Rainy Fiji

Today we are in Suva, Fiji! Its my first time in Fiji. Unfortunately its a pretty rainy day and I don't have to best schedule, so I didn't really get to sightsee much other than the town itself. To be honest, the town of Suva isn't very nice. You really have to rent a boat to get out to the untouched beauty that Fiji is famous for. So since I can't do that today, I've just wandered about the little downtown area, and settled at Gloria Jean's, a nice coffee shop that seems to be everywhere in the South Pacific, very similar to Starbucks. Unfortunately the wifi isn't free here, but its worth paying a little bit to be able to get online here, especially since there isn't much else I can do today. Gloria Jean's always has really pretty foam-art, if you're ever lucky enough to visit one. Once the barista wrote my name in caramel syrup across the top of my caramel latte, and today they drew an intricate leaf with the different color foams. Not sure why anyone out there would care, but it makes me happy.

The other day we visited the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia, which was absolutely gorgeous. I am so happy we get to go back there petty often. It is almost entirely untouched, with beautiful white sand beaches and blue water for snorkeling. The best thing is that its all right there as you get off the ship - there really isn't anything there but the beach. I can save money and enjoy a really beautiful place every time I'm there. Its called the Isle of Pines for a reason - there are pine trees of all sorts growing right near the beach, giving the island a really interesting look.

Tonight we have our 4th guest entertainer this cruise, which is getting a little bit mentally exhuasting. I know it isn't very many hours of work, about a grand total of 4, but it takes a lot out of you to learn a new show every day and perform it that night. You really have to be focused and tuned in so you can remember everything from the rehearsal and execute it perfectly the first time in from of 1000 people. And when its a new show every day so many days in a row it starts to require a lot more mental focus to stay 100% on top of things. So I'm gearing up for tonight - just one more act tonight before we have a break. I can do it!

First cruise in Australia

We just finished our first cruise in Australia, up the east coast all the way to Cairns and back. My schedule didn't allow me as much time in a few of the ports as I would have liked, but I still had a couple of great days. We had an overnight in Cairns, and so were able to all go out at night after our shows and experience a little of the nightlife there. On the second day a few of us braved a snorkeling tour to Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef, despite the weather being a bit nasty and rainy. The visibility wasn't great, but I still saw some amazing things, like a blue spotted ray, a sea turtle, and a huge nurse shark hiding under the reef.

In Airlie Beach I got to catch up with my old friend Matt, whom I haven't seen since the last time I was in Australia, something like 6 years or so ago. He took me around to see some of the sights, including a beautiful waterfall out in the semi-rainforest area, and to see the town where he lives and the school where he teaches grade 5. It was great to catch up with him, I had a really wonderful day. Unfortunately, we don't head up that direction again, except for once about 4 months from now at the end of my contract. But even having the one day was really nice. I had just enough time to get off the ship, take a picture, and eat some ice cream (the essentials) in both Brisbane and Newcastle, due to rehearsal scheduling, but it was still nice to se a little of those cities.

Yesterday was embarkation day once again in Sydney, and I got to do something really special. One of my favorite plays, The Pirates of Penzance, had a matinee in the Opera Theatre at the Sydney Opera House, and I bought myself a ticket. Having played in the show, I know it really well, and it was like seeing an old friend. An old friend who has curiously developed an Aussie accent. :-) I was smiling and singing along through the whole show and was in a great mood all day. The great thing is its so easy just to walk there from the ship, no worrying about transportation or having enough time. I could just enjoy it. The performers were all fantastic, as was the orchestra. It was neat to hear a full orchestra play the same show I had played. We were limited in our production, but they had the full monty: 10 violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos, 2 basses, 2 flutes, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horns, two trombones and two trumpets. Awesome! In the morning I also revisted another old friend, a place called Pancakes on the Rocks. Mmmm.....yummy.

Today we're on our way to the South Pacific Islands, and also to Fiji for the first time. We are all looking forward to that!!!

