Three More Sea Days on a slow boat to China
Saipan - Not to be
Overnight we travelled the 150 miles to Saipan. We laid off nine miles from the narrow channel we needed to navigate to dock in Saipan. We have 35 knot winds and 12 foot seas. Finally after several hours, our captain called the port. There is no breakwater in Saipan so we would be docked with those 12 foot waves hitting us - along with severe rain. Saipan tee time …. cancelled. Now we will have a leisurely three day sail to Osaka. This is what can happen while cruising. Need to breathe and go with the flow enjoying the small things. Next tee time - Singapore. What we have ahead Japan and China. We have an overland to the Great Wall. That is a highlight for us on this trip as we have never visited the wall.
I paid the fee and will be doing spin classes on sea days. I brought my spin shoes and will look forward to a great workout.
Apra, Guam
Island time … pilot late to meet the ship. Immigration hours late to clear the ship. Inspections of every nook and corner made us hours late. I missed my tee time and there were no taxis available to get to the course from the terminal. We gave it our college try but it was not to be. So we headed into town via shuttle. We were lucky to visit several landing beaches on our way into town. The harbor was a natural lagoon with small beaches dotting the way to town. Many Marines lost their lives on those small beaches and it was sobering to view them.
The island is tropical and the water looks inviting. My cell did work in this port of call. It was nice to hear friendly voices from family. We returned to the ship and heard taxis stories. Our wine steward took a taxi to a high end mall near where our golf course was. He had to pay $150 to get there! Maybe missing our tee time was not a bad thing! Rain showers were ever present - overall Guam is very lovely.
Sailing to the Northern Mariana Islands (Guam/Saipan)
Mah Jong, Pinnacle Grill dinners, trivia, swimming and reading filled our time on these sea days. We were able to watch the Super Bowl and enjoyed the great comeback. The game reminded me of what the 49ner’s used to be capable of.
Majuro, Marshall Islands
The main atoll we called on is over sixty atolls with land fill between them. I joked with Leon, wonder if those 5-6 inches of Bikini Atolls the US Government scraped off after above ground testing is the “landfill” between these atolls! I’m sure it isn’t but it was a thought. The Bikini City Hall is located in Majuro as per my photo.
We had access to a shuttle that brought us into the main common area of Majuro. The atoll took all the local school buses to accomplish bringing in the Amsterdam passengers. Locals set up craft booths and had local singing and dancing. It was a friendly welcome. We found many grocery stores and a couple of cafes. I had a local beer and french fries. Both were good, off the beaten and path and worth the effort. Only two ships per year stop at this atoll, so the infrastructure of tourism is underdeveloped - that is a good thing.
On our trip back to the ships, we noticed anyone with a pickup truck were filling the beds with the local kids - taking them home since all the school buses were in use … taking us back to the port.
Four Sea Days
We formed a golf club onboard the MS Amsterdam. There are about nine of us who playing in different ports. We have met and formed an itinerary of play dates. I’m so excited because the two retired military officers (husband/wife combo), another military retiree and me have formed a foursome to play some the military courses we will visit on this cruise. They are also signed up for next year! Yippie!!!! It is falling into place quite nicely. A course I’m looking forward to is Mission Bay Golf Course in Singapore. It is links style with deep bunkers.
Bobby Wilson Brown is the entertainer onboard. He was also on last year’s trip and he is fabulous.
Mah Jong ladies from Texas are really a fun group. We were laughing so much on Saturday, other tables told us to be quiet … several times. Finally one table told us to shut up …
The sun is out and the air is warm. Finally, I can swim in the afternoon without freezing to death.
So far, the trip has been fun. We are enjoying it.
