Seabourn Odyssey LA to New Zealand January 4, 2016 to January 25, 2016
Jan 4th to 11th Our Departure from Los Angeles was delayed until late in the evening due to a slowdown by the Longshoremen. The seas were rough and we had a bit of "motion in the ocean" as we headed south by southwest to the Marquesas Islands. The seas finally calmed down when we reached the equator on the 10th. For the most part the lecturers and entertainers were repeats from previous cruises, so much of our time was spent reading, etc.
Jan 12th Our first stop on this leg was an anchorage off the coast of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands. We visited this island in January 2012 and there was not much to see or do, so we just stayed aboard the ship and enjoyed the scenery. It was a rainy day. A couple of the locals were "wake riding" behind our tenders with their small outrigger canoes as they traveled between the ship and shore.
Jan 13th to Jan 25th The next 13 days we sailed through Polynesia. With the exception of Fakarava all of the Islands we visited were repeats of previous visits and at many we stayed on board the Odyssey. We were looking forward to a return to Rangiroa which we had visited in the 1990's aboard the Windstar Wind Song prior to its accident in 2002.
I found Fakarava to be surprisingly clean and the people friendly. Rangiroa had prospered since we first visited, but was still very laid back. Papeete appeared to be cleaner and neater than we remembered, but Moorea and Bora Bora seemed to have declined somewhat; perhaps because many of the younger people have relocated to Papeete for jobs, etc.
We were looking forward to our arrival in New Zealand on the 26th. We had some moderately rough seas as we skirted around Cyclone Victor and missed a stop in the Cook Islands because of the conditions. We both agree that for us this is an itinerary we will not repeat as it is a lot of sea days with anchorage and tenders at most of the ports we did visit.
Following are links to photos I took on this trip; the last three combined with photos from previous visits.