like you would your friend or something' so I try to live like that oops that guy is honking at me cause I cut him off but I have to cut him off first person there gets the job gets the money When the ship is here I typically make $300 a day but I don't tell anyone that because drivers get jealous and the next thing I'll know I'll have windows busted and tires slashed This road up to the Restaurant is really scary I haven't been here in 6 months sometimes I drive people around and I'll give them a little picnic just some free love is all I'll show them the island it is really good money Gees sometimes I'm scared I'm going to go off the road around here I'm not in a hurry I just have to go slow and the road only fits one lane so Oh see here is a car coming well he just has to back up because I'm not going to Oh look it's a cop! [as he passes the cop] MERCI SENOR! That means 'thank you' they really love that kind of stuff so where was I Oh yeah Just don't look over the edge of the cliff. I never look [then he looks, right on cue]. I have volume...volume...the doctor says I have to take something because I have a stress disorder and if I don't take stuff then I'm not Alan I'm not Alan I'm not Alan I'm not Alan and I'll have an attack or something Wow it was only 30 minutes up here must be the new road well here is my card call if you need an Ambulance or something I don't charge 2 ways just 1 way Maybe someday I'll climb that too..."

I think he was still talking as I started up the trail.

That was paraphrased, but I'm not making up the content. He actually wanted me to call if I needed an ambulance. I mean, if I did got injured and required an ambulance I don't think there would be a phone near by. And if for some reason there WAS a phone there, why does he think I'd call HIM instead of an ambulance. Not that I was about to start debating or otherwise talking with him. I bet he's still talking to me.

Anyway, this trail is probably the only one in French Polynesia that is actually maintained. And it is maintained _very well_. My first 2 hours up was on a wide trail where the edges had just had their weeds freshly whacked. I met the whackers on the way up...some Tahitian natives who were very friendly and wanted to make sure I had enough water. I did. They told me that the 1st refuge was just up the trail a few minutes, which was good, because by this time the rain had hit. I waded through the strongest part under a canopy, but eventually that started to drip on me so I just booked up the mountain as fast as I could. I didn't want my stuff to get wet because I was going to be sleeping in some of it. Fortunately, when I got to the first refuge, my change of clothes was still dry, even if I wasn't. I put on my change and took a nap while the rest of the rain passed.

An hour later I put my wet clothes back on and continued on. The trail was still well used and well maintained, but not nearly as user friendly as it had been. Now it started to get dangerous at times (though rarely as dangerous as Bora Bora was). There was the occasional rock ledge that had to be traversed with the assistance of a rope, and the occasional cliff that was steep enough and far enough down that to slip at that time would safely be called a Bad Thing. Of course, much care was taken.

Another 90 minutes had me at the 2nd refuge, which consisted of both a picnic area, and a "cabin", that had a whole in the floor and a sign that warned of a colony of rats. I wasn't very pleased at the thought, but I figured this would be my one and only chance to do this, so what the hell. By now it was 3:15, and I figured it would be less than an hour to the top, so I dropped all but what I would need for this short trek, and went up to the top. The view here and for the whole trip was nothing short of spectacular...at least when the clouds parted. And they did every now and then. Still, I figured I'd spend the night at the refuge, and then go up at sunrise, when the clouds would be lower.

So I got back to the refuge by 5:00, had a "dinner" of peanuts, raisins, and a cliff bar, downed with copious amounts of water. I read a bit, and waited for the sunset, which really was marvelous. But it seems that around here, sunsets happen much quicker than they do in Minnesota, and by 6:30 it was dark. And all I had with me was a flashlight, a book, and an iPod (with movies, but also with a battery half used up). By 7:30 I was in the refuge doing all of the above and getting a little tired. I tried to sleep starting at about 9:00. Unfortunately while I packed enough water and enough food, I didn't have any more room in my small backpack to pack anything else other than 1 fleece (still dry) and 1 pair of blue jeans. This was one of the few places within thousands of miles that actually got COLD. Well, not really cold. Actually, it was no colder than usual nights camping...in Minnesota. To be fair, it was still warmer than that, but it was in the 50's probably, and the wooden floor was not a very good insulator. Nor was it a good cushion. So I was cold and uncomfortable as I tried to sleep. I probably only got 1.5 hours of sleep fully between 9 pm and 5 am. Oh well, I figured when I did this that the worst that would probably happen is I'd just be cold and miserable for the night. And I was, though I finally figured that if I curled up in a ball, it tended to help. No matter though. At least the huge rainstorm that hit that evening (complete with multiple thunderclaps) went away, and by 4 am the night sky was clear. So I went out to do a little stargazing. I found some now familiar (but only because of Starry Night) constellations, such as Scorpius. If only I had a telescope I would have been able to see the Schwassmann-Wachmann comet (maybe...apparent magnitude 5.6) and the smudge that would be Andromeda (magnitude 4.5). But I did see 4 shooting stars before I tried to get another hour of "sleep".

