February 7, 2019 – at Sea
We continue through the South Pacific towards Easter Island. The seas are about 7ft swells according to Captain Mercer. Just a pleasant roll.
Easter Island was discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. You will never guess which Sunday he arrived. Yes, Easter Sunday it was.
After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to rent a car. We booked it back in October. The rental place is a short walk once we are ashore. Holland America offered a tour for $299.00 per person. Unlike South America, we feel quite safe on Easter Island so we are passing on the $600 trip and going for the $209 trip. The rental car is $49 and the entrance to the Park (most of Easter Island is a park) is $80 per person. We will spend some money on gas but the island is very small. It is about 7 miles wide and 15 miles long. Since HAL outlined the trip already, I decided to do the same tour by car.
One interesting fact I picked up in the research is the lack of insurance for the cars on the island. Everything has to be covered by the driver. I also learned that the rental company tries to claim all kinds of damages when cars are returned. How would you like to be charged for a missing jack and a flat spare tire? Would you even think to check for one in a rental car? I plan on spending a lot of time with the rental agent and I will take lots of pictures.
I don’t think there will be a lot of traffic. Many more wild horses and dogs than drivers of cars. It will be a Sunday and I think the island will be quiet.
We were a bit short on team trivia today. Jerry and Joann were out sick. Jerry has a sense of logic that we needed. “Which suit in a standard deck of cards has a one eyed king?” They are getting easier, aren’t they?
We decided to see a movie today since it was a bit windy and cloudy on deck. “Point Break” was showing at the Wajang Theater at 3pm. Great filming in the movie. Too bad it lacked a real plot. It featured extreme sport athletes. Watching them surf 80 ft waves or jump off a huge mountain and fly to the bottom in a special suit was amazing. You just had to keep asking “Why are they doing this?” Sometimes, after an event like this, I wish for a refund coupon that says “Refund: 110 minutes of life; previously wasted”.
We ate dinner at the Lido so I didn’t feel the pressure to do my hair. Lot’s of variety. I don’t think I have had anything twice yet for dinner.
The evening entertainment was Annette Wardell. We are not real fans of opera but we thought we would give her a try. The band started playing “Tonight” from West Side Story. Not an easy tune for all parties involved. She started singing off stage and hen made her entrance. I would have stayed off stage. She was off from the get go. She did not communicate with the pianist to try and save herself. This tells me that she didn’t realize she was off. The band hung together the entire tune. Somehow I think the morning rehearsal went the same way. Her voice is fine but I don’t care for the exaggerated vibrato that opera singers use. Just a matter of taste. The second tune, Habanera from Carmen was not much better. She is obviously used to looking at the conductor in the pit at the opera house. I’m sure her conductor sweats a few bullets when she enters. He probably owns a sweatshirt that says “savior” on it. On this stage, she and/or the pianist are the conductor. She was off again on this great tune but made no effort to communicate with the band. If she did, they would have help her. I seem to remember a few of these folks in my past. No, they weren’t high school students. She did do a piece that was almost entirely a-cappella. Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Here she did much better.
She finished her performance and we were happy to leave. I looked for another coupon on the way out. No luck.
Friday night we turn the clocks back to Eastern Standard Time. Who would have guess that Detroit and Easter Island are in the same time zone?
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