Pacific Odyssey - Leg 3

Happy Thanksgiving Day! Gillian made a wonderful Thanksgiving Day meal of roast chicken, pumpkin as vegetable dish, mashed garlic potatoes, and pumpkin pie for dessert.  She picked up the pumpkin in Rarotonga where pumpkins were in abundance.  Thank you Gillian.  I am back on the boat with the family and enjoying the company of the crew and trainees once again, though I had a very fun time with the kids at the pool; we feel good and clean once again.  We had our first warm shower since Victoria.  The boat has been quiet today.  Forewatch had breakfast together at the Latoka Hotel, while Starboard watch has just left to the Waterfront Resort to enjoy a drink and some dessert.  Karen and Jose are enjoying some time off.  Most of the trainees spent the day looking over all their stuff and contemplating getting it all back into their bag. There is still quite a bit of packing to do. The day was spent finishing off last minute shopping, buying plane tickets, internet, visiting the market, enjoying a meal with a few friends one won´t see for awhile, or just being on the boat for one more day, reading or writing. At about 1600hrs we moved the boat closer in to the gate.  It is easier to get off the boat and we now have a hose on the dock we can rinse ourselves under; this is luxury.  There does seem to be more big truck traffic moving containers to the waiting ships, and they churn up the dust something scary.  At the moment they are still at work and it is rather noisy.  This affects those sleeping on deck which is most of us. Skipper was able to rinse the entire deck, all seat lockers, houses, rails, hatches, etc. with the hose; everything has gradually been collecting quite a layer of black soot from the cane factory and road dust from the trucks.  The night is quite nice, the air has finally cooled somewhat and a light breeze has picked up, blowing away the majority of the flies and mosquitos.  The stars would be visible if there weren´t so many big working lights shining.  Tomorrow is a sad, transition-type of day.  We will be saying good-bye in the morning to about 13 trainees; this is always a difficult time.  We grow into a group and then suddenly we are no longer together.  For two months our lives have been so intensely linked; it´s a strange feeling to have to separate so abruptly.  For those of you waiting at home for your trainees, I wish you a wonderful re-uniting; it´s a beautiful part of the trip, the returning home, and the seeing each other again.  Quite a few of the trainees are continuing their travels and parents and friends will hear of a different type of life from here on.  That too will be interesting; life moves on. Last night we had our final dinner.  The table looked beautiful, as did all the trainees and crew.  All of the guys wore sarongs or lava lavas; they looked really smart, perhaps we should start the trend back home.  The meal was excellent and was set up as a
Smorgasbord.  We began with pumpkin soup followed by a selection of 3 entrees, curried beef, traditionally baked chicken in coconut, and a delicious fish dish.  There were 4 salads to try and for dessert we had tea and coffee with a variety of tropical fruit and coconut slices. Throughout the meal Trivia questions were asked by crew members and the trainee who responded correctly received a prize of a Cadbury mini chocolate bar
(do they have Halloween here?), Chupa-style sucker (but stickier) and some Werther-like candies.  The questions walked us through the entire leg, providing memories of places, incidents, experiences, people, funny exploits and bits of information gleaned through all the life stories and interrogation sessions held within each watch.  It was a lot of fun and elicited much laughter. After the meal Jose and Sam showed an absolutely fantastic 45 minute slide show of Leg 3.  We sat absolutely quiet as again we relived so many good moments.  Nothing needed saying, we were all there. The photos and video clips were more than just an image, it evoked an entire mood, group of friends, type of weather, mix of feelings and experiences, cultural exchange . . . we wanted to watch it again and again, make it all last just a little bit longer.  I think Leslie made some copies of the show so you may have a chance to see it. The evening ended about 2230 hrs and my boys were done.  Noah had swam so much on the bottom of the pool that the bottom of each toe had a blister and these were causing him grief.  Groups mingled and some went out for a drink together, trying to make the most of the last few evenings.  Tomorrow and the following 2 nights, the computer will be unavailable to me.  We will try to find an alternative but there may be minimal logs for the next 3 nights.  Amongst those 3 days, Skipper has his 2 days off, and so I think I too will take some time off from typing the log in the evenings.  The 2 days between legs are pretty quiet; everyone is off doing their own thing, providing their own meals, so the log tends to become more of a personal journal, as we are more out of touch with each other, the crew members are resting, finding some quiet. Until I write to you again, enjoy the return of the trainees, the ones that we´ve loved and enjoyed living with these past 55 or so days.  We will miss them.  Good night, Bonice.