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BTimmer's Almost Live Downunder 2022 - (10/2/22 to 12/6/22 on the Westerdam)


Btimmer
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Tonight while enjoying a Lido pool dinner the cloud formations were beautiful.

 

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Tomorrow we reach Apia, Samoa for our first port stop since Hawaii.  Following the Captain's announcement yesterday, virtually all the crew are unmasked and about 95% of the passengers.

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Thank you for your posts and pictures. Just my opinion but what is the big deal with the masks? I would be more concerned about no masks. I have been blessed to have traveled the world and sailed on countless cruises. As for me I won’t risk getting covid on a ship and risk being quarantined. 

That said, many cruisers have not been as fortunate and take the risk. Nevertheless keep the pictures and food pictures coming and smooth and safe sailing! Enjoy. 

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Just now, LouChamp said:

Thank you for your posts and pictures. Just my opinion but what is the big deal with the masks? I would be more concerned about no masks. I have been blessed to have traveled the world and sailed on countless cruises. As for me I won’t risk getting covid on a ship and risk being quarantined. 

That said, many cruisers have not been as fortunate and take the risk. Nevertheless keep the pictures and food pictures coming and smooth and safe sailing! Enjoy. 

Thank you for following along.  Mask wearing has been debated adnauseam on CC, and  I'm not going to do it in this thread.  I'm just reporting on what I see & hear. For the crew, they've been wearing them for over two years, and yesterday that ended for now. Passengers have been free to go maskless on the ship since Honolulu.

 

We were informed tonight that the Samoan government has requested that we wear masks when passing through the terminal tomorrow. After that we can cease wearing them.

 

You can count on more pictures.  

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On 10/10/2022 at 11:57 PM, Btimmer said:

Today another couple and us shared an Uber to go to Poipu Beach which was rated as the favorite place for locals to snorkel.  We got there fairly early before the crowds arrived and spent about an hour in the water.  The water was clear, but pretty shallow and there was a significant current flowing across from left to right.  Additionally there were periodic large swells that were cool to ride.  Afterwards we returned to the ship and then took another Uber to Walmart.  Angela purchased a ukulele at a nearby music store. We then Ubered back to the ABC store in an interesting way.  But you'll have to read my blog to learn of that.

 

Below are some snorkeling pictures from today taken with my GoProHero7.

 

90F7773C-4853-447A-82FE-F67C043B003B.jpeg.737fcd4f6abdc9b4ed29a1696b0d1769.jpeg

 

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Tonight we booked a last minute HAL snorkeling trip in Kona tomorrow to Kealakekua Bay where Captain Cook was killed and a monument is erected.

Hi, Tim,

When I was working, I used to make three 2-week trips to Hawaii for business. Sometimes I would bring my son and wife. He and I snorkled at Captain Cook's cove as well. The boat we were on gave us fish food to feed the fish. What an amazing experience. Thanks for the great photos of Hawaii.

 

Jim

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Yesterday we enjoyed a private island tour set up by a CC member.  We had a good day even though the snorkeling was not that good due to wind and tidal conditions.

 

F6FC93F6-D94B-4F44-83B8-9108605366D8.thumb.jpeg.6a4311a04704d3105fe2e6484925884d.jpeg

Robert Louis Stevenson's House

860BE562-0CF3-4791-8E0B-34A26A2EF12D.thumb.jpeg.6ae65b43cee8c1fdbd1db6dcf32819dd.jpeg

Robert Louis Stevenson's bed

 

624476C8-FE2F-4526-812D-20D551761D30.thumb.jpeg.7fd8bef4e868fead4a93c21e2a85be1f.jpeg

RLS's wife's bed

 

1AFF8C83-7D53-4593-AAF3-52902A447726.thumb.jpeg.2f8e459ab7555965c5a70e52938de5ca.jpeg

RLS' mother's bed

 

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Baha'i temple 

 

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Let sleeping dogs lie

 

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Snorkeling beach - Valvua

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Ocean Trench (lava tubes)
 

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Lunch in my handmade woven plate 
 

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Cultural dance

 

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Fire dance

 

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Cathedral

 

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Cat cuteness 

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Dome inside the cathedral 

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Asst Chief of Police gave us a ride back to the port

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I've not been AWOL.  CC has been difficult to reach.  We are currently off Dravuni Island and this port stop was just cancelled due to gale force winds and unsafe tendering conditions.

 

We enjoyed two nice days in Suva and did a jungle hike and waterfall swim and explored Suva on foot and thoroughly enjoyed two Indian curry meals at local restaurants.

 

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Bats at Thurston Garden

 

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Bird at Thurston Garden

 

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Smelling the roses

 

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Staging for a motorcade

 

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Relaxing after the swim

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Shipwreck while leaving Suva

 

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Second Indian lunch

 

And if you've not been reading my daily blog, there's some pretty cool things there from the past few days including getting escorted back to the port in a police car in Apia.  The blog is at HTTPS://timmer2020du.blogspot.com

Edited by Btimmer
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32 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

I've not been AWOL.  CC has been difficult to reach.  We are currently off Dravuni Island and this port stop was just cancelled due to gale force winds and unsafe tendering conditions.

 

We enjoyed two nice days in Suva and did a jungle hike and waterfall swim and explored Suva on foot and thoroughly enjoyed two Indian curry meals at local restaurants.

