January 30, 2013 (Sea Day)
Today was another busy sea day with a couple of new lecturers. The first lecture we attended was by a man named Charlie Urbanowicz who is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the California State University at Chico where he has taught since 1973. His lecture on this day gave insight into how the islanders arrived at their locations and how they have dealt with changes since contacted by Europeans. He also gave us some information about what to expect tomorrow at our stop in Avarua, Rarotonga.
The next speaker was a Maritime Historian named Bruce Linder who lives in Coronado, California. He gave a lecture on the Spanish Galleon named San Salvador, which was used to explore the west coast and discovered San Diego in 1542. In San Diego the maritime museum is building a replica of the San Salvador, which they hope to have finished and ready to launch by year’s end.
The afternoon included a Polynesian tea with treats from Polynesia. Every afternoon tea is served at 3:00 but some days there is a special theme or a high tea is served. When the high tea is served they have a much more elaborate assortment of treats and it is served as a buffet rather than the usual silver trays brought to each table by the wait staff. We had a bunch of treats at tea with some of our friends. Life onboard a ship is so hard to get used to.
Tonight’s Vive La France dinner is formal so we bring out the tuxedos and get all dressed up for dinner. Nearly every evening we meet friends in the Crow’s Nest bar for drinks with other gay travelers at 7:00PM prior to our 8:00PM dinnertime. The dinner menus on formal nights are generally a bit grander with items like lobster and filet mignon. The entertainment this evening is a concert pianist who accompanied a slide video with photos of different countries from around the world as he played songs from each of the featured countries. He played non-stop for the entire 45-minute show and was accompanied by the Amsterdam Orchestra’s drummer and horn players. It was a very nice evening.
When we returned to our cabin we had another gift awaiting us. Tonight’s gift was a pair of binoculars for each of us to use on our trips.