Eh? Why the 1st December again??? We crossed the international dateline sometime last night so we went back a day, gaining a day. We will no doubt lose a day when we cross the international date line sometime later this month.
We anchored not far from the small pier in Alofi so it was a short tender. Unfortunately there was quite a swell so a tender pilot trying to bring the tender alongside the pier was difficult, as was tying up. There was narrow concrete steps cut into the pier which the tender had to tie up next to. Paul and I went ashore for a breath of fresh air and we could see that getting passengers off the tender was fairly tricky. The swell would cause the tender to rise higher or lower than the pier steps so a guest couldn't step off until the tender was level with the steps. One guest took it in her stride, laughing as she was taken for an upward ride before the swell lowered the boat, waving 'hi' and 'goodbye' to her friends who were standing on the pier waiting for her. It was good that some people had a sense of humour!
Paul and I took a short walk up the cliff steps to a lookout point with a church and its graveyard strategically located nearby. One grave was located on a small ledge near the lookout - a beautiful "view to die for", so to speak. We could have explored the village a bit but it was too hot to be out walking so we walked along the main road to a second entrance to the pier, making it a short circular walk for us. We were very glad to get back to the ship to the cool cabins.
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| Something caught on the anchor. |
At some stage during the day, before Paul and I went ashore, the anchor fell of the reef, the underwater contours being very steep to get a secure anchor hold. So the anchor was raised and the ship's engines were used to keep the ship in one spot for the rest of the day. Crew noticed that something was wrapped around one of the anchors, having picked up something off the reef when it was raised up. Paul and 2 other staff members, along with a tender pilot, were lowered in a spare tender to check things out. I went along to take some photographs. It turns out that the anchor had hooked up a bit of what looked like part of an old sling. One of the crew jumped onto the anchor, retrieved it and brought it into the tender. Having had enough 'excitement' for the day, the tender was hoisted back out of the water. Unfortunately the video footage that I took with the camera is not very
good, as you will see.
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| The Maasdam's route: Alofi, Niue to Avatiu, Rarotonga |
We have now set sail for Avatiu, Rarotonga.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Retrieval of the object on the anchor
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| Getting ready to do down in the tender. |
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| Ready to go down over the side .... |
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| Machinery at work, lowering the tender. |
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| Retrieving the item - which was an old sling. |
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| We are back up and safely on board the ship. |
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| Job complete and the tender pilot radios everyone concerned. |
Video - retrieving the sling
Ashore in Alofi
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| The tide is out, revealing the sharp jagged coral reef. |
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| The swell of the ocean made offloading the tender difficult... up and down ... |
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| Chickens wandered freely. |
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View of the coastline from the ship
Eh? Why the 1st December again??? We crossed the international dateline sometime last night so we went back a day, gaining a day. We will no doubt lose a day when we cross the international date line sometime later this month.
We anchored not far from the small pier in Alofi so it was a short tender. Unfortunately there was quite a swell so a tender pilot trying to bring the tender alongside the pier was difficult, as was tying up. There was narrow concrete steps cut into the pier which the tender had to tie up next to. Paul and I went ashore for a breath of fresh air and we could see that getting passengers off the tender was fairly tricky. The swell would cause the tender to rise higher or lower than the pier steps so a guest couldn't step off until the tender was level with the steps. One guest took it in her stride, laughing as she was taken for an upward ride before the swell lowered the boat, waving 'hi' and 'goodbye' to her friends who were standing on the pier waiting for her. It was good that some people had a sense of humour!
Paul and I took a short walk up the cliff steps to a lookout point with a church and its graveyard strategically located nearby. One grave was located on a small ledge near the lookout - a beautiful "view to die for", so to speak. We could have explored the village a bit but it was too hot to be out walking so we walked along the main road to a second entrance to the pier, making it a short circular walk for us. We were very glad to get back to the ship to the cool cabins.
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