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Our cruise ship was the M/S Paul Gauguin, operated by Radisson Seven Seas Cruises.
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The staterooms were very nice -- except for our friends' loft in Wellington, it was the nicest room we stayed in on the entire trip. |
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Here's a map of the cruise course posted in the lobby. Tahiti is the point on the left, Pitcairn is the point in the lower right, the eclipse path of totality is the line of circles in the lower right, the Marquesas Islands are at the top, and the Tuamotu group of atolls are the large blue objects in the center. |
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Mecca in Saudi Arabia is a very holy place in Islam -- whenever Muslims pray, they face Mecca. On our trip last year, there was an arrow in our hotel room in Cairo pointing towards Mecca (it was a circular wing, and it's hard to keep track of the direction). The Anti-Mecca is a place in the ocean exactly on the other side of the world from Mecca. Presumably, a group of Muslims there would face away from each other, since all directions face Mecca equally. We were only thirty kilometers away from this point on our cruise. |
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The Anti-Mecca is out that way. |
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One of the social events on the cruise was a Captain's Welcome Reception. Everyone who attended got their picture taken with the Captain. These pictures were then placed in a hallway in the evenings, and you could buy them for $10. Though we took a picture of this print, ultimately we bought a copy of it since Geoff Day, the photographer, is a nice guy. |
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The ship's photographer. His employers made him use film instead of digital. |
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On the way to Pitcairn, we passed Mangareva Island in the Gambier Islands group of French Polynesia. |
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Everyone was up on deck looking at the first land we'd seen in two days since leaving Papeete. The large object on the deck that looks like a metal weather balloon was the new Internet satellite antenna. |
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A party on a day at sea, where one of the games included the executive chefs having colorful stuff thrown at them. |
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The food on the cruise was very good. There was a different theme for lunch every day. This Sunday brunch apparently had the theme of "cruise ship food", since it was the only time we ever saw any sculptures such as this. |
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The executive chef leads us on a tour of the galley. |
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A photo in the galley of fish they have served. |
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Slicing avocados for dinner. |
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A cooking demonstration, showing how to make a little cylinder of potatoes topped with caviar. |
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The finished product. |
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A huge bowl of caviar. |
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Meliton, an especially friendly Filipino waiter, posing with Ray. |
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The tiki in our stateroom, with the two free bottles of alcohol which came with it. |
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Fun with mirrors. |
