Pago Pago, American Samoa

What a beautiful place! I was up early to join a guest tour of the island, the rather obvious alternative to participating in another crew drill all morning after 4 days at sea. Our tour went around the island, across from the harbor of 'Payngo Payngo' (as it's pronounced) where we docked all the way to the western side. We made a few stops, such as the "flowerpot" rock, which rises out of the sea near shore and is covered with greenery on top, and the site of the first missionary landing in Leone. We also stopped at a local village and met the chief and his wife as they greeted us with the traditional Kava Ceremony. They live in modern buildings, but the ceremony took place in the traditional round, columned, unwalled 'guest house'. After the ceremony we were entertained by some local dancing. One of many things I found interesting about the island is that many locals use discarded tires as creative flowerpots or plant protectors. Some are so huge they must have been from tractors, and many are whitewashed, perhaps as an attempt at disguise.

After the tour I had enough time to wander down to a resort and have a dip in the sea. It was amazing to float out there and see the tall green mountains all around. The island is of course tropical, and filled with such lush greenery. On my next (as yet hypothetical) visit, I would love to do some hiking in the national park. I read about a few amazing hikes you can take there. Next time! But I did manage to get in a little shopping before I had to rush back for rehearsal. It was a lovely day, and a lovely place. I hope I come back!
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A more Pacific crossing

Since leaving Hawaii we have had really fabulous weather and smooth seas, improving every day. Today is already our fourth and final sea day before our next port, they have really flown by as I stay busy practicing and reading. Jane and I just finished watching all three extended edition Lord of the Rings films, in about 1 or 1 and a half hour chunks, in preparation for New Zealand next week.

Yesterday we crossed the equator, and the Queen Elizabeth witnessed a large scale version of the traditional ceremony. Having now seen an English pantomime I could recognize elements of one incorporated into the presentation. The deck was completely packed, and hundreds of guests signed up to be initiated from "pollywogs" to "shellbacks" at their first crossing of the equator. We supplied the music, leading a procession and playing the death march as hundreds of guests received their punishment for crossing into the realm of Neptune uninvited - kissing a large fish. Later they were " gunked" by crew with leftover food sludge. So much fun for them.... Would YOU sign up?? Lastly some crew were punished excessively to everyone's amusement....one poor guy with a sensitive composition, one of the actors, was about to vomit and was retching a little....we laughed I must admit. He definitely turned green around the gills. What fun! Actually the ceremony is quite fun, and we had front row seats as the band. Even if we did have to play the death march about a thousand times in a row waiting for 300 guests to kiss the same fish.

The other night we played for a male vocalist who sang literally nothing but Andrew Lloyd Weber. I thought that since he was male, at least we definitely wouldn't have to play the sickeningly overused Don't Cry for Me Argentina and Memory, which are female songs. I was wrong. The show opened with the famously recognizeable Phantom of the Opera riff. For the best mood-lightener ever, the award goes to Bryan, our saxophonist. Referring to the eighth notes in said opening, he asked, "So we're swinging these, right?" We laughed our way through those usually eternal final two minutes to showtime, doing impressions of what the Phantom music would sound like if swung. When it came to downbeat we could barely play it with a "straight" face.
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