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We did eventually get to the 18 March after crossing the IDL.  And on that day we arrived in Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango). The Samoan group of islands are divided into Samoa (once Western Samoa) – an independant nation and American Samoa where we were.  Tutuila is the largest island in the American Samoa group and Pago Pago is the capital.

We arrived on a bright and sunny day and set off to explore the town.  A small museum offered some moon dust brought back by Neil Armstong on Apollo 11 and a few Samoan canoes but not a lot more. So we decided to get out of town and we selected a beaten up taxi (they were nearly all beaten up) which was probably the first Toyota ever built. But the driver seemed friendly and appeared to be able to speak English.

Unfortunately he spoke very little, so didn’t prove a great guide, but the scenery was terrific. He drove carefully and he stopped whenever he felt I ought to take a photo.

The island is lush – coconuts and bananas galore.  The massive rainfall that Samoa experiences keeps everything green.  The beaches are idyllic and the villages neat and tidy.  They are dominated by multitudes of churches and fale tele (meeting houses).  

No one could explain clearly why they might have 3 or 4 of these meeting houses in one smallish village.  Some said that they had large families and their houses were small so for weddings and funerals a family would gather in the fale tele. Others said the chief of the village would gather the villagers together in them whenever he had something important to announce. 

Nearly 5 years ago, in September 2009, an earthquake erupted near Samoa sending a tsunami into Pago Pago harbour and causing extensive destruction to villages, buildings and vehicles. There is still plenty of evidence of the damage although the majority of the restoration work appears to have been completed.

We have just crossed the Equator again.  But there is a big dilemma and dispute aboard QV.  It is about water.  Not the water in the ocean.  That is now calm and the effects of another Cyclone (called Mike) have disappeared.  As you will know the Pacific is the largest of the world’s oceans so there is no shortage of the stuff there.

It is the water on the ship!  I don’t mean that there is any sort of problem with the quality of the water. We have all sorts of water here.  Some is in bottles and sold to us at $3.95 (and many buy cheaper versions ashore and secrete them about their person when coming back on board).

 There is the water made on the ship and then there is the water that goes down the plughole. And that’s where the problem lies.

I tried again, after the Commodore had confimed that we had indeed crossed the Equator, and the result was the same – clockwise. 

Here is the sun overhead.

The largest island in the Hawaiian group is called Hawai’i or Big Island and Hilo is the county capital.  It is known as the gateway to the land of fire and brimstone and volcanos abound on the island.

When we arrived this morning it looked bleak. The Deputy Captain stessed that we could expect rain, but in the event we saw none and the weather was good all day.

We were here last year and explored the whole island in a large black sedan that I had booked on line some months before.  So this year it was the more mundane parts!

The two main volcanoes are Mauna Loa and the more active Kilauea.  They are sited in the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park.  Kilauea has been erupting for the last 20 years.

We also took in Macy’s, Sears and Wallmart!  At least they were airconditioned.  And when we arrived back at the ship the locals treated us to Dragon Boat races alongside the ship.

Each time we get back to the ship we switch on Sky News and today we were lucky enough to see John Noble from Southampton as one of the experts discussing the missing Malaysian 777.  Of course we regularly have the Sports News read to us on Sky by lovely presenter Charlotte Jackson (Chris and Alan’s  daughter).

Talking of Sport, the night before last I woke up at 3.50am (local time – no alarm) switched on the cabin TV with no volume to find the Saints live, 2-0 up away to Spurs with 25 minutes gone.  I sat through the rest of the match with its upsetting finish and then went back to bed and slept for a further 3 hours! 

I know that’s the sort of thing that Robert Gordon does down in Melbourne, but it was a first for me.

The sun was shining and it was hot as we approached Honolulu, located on the island of Oahu.  A beautiful day and Honolulu looked splendid as we drew alongside Pier 2.

As we know the island fairly well we decided to take a tour to areas we had not explored in the past.  Cunard had organised a coach with a lift and we set off at 0900 towards the east. We were taken first to Waikiki.  The surfers were already on the water and joggers and sun bathers were beginning to appear.  The Moana Surfrider was still there.

This was a first for us.  In the past we have sailed on segments of World Voyages, but never the whole thing.  

We knew that World Voyage Dinners happened and there was always a mystery about when and where the Dinner might be.  The obvious place appeared to me to be San Francisco, where the ship was staying overnight.  But it was eventually announced that it was to be in Honolulu on 25 March.

It was a formal black tie affair and Mrs Smith decided that the white tux had to be worn. But what about me? What was I to wear?

A coach with a lift took us on the short journey to the Hawaii Convention Centre and we were led up to a vast terrace for drinks and canapes. There were more than 600 of us.  Soon a group of young girls started to sing and dance for us and the wine flowed.

 We then moved into a vast hall laid out beautifully with tables for ten.