 

54FC447A-3A30-470A-B29E-C60C558E067E.thumb.jpeg.b4836219f85cc228a8b8d96b5b89c91f.jpeg

Bats at Thurston Garden

 

95D95AF2-2361-4AF3-A018-EACF6E2A29DE.thumb.jpeg.6d93192e6ee4734218803b5a676b4b32.jpeg

Bird at Thurston Garden

 

DA454EDC-9B06-4392-B689-079C5AB4FB33.thumb.jpeg.6ed1662cf8d0e9c18446f6b381850b6a.jpeg

Smelling the roses

 

C13E2365-2E24-4749-B8F6-F986541F120A.thumb.jpeg.808450bc35058596f00f0b5c237aa109.jpeg

Staging for a motorcade

 

13C7389A-278C-4941-A6D8-E180F6B877EA.thumb.jpeg.006247008ad0bf2ff3bf692db8fd1406.jpeg

 

84F819F5-C53B-4EAC-ABAE-96D94D351E7E.thumb.jpeg.3cebbb0a96e8b5fb75736c15e7647166.jpeg3C826859-3C34-49DD-AEA3-A11CE43AAE78.thumb.jpeg.982a15add6af198c0e10f49dd282555a.jpeg

 

95384CA3-34C7-489B-A50A-64AC6B6A0798.thumb.jpeg.ddcbf5635fe84b66c9a08ddbfe073c8e.jpeg

Relaxing after the swim

7DC0AE82-0443-40B1-AC97-6F675FFA088E.thumb.jpeg.2d7d167eb0be90829fd4d65b088190d6.jpeg
 

974A5381-720E-4436-882B-76B8BFF784D6.thumb.jpeg.7eac4625864ca8747072a45e84c91457.jpeg

Shipwreck while leaving Suva

 

C1A27BF8-55F7-4BF9-8BF5-B1067A97A8EE.thumb.jpeg.771cbde8a8b3103088cc631f369b2ff0.jpeg

Second Indian lunch

 

And if you've not been reading my daily blog, there's some pretty cool things there from the past few days including getting escorted back to the port in a police car in Apia.  The blog is at HTTPS://timmer2020du.blogspot.com

Broken Link - I think this is the correct one

 

https://timmer2022du.blogspot.com/

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Due to wind and sea conditions we missed Dravuni Island yesterday.  Today, 10/23, we were in Lautoka ananda we went on a private shore excursion out to the island where Cast Away and Survivor 43 were filmed.  We had 3 excellent snorkeling spots (pictures in a later post). I highly recommend https://cruise Fiji.com for great snorkel adventure here.

 

 

In his departure message the Captain noted strongly that hand sanitizers were located throughout the ship and we should wash our hands frequently.  I don't know if this means some form of infection is making its presence known.

 

Here are a few above the water pictures from today.


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Boarding

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Underway

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Cast Away "Help Me" beach

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Our track (26 miles from Lautoka)

 

 

FB83895D-BB47-4F72-BE83-60A0715500DD.jpeg

Edited by Btimmer
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There were two very important pieces of information today:

 

1.  At the coffee chat,  the staff Captain volunteered that there are no more than 10 cabins locked down in quarantine and all the cases are mild.

2.  The shore excursions manager noted that all NZ shore excursions are closed to new bookings by both passengers on board and on land until 11/8.  Apparently they can either open excursion bookings to either passengers onboard or land based future passengers but not both.

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Here are a few images from our our snorkeling trip to Monuriki Island from Lautoka.

 

7E9E942D-BB5A-40C4-AB60-EA65702EB9B7.thumb.jpeg.4efe182ee4921f4d9c95b147793cdf4c.jpeg

Nibbling on my fingers

 

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Sargeant fish

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ED1AB608-3871-4C17-A13E-331342E4C0D1.thumb.jpeg.66ba24628b270c50644c50c5817a1afa.jpeg

 

D33A9F4C-D92C-45AD-BC55-EE1BBF400534.thumb.jpeg.ef8cd3ec1e43912da11c782eb8291b83.jpegReplica from Cast Away

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Btimmer
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Today in his noon announcement , the Captain announced an uptick in Covid cases to 38 passengers and 4 crew. The cases are all asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.  He recommended masking, but it's not required. There was no nautical or meteorological information.

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59 minutes ago, oakridger said:

WOW!! That is probably the best collection of turtle pictures I’ve seen!!!  You weren’t exaggerating about the turtle jackpot!!!  🐢

Thanks!

 

They were shot with a simple GoPro 7 and edited on my iPhone.

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Here's some more information about how I do my underwater photography.  I shoot virtually all of my underwater shots with a GoPro Hero 7 Black.  I shoot short video clips in 1080p and then review them frame by frame using the GoPro App Quik.  I select the still photos that I want, and then transfer them wirelessly to my iPhone 13 using the Quik APP.  On the iPhone I load them up using the photos APP and then crop them using that App.  I then sharpen the images using another APP called Camera+ which I load using the Edit function in the Photos APP.  It's quick and easy to do and produces excellent results. 

 

I'm not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination.  I've simply found an easy way to deal with photos using pretty common tools. If you have more detailed questions, feel free to post the question in this thread and I'll attempt to answer.

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Today (Saturday, 10/29) in his noon announcement, our Captain announced 44 guests and 4 crew testing positive for Covid.  That up 4 passengers and level on the crew.

 

He also announced that we will now have two days at the Conflict Islands.  That's really good news!

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