Back in Bermuda – 25th November 2011

With a 10 day reprieve before the next lot of treatment, we decided to go back to Bermuda.  Whilst the doctor told Jimmy he will start to feel tired being off his medication, we figured it was better to relax in Bermuda and then, if necessary get a flight back earlier to NY.   The doctor said she wouldn’t usually recommend traveling, but I guess we are not the usual travelers!!

We were back just in time for the Christmas Parade. Charlotte loved seeing all her friends again.

Thanks Giving – 24th November 2011

We went to Manhattan to see the Macy Day Parade (only ever seen on the TV previously).  Despite the crowds we managed to see some of the spectacular balloons – Charlotte had a prime view on Jimmy’s shoulders!

That afternoon we had Thank Giving dinner at Robbie and Milena’s, with Kenny, Steve and Mary.

New York 18-25th November 2011

Back to New York for a visit with the Endocrinologist Doctor – a word we didn’t even know existed a few days ago, let alone a whole medical area devoted to it!!  Jimmy was taken off his new thyroid medicine in preparation for a radioiodine scan in 2 week. 

Washington DC 14-18th November 2011

With a few days off before the next doctor’s visit, we drove down to Washington DC for a long weekend to get away from it all for a while – we had a good time, visiting lots of famous places including, obviously, the White House:

Charlotte and Jimmy got to meet with Obama!





We did our usual – the open top Hop on- Hop off bus – only difference this time was the temperature!! – as we sat up top freezing.

More appointments etc 11,12th November

We were optimistic once we saw the pathology reports from the last lot of surgery, showing the rest of the thyroid was clean, but then felt like a bus had hit us, when we met with the radiation oncologist, who started discussing radiation. Naively, I think we both assumed everything was over, and didn’t realize that there was still lots to come.

Hunter Mountain 11-14th November

With a miraculous recovery, and not wanting to stay still in Brooklyn, Friday night we drove up to Hunter Mountain to stay with Tommy, Lisa and Haley for the weekend in their new ski house.  Jimmy took it easy for the weekend while Charlotte had great fun playing with Haley and all the other girls there.  That night it snowed!

Surgery – Wednesday 9th November 2011

Second time round – Jimmy was a pro by now.  This time the rest of the thyroid and some surrounding muscle was taken out.  Surgery lasted one and a half hours from 4 til 5.30pm and that night he was eating pizza!!! (although a bit slower than normal!!).  The next morning he was discharged from the hospital (charging rates of a penthouse suite at the Plaza Hotel!!)

New York 3rd November

We flew to NY – Jimmy had his pre op for the surgery on the Friday and then we had a few days catching up with family.



Whilst the weather wasn’t exactly what we had planned (we usually stay within warmer climates!) we were actually quite lucky with the temperatures (apparently!!!).  Shopping for boots, hats and gloves and borrowing thick winter coats!!

San Diego 30 October - 3 November 2011

We stayed with Jimmy's FDNY buddy Danny Noonan and Regina in San Diego for 4 days.

On Halloween we went Trick or Treating with Regina and some friends of theirs, who have a 1 year old. Charlotte loved playing big sister, and taking him to each door. She dressed up as a witch this year.

At the end, they counted out all their candies! (and Charlotte sorted some candy to give to the Magic Pumpkin).

Then at the end of the evening, Danny and Jimmy showed Charlotte what they used to do on Halloween ….. and taught her how to throw eggs into the street!! – I think this was the highlight of the evening!




On Tuesday we went to San Diego Zoo, renowned as one of the best Zoos in the world – we spent a nice day there and saw lots of different animals.

 

On Wednesday Charlotte and I drove the 85 miles north to LA to have a day of roller coasters at Knotts Berry Farm. By the end of the day we were soaked from the water rides

 

On Thursday 4th November, we headed up to LAX airport and flew to NY for Jimmy to have his Pre Op on Friday and then surgery next Wednesday

End of the cruise - San Diego 29th October 2011

Well the end of the trip came too soon.  As on previous cruises, we could have easily stayed on longer.  The question was, how we would survive, fending for ourselves - where was the next meal coming from? how would we make our beds each day? who would make us a towel animal each night and put a chocolate on our pillow?.......  Since the middle of August, Charlotte and I had only spent 3 nights NOT on a cruise ship!!

We managed to navigate ourselves off the cruise ship (without having to be rolled down the gangway!!), rented a car and drove up to meet friends, and the other kids, from the cruise that we had done in South America earlier in the year.

First stop, Margaret, Chris and sons Daniel and Michael (from Australia, traveling for over a year).  Back in South America they had been like brothers and sister on the cruise.  Within less than a minute it was like they had never been apart!  Meanwhile the adults all caught up on the last 6 months - They were about to get on another cruise, leaving the next day, back to Australia.


