Jan 18th, 2023 Day 16 of 128*

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

*(Photo’s to come later as the website is not letting me load any. Enjoy reading about our day. Come back later to see all the beautiful pictures.) Revised 01/20/23

There is land outside my window. I haven’t seen land in eight days and there it is coming into view. I was awake at 5:00am this morning and went out on my patio. I watched the sunrise to the east and Nuku Hiva, Marquesas approach from the west. There was even a rainbow to greet us as we approached the island. Megan and I grabbed a quick breakfast in the Lido from the buffet. It started to rain while we were eating so we headed back to our cabin to quickly grab our raincoat and our COVID cards as recommended by the cruise director. Better safe than sorry. Today was a tender port so we had to report to the theater and await our excursion group to get called so all the people in our group could be in the same tender boat. Today’s excursion was the one and only we had to choose from. We took a scenic drive around the island. We got to see a lot of amazing blooming flowers, black sand beaches and panoramic views of the ship and the bay from high atop the mountain. We visited two villages and saw where they are recreated some historic sites in a place more easily reached by tourists. We saw many bread fruit tress, a staple of the diet here, and many coconut groves as coconuts are a large exported item from the island. We also got to sample some local fruit and dried breadfruit. Which I actually fell I love with at a roadside stand in Tonga in 2020. I was very happy to have it again and purchased a bag of it to bring back to the ship for me and a bag for our amazing server Jenny who waits on us most morning int he Pinnacle grill. She loves salty food like I do and they will definitely feed her cravings too. There were lots of local inhabitants selling locally made crafts and jewelry as well. Megan got a carved Nuku Hiva key chain and I picked up a beautiful Lei for only three dollars! I wore it all day and it is currently in our cabin and it smells heavenly in here. The way they transport you around here is in a pickup truck that accommodates four people inside and then some have additional seating in the bed of the truck. Megan got an outside seat and I got to ride shotgun in the truck. There are no air conditioners in the vehicle and it was 80 degrees today. Oh, and the driver doesn’t speak English as French is the primary language on the island as well as Marquesas. So there were about 15 trucks in our group and at each predesignated stop there was a lovely woman, Anne, we gave it information on the place we were visiting and what we were seeing. Our driver had an auspicious cough so I took one for team Merson riding the cab, window down and I was double masked every time we got int he vehicle. Which wasn’t easy in the heat. Megan owes me for this one. We decided it was best to stay safe and healthy. We stopped but the local farmers market right at the pier before boarding back in the tender boat to head back to the ship. Megan got four Mangoes and I got a giant avocado. Once we were back on the ship we decided to go and have some lunch in the lido. Megan of course brought a Mango and proceeded to devour it in expert fashion as she eats them often at home. She said it was the best Mango she ever had in her whole life. I can’t wait to watch her eat the other three!! Then it was back to the cabin to enjoy the internet that is surprisingly better than I had expected. I got caught up on my backlog of blog posts and downloaded all my photos from toady. It’s hard to decide which ones to share with you but I hope you enjoy them all. I decided to take an evening to myself and ordered a Cobb Salad off the room service menu and watched a movie. Megan went and had dinner with Gail and Marty in the main dining room. The ship hosted a “GLAMP OUT” on the ship last night. A fun play on a camp out with faux campfires, the hotel manager hung out in a canoe in the pool, and there was fun food passed like mini hot dogs, bacon maple donuts and s’mores. Megan had a lovely time. Tomorrow is another sea day and we will get a chance to resume some of our regular activities that we didn’t get to do today. Ship life is a fun balance and we are having a delightful time. Hugs to you all.