Apia Samoa

 We are due to be in Apia today. I woke early and was able to view an amazing sunrise. The cloud formations are quite different here. This is something I would love to paint.

Yesterday we were in American Samoa and it is a territory of the United States . Today we are in Samoa and it is an independent country with its own parliament and government and prime minister. They are actually on a different time zone.

As usual we had a wake up call for 6:15 and room service breakfast delivery at 6:30. While getting ready and eating breakfast we were able to view the sail in and get early glimpses of where were would be spending the day.

We finished breakfast and headed for deck 7 to enjoy the performance of the dancers of  Samoa. It was just as special as we expected. The performers work very hard and we could see the perspiration on their bodies even though we were on deck seven.

The performance lasted almost an hour and then we headed back to our room to gather our things and head out to get out stickers and wait in the Theatre. Much to our surprise we were not long before we were on the bus.

We were pleased to see that these were modern buses with AC and padded seats. We waited until it was time to leave because the buses have to co-ordinate arrival times at different areas

Our guide was Sue and our driver could be called Mr Ed because pronouncing it would be difficult for us.

As we drove along Sue pointed out the land marks and the public buildings.

Mr Ed stopped at a shore where Sue explained that sea levels rising has made it necessary for there to be a wall surrounding the entire Island. It is a wall of what looked like bricks and there were volcanic rocks piled on the water side of the wall. Climate change is definitely real and you can see it in this part of the world.

Our guided tour continued and then we arrived at Sails by the Sea. This is where we are scheduled to have Hi Tea. We received a grand welcome by a young man blowing a conch shell

This is a fairly large open air restaurant. As we entered we were given a flower to wear in our hair and a glass of champagne. They also passed out bottled of water from Samoa. The restaurant was beautifully decorated with local flowers. As they got all of the food put out and made the tea we were entertained by 2 Samoan young men singing and playing drums.

A rite of passage for the men is to have their bodies tattooed. This picture shows the intricate pattern .Close up it actually seems to have texture.

The food choice included small sandwiches, scones, pastries and fruit. The supply was ample and you were free to go again if you wished. The tea was served in china cups and saucers.

The tour guides were allowed to enjoy lunch after the guests,

Ken and I had Julie take our picture.

The grand finale of this visit was a display of fire dancing. WOW!!

Then it was time to say good bye and head to our next stop.

We boarded the bus and headed to St Theresa Cathedral of the Child Jesus in the village of Lepea. The newly built awe-inspiring building is adorned with magnificent art work by local artists. The art depicts Samoan cultural stories on 46 stunning stained glass windows that feature Biblical stories with characters of Samoan descent.

At the end of the visit a priest from the church told us about the church and the circumstance of its creation.The labor was almost all volunteer which made this magnificent structure to be built.

Next our driver took us to the near by 100 year old cathedral. At first we were told we could only view from the outside but the timing was better so we were allowed to enter.

Our last stop was to the local market. It is large and you can buy almost everything there from clothes to food and the list goes on.

BUT for me the stop meant a chance to get an amazing tropical flower arrangement. 

I just love it and it cost only 18.00 US. Those of you who know how I love a bargain and how much I love flowers you know how excited I was about that.

We returned to the ship, had a nap, had a snack went to dinner and went to the evening show at the Princess theatre " Born to be Wild" and called it a day. Tomorrow is a sea day. 

American Samoa,Pago Pago

 We have an excursion booked today and for that reason we had a wake up call for 6:15 and a room service breakfast for 6:30

This is one of the ports where we are greeted by singers and dancers. They are in native dress and they are truly amazing. 

We get our first glimpse of the island and then we begin to hear the sound of drums and voices coming to us from over the water.

They performed for over an hour in the blazing heat. Even from deck 7 we could see the sweat glistening on their bodies.

When the dancing was over we returned to our room and gathered our things and headed to the Wheelhouse to get our tags for our excursion. We are taking a trip around the east side of the island. Our transport was a bus.... they are referred to as the wooden buses because they have wooden seats., HARD wooden seats with HARD backs and natural air, no AC.

Actually the buses looked a lot like small school Busses. They held 20 people.