Finally, at 5:30 or so, the sun seemed to finally be thinking about warming me up a little. It hadn't risen yet, but it was going to, so, still needing my flashlight, I made my way up the summit again. The view this time was even better, with views of other peaks, and much of the coast of Tahiti. The clouds had stayed parted. However, when I turned around to start the long trek home at 6:45, the clouds quickly game back and shrouded everything. The views were virtually null the whole way done, but that was ok, as my camera was full.

So I have some more pictures!

That's all for now. Frankly, after this grueling climb, I feel like I've done enough around here. I have only 2 more cruises, and really only 1 more of this run. So I won't feel too bad if I don't do many more interesting things. Still, I'm planning on diving once more, and also hiking Moorea with Alex (otherwise known as Purser Alex or German Alex...ok he's Austrian, but I don't really know the difference). I think tomorrow will be the first time I get to a port and simply decide to do nothing. I need to catch up on sleep. And I need to not move for a while.

May 18, 2006

A little funny story. The magician had a short show today, and it is finished with a card trick. I guess someone in the audience picks a card, shuffles it back, and then guesses 1 to 52 where the card is in the deck. Hal the magician is supposed to get it wrong and make a gag out of it of some sort. But tonight the audience member actually got it coicindentally right, so Hal went along with it and ended his show. Which requies us to play him off. Except we weren't at all ready because we weren't expecting that to happen. All I remember is the production manager in the speaker behind me (as I had my headphones on...we are behind a curtain at this point, and some people are off stage) yelling "Courtnay! Courtnay!" Suddenly, Courtnay counts off the play off while the drummer leaps across the room, my headphones are still on and I draw my horn like I would a six-shooter.

But the best part is, I talked to Hal afterwords about what the trick actually is (since I've never seen the show, nor paid much attention from behind the curtain). He said it has happened rarely in the past. I commented "every 52 shows about". He then gave me a look and said "well, the odds say that, but certain months it is more often than others..." Hmmmm...

May 18, 2006

Yesterday I finally got some SCUBA diving in. I had been trying to save money, but since I've done a pretty good job at that, it is time to spend a little and enjoy some things that cost a bit. And it does cost a bit around here...even with my 50% crew discount, it is still a lot more than in Mexico. But at least I can say I dove in Bora Bora. And I actually did THREE tanks. I had signed up for a 2 tank dive, but on the tender ride to shore I met a couple, where the wife had been a little weirded out by the sharks, so she gave me her ticket. So I had 3 dives, two of which brought me very close to a bunch of sharks. Mostly black-tip sharks, which range in size from 4 to 7 feet I think, but a few lemon sharks, which appeared to be about 15 feet long. Those were impressive, but not as impressive as when the guy on the boat above started feeding them. Quite an impressive sight, watching sharks above me thrash around as they fed on...well, not me.

My third dive was quite annoying though. Since they weren't expecting me, they didn't have proper fins for me. The pair I had to use were much too big for me, and the leader of the dive was too much in a rush to notice much, despite my repeated protests. He gave me some water shoes to wear and put the fins on over, but that didn't work either. Since it wasn't going to be a very long distance, I decided to finally just go without fins, which may have been stupid, but I figured I'd just have to work harder and hopefully wouldn't cut through my air too fast. He even ok'ed me to go in the water before he got me a mask. That was funny. When I got to the bottom, he was in sign language chastising me for swimming with my hands, but I had to since I had no fins, I showed him. So he made the whole group (5 of us) wait in one spot while he went back, got me the fins, and tried to fit them over the shoes. The fins fell off as I tried to swim, so I finally took the shoes off and carried the shoes for the rest of the dive. The fins worked allright, though they gave me foot cramps as I had to flex my feet to prevent the fins from falling off every kick.

I also had a flaw in my buoyancy vest, and he didn't give me enough weight on my belt (I had asked for 10 pounds but he only gave me 8...with my vest empty I still had trouble descending) I had the most trouble I've ever had maintaining equilibrium. Not that I've done this very much.

Still, I just heard that the dive in Moorea is well worth my time, and the people are much better here, so I may do that next Moorea, since my desire to take a few parasurfing lessons has fallen through. I went out today in search for lessons, but there was no wind today. Oh well. I did manage however, to hurt my right achilles heel today just a little while playing water football with a coconut. Hopefully it will feel fine tomorrow for my hike and possible camping trip deep in Tahiti. But if it is still bothering me, then I'll probably have to cancel.

May 11, 2006

Today I took a bike out to the other side of the island where there was actually a marked trail. At first I thought I was just overly tired for some reason. The bike ride really took a lot out of me. Finally, after 5 miles of hills where it seemed a lot of work to go up, and not nearly enough coasting on the way down, I flipped the bike upside down to check for a problem. I tried spinning the front wheel and the brake was rubbing against it. The wheel stopped immediately. Fortunately, I was near some sort of store where I was able to get enough French out to ask for a tool to loosen the break. One hex wrench later, the break was loosened...actually disabled. But the ride was a LOT easier.

Still, I was surprised at how much it took out of me. I guess then it wasn't too upsetting that when I got to the trail I found out why it was well marked. It didn't go up hardly at all. Actually, it probably did, but I couldn't find the trail that went up the hill. I'm sure it was as poorly marked as any other trail I've found around here. But no matter, since there were a lot of well used trails in that area that went to all sorts of ancient ruins, none of which have been restored or maintained. By walking off the trail into the jungle I was able to come accross other ruins that I'm sure not many people ever go to. So, the day was used well even if I didn't tackle any sort of hill.

