Arlene again. We wound up eating with Russ,Debbie, her parents and friends and had a great time, at the expense of Gil's mother. Anyone for warm ice cream? After dinner we walked around and then headed to karaoke. Russ and Brenda (Debbie and Russ's friend) did karaoke. What they didn't tell us is they could sing! So of course no one else wanted to go after them.

The next day we were at Raitea and I had my biggest disappointment yet. In the morning we left the ship and went across the street to a small market where they had shell necklaces. There were two booths with beautiful necklaces and I couldn't decide between them. (I hadn't seen anything like them in Huahine or Papeete). So instead of deciding then, I instead decided to go with Gil (who was quickly becoming bored)to find a taxi to take us touring. We had a wonderful tour of the whole island and then came back to town. Gil headed back to the ship and I went to look at the small shops around the dock. Finally after deciding those shops had nothing, I went back to the market. Sigh...the one shop with 3 necklaces I liked was already closed even though the market supposedly didn't close for another hour. At the second booth, I tried on the other necklace I had liked but that one didn't fit. So I left emptyhanded.

However that didn't dampen my enthusiasm later when I watched the children dancing. What made the dancing even more enjoyable was seeing Debbie's dad Bill up there dancing with the children. (pictures to follow.)

That night we had dinner with an adorable new member of the staff from HR. HIs name is Richard Hopkins and he's no relation to Barry. I think we made Ruth jealous as he was definitely a cutie. (again, pictures to follow.)

A bit of not so good news was there seems to be some stomach flu on board and Brenda, Shawna and Jack picked it up. However it didn't seem to keep Shawna and Jack doing the hike to H*ll to the waterfall. They both deserve a medal.

Yesterday we were in Rangorea. We sailed through the pass, watching the dolphins and then when we dropped anchor we went on our snorkel tour. We loved it. Lots of fish and even one or two good photographs. Last night was the B & K cocktail party. It was great to meet those folks I hadn't met yet. All are great folks. Shawna and I tried to figure out how many strange places one could get sunburned in. We had no plans for dinner, so Russ and Debbie allowed us to tag along with their group.

The 10 of us sat at the captains table and Bill became the captain for the night. More discussions followed including those about me playing in a photo darkroom, the name of the wine that Gil made several years ago and of course poor Gil's mom and this time about kiddie pools. The best part of the meal was the laughter we all shared and we almost closed down the restaurant and would have if some of us didn't want to make the show!

Today is basically a sea day. We sail at noon. I have to go now to learn how to make a woven bracelet.