Aboard that coach were a number of the officers who had attended the Dinner, including our World Voyage Concierge, Alice McKay, an amazingly efficient young lady.  And very pretty too!  She looks after the 600 or so World Voyagers every day in the Chart Room showing enormous patience and kindness.

Founder of The Byrds.  Lead guitarist.  Lead vocalist.  Mr Tambourine Man.  Roger McGuinn is the celebrity speaker for this segment and he boarded QV in Honolulu.

He has given 2 presentations so far and there are more to come.  The theatre is packed every time he performs. He is an exceptional performer – a brilliant musician who appears to be an extraordinary person.

When we arrive in the theatre Roger is sitting on stage quietly strumming his 12 string Rickenbacker guitar, with his laptop on a small table alongside him.  

He is clearly highly computer literate and that becomes evident, not only in the professional way he presents, but as a result of things others say about him.  He has numerous clips of original Byrds performances, recordings and chat show appearances which he deftly plays on the big screen.  There are plenty of sound and vision experts employed in the theatre but Roger doesn’t need them.

Yesterday he put up a picture of his van and one of his musician chums said that it was packed with so much technology that Roger could run the US Space programme from it.  In a Q&A session today when asked about his hobbies he said that he loved gadgets.  He also revealed that he loves being at sea.  Cunard love him too!

What is going on? There is a water shortage in California.  There are financial penalties if you live here and use too much water but from the moment that we sailed under the Golden Gate at 0515 on Monday morning it has rained almost continuously!

We were not there at the time, because Maggie O’Connell had collected us from outside Pier 35 at 1030 in her brand new black Range Rover and we sped off to meet up with her younger son, Dan at a Starbucks near his office. Dan spent 9 years with Google and was headhunted to AdRoll where he heads up a team of 100.

Dan was in great form.

 His wife Jackie has also recently moved to AdRoll from Twitter.  She is their senior director of marketing.

 Dan and Jackie live a stones throw from the  San Francisco Giants Ball Park.

After some shopping, we met up with Simon and Missy and her mother, Trish and the children for an early supper.  After a few beers we dropped Simon off at his house and for reasons that I cannot now recall, he presented me with a bottle of Lagavulin!

 

Back atMaggies home we were soon in bed exhausted.  In the morning we explored Danville after a cooked breakfast and then headed for an Apple store. 

Jane has had problems on the ship with her Mac and the iStudy man Adam had been unable to sort it out. Apple came up trumps and resolved the problem after an intervention by Lisa (I said I would mention her name!)

We then drove to the city. Maggie is an excellent tour guide and took us along Marina Drive past the magnificent homes, one of which we will be buying after we have collected our Lotto cheque. 

Then we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and climbed the hill above Sausalito to the new viewing sites there.  The bridge sits below, but the rain was so heavy at that stage that it was not possible to take a decent photo.

I waited and eventually it stopped!                  We then drove back to the ship and sadly had to say our farewells. It had been much too short a visit.

It’s a long way – 2800 nautical miles and we are taking 6 days to get there.  The weather has improved dramatically so that the last 3 days have been perfect with temperatures in the mid to high eighties and the only wind being that created by the ship. Today there is no swell at all.

We have tracked courses parallel to the coast, initially down past Salinas and Monterey and then LA. We were some way away but thought of Nick Brewer’s son Tim and family in LA and the old Queen Mary in Long Beach where Nick was last year. 

We are usually between 10 and 20 miles from the coast.  San Diego was next, which reminds me that we have just bumped into Tom and Kathy Whelan who boarded the ship in SF.  We first met them on the Maiden Voyage of Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Tom is the Federal Judge in San Diego – he used to specialise in dealing with divorce cases.  But he moved on to more important things!

Now that I have looked at the map I can see why we are having so many sea days.  There is that long sliver of land, the peninsular of Baja California.  Right at the bottom of the finger is Cabo Son Lucas.  We are not visiting it but we did last year.  The peninsular is Mexican and Cabo is a favourite for American students for partying and holidays. It’s a great place to visit, packed with bars and beautiful marinas.

This is the Caribbean band who play on deck 9 by the pool at lunchtime and during balmy evenings.

Just like a Church Fete. Actually more like a jumble sale!  All sorts of rubbish that people then bought because its cheap – not because they will wear it. Well the Fayre took place today and will have raised a few thousand dollars.  The pretty dancer on the right was selling raffle tickets.  I bought lots.

She charged a dollar a time (for a photo) which I thought was fair.

Before we get to Costa Rica we pass Guatamala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua but sadly we won’t see them. Then on Tuesday it’s Puntarenas. Not to be muddled with Punta Arenas in Chile where we were on 3 February!

If our late father, Captain George E Smith, who was one of only three men who were Captain of both the old Queen Elizabeth and the QE2, had been alive today, my sister Elizabeth and I would have been celebrating his 100th birthday with him!

Born today, 100 years ago!