July 7th, Sunday 2019, Day 13, Taha’a I arose early because of a continuous clunking above our cabin. We’re right below the deck but when I investigated I found, not an anchor, but the HVAC. Remains a mystery. The delightful outcome was a great view of the sunrise over the islands of Taha’a. Sun obscured…

July 9th: Day 12 Huahine Island We anchored in a lovely lagoon, surrounded by a reef with dense rainforests rising right from the base of each mountain and covering the island. This was a very, very green island. Hit your ball into the rough here and you’ll never find it again— of course, since there…

July 6th, 2019: Day 11 Bora Bora This morning, we woke to the sounds of maneuvering as we approached the entrance to the Bora Bora channel. Oh, and this island is what we have been dreaming of! The colors of blue that white sand and pure water create, small islands covered in palms, waves crashing…

Day 7, July 2nd, Eclipse Day! We got up early and were excited to see blue sky overhead with just a few clouds on the horizon. It was going to be perfect for viewing the eclipse, after all! People were jolly at breakfast and preparing their spots on deck. The announcement came that viewing would…

Day 6: July 1, 2019, July 1st Brief recap By the strangest string of events, we went from the Altadena golf course, directly into planning and departure mode. It turns out that my dad and his wife were scheduled to depart Tuesday night for Papeete, but on Monday had a personal crisis that was too…

Day 5, June 30: Closer and arriving at Pitcairn island Everyone’s going native. As we near Pitcairn, people are showing up in exotic local tee shirts in combination with the huge variety of eclipse shirts they’ve been wearing all along as sorts of bragging rights and conversation starters. We awoke to the sighting of Pitcairn…

Day 4, June 30th, 4th Day at Sea, heading for Pitcairn Island Slice of life scene this morning: We had another one hour time change this morning. This meant that we were in a hurry to get up to Deck 9 where the walking group meets. There weren’t many of us this morning and a…

Day 2: June 27, 2019. Pitcairn Island Plan (Talk this morning) For for proposed landing on Sunday, June 30th or July 1st The captain and the ship have been to all islands around, but have never been to Pitcairn before. A first for everyone but the anthropologist on board. For the ship and captain, this…

Day 1, June 24, 2019, Heading to Tahiti As soon as we returned from Bandon Dunes, Oregon, Dad let us know that something had gone terribly wrong with his home loan. He had all sorts of easy fix-it ideas, but there was no way to act quickly enough, however, because he was scheduled to leave…