Our Guide was a 16 year old Samoan girl named LYNN. She did an excellent job of telling us all about the areas we were driving through.

It was a three hour tour and saw much of this part of the island.

One highlight was seeing Charlie the Tuna in front of the Sunkist tuna plant.

the land formation called Camel Rock, and most enjoyable was the different views of the ocean. The island is amazingly beautiful.

We stopped at a lovely beach where we could purchase a cold beverage, a very welcomed beverage. We could go for a swim if we liked. I did wade in the water and we did manage to collect some sea glass. It was a coral beach so not so soft on your feet.

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The other high lite of our day was a dance performance by the 5 tour guides from all of the buses. It was quite lovely.

They also demonstrated how to husk and open a coconut.

Soon it was time to head back to the ship.

Our tour had come to an end.

We returned to our cabin and ordered room service, a lovely salad

After a nap we got ready for dinner. We decided not to do the show since we had such a busy day.

Wednesday will take us to Samoa, and a High Tea .

International dateline!!

 Today is Wednesday and it was Monday Yesterday ??

Crossing the dateline confuses things especially my pill case ???

So there was not an April 22nd and there will be 2 April 27th.

Easter Decorations Aboard the Sapphire Princess, 2025

The ship is decorated but perhaps not as much as other years. Here are some examples of what was done.

There was an Easter service for Catholics early and then a service for others at 10 in The Princess Theatre. Here is the cover of the Order of Service.

The service was very well attended. Verna said that the Catholic service was also well attended.

When we arrived at dinner there was a gift of a hand painted watercolour Easter greeting and a small bag of Easter eggs waiting for us. A gift from Julia.

The evening show in the theatre featured a comedian named Sid Davis. He was older than most entertainers but he was wonderful. I don't often say that comedians are as good as Carlos Oscar but Sid definitely was. 

The cruise director introduced him dressed as a chicken in honour of the occasion.

Tomorrow was are in Pago Pago, We have an early excursion.

Crossing the Equator, April 18th

 If you have never crossed the equator you are labeled a Polliwog. Apolliwog requires King Neptune's permissionto make the crossing. 

So there is a very special ceremony at which the polliwogs are charged with crimes so as hogging beach towels or eating too much. King Neptune declared that they are guilty and then they are punished accordingly.

 Yesterday they were sprayed with water guns, had buckets of water dumped on them and then forced into the pool. After that cleansing they are no longer polliwogs. It is really a lot of fun. The polliwogs are march in to be faced by all of us who are not polliwogs. People volunteer to take part and there are elaborate costumes and hundreds of the passengers watch and jeer. There is a band and lots of merrymaking.

Here are some pictures of Herald, King Neptune and his bride, lots of polliwogs and the fun

 

It was time to get ready for formal night . I wore my Samoa dress and the orchid lei that I made.

It was liked by many and Julie asked if she could borrow my Lei so she could have her picture taken wearing it.

The evening show featured Ebony and Ivory . It was a great show featuring love and romance.

We ended our evening by ordering a mocha delivered to our room and spiking it with our brandy. YUM!!!

Tomorrow is Easter!!

FOOD, Food and more Food

A friend asked to see photos of some of the food so last night I asked everyone if I could take pictures of their various courses to show to all of you.

Appetizers and Starters

                            

                                      Roast pineapple with strawberry and blueberry sauce 

                                                        Calamari

Cobb Salad

Onion Soup

                                                        Beet and Blueberry Cold soup  

                                                    Shrimp Cocktail

Main Courses:

                                            Beef Tenderloin with Yorkshire pudding

                                    

                                                    Jamaican Shrimp with rice and beans

                                                        Pork Chops with baked potato.

                                                        Coq Co Vein ( spelling???)

Desserts:

                                        New York Cheese Cake     

                                        Peach Flambe

                                    Chocolate Ice Cream

I don't recall what Verna had?????

This was the sugar free but I don't remember the name.???

At each meal most of us had 4 items plus tea or coffee or lemonade. I always have an Arnold Palmer which is a drink which is a blend of iced tea and lemonade. Vera and Gordon always had wine with dinner.

So far the food has been excellent.