Next stop, an hour north to Cathy and George to see them and their grandson Michael (11) who had been on the cruise also.  Again non stop chatting and catching up - they have just booked their 3rd world cruise!!

iMovie

During the trip, as part of the home school, Charlotte made a great "iMovie" of the trip on the computer, where she brought in photos and narrated what we had done.

Click link below to see it

Sea days - Marquesas to San Diego 22-29th October 2011

We left the Marquesas islands with 6 full sea days - lots of time for home school!! and other activities.

During the trip, we all received our medal for 100 days of cruising with Holland America (I'm sure Charlotte is one of the youngest recipients, and to get all the days in one year!!)

We enjoyed the desert extravaganza

We took part on the On Deck Walk for Breast cancer, that Holland America has on each cruise:

Charlotte went on stage and helped in the magic show one evening

We  also had some lovely professional photos taken of Charlotte

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands 22nd October 2011

The Marquesas Island Archipelago forms a relatively little visited south pacific corner, and is a fine example of unspolit natural Polynesian beauty.  They are the peaks of submerged volcanoes, so they are both mountainous and fertile. Breadfruit, coconuts and tobacco grow easily.  Out of the 10 Marquesas Islands, only 6 are inhabited today. They are very remote.  Giant stone idols are part of the custom and we saw these all over the island.

Nuku Hiva is the second largest island in French Polynesia after Tahiti, but is sparsely populated. It offers an astonishing range of terrain, ranging from windswept cliffs to lush river valleys and deep bays.  The main town of Taiohae acts as the administrative and economical capital of the Marquesas.  The Marquesas are probably what Tahiti and the Society Islands were like about 50 years ago.

This island does not usually have much rain (except in the mountains).  However, the day we were there was an exception!  It pretty much poured of rain most of the day.  Some of the local ladies performed a nice song and dance for us, and didn’t seem to mind that they were dancing bare footed and sitting in the muddy grass. 

The island is quite mountainous – those that ventured further inland on a tour, said the scenery was spectacular (even in the rain!).

Sailed through Tuamotus Islands 21 October 2011

On the way to the Marquesas, we sailed through the Tuomuto islands – many low lying coral atolls. 

Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands 20th October 2011

Tahiti is the largest of the islands and atolls that comprise French Polynesia.  Tahiti’s beauty is in its natural features, jagged mountain peaks above dense rain forest and waterfalls.  Despite the reputation of great beaches, Tahiti beaches are actually black sand. The nicest beaches are on Moorea and Bora Bora.

We didn’t see much of Tahiti as in the morning, we had taken the ferry back from Moorea and it was all aboard by 2.30pm.  However Jimmy had just spent 3 days in Papeete with Will on his sail boat.  We watched the dancers and band


took a look around the big market, bought pareo, black pearl necklace and bracelet and lovely smelling lai (made from the local flowers) that we wore back on the boat, around our necks.


then we left to sail to the Marquesas.

Moorea 19th October 2011

About 12 miles north west of Tahiti, enchanting Moorea is known as Tahiti’s little sister, and still retains an air of traditional Polynesian.  The island is very beautiful – mountains leap almost vertically out of the clear lagoon, lush vegetation, and peaceful quiet lifestyles. Moorea is an extinct volcano - Cook’s Bay and Opunoha Bay mark the floor of the ancient crater.  A reef encircles the island with a shallow and narrow lagoon. The interior is dense forest. Although it is not as developed, tourism wise, as Bora Bora, Moorea is still dominated by tourism.  The cruise ship anchored in the beautiful Opunoha Bay.  This bay was the setting for most of the South Pacific scenes from the film “The Bounty”.

This was the island where we got married in 1999, when sailing through the South Pacific.   We arranged to get off the boat for the night and stay in the Hibiscus hotel, where we stayed on our wedding night.

Once checked into the hotel, we took a tour around the island, and stopped over the other side of the island at the yacht club to see Will.

That evening we went to the dinner and show at the Tiki Village, where we got married. Dinner was cooked in polynesian style, in the ground  

They re enacted a wedding very similar to ours, 12 years ago, as part of the show:

They also performed a great show


The next morning we headed to the ferry dock to get the half hour ferry ride over to Tahiti to meet the cruise ship again.

Bora Bora 17th October 2011

Bora Bora is everyone’s idea of an ideal Pacific Island. Many regard it as the most beautiful island in the Pacific because of its lush-green volcanic peaks (just over 2000 feet), huge lagoon and the chain of sandy motu flanking its coast.  It is a picture perfect tropical island with a population of about 8,000. Bora Bora lagoon is three times the size as the land area.