May 8, 2006

Yesterday Rob, Steve, and myself climbed Pahia in Bora Bora. Hehe, it was a good time, though Rob and Steve got pretty banged up. Still, we all made it and while Rob told me today every inch of his body was in pain, and Steve has a huge gash in his leg from a nasty fall, I think there were no regrets all around. Except Rob, who regrets being in a hurry to get down, so he went ahead of Steve and I, and proceded to get lost. Not the greatest place to get lost in. Yeah, all you have to do is go "down", but off the of the trail sometimes means "down" at a 90 degree grade. But he managed to get back on the trail, and still beat Steve and I by 10 minutes.

I don't know if I'll be going up again...probably not. At least, I don't think anyone else will want to go up with me. But all this climbing is becoming a standard part of my exercise regimen, and I am training somewhat for a backpacking trip in July, so maybe I'll go up again. Still, I need time to scuba dive.

I also may want time to learn to parasail, or paraglide, or whatever it is called where you have a parachute or kite-type thing, and a board, and aren't towed by a boat, but are just powered by the wind. Today in Moorea I saw a bunch of people doing it again, and it looked really fun. Sometimes people would go up 15 feet in the air. Maybe next Moorea, if I'm not hiking.

Speaking of Moorea, today I simply biked to a beach and hung out. I had considered not doing anything, but getting some work done instead, but Samir, the Indian security officer here, told me that he had a few hours of port time off, for the first time on his whole contract. Which started before mine did. Talk about crappy work hours. So I thought I'd show him where the beach was and hang out with him for a while. Nice guy.

Tomorrow I'm port manning AGAIN for the full day in Papeete, but no big deal since this is our turn to not have a night off tomorrow. I still hope to set up some sort of hike, or maybe even camping excusion, next time I'm here.

May 5, 2006

Hehe. Last night we had a "band night" in the crew bar. We've done this a few times before...we just play rock for the crew. It is a fun time. Last night, however, we lacked a guitar for the first time. And a decent singer. So it wasn't nearly as fun. Still, I found the opportunity to actually sing a number myself. I did Miami 2017, by Billy Joel. I didn't do to great, but considering I hadn't practiced in 2 months, and had ear plugs in, and the band had never played it before, it went ok I guess. Next time, if there is a next time, I won't play piano, so I can focus on being somewhat in tune.

May 3, 2006

Had a relatively interesting day today. I was late in getting off of the ship because I was up all night last night transcribing a tune. When I start one of those things, I don't stop, so I finished around 4 am. Still, I thought I'd try to at least do the same hike I had done previously.

However, I found another map that showed some other hikes that I could perhaps reach on foot, so I figured maybe I'll just go find another one, even though I won't have time to walk it today. While walking along an inner road, some old New Zealander stopped and asked me if I needed a lift. He looked like an aging Benny Hill, and I know Ryan (my brother-in-law) will have some comment about me getting in the car of an old stranger who looks like Benny Hill, but gimme a break. Hitchhiking is common around here anyway.

So he drove me up to the trailhead. And I doubt I would have been able to find it without asking 12 people along the way, so I'm glad he drove. I still only hiked about 30 minutes up before I had to turn around. But it was still pretty neat. Most of those 30 minutes were on a well-used trail because it goes up into some farmland where they grow some crop that I think is called "Caro" or something. Basically, a bunch of pools were dug in the river, or near the river and irrigated by pipes. But there was no uniformity to it. It looked like something out of Lord Of The Rings. I expected to see Hobbits come out and start farming.

Unfortunately, the trail disappeared after that. Maybe I could have found it, but time was running out, and I already took out a few huge think spider webs and had to flick off 2 spiders that are larger than any I see in Minnesota. So enough of that.

I imagine my next hike will be in Bora Bora again. Rob and maybe Steve want to come with me. If we don't go hiking, then I'll go in Moorea.

April 30, 2006

The Diamond Princess is in port today. I spent an hour getting lost walking around that ship...I think it is 2.3 million tons and has 30 decks. At least that is how it seemed. I've never been on a ship so large before...IF I ever work for Princess again, I'll make sure it is on a big ship.

Still, there are perks that come with the tiny ships like the Tahitian Princess. Namely, we go to remote locations like Bora Bora. And finally, I got off my butt and posted some pictures from my trip up the mountain in Bora Bora. Enjoy!

April 29, 2006

Today, Courtnay and I rented a car to drive around the island and just generally see what happens, which is typically how I like to handle road trips, and I suppose 120 km around Tahiti is the biggest "road trip" I'm going to get for a few more weeks.

I wanted to drive up into the mountains, but I didn't look that hard today, and when I was looking I couldn't find any roads that went any distance. I was looking for specific roads anyway, roads that would take me to trailheads to either Mt. Orohena (the highest point in Tahiti) or Mt. Aorai (the second highest point). However, after thinking about it, with the understanding that renting a car is $120 for a day (I can't believe I actually paid that today...what a rip off), I have decided that renting a car to do a hike just isn't worth it, particularly when I'm not even sure how far I can drive the car.

