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India’s Out; Western Australia’s In

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 61, Grand World Voyage 2020 Thursday, March 5, 2020; At Sea, Tasman Sea I don’t typically write a blog post about sea days, as most are pretty much the same and there isn’t a lot to write about. But I’ve always been a reporter at heart, so when there

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World Cruise 2020
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Retracing My Steps in the Bay of Islands

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 60, Grand World Voyage 2020 Wednesday, March 4, 2020; Waitangi, Bay of Islands, New Zealand Today’s port call at the Bay of Islands in northeast New Zealand was remarkably similar to the one I made in late 2017. If I’m fortunate enough to come back here a third time,

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World Cruise 2020
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Finding Time to Relax in Busy Auckland

Posted on March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Days 58-59, Grand World Voyage 2020 Monday & Tuesday, March 2-3, 2020; Auckland, New Zealand There is so much to see and do in Auckland, but we found ourselves thoroughly enjoying a lazy afternoon — watching America’s Cup yachts come and go from the Viaduct Harbor while eating seafood chowder

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World Cruise 2020
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Where in the World Will the Amsterdam Go?

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 55, Grand World Voyage 2020 Friday, Feb. 28, 2020; Nuku’alofa, Tonga Tonga was great (and hot) today, but more about that later. Our bigger news is changes in the itinerary, mostly due to COVID-19, aka the coronavirus. The Amsterdam will skip our Asia stops — four ports in Indonesia

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World Cruise 2020
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Mardi Gras But No Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 28, 2020February 28, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 54, Grand World Voyage 2020 Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020; At Sea, South Pacific Happy Ash Thursday! Yes, you read that right. Ash Thursday. After I went to bed last night after the Mardi Gras party on board, we crossed the International Date Line. We turned our clocks a whole

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World Cruise 2020
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A Reef, a Lagoon and a Beach at Rarotonga

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 52, Grand World Voyage 2020 Monday, Feb. 24, 2020; Rarotonga, Cook Islands I should have realized how small Rarotonga is when I tried to download its map on my Planet Earth phone app and couldn’t find one. As it turned out, it took little more than 30 minutes to

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World Cruise 2020
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Following the West Coast of Tahiti

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 50, Grand World Voyage 2020 Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020; Pape’ete, French Polynesia Why does Tahiti sound so much more exotic than the Cook Islands, Vanuatu or even Fiji or Tonga? We probably can credit Paul Gauguin, the artist who took up residence in Tahiti and caused quite a stir

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World Cruise 2020
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Lazy Days Sailing West to Polynesia

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 48, Grand World Voyage 2020 Friday, Feb. 21, 2020; At Sea, South Pacific Ocean I woke up knowing this would be a red-letter day, and sure enough – there it was in our mail slot after breakfast! The notice that I had reached a new milestone in Holland America’s

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Bountiful Shopping from Pitcairn Island

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 47, Grand World Voyage 2020 Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020; Adamstown, Pitcairn Island “They came out to visit us. We welcomed them with open wallets!” I love the way fellow cruiser and blogger Jane Barbeau summarized our morning at Pitcairn Island. It was a combination of Black Friday frenzy and

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A Magical Day with the Moai

Posted on February 17, 2020November 8, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 44, Grand World Voyage 2020 Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020; Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Did the huge statues carved from volcanic ash walk across the island? How, on what appears to be a treeless island, could the creators roll the statues on logs? Would the weather and sea gods smile

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