Fiji Fun

 

We've been in Fiji once before - 2006 on a liveaboard dive boat. More on diving later. This time we're here on the Villa Vie Odyssey, our floating home, and we bounced around the islands for 2 weeks, making 6 stops. 

 

Suva

In Suva, we joined some Odyssean friends, Eve, Carolyn and Andrew, for happy hour at the Grand Pacific Hotel. It was a short taxi ride away from the ship. It was a beautiful evening.

We also visited the American Embassy to get a document notarized and found a lot of our fellow Odysseans already there trying to get new passports with more Visa pages. Yes, it's a thing! In this lifestyle we visit so many countries - 20 so far this year - that the pages in your passport get filled up! If you have no blank pages, your Passport is no good. Our passports were only a year old, but it could get full before another year passes, so we need to pay attention. The big problem is, in order to get a new passport you normally have to surrender your current one. We can't do that. So we are blazing new trails with the procedures of our Dept. of State. Based on what these trailblazers are learning, we will attempt to get new passports when we are in Sydney next February, and we will get the new 52 page booklets rather than our current 25 or so.

A Tropical Embassy!

Lautoka

We didn't make any particular plans in Lautoka. We stayed on the ship and did computer work. But we did take a walk from the ship along the waterfront and found a delightful hotel bar for a drink under the palm trees. 

It's always such a delight to come back home.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, we had a "Speaker's Corner" about staying safe. Some information was about keeping your phone safe and who to contact if you get in trouble. Other information was about self-defense. Our friend, Donna, is trained in the street fighting martial art called Krav Maga, and Silja is a black-belt in Karate. You can see the video recording here: Speakers Corner: Self Awareness - a panel discussion. Regardless of the topic, you can always count on Donna's husband, Wayne, to inject some humor 🤣

Wayne is ready for his wife, Donna, to demonstrate self-defense techniques!

We also had dinner with new friends, Elma and Robert. When we learned that they lived in an RV for 14 years ... in Europe! ... We just had to talk more. So we planned to have dinner in the "Thistle" which is the sit down restaurant on board. We learned that those years were spent working, going from hospital to hospital teaching staff how to operate new radiology equipment. Robert is a radiology imaging specialist and Elma was certified in NeoNatal Intensive care. 14 years! Living in hospital parking lots. But that's not all. They are both of Dutch heritage, but lived in Venezuela, South Africa, and call Paris 'home.' I lost count of the number of languages they speak.

Oh! The People we Meet!

Diving World War II Wrecks

There was a lot of activity in these here parts during WWII. We dove some wrecks near Honiara in the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal) and in Vanuatu - the largest US base outside of Pearl Harbor. I asked Gemini to tell me all about the major battles of the war and the significance of the particular dive sites we saw. Here's the results - it's well worth the read: Diving into History

Here's a map of where we dove:

Solomon Islands

Guadalcanal is the name of the island that saw heavy fighting during WWII. Our ship docked in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon islands and we booked 1 day of diving, 2 dives, with Emperor Divers. It was a long, bumpy drive to the first dive, then even more to the second. We generally prefer reefs to wrecks, but with so much history here, it's cool to dive the wrecks. 

The town of Honiara had lots of markets

Roadside stands further out in the country

the final stretch of the drive to the beach where we dove the Hirokawa Maru wreck.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu was not directly involved in any battles but it supplied much of the personnel and equipment to the rest of the South Pacific. The US military base in Vanuatu was second only to Pearl Harbor in size! The wreck we dove, the SS Coolidge, was an American ship with a very sad story. The sinking of the SS President Coolidge is one of the most dramatic "friendly fire" incidents of the war.
The captain had been told to wait outside the harbor for an escort but, due to security, he could not be told why - the the US Navy had heavily mined the channel to stop Japanese submarines from entering. The captain waited a while, but Fear of attack by the Japanese made him press forward before the escort arrived. The ship was blown up by 2 of the mines, but the captain boldly sailed the ship closer to shore and all the soldier/passengers and all the crew were able to reach safety on shore. There were just 2 deaths amongst the over 5,000 souls on board - the man in the engine room who took a direct hit and one soldier who went back to rescue others, then was caught himself. 

It's an impressive dive because it is such a large ship.

Diving the SS Coolidge with Allan Power Dive Tours. They own this property right at the beach dive for the wreck. Nice operation.

If you think the Coolidge story is interesting, wait till you hear about our second dive on Vanuatu! It's called Million Dollar Point. At the end of WWII, the US Military had accumulated tons of of surplus equipment : jeeps, trucks, bulldozers, cranes, and supplies. They offered to sell it all to the French and British colonial authorities for pennies on the dollar.

The local powers, however, were stubborn. They figured they could wait for the Americans to leave and take everything for free. The US military—rather than leave the equipment behind or deal with the logistical nightmare of shipping it back—decided to simply dump it all into the sea over several days in 1945. They used bulldozers to shove it all down a pier and into the ocean, they drove the bulldozers off the pier by putting a brick on the gas pedal, then they blew up the pier! 80 years lalter, it makes for a fascinating dive site.

 

Papua New Guinea and shool kids

 Where in the world is Papua New Guinea - aka PNG?