HOWEVER, it appears that the Mt. Aorai trail is supposedly very well marked; even the Lonely Planet guide says a guide isn't needed, and they over exaggerate everything. This trail is only 15 km from Papeete. It is possible perhaps for me to take a taxi there. If I can get a taxi that can transport a bike, then I could do the hike, and return to my bike, which I can ride downhill all the way to the ship. I still may decide to overnight it on this hike, in case I don't have sufficient time to go up and back and still bike back in daylight. But near the summit there is a lean-to type cabin apparently that I can sleep in. I depends on what kind of time I make. The hike is about 4500 feet from the start of the trailhead, but the bike ride at the end is the factor.

While I wasn't able to research this much today, Court and I did go to Tahiti's peninsula and watch an international surfing competition. We managed to get a free ride (at least something was free today) out about half a mile to where about 30 boats were all hovered outside of the barrier reef to watch surfers tackle what I understand is the most powerful surfing wave in the world. I regretted not wearing my suit...it would have been fun to jump in and hang out with the surfers. But it still was a good time, and it was probably good for me to do something interesting besides snorkelling or climbing a mountain. So, today was worth it, though I'm not going to rent a car again around here.

April 28, 2006

I finally made it. Yesterday, Alex (a senior level purser from Vienna) and I went up Mt. Pahia, and the view was nothing short of spectacular. Given that I've actually been quite busy lately with various things, I haven't put any pictures up yet. Hopefully soon. There are some great shots, but none that do justice to the climb.

It turns out that I had turned around last time right before a 4th rope. It was a really tough rope climb, sometimes straight up. I was shocked to discover that there were still FOUR more rope climbs, leaving the total a 8 all together. My upper body is as sore today as everything else. My hands too, which came close to getting blistered.

At the top of the afore-mentioned 4th rope was a peak, but not Mt. Pahia. Pahia was another 20 minutes away, but the whole 20 minutes had views of both sides of the island as we walked along a saddle, with ridges on both sides, from one peak to the other. At the top, Alex radioed the ship (he had a night manager radio with him) and asked what time it was (we forget to bring a watch, hehe). I should have gotten someone with a telephoto lense to take a picture of us...the ship looked like a little toy in the bay.

The hike was MUCH easier this time around because it was cloudy and not nearly as hot. It was hard work, but I didn't even drink 1.5 liters of water like I did last time by the time I had turned around. Still,

I will try to go up again, but probably only if there are people that need a guide to take them up. Some people have expressed interest, but we'll see. It isn't for the faint of heart. Since Bora Bora and Moorea are back to back, I can't climb both of them in a row. Well, I could, but I'm still recovering over a day later. But I do intend to get to the top of Mt. Rotui in Moorea soon, which is almost a kilometer above sea level. That will require a lot of water and a hat, as the whole hike is in the sun.

Tomorrow, Courtnay (the band master here) and I are going to rent a car. We have different goals in mind, but we are mainly going to drive around and just see the island. I want to drive across the middle of it as there are a lot of waterfalls, some lavatubes you can walk through, and I want to find out how to hike Mt. Otemanu, which is the highest point in a thousand miles (give or take...I'm not sure how close New Zealand is). I guess it is a 2 day trip, but the book that said that grossly overestimates hiking times. Still, I do have an overnight to do it in, so maybe I'll pack the bare minimum to overnight it in the jungle. By the way, if my mom just read that, then I was kidding. I'm not going overnight it in the jungle.

April 21, 2006

While I did have a great time biking around the north Huanine island today, I'm going to postpone writing about that for a bit to address some other more pressing matters.

Three days ago word came down from upper management that musicians across the fleet would be required to do shifts of "fire watching". You stand (no sitting) and watch for fires (no headphones either). This is in wake of the recent fire on the Star Princess.

Some may simply put their hands up and say "this sucks, but I guess I'll just do it". And really, my job is easy on this ship, and even with fire duty, it is still easy. But the point is, this wasn't part of the deal when I signed up for this contract. (Although my contract does give them permission for this kind of stuff to occur, it is always understood that it won't.) So I refuse to do it. Not only am I refusing, I wrote a chain letter to as many priness musicians as I can telling them what is happening and urging them to also protest, and I wrote a letter to the head office detailing many points. You may view the letter here.

So at first it sounded very likely that I would get fired for this. The drawback of that is that
1) I don't have a job (duh)
2) I burn a bridge (it may be burnt anyway)
3) I may have to pay my way home.

Maritime law states that they have to provide transporation back home for me if they fire me. They may be able to without a paycheck or even bill me. If that happens, I'll deal with it as best I can.

However, it seems less likely that I will in fact be getting fired over this. Maybe it is only 50/50 now. But if I don't get fired, other musicians will follow...I'll have actually won.

I wasn't sure how other people would react when they heard about what I was doing. After all, it is well known that musicians have the lightest hours except for guest entertainment. I would think it a reasonable reaction to think that musicians should take on the work load. But it seems that nobody is happy about these extra duties, and people around the ship are congradulating me for standing up to the company's decision on this.

