Captain, can we tender into Port?

Tendering

If you have not had the pleasure of tendering into a port, it is a very different experience. First of all, what does tendering mean on a cruise ship? A tender is a smaller boat that takes the passengers and crew ashore. Tending is done when a vessel is too large to dock in a port of call, the water is too shallow or too rough or your ocean liner arrives later than other ships and there’s no more room left to dock. This has been especially true for this voyage because we are stopping at a lot of smaller South Pacific Islands.

Kiritimati Island, Christmas Island

All excited we woke up to see Kiritimati Island, which is actually pronounced Christmas Island, from our veranda. In the Kiribati language, the “tI” is pronounced like an “s”. This atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is not used to having cruise ships visit. In fact, we were only the second ship to attempt to visit this year.

From our balcony, we watched the swells and they looked pretty significant. We could see the tenders doing their trial runs. Soon we heard the Captain over the loudspeaker declare that it was not safe to get the passengers on and off the tenders. Remembering the last tender ride in Hawaii, we were okay with the decision even though disappointed. I mean who does not want to visit Christmas Island! Since we had a good view of the Island on the Starboard side, we called AJ and Jenna whose cabin is on the Port side, to come over.

We took pictures as we sailed away waving goodbye to Christmas (Island)

Cook Island

Another tender port, oh my! Once again the Captain came over the loudspeaker proclaiming rough seas. Tendering in was at least a 15 to 20-minute ride. Getting on and off the tender would be calm but we could see the tenders rocking and rolling as they headed for shore. The Captain said the tender operation was a go, YEAH! However, they would only fill the tenders to about 50% capacity. Another caveat was that if the seas got any rougher then the Captain would sound the horn 4 times to let everyone on the Island know to head back to the tender dock.

Hum, what should we do? Taking into consideration the fact that Jenna and Steve, both have tendencies to get seasick on small vessels we decided to stay on the ship. Additionally, on the Island, both the market and the buses closed up shop at 12 noon on Saturday. It was Saturday.

Neiafu, Tonga

Another tendering port. Water was calm which meant an easy on and off the tender, we happily tendered into port. Yeah! Once on land, we were greeted with the news that the tour was canceled due to several bus drivers who were “no-shows”. We decided to walk into town, see the sights, grab some lunch, and head back to the ship.

We headed out to see the sites. Our first stop was a farmer’s market with lots of fresh fruit and handicrafts for sale. Outside the market, was a hill where we saw the only real traffic in the town. The hill led down to the dock.

On the main street, we saw a sign for a park which was a .1km walk, so that was our next stop. After the park, we headed for the Church which was up the hill. The climb wasn’t bad, once we got there we were rewarded with a wonderfully cool island breeze. After the church, Jenna and AJ headed to find a beach. We headed back to the main street to find some lunch.

Lunch was at a local restaurant that had a very unique way of providing the customers with a napkin. It was intertwined into the tines of the fork. I think it was also a way to use smaller napkins. After lunch, we found another park with a spectacular view.