The island is mainly dependant on tourism and has many resorts on the motus in the surrounding lagoon.  There are many “over the water” bungalows – we stayed in one at the Meridian Hotel on a motu in Bora Bora 12 years ago just after we got married, and we still think it is one of the nicest rooms we have ever stayed in.

Once ashore, we arranged a great boat trip – first we stopped to feed and snorkel with the manta rays and black tipped sharks!

Then the boat took us around the island in the lagoon, between the main island and the motus.  We got a chance to go close to the Meridian where we had stayed 12 years ago.

After that we stopped on a motu with a great white sandy beach – the guy running the trip put out a great fruit buffet while we snorkeled and generally relaxed on the island.

A great day out!!



We had an overnight in Bora Bora – much to the delight of the crew, many of whom apparently stayed out til 4am!! (overnight stops are few and far between).

The next day we took a round the island tour.  

We stopped to see the different fruits growing (breadfruit, mangos, grapefruit etc), a a place where they design pareos,
 
beautiful white sand beaches, Bloody Marys (a famous bar)



and the spectacular scenery.

Raiatea, Society Islands, French Polynesia - 16th October 2011

French Polynesia

French Polynesia with 260,000 inhabitants is located 11,000 miles from France and includes 120 islands spread over five archipelagos covering some 1.7 million sq. miles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The islands evolved out of ancient volcanic activity.  The Society Islands, the largest, is composed of 9 high islands and 5 atolls.

The official languages of French Polynesia are French and Tahitian, and each island group has its own language also.  Before the arrival of the missionaries in 1700s, the Tahitian language had never been written.  The missionaries took the sounds and matched them to the letters in our alphabet – there are only 16 letters – 5 vowels and 11 consonants.

French Polynesia is famous for its black pearls, which are farmed mainly in Tuomuto islands.

Raiatea

Raiatea was our first island in the Society Islands, French Polynesia, just over 100 miles north west of Tahiti.   Raiatea, and its twin island of Taha’a are less touristy islands and are more the old fashion side.  Although they embrace tourism, unlike their neighbours (Bora Bora), they don’t need it to survive – agriculture and government posts are the primary industries.  There are no real beaches on the island.

We took a boat to a nearby motu for the morning and went snorkeling. We saw a few fish and an octopus.

That afternoon Jimmy finally arrived on a small plane, flying up from Papeete, Tahiti where he had been staying with Will on his boat for the last 3 days, since flying there from NY.  It was good to see him again – it was 3.5 weeks since he had flown out of Tortola.


We put a lai of nice smelling flowers around his neck and a flower behind his ear in true Polynesian style!  The ship put a bottle of champagne in the room to welcome him on board (finally!!)

Rarotonga – Cook Islands 14th October 2011

The Cook Islands are an independent country associated with New Zealand and names to honor Captain James Cook (even though he never made it to this island).  The fifteen islands in this small archipelago are spread across 770,000 sq. miles of open sea.

Rarotonga is complete with miles of white sand beaches, glittering lagoons, small villages and volcanic peaks covered in lush vegetation.  Well at least, that is what we understand…….  Unfortunately, we were not able to land due to weather and sea conditions - 30 knot of wind and high seas.  There is no protected harbour for the ship, (which was planning to “drift” all day) and so getting passengers in and out of the tenders would not be easy.

The night before, the seas started to increase and we had 50 knot of apparent wind as we headed for Rarotonga.  It was not that much of a surprise in the morning when the captain made an announcement to say that unfortunately, as the safety of the passengers, crew and ship are his primary concern, we would not be able to land.  Instead, he took us on a sight seeing tour around the island to see what we had missed!!  We had booked to go on a snorkeling tour that day with Captain Tamas – but not to be.

At one point, I had looked at flights for Jimmy meet us in Rarotonga.  We were put off by the fact that there was only one direct flight a week from USA and so he would have had to have gone via New Zealand.  So instead, we decided to wait a couple more days for him to join us in Tahiti and the Society islands. – Thank Goodness!!!!

On one of the sea days, Charlotte took part in a “photo scavenger hunt” on the boat – here is one of the outfits she had to wear…..

King Neptune Ceremony for crossing the Equator – 12th October 2011

As we crossed from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemishere, in true sea faring traditions, King Neptune hosted a ceremony to initiate all the Pollywogs (crew who had not crossed the equator before) into his order of Shellbacks.

This consisted of covering them with a lot of goo, cold pasta, gravy, flour etc, and then being thrown in the pool! At the end, Charlotte took great delight in participating (as she had done back in March when we had crossed from south to north).


Needless to say, the pool was then emptied and cleaned!!

Heading south, we also crossed back over the International Date Line again – we missed October 9th but in return had 2 October 12th!