Europe

Since my last post which was on the pacific jewel in Australia, I have been in Manitowoc Wisconsin all summer.  I had a great summer enjoying the outdoors, fishing, camping and staying busy performing.  My focus was to gig and work as much as possible and always doing something fun on my days off.  I also would bartend at Timeout in between my gigs which helped keep me moving.  
Just a few weeks ago I took my first trip to Europe.  I flew to Munich Germany and met up with an Australian buddy (Brendan) and his family.  I met them on the Australian ship I performed on while they were passengers and surprised Brendan's sister and mother in Munich. 
Brendan and I hired a camper van that sleeps five people and traveled with that.  We went to October Fest for three days and enjoyed how the Germans hangout.  There were so many people in the festival grounds. There were about five main tents that had thousands of people in each of them, so crazy!! 
After October fest Brendan and I decided to hit the road and start our journey.  We started driving to Austria not knowing where we wanted to go.  We eventually stopped at a gas station to eat and two girls came over to us asking if they could get a ride.  Yes, they were hitch hiking and been getting around Europe traveling that way.  So we gave them a ride to Graz Austria. It was fun to meet them and learn about there way of life.  They were both very sweet and good people.  Brendan and I decided to camp out in Graz and go see the city.  We went to this castle on the mountain and learned a lot about Graz. 
Our Next destination was Venice Italy! We ended up rolling up there really late because we spent the whole day in Graz and then drove the four hours to venice. We slept in a truck stop to keep it cheap and then drove to our campsite the next morning. After we got everything situated we took a ferry from Fusina to Venice. Venice was so amazing! Its a city build on the water with so much history. We ended up staying there for two nights because me made some good local friends. Venice was my favorite!
We then left the next morning to Milano Italy and hung out with some Canadians. We did not do much here except hang out downtown. We toured the most beautiful church i've ever seen which was sweet! I saw it from a distance and It was a castle! It was so big and white with the most amazing designs all over it!
After Milano, we drove to Bern Switzerland! Here we made friends with some locals that took us around. It was a fun night! We took so many beautiful scenic pictures which was a must because the mountains and hills were so gorgeous!
The trip over all was so great! I learned a lot about communicating to others that don’t speak English but still being able to communicate. Im glad I took up sign language in school because it taught me how important facial expressions and body language can make up for words. That was very helpful and fun! Next time I go to Europe I think it would be fun to back pack around for a month or so. There is so much to see in Europe!    

One more cruise left!

Wow, I cant believe I have only one more cruise left.  I havent been blogging much lately but maybe someday will wright about it all.  My goals were to have fun always, see new things, do new things and play great music.  I am proud of what happened the past 8 months and have to say that I will miss everyone I met and grateful to be able to do what I have been doing.
Today is my last day of being the Crew Club President.  I have been training the new CCP the past few days and she will be taking over.  I wanted my last cruise off so I can relax more and not have a pager that always rang.. It was such a great experience.  Here is my closing letter to the crew that I wrote a bit ago.

Hello and farewell Crew of the Pacific Jewel!

I would like to take the time to thank all of you for a wonderful first contract! I was scheduled to leave in january, but because I enjoyed my job on board, working with you and playing music, that I was privileged to extend. I hope all of you had a great time as I did!

In the beginning of my presidency, I had goals in my campaign that I felt needed to get accomplished for us. I wanted to pack the crew bar with many events so that everyday there was something to look forward too when we were not working. We put on many acoustic nights, band nights, trivia nights, battle pong nights, poker/black jack nights, dart tournaments, foosball tournaments, ping pong tournament, movies nights in the Marquee, themed music nights, BINGO and raffle nights, crew BBQ's, karaoke nights and many wonderful discos! I felt that the more that was going on in the crew bar the more the crew can get together as a family and enjoy each others presence. This is our time to wind down from the hard work everyone does all day! I hope you enjoyed our crew bar and thank you to everyone that hosted events and took charge for there fellow crew members.

Another accomplishment that we have been able to finally achieve, is the new crew gym equipment. This was a huge project and should be completed by March 28^th. It is now all rearranged and organized, so lets take care of the equipment and enjoy it. Thank you to everyone that helped put there work into making this happen for the crew. Get down there, take care of your body and mind by utilizing the new gym. 

I would personally like to thank Akhil Pandi my vice president, for his professionalism and extra help which he did for me and for the crew. He and crew shop worker (Alvado) did a great job going beyond expectations.

Lastly I would like to welcome our new Crew Club President Bena, who works in the dinning room. I have been working with her and some of the bands really closely and I know she is very organized and I feel she will do a great job. Talk to her, get to know her, so she can help fulfill your needs for the months to come. Way to go Bena!!!

