Having departed New Zealand and traveling north, we now truly feel like we are on our way home. As we continue north, temperatures are getting warmer again, our last gasp of warm weather before returning to New Lenox for the duration of the winter.
Following two days at sea and a chance to catch up from our busy pace in New Zealand, we began to get back to our on board activities again. Both of our new lecturers are experts on the South Pacific. One focuses more on Hawaii and its natural and historical past, while the other deals more with the South Pacific islands. She has delivered two lectures on Robert Louis Stevenson (who will be cited more when I discuss our stop in Apia, Samoa).
I have tried to continue my sea day activities of walking the deck before breakfast as I did on our way across the Pacific to Australia. On the first morning out of New Zealand, I noticed a bird flying near the bow of the ship. At first I thought it was a gull far from land but it seemed quite large for a gull. After 2 – 3 times around the deck, this bird still seemed to be staying with the ship. But I noticed that it was doing more gliding than flying and began to wonder if it was one of those magnificent albatrosses. Then I noticed it was flying along side the port side of the ship. The next time around the deck, it was still there. I heard a man saying to his wife, “Poor Alby, he never learned to flap his wings.” I wished I had had a camera and decided if I saw it again on my next pass to the port side, I was going up to our stateroom and hopefully go out on the veranda and take a picture. We had tried so hard to get a good picture of an albatross when we were in Dunedin, but only got pictures of them in the distance. Sure enough, “Alby” was still there, so I cut my walk a little short, went back to the room and asked Barb if she had noticed the albatross. She of course hadn’t been looking, so she hadn’t seen it. We went out on the veranda armed with cameras, and saw … nothing but the wide open seas. I even went up on the top deck and walked around both sides, but it had left. No luck in my photo opportunity. I had seen the albatross but as soon as I went for my camera, it apparently had become camera-shy and was never again near the ship.
Before arriving in Tonga, the shore excursions director had reminded us not to expect the sophistication of Australia and New Zealand. That had been our admonition when we visited the islands on our way across, but we had picked up new guests in Sydney and the rest of us had experienced two countries very similar to the US for over three weeks. One of the first things we noticed as we approached the Kingdom of Tonga was that the temperatures were becoming warmer. It had been quite cool in New Zealand, except for the days we were with our friends, Brian and Margaret. We were scheduled to be at anchor, which would have meant tenders to get ashore, but were told the night before that it looked like we could dock in Nuku’ Alofa, the capital and largest town on the island of just over 100,000 people. It was a working dock and rather primitive in comparison with recent ports. An Australian military ship was docked nearby and we were told that that vessel was present to assist Tonga in relief from a tsunami that had hit the island a year or so ago.
We selected a short tour here, called “Historic Nuku’ Alofa”. We boarded our buses which were “air conditioned” by the open windows. Our first stop was at the king’s palace. As indicated, Tonga has been a kingdom which succeeded in maintaining independence during the years of European and American imperialism. (In 1900, though, Tonga became a British protectorate, and in 1970 it gained full independence within the British Commonwealth.) Until recently, the monarch has had most power, but citizens had demanded more rights. After the last king passed away, the new king, crowned several months ago, has extended more individual rights and we noticed congratulatory messages on buildings and billboards expressing appreciation to the king for accepting more limited powers. In fact, the new king (age 57) hasn’t chosen to live in the palace, preferring to live in his own residence. From there, we visited the extensive grounds where the previous king had been buried.
Nuku’ Alofa conveys a town which is far from affluent. (For those with whom we visited Puerto Maldanado, Peru as we entered the Amazon rainforest in 2008, Nuku’ Alofa was more modern and sophisticated than that was, but not by the standards of other national capitals.) In fact, we were told that Tonga was the poorest of the Polynesian islands which seemed to be borne out by our observations. These people seemed to be more Melanesian the Polynesian in origin. Our guide told us that we would see three things in profusion as we traveled from Nuku’ Alofa into the countryside. These were schools, churches, and cemeteries. The cemeteries were ornate and decorated much more than cemeteries in the US. Blankets, quilts, and other items seem to be abundance and many graves are mounded above ground unlike ours that tend to be flat with markers indicating who is there.
