Day 92 thru 96

Well we are back!! We met up with the Barretts at the hotel late the night before we left. After breakfast at the hotel we were off to board our ship the Aranui 3 in Tahiti and set off for the island of Fakarava. We spent the rest of the first day acquainting ourselves with the ship and catching up with all the news from the Barretts.
Our first island, Fakarava, was a coral atoll which seemed to be over 20 miles in diameter. It looks like a necklace. It is only about 150 yards wide and has some islands in its very large lagoon. Of course the water was beautiful which we took advantage of to swim and wade. Chris swam and I waded. A very small town that is supplied by our ship. It was Sunday so we saw a church service which Nancy Barrett attended. Then back to the ship and on our way again.
The next day we spent at sea. The ship we are on is reasonably stable and comfortable. Breakfast is a buffet so you eat when you arrive. Dinner and lunch are served to all passengers at the same time. We sit at tables of 4 or 8. The food is good but there is no choice. You get what is served, you do not order. We have had duck twice now which is not to Chris liking. The boat has a lounge and a bar which both are used consistently on our day at sea.
The next day we pulled into the harbor of Nuka Hiva, which is actually the first of the Marqueses Islands we will visit. Waiting for us at the dock were 40 jeeps to take us across the island to another harbor. Along the way we stopped to take pictures which unfortunately, we are un able to post due to the limited band width of the satelite internet connection. We had lunch on the other side of the island and then I went on a short hike to see a Tiki, which is the name for the carved figures like you see on Easter Island. Then back to the boat which was still unloading cargo; It was not until about 6 oclock that we were ready to leave for our next stop, but not before loading a few pens of cows to deliver to another island;
Today we are in Ua Poa which is another gem of an island.
Going forward there is no internet service on many of the stops we have so this blog will be silent from time to time.
Tomorrow Hiva Ova.

Chris - It is too bad that we can not put up our pictures as they are beautiful but we will try to put a highlight mix up when we can. We do not have nternet acess on the ship and in most ports, we are in the post office using it today. It is a French keyboard and quite different from ours. The q is where our a is for instance. But then I feel like I have been dropped in France as the main language on our ship is French but they also translate into English and German. Most of the passengers are French and we have met very few Americans. There seem to be quite a few Australians and we have met a few couples from Canada. The ship itself is basic but comfortable. There is a main desk, a large lounge, a coffee bar, a real bar, a dining room, a small swimming pool, a little store a laundry room, and a small gym. They do offer to do your laundry twice a week (but no underwear). Now let us talk food. They serve one menu for everyone. There is a lot of fish, duck, lamb, cabbage and some side dishes I have no idea what they are. Did I mention fish and duck? The food is very good if you happen to like what they are having. I hedge my bets and fix a ham and cheese sandwich every morning so I can have half at lunch and half at dinner if I don not like what they are serving for meat. I have no complaints with how good the food is, my complaint is WHERE the food is. They only have food at the three meals except for olives and peanuts. The only food you can even buy is candy and some cookies at the store. For me it is hard as I eat a lot of fruit and dried fruits and there are no dried fruits, like apricots, and actually surprisingly little fruit. Having said that I did find a small store yesterday in port with nuts and hope to find something today. Other than the need for a banana or raisins or anything healthy, the cruise is terrific. We are starting to make some friends onboard and the Barretts are a blast. We have fallen into the habit of playing cards everynight after dinner either on deck in the gorgeous, warm moonlight, helped with some overhead lighting or in the lounge. We play either Hearts or canasta and are easily the last to go to bed around 11:30. The islands are amazing and we are really enjoying ourselves. I seem to be able to get text messages in some ports if you need to get a non emergency message to us. All for now and hopefully another port where we can get internet.