Again, thank you all for a great first contract!!

Your Crew Club President,

Riley Haupt

A quick update-Holidays, fishing, and New Zealand

Again, this is how I start every blog. It has been a long time since i've written! I will start with Christmas and new years. I've never been away from my family and friends back in the US except for the past holidays.  It was sweet how the crew on the ship came together bringing the christmas spirit around the ship. I ended up going to a bible study with about 25 Philippino's and Indians on board and had a christmas service which was nice. It was so cool learning about so many different cultures and nationalities while sharing the Christmas spirit.

During the Christmas cruise, I put on a big BINGO and raffle for the crew in the Marquee. I sang “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting) for the crew to kick off the night and Matt Accompanied me on guitar. As I hosted the event we gave away about 5,000 Dollars of prizes and 4,000 Dollars in cash. It was a good time! Matt and I also performed individually for the Marquee Christmas show for the passengers which was a great because we only perform in the Marquee once and a while. New years was off the hook!! I new it was going to be a big party but did not expect it to be as big as it ended up being.. I was on the top deck with the passengers during the count down and the party was jammin!

The past few cruises I have been fishing a lot. Sandy (The cruise director), Robbie (lead singer) and I have been trying to catch fish in Wala, Champagne Bay, and Mystery Island. One day when us the were fishing in Wala, Robbie had a huge hit on his hand line. The local that was driving the little boat in the sea with no life jackets took the line and started bring the fish in by hand. I grabbed the camera and started filming. When the fish got close to the boat, a shark came up and hit the fish we had on. Not just one, but another hit it as well. We were all using crazy launguage at this point in aww and still trying to get that fish in the boat. We got it to the side and almost fully out of the water and it got off the hook. That King fish was shark food. After we lost the fish we could see about six sharks circling under our boat. Yes I have it all on video!!

So we fished in Champagne Bay, then Wala again and we could not catch anything! So then we came back to Champagne Bay and hired the only boat on the island with a motor and he took us out. After an hour or even more we finally had a tuna hit. Sandy was reeling it in and I grabbed the camera. We talked through the whole process so we made sure not to lose this fish and sure enough we got our first tuna in the boat. Then about a half our later, as I was using the toilet in the ocean one hit my line and I was reeling in a fish with my shorts not even tied all the way.. we were laughing so hard. Then right after we got my fish in the boat another HUGE yellow fin tuna hit on Sandys line and him and I were 3 for 3 that day! We then gave the smaller fish to a local lady we called mamma because she was so sweet to us and was so happy to receive the fish and took the other two on the ship. The chefs on board cleaned them and made a huge feast for the Captain, HD, Sandy, and a few other that we invited. It was such a great experience. I have many videos and pics!!

I have been so busy doing Crew Club President stuff. I've been putting on many events in the crew bar almost every night which never happened before. From Band nights, Acoustic nights, Kareoke, PingPong tournaments, Foos tournaments, Movies in the Marquee for the crew, many Disco, Themed music nights, Battle Pong tournaments (Beer Pong), and sometimes would get guest entertainers to do a show for the crew as well. The last on was a hypnotist and “Hypnotized” about 7 of the crew while everyone watched and laughed at them. I've been buying thing for the crew so the sound is better and improving as much as I can. The biggest thing I am doing is buying a big new machine for the crew gym. It still is not finished yet but I hope to make that finalized soon. I plan to finish off February and a little of march and then have them reelect a new president so I can take the last month of my time on the ship to get myself organized for when I return back to America. Its been good but I have been very busy.

Right now we are almost back in Sydney. We are finishing our 14 day New Zealand cruise which was very relaxing. The weather was different and refreshing compared to the hot tropical weather that we get in Vanuatu and the other country’s we go to. The biggest thing I did in New Zealand was went white water rafting down the biggest commercial waterfall in the world. It was pretty sweet!! Now I am counting down the days to go back to reality. We are now under the two month mark which is good for the mind. Matt and I are now starting to book up for the summer so if anyone is needing entertainment Facebook or email me. My phone wont be on until April 9^th. Thanks for reading what Im doing and caring about my life!! CHEERS :)

New Zealand Cruise/Goodbyes/Crew Club President Nov17-Dec20

Again it has been awhile since I have blogged. I think I will start where I left off and try to remember what all happened in New Zealand. It was a long 16 day cruise but it was a great experience from November 17 to Nov 30th. I saw so many dolphins swimming near the ship that cruise as we were sailing which was so amazing.