I only had my first slightly negative reaction today...from a dancer friend of mine on the ship. Dancers already do 2 jobs: dancing, and activities staff for the guests. Word is that if musicians don't do it, the dancers will have to. Why should she have to do 3 jobs when musicians only do 1 job? Good question, I'm glad you asked!

The thing is, she knew she'd have those two jobs when she signed on, and she's compensated for both of them. If she doesn't want to do the third job, well, don't come to me for advice on how to handle that :)

So we'll see what the next month and half holds. It is kind of strange to think that I may be here until the end of my contract on June 10th, but I also may be fired any day for insubordination. I find it, above all else, very interesting. Now on to Huanine:

April 21, 2006

Today, up a little earlier than normal, I set out on a bike to the north island of Huanine (remembering that Huanine is actually two islands seperated by a bridge, though the water under the bridge is only 5 feet deep. Both islands share the same barrier reef.

Early into the trek, I came to probably the biggest, highest hill I've ever tried to bike. I walked up at least half of it, and even THAT was hard. At the top there were signs warning about the grade of the hill on both sides. One direction had a 15% grade for 1 km ending at the ocean. The other sign had a 15% grade for 2 km ending...at the ocean. I think someone had better check their math.

Going around the island, I found a lot of old ruins from native Tahitians...religions shrines and such. All that is left are stone slabs and raised stone areas, but it was still moderately interesting. One of the ruins was on a "motu", which was only a short bridge away from the island. However, This motu was part of the island's barrier reef, so for the first time all contract I was up close with the full surf of the Pacific. And the swells are the most severe that they have been all contract...last night was really bumpy, and even now I think I may fall out of my bunk.

Also near the ruins I found a hiking trail! And it is the first one I've found using the "old method". A sign is posted notifying you of its existence. How quaint. No time today, but a local guy was there who told me (I think) that the trip up and back is 2 hours. Or the trip up is 2 hours. I'm not sure, but I think the elevation is only 1500 feet at most, so it is probably 1 hour up. Next time I'm here (if I'm ever here again) I'll go up.

The guy showing me the trail was trying to teach me both French and Tahitian words for everything, and most of it, particularly the Tahitian words, were lost on me. The one phrase I already knew in Tahitian, the phrase for "thank you", I can't pronounce. It is either "moolooloo" or "moorooroo". It is some odd cross between l and r and that also may involve the ability to roll the r's, which I can't do. And maybe it is due to some Asian infruence :) No offense to Hun Zan (my token Asian friend) or Goff (my other token Asian friend).

I left after the guy was trying to insist that I try some local wild fruit...I hate most fruits. So I got the hell out of there! Then the rain came and absolutely drenched me. I wanted to bike fast so that my bag on my back would stay as dry as possible, but the water was almost blinding me. It was actually pretty fun.

That's all for now. I'm port manning in Raratonga in a few days, but it doesn't matter because the seas are so rough right now, it doesn't bode well for the island that doesn't have a good barrier to cut the swell down. We'll probably skip that island. But I'm planning hitting the peak on Bora Bora in a few days, and I'm not turning around this time.

April 19, 2006

Another busy cruise for me these last 10 days. I had planned on writing right after my hike in Rarotonga while the details were fresh, but I've been actually keeping pretty busy with other things around here. Still, here it goes.

In Rarotonga (of the Cook Islands (of New Zealand)) I hiked to the middle of the island. Actually, it would have been quicker at that point to go across the island, but I didn't want to hire a cab to take me back, and I wouldn't have had time to walk back. But the hike took me to the middle, to a large pointy rock formation known as the "Needle". From there, one can see both sides of the island with a great view of ocean, hills, and jungle. Pictures may be forthcoming.

The only other really interesting thing I've done since is a long day hike on Moorea yesterday. From an online guide on the island, I was able to find the trailhead to the second highest peak in Moorea, which is almost a kilometer in height. The trailhead actually is in someone's backyard, and it isn't much of a trailhead. I had to forage through fallen trees and shrubs before I found a few markers tied to trees. This was a neat hike for a number of reasons. First, the vegetation here is much less jungle-like. It actually seems to suggest to me a more arid climate. Maybe it is from the topography of the island (which is peculiar). At any rate, most of the hike was through ferns and shrubs, with not many trees.

One hint that my "arid" theory may be someone incorrect is the vast torrent of rain that hit me 1/10 the way up. I was able to get to a tree and not get completely soaked to the core by staying under it. But the appearance of a multi-colored 2-inch bug on my leg hastened my departure. So kept going up the mountain in the rain, which probably wasn't a good idea because this isn't the kind of trail that you want to be on when it is slick.

The reason for this is often times I was walking up a ridge with very steep and very long drop offs on either side. At some times it was like I was walking on the apex of a "V" that only formed a 15 degree angle. You just don't see these kind of things in North America, but again, considering that this island is only 2 million years old or so, I suppose such sharp edges are still possible. Those who suffer from vertigo easily shouldn't do this hike. It was strange, as I walked up and had my eyes on my feet to keep my steps sure, and my peripheral vision could see the distant terrain on both sides of my vision, so that you had the sensation often of the land moving more than you were. I had to stop often to avoid getting dizzy.

