Hilo, Hawaii - April 21

Hilo is on the "big island" of Hawaii, the youngest and largest and still growing thanks to the flows of Mount Kilauea. Because of its location on the eastern side of the island, Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the world.
We will visit Hilo again during our cruise so today we took the shuttle to Walmart for a few things we had run out of.
This is the last day of our first cruise and many of our friends are leaving tomorrow. Others will be joining us .
Tomorrow - Honolulu, Hawaii

Sunday, April 15 - Bora Bora

Bora Bora is one of the most romantic, most magical destinations on earth. It is the kind of place dreams of made of, where every view is post card perfect.

Today we went on Patrick's Tour with 24 of our cruising friends. We began our tour on an outrigger canoe to feed the blue tipped sharks and snorkeling. Next, we boarded the canoe to another location to feed and swim with the sting rays. What a fun time! Patrick took us to a beautiful island for lunch of suckling pig baked in an earth oven, grilled lobster, grilled tuna, breadfruit, fresh pineapple and grapefruit, plantains and other island delicacies served on large leaves.

Another great day on another beautiful island.

Our plates for lunch!

 

Paradise

Next 5 days - Sea days - Hilo on April, 25

 

Saturday, April 14 - Moorea

From a peak in Tahiti, Charles Darwin described the neighboring Moorea surrounded by a reef as "a picture in a frame.". Moorea is truly idyllic with aquamarine lagoons, pineapple and vanilla plantations, lush volcano peaks, and extra long stretches of white and black beaches.

Todaywith went with a large group of friends to a Liki Tiki Motu Adventure where we will feed and swim with the black tipped reef sharks and the sting rays, have a picnic lunch and snorkel.

Moorea is a beautiful island. I don't think pictures do it justice.

 

Sharks and sting rays, yikes!!!

Tomorrow - Bora Bora

Friday, April 13 - Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia

Land Ahoy, finally. Tahiti, sometimes thought of as a group of islands, is not. Tahiti is the largest of the Society Islands of French Polynesia. It is mountainous and ruggedly beautiful and due to the volcanic nature of the island, it is covered with a lush tropical forest and surrounded by coral reefs teeming with sea life.

Population is around 200,000 and Tahitians are French citizens.

 

 

Testing

Having a wonderful time in Papeete

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Papeete

Crossing the International Dateline - April 10 #2

Another beautiful day in the South Pacific. For the next couple of days we'll be cruising before we get to Papeete, Tahiti. We have people on board that have celebrated their birthday or anniversary two days in a row. Lol

I'm having trouble downloading my pictures to this program. Downloading to the iPad is fine but it takes too much time to download to blogsyapp. I'll do what I can.

 

At Sea until Friday

 

Day at Sea - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 #1

Today is our first April 10. Because we will be crossing the International Dateline tomorrow, we will have 2 April 10s. So, tomorrow will also be Tuesday, April 10. We have lost 2 hours since we have left Sydney and will lose 2 more hours this week.

Auckland was a beautiful, clean city. It is known as the "The City of Sails" as 1 out of 3 households owns a boat. There are also around 135,000 yachts and launches berthed in the harbor.

Today we'll have lunch with friends we met in the Galapagos last year. Tonight we'll have dinner at the Samba Grill, a new Brazilian Steakhouse venue.

Tomorrow - Crossing the International Dateline

 

Auckland - Easter Sunday and Monday - April 8 & 9

Auckland is New Zealand's largest and most important city and is the country's major gateway for ship and air traffic, but Wellington is the capital. Auckland is built atop a cluster of extinct volcanos.

 

 

On Sunday we waled around the harbor looking at the multi-million dollar boats. On Monday we took a bus tour I arranged on cruise critic.

We drove around the city enjoying the sites including the Winter Gardens and lily ponds.

 

Sailing the Tasman Sea - April 7

Today we're sailing the pristine waters of the Tasman Sea where ocean depths average 6,000 ft and the water temperature is a cool 66 degrees.

Today is an exploration day - a little trivia, horse racing at sea (yes, I said horse racing) checking out dining menus (there are so many places to choose from now), and just bumming around. It's another nice sunny day.

Tonight we are eating at Izumi, the Asian Restaurant with Bill and Liz.

 

 

 

Tomorrow - Auckland

 

Day at Sea - Crossing the Tasman Sea

Finally a good night's sleep and another sunny day. We had a nice breakfast and attended a lecture on the settling of Australia.

The Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand is sometimes pretty rough. Today we had 3 - 4 ft. Swells and it was a little rough.

We took some time to look around at the new additions (new restaurants) to the ship. We bought a package so we could eat at each of the new venues. Will report on each.

Formal night tonight.

Tomorrow - Day at Sea

 

Boarding the Radiance of the Seas - April 5

Woke to another beautiful morning and excited to be finally embarking on our cruise. Our cab arrived at 9:15 and we were at the port early. It was good to see Bill and Liz, Sandy and Rick, Sheila and Bob and Sue and Jim. We ate a nice lunch and were able to go to our cabins at about 1pm.

Our aft cabin faced the Bridge and Opera House and the view was just beautiful. Sailaway was at 6pm. Had a nice get together in the lounge.

Tomorrow - Day at Sea

 

Hop On Hop Off Bus and Harbor Cruise -April 4

This morning we had our breakfast and headed out with Jackie and Jim and Ken (Nancy wasn't feeling well) to catch the HoHo Bus. We usually like to take these busses as they give you a good lay of the land.

Another beautiful day in Sydney. Having such a good time with our friends and looking forward to boarding the ship soon.

We decided to add the Harbor Cruise to our ticket. It was a fun day ending with a thirty cent ice cream cone at McDonalds (the cheapest thing to be had in Sydney).

 

Tomorrow - Boarding the Radiance of the Seas

 

The weather has been beautiful with sunny, cool to warm days. The jet lag has been awful. If we go to sleep to early, we wake up way too early. Each day gets a little better, I think.

We were picked up at our B&B early and taken to Featherdale, an award winning wildlife park where we got up close with Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabees, and all sorts of animals and birds.

 

After the park we were taken to the Nurringingy Reserve to try a little Boomarang throwing and learn a little about the early inhabitants of Australia.

 

We continued to the heart of the Blue Mountains where we started out on a guided walk to a cliff lookout of the Jamison Valley (picture a Grand Canyon with lush green trees).

After a lunch of prawns, chicken wings and local fish, we were taken to the capital of the Blue Mountains, Katoomba. We rode the steepest incline railway in the world into the World Heritage listed rainforest of the Jamison Valley into a lush hidden valley. There we had a guided walk under the rainforest canopy. We rode the Flyway Cable Car back to the top.

 

On the way back to Sydney we drove around the Sydney Olympic Park. Later, we were dropped off at the ferry and rode past the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We all had a wonderful day in Sydney.

Tomorrow - Hoho bus and Harbor Cruise

unfortunately, having problems downloading pics - Will post when I can

 

Arrived in Sydney

Arrived in Sydney this morning at 8am. Checked in the B&B and met up with Jackie and Jim, Ken and Nancy. Eating and checking mail at McDonalds. Quarter pounder was $6.95.