Leave tomorrow morning at 6.00 am and spending two days with June and Ralph in Palm Dessert before heading to Tahiti to join the Mariner for MOAI..

Have missed some of my favorite Regent dishes and getting reports back that the food has never been better! YES I can definitely handle that!

Be back to you when the FUN starts.

We're here keeping things ship shape for you. See you in Papeete!

Back Row: Chuck, Ralph,Ray,Ken,Tom
Front Row: Sue, Ngaire, June and Marcie



On the way to Tahiti we stopped and visited June and Ralph. Marcie and Tom were staying as well and some other BK clients some of you may have met came over for dinner. We had a SUPER time, one more night here and then we head off to Tahiti.

Ralph got a bunch of ice cream sent down from Cincinnati, Ohio. The Graeter's ice cream with multiple flavors and lemon and raspberry sorbets was fantastic. Will never tell how many flavors I tried.

I LOVE these pix and the ice cream looks yummy!!!

Looking good, Everybody! Love all those big smiles! I can vouch for that Graeter's ice cream! One of the best things about living in Ohio!

The ice cream was delicious !! We (Linda & Chuck, Sue & Ray, Ngaire & Ken, Ralph & June) had a super fun evening.

Ralph & June are the very BEST host and hostess ever.

Love seeing familiar faces having a good time and eating ice cream .

Boarded the Mariner yesterday so nice to be back. We found Amy at the front desk, Dennis in Compass Rose, and Stan at Prime 7 all kinds of familiar smiling happy faces.

We had an informal gathering in the Observation Lounge with some of the group and fun to get together and catch up.

Enjoyed one of the best Prime 7 meals ever. Crab Cake (better by far than in the past) Crab Legs and Prime RIb, followed by berries and creme anglais.

Today we are in Huahine - we have been here many times. The Tahitian Islands are so beautiful. I heard it rained a few days before we got here but today the sun is shining. Missing the PG Motu Mahana that is close by. Tomorrow off to Bora Bora.

I loved these pictures!

Ngaire, you make me miss it already, having just left the ship! But I am glad to be home, even with the cold. Hope you all enjoy the same great service I have received in the last month or so, it seems to be better all the time for me!

Say hello to Eric and Dennis for me. And if you happen to have Geraldine as your stewardess, her as well. And Esther in the Horizon's Lounge, she will remember Jerry and me in CClub. She kept Jerry and I and several UK passengers very happy last cruise.

We had lunch with Dennis yesterday he was as much fun as usual. He goes on vacation at the end of this cruise. We discovered he is best friends with ARNOLD from the Song Of Flower that some of you will remember fondly.

Last night at Signatures - again a fabulous meal. Same menu items as in the past but they seemed to taste better! Enjoyed the company of Gail and George who are actually neighbors of ours in Dallas that we did not know before they became clients. They are a lot of fun. Hopefully others will meet them eventually and of course they will be at Rodeo.

Sailing into Bora Bora was a beautiful as ever. We decided to not do a tour but just went into town and wandered around.. Years and years pass and nothing seems to change. It appears to be the same as it was on our first visit to Bora Bora probably 15 years ago. Maybe changes have happened elsewhere on the island but this seems to be a place where time stands still. They did have new and better glass bottom boats now and of course still the free shuttles to the pearl stores!

Ken has not taken many pictures yet but we will post some at some point, maybe people pictures at our BK Party tomorrow night.

so happy you're off to such a great start. Looking forward to Ken's fabulous pictures, I couldn't find a roll call so no idea who's on with you except Peggy & Jerry.

Keep enjoying the gorgeous islands !

Bo and Meredith, George and Polly may be all you know Marcie. The group is 32 people.

Photos from Moai:


The Hotel Tiara Tahiti on the corner is where we had a day room in Papeete before we boarded the Mariner.




Arrival in Bora Bora.




Welcome to Bora Bora.

Rangiroa, French Polynesia:


Going through the Pass.


More shopping.




Scuba Dive Boat.




Hinano, the local beer of Tahiti.


Leaving Rangiroa with strong currents through the passage.




B&K Cocktail Party.


Massimo, General Manager picks a preliminary free cruise winner.

Fakarava

First time I have visited this little slice of paradise. After so many trips to Polynesia not sure how Ken and I have not visited this little gem of a port before. A tiny atoll that has only 800 inhabitants.

No buses, or tons of tourists. Just a small one road town, with lots of beautiful little beaches, stunning water colors and smiling friendly faces. On arrival the locals sang and danced for us on the dock. Then in front of us were delightful wood houses painted in pastel colors with large verandas. The entire environment causes a person to relax and soak in the pretty scenery.