But at least I wasn't dizzy due to the heat. It was cloudy and rainy...Probably only 75 degrees F. It would be great for the hike, except at probably around 2500 feet, I entered the clouds and couldn't see much. I could see the path, but no view anymore. Given that the path was hardly maintained at all, and it was wet and slippery, I turned around at this point.

However, on my way down I somewhat regretted turning around. The sun came out. Not that this drove the clouds away...actually they moved lower. But when the sun came out, the temperature immediatly jumped to 85 degrees, and sometimes waves of heat would rise up and smack me with what felt like 100 degrees. On the way down, which isn't nearly the cardio workout, I started to loose energy due to the heat. Fortunately, I brought 3 liters of water with me. I only drank half of that, but if I were to hike up it in the sunlight, I'd need every drop of that water.

Anyway, I'm going to try it again when it isn't cloudy or wet. The views were the best I think I've ever had on a day hike. Panoramic the whole way up.

April 9, 2006

Once again, on a full day in Papeete I am IPM so I can't leave the ship. However, since my roommate and I had to wake up at 8 am (tough since I was up until 3 and he much later than that) because we switched cabins today, he is going to take a nap and I will try to swap ID's with him in the IPM board, effectively allowing me to leave the ship. If the Cruise Director catches me, then it won't happen, but it is worth a shot.

I've had an active week on the ship. Perhaps tomorrow I will post pictures, but right now I'm lacking time to set that up. Still, the pictures probably won't do justice to my hike up Mt. Pahia a few days ago in Bora Bora. Well, actually, I didn't quite make it to the top. It is only a 2000 ft climb, which isn't terribly tough compared to what I've done in the past. I've climbed more than that in a day at altitude with a 50 lb pack on my pack. And yet I've never worked so hard on a hike in my life. I hit my limit. However, note to self on how to do better next time:

1: Don't do it the day after "band night" in the crew bar, which had you up until 4 am with a steady supply of free beer.

2: Don't do it when you only have 4 hours to do the round trip.

3: Bring more than 1 liter of water.

I actually didn't think I'd go all the way to the top anyway, since I wasn't entirely certain I had found the path. But I did...it was at first overgrown with 3 feet of ferns and grass, and after that was still so unrecognizable that I often had to stop and look around just to make sure I was still on the path and not just charging through the jungle. But as it turns out, I never got lost (for more than 10 feet). Still, if there is a French Polynesian Park's Department, they don't maintain any sort of trails. Or if they do, they've never heard of switchbacks. The trail pretty much goes up at 30-45 degrees the whole way. Except for the 3 times you come across a rope, where the hike becomes a climb. At any rate, I could feel that I was getting very close to the top, but, having left the tender boat at noon, and having to be back by 3:30, I wanted to turn around at 1:45. I ended up climbing until 2 anyway, but by then I had made it above the trees and was therefore in direct sunlight, and I had only 2 large gulps of water left. And I was completely exhausted. I had to lay down beneath the ferns every 10 feet to rest and not overheat. So even though I have a hunch I was only about 50 feet from the maximum elevation, I had to turn around. I'll have another chance later, and I'll be more prepared. For starters, I'm going to take 3 full liters of water with me. And not drink the night before, and get plenty of sleep, and make sure I have at least 6 hours to do all of it so I'm not rushed. My legs have never been more sore from a hike.

I also managed yesterday to rent a car with Rob, Luke, and Priya (female dancer) and drive around the island of Moorea. We went up to a scenic overlook...much easier to drive up there than to bike or walk. And then we continued to drive around until we got to the waterfall that I had been wanting to find for a while. My directions to get there were extensive and complicated, but we found it without much difficulty. Sadly, it wasn't much of a waterfall as a 130 foot trickle. And the pool at the bottom was only 2 feet deep and the water was pretty dirty. But it was a fun time anyway. I was surprised that this particular walk didn't feel very tropical. It felt like walking around northern California or British Columbia than, say, Jamaica. There are actually pine trees.

Anyway, next cruise I will attempt Mt. Pahia again, or I will try to climb an even higher peak in Moorea. Depending on what my IPM schedule is. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to post some pictures.

April 1, 2006

Wow, I just noticed that today is a new month. One month down. While the gig seems to have its fair share of BS, the time ashore is still proving to be interesting. Today I biked around the south island of Hauhine. Hauhine is considered to be one island, even though techinically there are 2 similarly sized islands connected by a 30 foot bridge over a canal that can't be more than 10 feet deep. I had planned on perhaps finding a trailhead for future reference, and biking the whole island (which I'm guessing is about 50 km give or take....no kilometer markers). But as I left the tender with my bike, I ran into Andreas, who is an avid biker and one of the ship's senior officers. He recruited me to go around the south part and hit a beach. Even though I hadn't brought a swimming suit, I decided to go anyway. This ride wasn't just coastal...it hits a lot of winding hills as it skips a peninsula through the interior of the island.