From Wikipedia:

Papua New Guinea is an island country that lies in the south-western Pacific. It includes the eastern half of New Guinea and many small offshore islands. Its neighbours include Indonesia to the west, Australia to the south and Solomon Islands to the south-east.

The territory of Papua New Guinea was split in the 1880s between German New Guinea in the north and the British Territory of Papua in the south, the latter of which was ceded to Australia in 1902. All of present-day Papua New Guinea came under Australian control following World War I, although it remained two distinct territories. The nation was the site of fierce fighting during the New Guinea campaign of World War II, following which the two territories were united in 1949. Papua New Guinea became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1975. Representing the King is a Governor-General. Politics takes place within a Westminster system, with the government led by a Prime Minister. Members of the national parliament also serve as provincial leaders.

Papua New Guinea is a developing economy where nearly 40% of the population are subsistence farmers living relatively independently of the cash economy.

We took a bus tour from our dockage in Alotau, along a very bumpy road to East Cape Wharf. 

The tour startted just up the hill from the ship - with a tourist photo opp.

We happened to be visiting during their 50 year anniversary of Independence.

We saw no evidence of infrastructure in the countryside where people lived. No electricity, no water, or sewer. Yet people all seemed genuinely happy. The highlight of our day was a visit to a school. They prepared for our visit with a spread of local foods. For music, they played american tunes, including the country/western hit "Achy Breaky Heart." I just had to start dancing the Electric Slide and, to my delight, several of our Odysseans joined in as well as many of the kids!

Australia Dancing and Diving

 One day that we were in Cairns, Australia happened to be my birthday. What a treat! 

Cruise Port at Cairns, Australia

On board the ship we have a line-dancing group. They meet and dance every day when we are at sea. They learn new dances, and practice old ones. The teacher is Kathie and she contacted a line-dancing group in Cairns to see if we could have a joint session. 

Here's what happened

Kathie learned when the Cairns line-dancing group meets and where - turns out they dance at Hemmingway's Brewery which just so happens to be right at the cruise ship port! 

Kathie and the Australian dance group leader scheduled that location for a day that the Odyssey would be in port. For more than 2 hours, both Kathie and the Cairns group leader had us all doing line-dances to all sorts of songs. One of them is "Nutbush City Limits" by Tina Turner. I don't quite understand how, but that song is the backdrop for a simple exercise/dance that most everyone in Australia knows how to do. They learn it in grade school - The Nutbush!

The line-dancing group on the Odyssey learned the Nutbush and was prepared to dance it with the Australian dancers while in Cairns. It was GREAT! Then we also learned a couple new (to us) dances and performed them all together. What Fun! I just can't imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than dancing ... in Australia ... doing an Australian dance ... with a group of Australians. I'm on the other side of the planet from my normal home and I'm having a fantastic time!

Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

The next day we had booked a full day of diving on the Great Barrier Reef. We dove on the GBR once before in 2019 and, due to bad weather, it wasn't great. We had low expectations therefore and they were definitely exceeded. Our dive buddy friends from the ship, Wayne and Donna,  were also on board for the day and we had a great time. 

Wayne and Donna leading the way with their creative way of transporting their dive gear. 

Lots of life this time

Happy Divers

Going home after a great day of diving!

He stole the show

More than 40 of our Villa Vie Odyssey residents worked over the last 3 months to produce a play on board.

The cast poses for a group photo (many more participated in support roles)

It all came together on November 7 and it was fantastic. A 2+ hour, nearly professional quality, production with 16 scenes. The female lead, Maggie, played by Sherrine, was in every scene and she did a wonderful job. Her expressions of emotion were easily seen and heard even in the back row. And, speaking of the back row ... it sure looked like the entire ship turned out to watch. The 'Neptune' theatre was packed for the one night performance on Nov 7. Sherrine, her co-star JJ played by Eric, and many other cast members acted, sang, and danced!! We were all exquisitely entertained!
It was Cherie Ohlsson's (an Odyssey resident) dream to produce a play about Maggie and JJ who are legends in the area of Colorado where Cherie grew up. She was determined, and she infected everyone with her enthusiasm. She needed stage sets but there was no way to construct actual sets. Jim, John, Paul and others put their heads, dollars, and technology together to create a rear projection system with digital backdrops, music, and lighting to support the production. Jim saw this as an opportunity to learn and use a new software system (to him) called QLabs.

Jim working his tech magic for the play - kind of like the Wizard of Oz!

This is where he sets up cues that will play music and change backdrops just by clicking a button. He spent hours and hours in our cabin watching YouTube videos to learn the system. He was hooked. Others took on the task of lighting. I heard there were over 100 'cues' for lighting alone. Cherie exclaimed that all she had to do was describe her vision and, like magic, people made it happen.
But, Jim also had an acting part! I think he was chosen because of his mustache! It fit the part of the saloon owner so well. This was a speaking part AND singing AND dancing!

Jim getting into his role while waiting for the play to begin

Jim poses with his dance partner, Lori Rae

Unfortunately, because of licensing for the screenplay, we were unable to record any of the play itself. You'll have to take my word for it that the entire production was simply wonderful, and Jim was a real hit!

Cast, and some of the supporting crew. Cherie (the director) in the blue dress kneeling in front.