We made a short visit to the spot where Captain James Cook first landed in Tonga on one of his explorations. Next we made a stop at the large Ha’ amonga Trilithon archway which was a passageway to the Royal compound about 800 years ago. The best comparison would be to a Stonehenge structure except not as extensive as Stonehenge. What really caught our eye however, when we drove up was the sudden appearance of dozens of young children running toward us from their school across the road. They lined up along the fence, waving at us and singing and yelling happily. Outside the fence was a table displaying crafts and a sign saying that donations to the school would be appreciatively accepted. Barb and I were among the first to walk over and leave a small donation in the basket. Each time someone left some money, the children would call out “Thank you” and wave. We spoke briefly to their teacher who had traveled to Canada; she told us that the children were raising money for their end of the year and Christmas activities as their school year is drawing to a close with the approach of their summer.
I found the countryside somewhat similar to Vanuatu and am glad we had the opportunity to see the rural areas of Tonga beyond Nuku’ Alofa. A visit to Tonga and other South Pacific islands gives one a greater appreciation for the cultures of that region. It tends to be part of “flyover country” but a visit there generates a greater understanding of their ways of life.
We visited Tonga on Thursday, November 19 and then had a day at sea on Thursday, November 19. We had thought we were getting two November 20ths. However, instead, we were told that we would repeat November 19 without resetting our clock times. Therefore we went from 19 hours ahead of Chicago and then woke up the next morning still on November 19, but now 5 hours behind.
On our day at sea, we did have one very unique activity. For guests in our stateroom category, we were treated to a “dungeon” tour. They always give a kitchen tour on every cruise, but we had the opportunity to tour the butcher shop, dry storerooms (dry foods), refrigerator and freezer rooms, vegetable prep room, the laundry and dry cleaner area (Barb saw her sweater on a hanger ready to be returned), the carpenter shop, upholstery shop, tailor shop, and the garbage room. We even passed the ship morgue but were not invited in! No, one one was there. Someone asked. However there have been one or two deaths onboard this cruise. Trust me when I say that there is a very elderly population here! One good thing about getting home is being once again with younger people! At the conclusion of the tour, we were invited to an Indonesian lunch buffet in the “dungeon.” It was a very interesting tour.
Our last port before Hawaii, USA was Apia, Samoa. As we arrived, we were treated to Samoan music and dancers who were out at 6:30 to serenade us just as we had experienced in Fiji a month ago. We did a tour called Apia Highlights and the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. We were put on tiny seats in small buses for this tour and made our first stop at a fish market, displaying the day’s catch which included some exotic seafood. Next we made a brief stop at the national parliament for the small nation of about 190,000 people. It was an unusual building with no designation as to what it was outside. It was a round, windowed building and we could peer in and see the desks. It did not appear that there was office space in that building so offices must have been nearly. We proceeded to a lively market of crafts, daily essentials, and food. It was bustling with locals and tourists as well as men drinking the national drink (kava). Some were at tables playing games like dominoes and checkers. It is certainly a slower pace of life!
From there we went up the hill outside town to where Robert Louis Stevenson spent the last four years of his life. A man not in good health, he had come to the Adirondack Mountain area of New York State and found the climate of Saranac Lake in the winter to be much too harsh. Our lecturer spent two days telling us about his life in New York State and how he decided to move to where conditions were better. Since he was a man of means, he outfitted a ship for a trip to Samoa where he found the life he had dreamed of. He fell in love with Samoa and the Samoan people who now revere Stevenson. He chose to be buried in Samoa and his home is now a museum and a tribute to his life. We enjoyed our visit to his museum as well as the Samoan musical entertainment that was provided there. (One of our tablemates at dinner tonight told us she had spoken with someone in town who asked where Stephen Foster’s home was!!! It never ceases to amaze me how people can take a trip such as this and be so totally clueless as to what they are doing. Imagine an adult confusing Robert Louis Stevenson and Stephen Foster!)
After we returned to the ship, children from Samoa, ages 5 – 14 put on a wonderful show with, once again the native music and dance. It was delightful having these children perform. Samoa (as had nearby American Samoa) was hit by the tsunami of September 29 although here we saw no evidence of the damage. Before the children’s show, a DVD of the destruction from the tsunami was shown. At the conclusion of the show, the cruise director presented their school with a check for $3,000 from Holland America – a gesture which thrilled the kids. We heard they were invited for lunch at the Lido (informal cafeteria lunch) and were given a tour of the ship. Story was that the kids wanted to stay on the ship. As they left and as we prepared to depart, they sang and waved and called “thank you” to guests that were on their verandahs waving back at the children.
Now we are really headed for home in earnest. After four days at sea, we will spend 3 days in Hawaii, United States of America! Despite a wonderful time and great memories of peoples and cultures, it will be good to set foot on American soil again.
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