It certainly was a great bikeride, and I intend to do it again, perhaps next time getting both parts of the "island" in the same day. Still, since it was a leisurly 30 km ride, I had time to swim and explore some native ruins that I know nothing about. I also stopped for while when going through one of the small towns. This is the most primitive major island in French Polynesia...only about 1000 people. Actually, as a side note, I spoke to a few ladies at the beach who were there on vacation and were complaining that it was too primitive. What did they expect? Cancun?

Anyway, in one of these small towns a group of 6 kids, most under 10 years old and the oldest being a girl probably of 13 stopped me, probably because they don't see too many white people bike through. They were curious and muttering to me in French, and I could understand just enough of it to look particularly foolish as I tried to hold some semblance of a conversation with them. Still, I gathered that they wanted me to give them a ride on mon velo, which I had to deny. They still kept climbing around my bike as they tried to ask me questions about where I was from and what my name was, etc. I felt like Michael Palin in "Around The World" as he fumbles through various cultures he knows nothing about. But it was still fun, and I was happy to see my 2 years of junior high French weren't a complete waste.

After all of their laughing at me was over and I kept telling them "j'ai aller mainteneau" which I may have spelled wrong, let along said wrong, I biked off. Then I realized that it was very possible that they were laughing and crawling all over my bike and to a lesser extend, me, because maybe they pick pocketed me. I stopped and made sure everything was still there...it was...and felt a little silly for thinking that was possible. Not only do these houses (which is a very loose term for them) not have locks, they don't have doors either. Except for the wealthy places, and I guess they _do_ have a reason to lock up. More houses have satellite dishes than have doors.

With any luck I'll be able to get ashore in Raratonga, which is my only hope to find a book store that actually sells English books, as I'm done with all of the books that I brought with me.

March 29, 2006

Not a lot happened of interest this cruise. With 3 days of in-port manning (IPM) and our visit to Raratonga cut short due to weather, I was stuck on on the ship for 4 of our 7 ports. So I only went ashore 3 times in 10 days. It is becoming easy to feel closed up around here. Still, a few days ago I biked around Bora Bora with the art auctioneer Kathy. Pictures forthcoming. We took a leisurely pace and stopped for swim occasionally. It is only 28 km or so around the island, so it was a joyride compared to Moorea.

Speaking of Moorea, I tried to get a group of people together to go explore the waterfalls in Moorea today. It is 30 km away, and I don't think I want to bike that again, nor could I ever convince anyone to bike it, so we tried to rent a car this morning. Turns out that all the cars were spoken for and all they had were these 2-seater buggies which look like moon rovers. The would probably be really fun to drive, except for all the exhaust. But a buggy that seats 2 costs $66 and a car that seats as many as you can fit inside costs $62. While I still voted to rent the buggies, nobody bit, so we all went to the beach. Oh well. At least going to the beach is the worst thing that could happen. Still, I thought it interesting that everybody still spent $15 on a meal and $10 round trip to the beach. Whatever. Next time, maybe I'll just bike there. I'll have to leave early in the morning, and hopefully I can find a seat that is COMFORTABLE.

In other news, I've found the trailhead to the top of Mt. Pahia in Bora Bora. The "trail" is 2 feet of grass...I don't think it is used often. I think I can get someone to go with me, but they are a bunch of wimps on this ship. I'll go by myself if I have to. At least then nobody would slow me down or say annoying things like "are you sure that is safe?" :)

March 20, 2006

Oh, some people have expressed desire for a way to contact me in the case of an emergency. I don't have the mailing address yet (but maybe tomorrow I will), but here is the phone number:
(872) 323 600 089
(872) 323 600 090
(872) 623 605 410
(872) 623 605 413
Any of the 4 numbers should work. There are 4 lines to the ship. I'm not exactly how to use these, but the (872) is an "ocean code"...so you'll probably have to contact the operator and ask exactly how to use the number.
My extension would be 4300, but I may not be there and I have no voicemail, so you may have to get transferred to the entertainment department to leave a message.

March 19, 2006

I went out to try to find a particular waterfall in Moorea...it was at kilometer marker 9.2. Since there is only one main road, circling the island, you'd think you'd only have a 1-dimensional universe, so to speak, so only a number was important.

Leave it to the French (well, French Polynesia) to add a second redundant dimensions specifying clockwise or counter-clockwise. In a nutshell, I went the wrong way.

I realized it about 10 kilometers into the bike ride so I figured, what the hell, I'll just bike around the island. Without a map. I'm amazed at how hard it is to get maps around here, but why should I really need one when there is only one circular road?

Because the island turned out to have a perimeter of 68 km. Oops...probably should have found that out ahead of time. I biked 60 kilometers of it, but realizing that I was going to be late for the tender back to the ship (and because my backside was extremely sore from that ride) I was able to flag down a local with a pickup truck and I got a ride for the last 8 km. Thus ends still the longest bike ride of my life. Still, it was an amazing bikeride. I don't have pictures ready to post, but the landscape is extraordinarily young...seems to defy entropy with the towering peaks and points. Far different from any mountain range I've ever been in.