Final Pacific Crossing

After about a week at sea, we finally arrived yesterday in Sydney, Australia. It is really hard to believe that we have come so far in a few weeks. We are so far from Seattle where we started.....not only across an ocean but on a different hemisphere as well! This leg of our repositioning was very very rocky - the seas were rough about 75% of the time. Many of us spent a lot of time in our beds, not because we were seasick (I felt fine the whole way), but because the rocking makes you very tired, and makes it difficult to walk, work out, or do anything well besides watching T.V. The Australian guests took the rought weather very well, though - I hate to admit it but if we had had mostly Americans they would have been miserable and complaining the whole time rather than taking it as an adventure and enjoying all the activities despite the challenges, as the Australians did this week. The majority of our guests were Australians that joined the ship in Hawaii, and they took it like champs.

So what did we do to stay entertained?? Well, we watched our way through both Star Wars trilogies and the Lord of the Rings movies, watched a lot of T.V., occasionally tried to work out despite our tendency to fall over often, read books, played scrabble and phase ten, and yes, worked occasionally. :-) As an orchestra we were quite busy with new entertainers very night. One lady (Jackie Love) was a lovely woman who is quite famous in Australia and got a great crowd and response from the guests at her show. Apparently she is a television and broadway star, well known for at one point having her legs insured for 2 million Australian dollars. Anyway she was a lovely woman to work with. Royal Caribbean's desparate search for variety enough to last a 16 night cruise landed us with something as bizarre as a show by a professional Hypnotherapist - he brought about 20 volunteers up on stage and proceeded to hypnotise them and provide us with "hypno-tainment." He did a crew show later on in the week, and it was really interesting to watch some of my friends go through the process. Strange stuff....

Yesterday we could not wait to finally dock and get our legs onto solid ground. I got off the ship as soon as I could and was astonished to walk off the ship and find myself literally about 10 steps from the Sydney Harbor bridge, and about a 5 minute walk from the opera house. We dock right in the middle of things, which is so wonderful for us since transportation is always our challenge. Downtown Sydney is an easy stroll up the street, and you can look out any window on the port side of the ship to have an unobstructed view of the opera house, just a few yards away on the other side of the harbor. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked off and looked around to see the opera house right there. It has been about 5 years or so since I stood there, and it is surreal to be back. After a day in Sydney catching up on internet and uploading photos, I came back on board and watched the sailaway from the upper decks as the sun was setting behind the opera house. It was one of the most incredible views I have ever seen.

Tonight we have a show with someone named Grant Galea. It still strikes me as strange to think that I've never met this man before, but I'll be performing with him in just a few hours for a couple thousand people. I'm about to head to rehearsal now and see what's in store for me tonight. I'm so happy to finally be in Australia!!

Part II: Bora Bora and Raiatea

Bora Bora has to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world....it is green and beautiful, with a reef surrounding it forming a shallow lagoon that makes the waters calm and clearer than any I have seen before. Here we decided to try a hike that seemed do-able, since it was close to the ship and supposedly 4 or 5 hours roundtrip. So Blanche and I decided to tackle Mount Pahia. Despite our previous research, it took us about an hour and the help of several friendly locals to find the trailhead. After that we discovered that "hiking" was a misnomer.....it was more like mountain climbing. The trail went straight up the side of the mountain, through the jungle, with no switchbacks. I took the lead, and was the official spiderweb clearer....there were hundreds of big webs blocking the path that I attacked with a stick so as not to end up with my face in one of them. At several points along the trail all fours weren't enough - you had to use a rope to climb up the rock faces and some very slippery hillsides. It rained a fair amount in the morning, making the climb pretty difficult. It took us 3 hours to get to the top, and 2 to get back down. But arriving at the top was such an amazing experience....all the sweating in that humidity was totally worth it. The view was incredible, you could see the reef, lagoons, the beautiful water, and another nearby mountain. I felt like king of the world when I made it to the top. Also, I felt pretty good physically the whole way, so I'm tipping my hat to the crazy workouts I've been doing with the cast. Climbing back down the trail was pretty scary, trying not to slip on wet rocks demanded a lot of care. We both ended up on our butts a couple of times. I still can't really believe we made it to the top and back, and didn't get hurt. We found out later that you aren't supposed to do that hike at all without an official local guide....woops. I know why now....I definitely wouldn't recommend this trail to anyone who wasn't up for a major adventure. As for me....well I loved every minute of it. Tackling rocks and mountains and obstacles and sweating and finally making it to the top makes me feel so alive!! I think Blanche hated me the whole time, but I was just on an adrenaline rush and loving it. Except for a the couple of times I ate spiderweb. After the hike I had just enough time to catch a ride to Matira Point beach, and swim and marvel at the amazingly beautiful waters. I really could not believe my eyes....it was like being in a swimming pool. A quick dip in the sea (this is after I changed out of my mud-covered pants and hiking boots), then I stopped at the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant and bar with a few of the cast before reluctantly heading back to the ship. I sure packed a lot into one day in Bora Bora!! I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm so glad I did that hike....I'll never forget it. (My sore muscles still haven't forgotten it).

