You have seen Hawaii, so I will skip that part of the cruise. Our port of call after that was Fanning Island. We crossed the International Date Line and made our approach. Oops! Too windy.

Fanning Island is just a simple atoll and we would not have a pier to tie to, only dropping anchor. Too much wind! Shucks.

On to French Polynesia, re-crossing the date line.

And we crossed the equator. Unfortunately, I forgot to be in my cabin and see the water going down the drain in a different direction. The waters near the equator were just like this.

Our first sighting of Bora Bora. We will be here overnight. The port is too small for a large ship, so we will anchor in the bay and use the ship's tenders.

I do not know the cost to rent one of these, I imagine it is more per day than what we are paying for the same on our cruise.

This was not a cheap cruise (my favorite kind) because it is in the middle of winter and lots of folks want to get away into the warmer weather. There a many Canadians on Holland America's Statendam.

A different kind of resort on Bora Bora. Once you get to the island, there are not lots and lots of things to do. Being in the water is the primary activity. There are no large stores, we went into a grocery and it was smaller than our house.

Tourism is the primary thing in Bora Bora and almost everything there is geared toward the tourists.

This is part of the town of Vaitape where our tenders will discharge passengers. The town is spread out around the bay.

As you can see, this is not a bustling city. That is a private home on the hill in Bora Bora.

As you might expect, Bora Bora has its origins from volcanic activity. This is Mount Otemanu, one of the two high points on the island (about 2400 feet). Seeing something like this, in the warm air makes one easily decide that the South Pacific is just about what one imagines.

Thank you for the tour, your timing is excellent - it's in the low twenties, the roofs are white with frost and my fire is reluctant to get going, so the furnace is sucking up propane - hope the rest of the day will go better than the beginning.

Well, I learned something new! I always thought that geography was one of my strong subjects, but Fanning Island had me stumped. So now I know and it was fun to dig for it. Of course I was sidetracked a couple of times, but that is part of the fun. Thanks Jim.

The South Pacific sounds mighty good today. Brrr in the morning, brrr in the evening and brrr all day long.