March 18, 2006

Not a lot to report in the last cruise. I've basically been swimming a lot in my free time. In Raiatea this cruise, I took a long shuttle boat out to Motu, which apparently simply means "little island". You'd think this would cause confusion when you hear that there is a group from the ship going to "Motu", considering there are tens of "Motu" around, but somehow I was driven to the correct one anyway. I never watched Survivor, even when it was the 1st big reality show and therefore not quite as annoying as the hundred or so following it, but if I had, I think this was the kind of island they were on (which I think was in or near French Polynesia). Very small...you could run around it in a minute. Great snorkeling and great beaches.

The only other interesting thing occured yesterday as I'm still trying very hard to find the trailhead to climb Mount Pahia. I walked around the town near Pahia in Bora Bora for two hours trying to find a local person who knew where it was, and preferably spoke English. Still, I attempted asking in French, since I did after all take it in 8th and 9th grade. Ou est le [trailhead....I learned how to say that, but I forgot again] pour Pahia. One local told me it was pronounced [Pi-ya], and another disagreed. But one thing they can all agree on....they have absolutely no clue where the trailhead is.

But I'll try again next cruise. I guess I'll have many opportunities to try.

I'd like to also take this opportunity to wish my sister Sara a happy birthday (even though this won't get uploaded until at least the 19th). I was unable to contact her today, even though the satellite phone miraculously worked today.

March 9, 2006

Not a lot of new news. I've been ashore in the last week in the islands of Raiatea, Bora Bora, Moorea, and Rorotonga, the latter being the only island not part of French Polynesia but property of New Zealand. The scenery really is amazing, though I have only gotten a superficial view of things so far. I haven't gone safari yet, but I'm trying to figure out the best ways to do it and places to go. I do have some good pictures, but I can't post then yet because the one thing I seem to have forgotten is a USB cable for my camera. And it is a non-standard connection (an ironic problem for a Universal Serial Bus), so my only other option is a card reader, which do exist out here. I just have to find one. Some of the best pictures are from Raiatea where I climbed a smallish hill of I'm estimating about 1200-1500 feet that overlooks the lagoon and reef. I went up with Robb (the drummer) Alan (the bass player) and Luke (the fitness instructor). It was a fun hike, but I anticipate that the more strenuous and more remote hikes on some of the other islands will be even better.

I haven't been diving yet. Diving seems pretty expensive around here...no crew discounts either. I'll still go diving, but not as much as I had hoped. After all, I'm trying to save some money. Speaking of money, I did get a poker game going. It was only 4 player (including Alan and Luke from above), and it was very soon after only 3 player (Tara the dancer dropped out pretty quickly), but it still felt good to play. Lost the first game after a heads-up battle where I blew a huge lead (and then Luke's A-10 cracked my A-K with two pair), but I won the next one for more money. I'm optimistic that if I can keep a game going, this will be a minor source of income in the next few months.

I've played all of the production shows now, and on the whole they are better than most other shows I've done. Except for the last one where the click gets off at times, the first half of the show has all synth horns in it, and the part was written FOR synth horns (everything above the staff). So I have renamed this show "Octave transposition".

I do have restricted internet access the ship, but the crew's internet has been down for a week now. And even when it is up, I can't connect my laptop, and I so I doubt I will be sending any long emails through the ship's internet at $0.15 a minute. However, I am working on talking my way into getting a little...privileged access to the network. However, until then, I will only doing massive internet activities every 10 days. So much for downloading the latest episodes of 24. Oh well. Maybe someone wants to burn a DVD and mail me :)

March 3, 2006

A couple days ago I embarked on the Tahitian Princess, which is the smallest ship in the Princess' Fleet. So far, my time is enjoyable and there are no real warnings that it will change. My trip out here was enjoyable and relatively uneventful. The long flight went by quickly thanks to my new iPod video, and upon arrival in Papeete, I had a very nice hotel room waiting for me. Unfortunately, I arrived at 10 pm and had to leave at 8 am the next morning, so I didn't have time to enjoy much of it, but they had a very large sand beach pool that I went swimming in. It gave me a great view for my first time seeing the stars from the southern hemisphere. The first thing I noticed was Orion, which of course, you can also see at times from the north, but down here he is on his side. I also saw the southern cross for the first time...it wasn't nearly as impressive as I had expected it would be. Polaris seems a far better navigational tool, but I suppose you play the hand you are dealt in the south pacific. Also, I mistook Jupiter for Venus as it really appears to be bright at the moment.

On the ship I feel a tad claustrophobic, given that the ship is so small, my in-port manning requirement seems to be extensive (I must stay on the ship once every 3.3 stops) and to go anywhere I must put on a uniform (polo shirt and khaki pants). I even have to change to go to eat, though I get far better food than I have ever gotten on any other ship. Far better privileges as well. As for the work, the band I'm playing with is quite good, and our work load is light. Since we've only had one port stop so far, and I had in-port manning duties, I haven't had a chance to go swimming in the ocean yet. But this is probably for the best as I still have "Minnesota winter skin" and I'll burn far too easily. I spent 45 minutes in the sun yesterday and I burnt slightly. I've never been under more direct sunrays than right now. Hopefully, in a week I'll have tanned enough to be pretty resistant to sunburn and maybe I'll be able to spend a few hours on the beach or in the ocean. And hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon. More news to come.