In Raiatea we had less than two hours ashore, due to an early sailaway and a crew boat drill. I got off for a quick lunch and a final grocery store stop before the longest part of our crossing. Once back on board I stayed out on deck for a couple hours to watch the entire sailaway, through the reefs and past nearby Taha island, to admire the incredible beauty and to bid my farewell to land in general. I took over 200 photos just of the sailaway....that is how beautiful it was. I promise to post photos as soon as we get to Australia and I can find an internet cafe.

French Polynesia, Part 1: Tahiti and Moorea

Yesterday we arrived in Papeete, Tahiti after 5 full days at sea. Tahiti is lush and green, just as you might expect a South Pacific island to be, with some beautiful beaches and resorts and the like. After quite a bit of preparation and research, Blanche and I embarked on a hike in the Fautaua Valley. I had decided that hiking was what I really wanted to do that day, to really be in the middle of nature on the island. We were able to make it to the valley and find the trail without a guide, and were pretty impressed with ourselves. Time constraints didn't allow us to make it all the way to the falls at the end of the trail, but what we did explore was really amazing. We hiked up into the valley and didn't turn around until absolutely the last second we had available to us. We hiked in a tropical rainforest surrounding, along a river. Everything was so green. At the end of the hike we found a neat deep pool of water surrounded by tall rocks and hillsides, and went for a swim there. The river water felt incredible. We had to cross the river in a couple of places and felt very adventurous. When we made it back to town we treated ourselves to cheeseburgers at a local restaurant in Papeete. We were in port until almost midnight, so I stayed out in town with some of the cast. We ate at the "food trucks", sort of fair-style trucks and vans that park near the harbor and serve all kinds of food into the night, and went out for a drink at another local bar. We got back on the ship around 10:30 pm, and I crashed pretty soon after that.

Today we were in Moorea, another French Polynesian island, quite close to Tahiti. Blanche and I got up early so we could catch the first tender boat ashore (its a tendering port where we anchor instead of dock) at 7am. We were greeted by the locals with a spread of fresh fruit and flowers for our hair (gardenias, the official flower of the islands). We found a local guide and joined a few other early birds for a relatively cheap tour of the island. He drove us to a couple of high lookout points, through a pineapple farm (we got to eat some fresh pineapple...yummy!!), and to a few "Mareas", old polynesian temple ruins. After our tour we did some snorkeling in the amazingly blue waters and then relaxed on the beach. We spent some time at the Intercontinental Resort, where they have bungalows on the edges of little islands literally on the water, with balconies that have ladders leading down into the ocean. I would love to stay there....wow. This island as well is just so green....and the mountains are very steep and unique formations. I think parts of South Pacific were filmed there. So far I am loving french polynesia....I wish we came here more than once!!! We still have two more ports to go, which I'm really looking forward to.

Equator Crossing!!

On our southbound cruise to Tahiti, we have now officially crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere. I suppose I have technically crossed this imaginary line before while flying, but doing it by sea seems more exciting for some reason. To recognize the occasion, we had a ceremony on the pool deck, where by proxy we were all "initiated" from being "pollywogs" (never crossed into the southern hemisphere before) into "shellbacks." To be initiated the crew members and guests who had volunteered were brought before "Neptune" (the cruise direcotr in a sheet and a white beard) the sea god to confess their crimes and that they had entered into his domain without permission and requested entry. Then as penance they had all sorts of food dropped on them, eggs cracked on their heads, and had to kiss a fish. I'm glad I didn't volunteer. At the end of the ceremony, by proxy, we were all inducted into the illustrious "shellback" society. All the crew received certificates for the crossing, as well, which are actually pretty cool. I wonder what they are going to do when we cross the international dateline???

