Congratulations Sonja and Alex!!!!

Yipeeeee The new baby is here!! A 7 pound beautiful baby girl! All is well. Congratulations Sonja and Alex, Oona and Kiefer.! So exciting to hear the news here.
Her name is ....

Dolphin Swim

Today we actually held onto the dorsal fin with our left hand and hooked the right hand under the belly of the dolphin, held our breath and the dolphin dove under and torpedo swam about the lenght of an olympic pool in 10 seconds. You really really had to get close to the dolphin and really really hold tight. The third time I got it right. What powerful, gentle intelligent mammals! Fantastic! Here are some pictures of tourists posing with the dolphins. They do not look real.They respond to hand signals and a whistle that I could not hear. The trainer has a pouch of fish and feeds them constantly. They were born and live in captivity in a large pen, in ocean water, have never been out and would not know how to hunt. The trainers say that keeping dolphins is the same as keeping horses corralled. But they make so much money from this thrill (500US for two of us). We have an underwater video of our rides.These are two of the pools at the resort and the huts across from ours.
Flying tomorrow :(

Wake Runners

This out rigger canoe paddles as fast as possible to ride the wake wave of the little tender that takes us to shore from the ship. A few canoes compete for the ideal spot so they just steer for the ride. We took a tour of the bridge today and got a thorough explanation of boat functions. This is a picture of a black tip reef shark. I snorkelled just a few minutes before the shot. I don't get why they didn't take a chomp of my arm or leg, but they do not attack humans and I think its because there is so much food for them that they are not hungary. The guide did feed them bits of fish so the sharks and the rays seem tame and come for handouts. Then dinner was polynesian dress up night where these ladies taught us how to make leis. I made this one for Allan. What a florists dream. All these beautiful flowers just grow wild.

Tahitian Men

These guys were crazy! and we went with them to snorkel with sting rays, lemon sharks and sea turtles. Afterwards they took us around the island of Bora Bora serenading with the banjo. I have never swum with sharks as they were being fed. Incredible! Tonight we will go to a lecture by an expert entitled, "What Really Happened On the Bounty." Had a very delicious birthday lunch on shore at a French restaurant. Our boat guys told us not to go there because they don't like the French and support the independance movement. Very Busy.

~I~

Eagle Rays and Sharks

These thatched huts over the water are in the view from our balcony on the ship anchored at Bora Bora. Today, I went on a dive and Allan went snorkelling. I did not see any eagle rays but Allan swam with sharks and rays.There is more marine life here than in the Bahamas. After the dive I snorkeled off the beach and saw a sting ray in sandy shallow water. The water is actually hot in shallow places. We lay underneath these palm trees with coconuts above. Really truly they could conk you on the head. They do warn you because there are no other dangers.

~I~

Mahana and Marlon Brando

This little girl is Oona's age and she danced for us on the beach with her mommy playing the ukele in the band. Her name is Mahana. She dances just like the grown women. I had tears in my eyes watching her innocence. We sailed all night to Bora Bora which is supposedly the most beautiful island of this chain. Marlon Brando filmed Mutiny On The Bounty here. The sailors mutinied because of the beautiful women among other things. Brando also married a Tahitian and lived here and had a hotel here.
I went for a drift snorkel this morning. The current is very fast and very strong. Really it felt more like body surfing. You just had to steer.
We have trouble staying connected.
Happy Birthday ! Sophie.
xo

Moon Fish, Yahhoo and Mahimahi

This is a real fish with the executive chef standing behind. He did filet and clean the fish so I might have had it for dinner. I cannot get the names straight as they tell me they have Moon fish (this one) Yaahoo, Mahimahi. The raw tuna ceviche was the best. I had to do a checkout dive in this teeny seawater pool with about 20 other people, and the the water started running out. I am going on an Eagle Ray dive tomorrow at Bora Bora. Allan went on a coral garden snorkel drift excursion as I was checking out. Warm warm water beautiful fish. We had to dress up last night to meet the caption and crew. THere are 20 different nationalities just in the executive staff. Out captain is Croatian. Very busy, stressful to do everything.
~I~

Black Pearl Fever

This Polynesian dance troupe performed and posed for us before we left Papeete. The people look like they could be South American but are related to the original Tawainese. The black pearls of Tahiti were rare and desired by all of European Royalty for crown jewels. Now they seed oysters on oyster farms and the pearls are just as beautiful, bountiful and affordable. We went to a Pearl Market and so I am picking pearls. Here is our ship, The Paul Gauguin, which we boarded and spent the night under way to our next island.

13 Flying Hours Later...

We are at this resort in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, after 13 hours of flying time and a 3 hour stopover in LA. The hot humid flower fragrent air hit us the instant the plane door opened and reminded me of our Bahama travels but with more perfume in the air. The second pic is of the group that met us at midnight local time, and placed flower wreaths around our necks. My camera fogged up immediately from the heat, hence the fuzzy picture. I feel like a Nordic lug. All the people here, especially the women have the most beautiful silky brown skin and flit about in hibiscus design dresses with flowers behind their ears. Chris, "Grouper Man" this grouper pic is for you. We board the ship tomorrow.

~I~