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Saturday, 22 November, Mercury Islands and White Island, NZ Having stayed up until 130 or so watching the departure from Auckland, and then reading more of the Border Trilogy, we didn’t awaken until 0845. This was just in time to see some of the Mercury Islands, interesting pointed rocks sticking out of the water all over the place. We watched them from our balcony for a while and finally got dressed and went to breakfast at the buffet. It was crowded, but the food was good and there was a good variety. I had muesli with milk, sausage, and bacon, and several cups of decaf coffee. Gail went back to the cabin and I cruised the ship to see what was where, and what was interesting. This ship is about half the capacity of the Golden Princess we were on five years ago in the Mediterranean, with a capacity of 1440. It has two pools instead of five, and they’re not as large, but certainly adequate. Later we went to lunch when we thought it wouldn’t be busy, at 130. Again it was packed, but since we’d had late breakfast we just nibbled on a few things, salad and dessert. They always say that “the little elves shrink all your clothes on a cruise” do to the almost continuous array of meals and snacks, but I’m trying to avoid the little elves. The ship isn’t large enough to have an area to jog or run, except on treadmills in the gym, and I’m not fond of them. Three and a half loops of the promenade deck are a mile, but since only walking is permitted, that is frustrating. But, since I’m so out of shape at the moment, even walking is good, and will help me get ready for the Whales Half Marathon in Maui in about 11 weeks. I’ll try to spend some time on the treadmills, too. Then I took Gail on a tour of the ship, and by then it was time for a “Royal Dutch Tea”, another chance to eat. We both had some Earl Grey and some of the various little canapés. Gail was able to have several of her favorite things: chocolate dipped strawberries. We sat at a table with three others, parents and an adult daughter from Virginia. Just as we finished we realized there were more islands and rocks visible from our balcony, so we went out to take pictures and to listen to the travel guide tell about White Island, far out in the Bay of Plenty. It was named (as was most everything with an English name here) by Captain Cook due to the white smoke coming from the center of it. He didn’t land there since he thought the smoke was from Maori cooking fires, and he’d recently had a run-in with them. Wrong! It is the most active volcano in New Zealand, and he was seeing smoke from some of the vents and fumaroles in the center of the crater. After all that hard work, it was time for more reading of my book and a nap. Dinner tonight was rack of lamb for Gail and beef wellington for me. Once again, the same delightful dinner companions, who I assume we’ll eat with each night the rest of the trip. Back to itinerary (trip home page)
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