A few quotes from the bandstand this week: During one show where we had a different set up and I was moved to be next to the rhythm section, our Swedish guitarist leaned over to me and said, "Andrea, I have never felt so close to you." After finishing a show where we played along with a clicktrack and doubled parts that were pre-recorded, our bassist said, "That was Track-tastic." While preparing for a guest talent show, one band member likened trying to follow an inexperienced singer to a race where instead of the guest running to the finish line, we have to pick up the finish line and chase them with it.

Hawaii!!

Hawaii was absolutely incredible. We had to much time off the ship, we really felt like we were on vacation. We certainly spent money like we were on vacation. Or spent like sailors, I guess.

Our overnight in Maui was incredible. I rented a car for both days, a little subaru impreza. Map in hand my friend Blanche and I explored quite a bit of the island. On the first day we went had a fantastic breakfast on the beach in Napili Bay (white and milk chocolate chip macadamia nut pancakes - hello!!), then went up to Honolua Bay for the best reported snorkeling on the island. After getting pretty sunburned I got checked into my hotel and got ready for the evening - a Luau on the beach with a lot of my friends from the ship. The Luau was so cool - the atmosphere is almost TOO perfectly Hawaiian, with palm trees, tiki torches, native people, and a sunset on the ocean, and the food was awesome. I loved the hula/ploynesian dance show that they put on, too. After the Luau I headed back to my hotel, and had a nice walk on the moonlit beach before taking my much-anticipated bath and crashing in my big, real bed. :-) The next day I picked up Blanch at the pier at 7am and we headed for the "Highway to Hana", to get as far as we could before heading back to the ship that afternoon. We tried fruit and banana bread from the roadside vendors, and made a few little treks to some small waterfalls and pools, and had a dip in one of them. The coast highway to Hana is absolutely breathtaking, and we made it about halfway around before we needed to start back.

In Kauai I didn't have much time ashore, but did manage to get to the beach, and went out to watch the sunset over the island as we sailed away. Kauai is so green and wet...over by the mountains it rains almost every day. I saw the unique hills on the north side of the island that are so recognizable in movies filmed there.

In Honolulu I did something I never thought I would ever do. My friends in the cast and I went skydiving off the north shore of Oahu! I still can't believe I fell out of a plane at 10,000 feet....but I have the photos and the DVD to prove it. :-) It was certainly a rush - but I didn't freak out nearly as much as I thought I might. I stayed pretty calm the whole time. Of course, you've gotta scream as you make the initial jump, otherwise its no fun. :-) We all went tandem, so we were hooked onto a pro who handled the parachute and the landing on the ground. It was a huge thrill....if I did it again I'd do it without the photographer so I could focus on the feeling of the freefall and enjoy the scenery more. But I don't know if I'll do it again....that remains to be seen. :-) I'm pretty proud of myself for trying something new that scares me! After getting changed back at the ship I went out on the town with the girls from the cast. We got all dressed up and went out to dinner at a restaurant in Waikiki, and then went out dancing until the wee hours. It was so much fun!! The next day I went to Pearl Harbor in the morning and visited the site and the Arizona Memorial. It was a very moving and emotional experience for me, and I learned a lot. That evening I visited the mall with my friends, did some more shopping in Waikiki, walked along the beach in the moonlight, and went out to dinner and dessert again with some of my friends. At 9:30pm we reluctantly trudged back on board, hating every step.....we all wanted to stay in Hawaii forever!!! It really had started to feel like we didn't work on a ship and were just vacationing in Hawaii....the overnights made it really awesome. We sailed away aroun 11pm that night, and I went out on deck to watch the lights of Honolulu and Waikiki disappear into the night. Goodbye, Hawaii! I hope I get to come back someday!