There are no taxis and no rent cars but you can rent a bicycle. They do not get many visitors nothing to do but go to the beach or visit the lovely little church. Just a delightful, stress free short port of call and so much fun to see such an unspoiled and remote place.

Ken took pictures some will eventually get posted.

Lovely. Sounds like my kind of port!

Loving the reports and the photos - as always!

Love all these pictures, it looks so beautiful !! Fakarava sounds amazing, we've never been there either, in fact I've never heard of it. So happy you got to stop there.

Fakarava, French Polynesia:


Welcome to Fakarava.










Beautiful Church.




These guys were driving up and down the road waving to people.

Thanks, Ken and Ngaire, for posting these pictures and reminding me why I love French Polynesia so much!

Anyone there want to trade? Snow and freezing rain in Virginia today. Keep posting pictures of sun and sand!

Sorry Paul do not think you will have any takers on that offer. Life is good on the Mariner.

Pitcairn Island. Mother Nature was not kind.

We arrived at the island and encountered 10 ft swells. Not a problem on the Mariner just a little movement, but too much for the tender or for the long boats to come out to the ship to board. You could see the waves crashing on the short of Bounty Bay. Last time we were here we could not land but the people came to the ship in their longboats and it was a lot of fun. There are 45 residents now on Pitcairn. I felt sorry for the islanders as this is a chance for them to sell things and make some money. I am sure they just as disappointed as we were. They only get supplies four times a year, there is no air strip. Talk about isolated!
It was a sunny day and Ken took some pictures of the houses on the island so he will post those soon. They do have New Zealand TV and internet!

Having a great time met some fun new people and that is always good.

Seem to constantly get third place a trivia. The place is packed for tea, standing room only. They are bringing in chairs from the coffee corner! Silly designers with these HUGE chairs that are so hard to move and uncomfortable to sit in. The person who made these choices are never been on a Regent ship for afternoon tea and trivia!

Pitcairn Island:


Our arrival was cloudy and dark with rain on the left side of the island.
It cleared up nicely when we sailed to the other side.




The boat dock is on the bottom left hand side of this photo.






The boat dock.








Good Bye Pitcairn.

Beautiful photos. So sorry you couldn't go ashore on Pitcairn.

Ken, thanks for the pictures; someday I hope to get to Pitcairn.

Marc

Easter Island. Yeah the weather was good and we all got ashore. I think there would have been a very disappointed boatload of passengers had we been unable to tender. This was the highlight and primary reason for many guests to take this trip.

Too long to explain but it seemed like Bo and Meredith would not be able to go ashore in the morning. So Ken and I traded our afternoon tender tickets with them so they could go in the afternoon. Then Bo and Meredith they came running down announcing they could go in the morning after all so Ken and I decided to go standby for the same tour.

However, we would not get tender tickets without those morning tour tickets. So we got 6 independent standby tickets. Well that did not work well as we could not get on the tender for our tour. We had to wait for the NEXT tender! By the time we got to shore we were too late for our tour. Now what!

So we decided to get a taxi. Easier said than done. Lots of people waiting to do that for us but fighting with one another and lots of confusion on pricing and if we had to buy park tickets at $60 per person or not. In the end after much negotiation we found a nice young man that had a van for six with air conditioning (that worked great) and did not hassle us with pricing and off we went. It was basically $100 per person plus tip and the $60 park fee so not a cheap tour. $340 per couple.

However, with just the six of us we were able to do all the key attractions on the island so we were all very happy with the outcome. Usually when things to wrong they really end up okay in the end. Ken is going to be posting pictures shortly if the internet will work. He is working on it now.

The island is really lovely, the Moai terrific, the crater with all the green and water is different to any I have seen before. The wild horses were everywhere. We had a really great day.

Met some great new BK clients on this trip and had some really delightful dinners. That is always fun and look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Only three days to go now and then home to prepare for our ZEBRA South African Safari.

Easter Island, Chile:

Ngaire, you must have a full ship if they split the tours into morning and afternoon. Remember the Ring of fire cruise when the Mariner was less than half full and our Easter Island tour was full day with lunch included? We had beautiful weather that day as well. It looks like some of the Moais have deteriorated more over the past 5 years.
Jim

Beautiful photos, Ken! Thanks for posting!

Mariner's Stars Lounge:

Gail, George, Ngaire, & Ken.

Those are amazing photos, Ken. Love seeing all the new places I want to visit. Easter Island is definitely one of them. Thanks for sharing with us!