Land- Ho!!

Days 4-6

The last few days have been lovely and relaxing, as we alternately fill our hours with nothing and lots of things… I have found 2 of my loves onboard – pellet ice and pnutbutter! I’m pretty sure I go thru my lovely ice by the gallons each day and I believe pnutbutter on my pancakes shall become a breakfast staple for this voyage! On that note, I’m still exercising, and mandatory use of the stairs (we made a pact- no elevators!) is getting my butt into shape, but dieting is a lost cause for their pnutbutter cookies are my weakness, hence, my butt will be in shape, but a large, hard shape i fear….… :)
Chris has been surviving shockingly well in the absence of any Mt. Dew and has limited his soda intake to only going thru 40 on this entire cruise… one or 2 per day is quite an accomplishment for him! (but, if he LOSES weight on this cruise, I WILL throw him overboard!!!!) He has also been without ESPN since we left LAX since we are out of satellite range for pretty much all channels, but as we get back into the islands I think we will be getting some signal, so he won’t have to suffer too much longer ….
We’ve attended the Culinary Demonstrations every day and I think George has taken quite a shine to us… whenever we run into him he likes to talk and hang out with us… he knows the scoop on lots of people, crew and passengers… one of my favs is this adorable tiny lady who is 90 yrs old, makes all her own clothes, and can usually be seen dancing in one of the lounges or pushing her 100 yr old husband around in his walker… I saw her on formal night and she looked like she belonged on the Titanic… she was wearing an ivory lace dress and always has on a jaunty little hat… hopefully in the next 20some days I’ll get a chance to chat w/ her….
Yesterday, we signed up for the private 12 person class with George (Chef Geary) and had such a blast! We were in charge of Creamy Chicken Sauce al a Penne…it was a near disaster when I dumped over ½ the bowl of nutmeg in it thinking it had been pre-measured, but it actually tasted really good! (not like nutmeg with a hint of pasta, of which I was afraid) :)
We finally made it to our first port today, the lovely Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas where Herman Melville (Moby Dick) spent 4 months and wrote a book (Typeee,) about the people here. We saw a waterfall in the distance and determined to make it there as our goal for the day, and by golly we did! We were alone in our venture but far from the village port so it was perfect for the time we had… saw many “free range” chickens on the way and a cow that made Chris a bit nervous as to its intentions, :) went through a traditional island downpour, but we escaped unscathed (although a bit wet) and loved every minute of it.
Oh! I learned a party trick from Davey!! Can’t wait to show you all… :)
Much Love!!!