Both of us are still confused– not my roommate but my blog and I.  Wi-Fi in the South Pacific is not easy and I’ve been slow, also busy.  This is the first day since I left home that we have time to ourselves.  I washed my hair and made an appointment for a pedicure. Soon we are going to do some laundry, but I have to check in with you first.

Bob and Susan Sutherland are the only people I know who drink Hendricks Gin. Today the cocktail of the day was a Ginny Hendricks so I had to have one in their honour. It’s made with sour apple and lime mix plus gin of course and it was quite nice but I wouldn’t want to waste good martini gin on it as a regular haYesterday’s diver-driver-guide was a gorgeous young man, probably not as young as he looked, probably because he’s so fit. Today a pair of lovely women in coconut shell brassieres and lavish hula skirts welcomed us to Rangiroa with their swivel hips gyrating to the beat of a seductive drum. What happens to these beautiful people? A bus driver who took us to our Bloody Mary destination was enormous, as was his cohort directing traffic, probably 500 pounds.  And the mamas, older women, while still lovely (everyone has smooth, glowing skin), are also very big.  Is it genetic?

Tomorrow we are going to our final stop in French Polynesia and we didn’t go there last year: Fakarava, an atoll like the rest of these islands, and very small. There are 800 residents in the town  (village?) of Rotoava. A designated village, Tetamanu, has fewer than a dozen inhabitants, according to our information package.  Essentially, Fakarava is one giant beach.  All these sandy beaches and clear blue (also turquoise) waters make it hard for me to remember April in Toronto. Is it still snowing?

Anon, anon.

My Fitbit thinks Toronto time, six hours behind where I am, and I have no idea how to change it. I was hoping my app would talk to Fitbit and get it straightened out but that hasn’t happened.  So in addition to my body’s jet lag I   have to cope with Fitbit’s laggard ways. 

I slept, crashed actually, but I don’t know when, on Monday night after a 30-hur day, 16 spent I flying.  The ship sailed at 5 to position us for the first excursion. We left a wake-up call but it didn’t happen   My first awareness of time and my body arrived with June’s gentle announcement:

“It’s 5 to 7, Bettyjane.”

I haven’t introduced you to my travel buddy for this trip, June, whom I met on the Big Trip last year. When she found out that I had booked a cruise as a single to Easter Island she asked if she could join me. Yes, indeed! We have a balcony and a butler, thanks to being a twosome. She’s not a sight-unseen roommate. won in a lottery.  We had time to get to know each other on board the Insignia and we have corresponded since we parted and I have benefitted by her (American) travel agent.  She is younger than I but we share the same mobility issues, for different reasons, so our capacity and strength for excursions are limited and our tolerance of each other’s weaknesses very sympathetic.

I began tired and June was too, not quite as jet-lagged (about 3 hours) but equally wiped.  We had to skip breakfast so as not to miss the tender going ashore in time to catch a boat. We couldn’t take food with us, except inside us.  I grabbed a banana and tossed the skin into a bin as I flashed my key-card, the passport to everything on and off the ship. Weariness and hunger, jet lag and disorientation – all, all fell away as I experienced one of the most magical boat-rides in my life.  We went dolphin- gazing.

Also gawping and gawking.   Spinner dolphins,.  We watched groups of them swimming in formation for fun (synchronized swimming was inspired by them); doing back flips and somersaults and spinning: straight up out of the water and literally spinning, up to 7 or 8 twists in the air, like a ballet dancer doing jetés but without a leg in the air.  Poetry in motion.  I f I were a poet like Gerard Manley Hopkins, I could describe what I saw and what I felt.  Awe. Joy. Glee. Gratitude.

About the size and weight of an adult male human, playful and promiscuous, a spinner dolphin is among the smallest of the dolphin family. Everything I know bout dolphins I learned on Tuesday from Dr. Michael Poole, our laid-back, barefoot guide who has spent over 30 years.