That cruise we had two sea days and then sailed through the Fiordlands. We didn't port at all that day, just sailed through the most beautiful lands ever. This area had mountains and cliffs on both sides of us and jungle all over. It was pouring rain that day which made waterfalls come crashing down everywhere from the tops of these Fiords. I also saw some penguins and seals swimming close to the ship.

The ports after the Fiordlands were Port Chalmers, Lytlelton, Wellington, Napier, Tauranga, Auckland and Bay of Islands. But I think it was Tauranga that we skipped because of the weather and got to have an overnight in Auckland which was crazy fun.

Im pretty bad with remembering which port it was but one of these days I got off the ship and hiked up a mountain. I power walked up it by myself for about two hours and was pretty much to the top of it. It was so fun and I need that time alone. While walking up this dirt road, near the top there was cattle all over which was so cool to see. At one time, I came across a few cows that had calfs in the middle of the dirt road. I figured if I don’t bother them they wont bother me and so I walk pretty close to them and then the mom snorted and got upset with me. She kind of came at me for a bit as I backed away slowly and then she just stood there. We stood there looking at each other and then finally she and her little one as well as other then started walking down the mountain from the path. That really kept me on my toes. That was a little scary. I figured I could have just yelled and went YAAAh YAAAH and scare here away but I didn't. Ha! As I was walking up I took so many pictures. Right as I was getting higher up the mountain my camera dies. I eventually walked around this bend and saw the most beautiful view of the city we ported at, the ship way far away and mountains all around. I tried to see if I could just get one picture really fast and sure enough I was able to get one. I hate it when I don't charge my batteries. The walk down was harder than the walk up because there was more pressure on my shins on the way down. I was a bit sore the next few days. What a great day!!

Wellington was so cool. Sophie, Jenni, some of the security on board and I went walking around the city and got some drinks and food. Then we split up and Sophie, Jenni and I went to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. This Museum was so cool and big. We went on two of these rides that have a screen in front of you and your seats move around to make you feel like you are actually there.. I forgot what those are called but it was cool. This day was rainy and windy but still was better then being on the ship. After the museum Sophie had to go back for duties and Jenni and I went on the cable cars and then got some drinks. It was a nice day in Wellington.

The best Port was Auckland! We were suppose to go to Tauranga but went straight to Auckland and had an overnight there. I completely lucked out. I was suppose to have IPM that day but found a swap earlier in the cruise which allowed me to get of the ship. After my gigs a bunch of us met in the crew bar and left the ship at about midnight. There was probably 25 of us ready to tare up the city and go clubbing. The first bar we all went into had a band playing. Everyone was dancing and kicking it. Then we went next door where there was a DJ and hung out there for a while. We later went to I think the waterfront bar (not sure if that is right), and danced it up a bit. From there everyone kind of went there own ways and Sophie and I adventured around some yachts. Crazy night! All of a sudden it was light out and we did not get back to the ship till around 7am. We made it before the ship was about to re-dock. A few of us wanted to do some bridge bungee jumping that next day but that did not happen. Sean, Jenni, Sophie and I had a goofy day laughing so much. We hung out with this man painted gold, being a statue and we gave him lots of money. Such a great day!

New Zealand was just amazing! I am going back there in the end of January and hopefully I will wright more while im there so I don't forget so much. Another reason why I was not blogging is because I was working on campaigning for the Crew Club President position on board. The whole next crew was pretty crazy with all of that.

The cruise after New Zealand which went from Nov 30 to Dec 10th was a normal cruise that we always do. Our ports were Isle of Pines, Lifou, Port Vila, Mystery Island and Noumea. This was a hard crews for me because my best friends on board were leaving after it. I hung out with the singer dancers most of the time on board and on land, and we did so many fun things together. Im missing them all very much. Especially Sophie, whom i've been dating now for about three months. Knowing she was leaving and going back to england was very hard for me. I miss her very much! This was the first time that I learned in a hard way about “ship life”. That disembark day was tough.

The next cruise I felt overwhelmed because I had so many more responsibilities. I got elected as CCP of the pacific jewel which is an extra paid gig. I have to organize events, manage the crew shop, manage the crew bar and do lots of ordering, budgeting and other little things. I am happy to have a vice president that helps me with all of this and we are getting things down. At first I hated it! I did not have a clue what was going on and I was getting paged all the time which upset me. I was never use to being busy being and musician on board. But now that I have a good hand on this president position, I think it will be ok and I feel we are doing good for all the crew.

In sydney I walked into a Dick Smith store with 5k and bought over 40 sweet raffle prizes for the crew. We are going to do a free raffle with all 725 crew members in it, giving everyone a fare chance to maybe win something big. On Christmas we are having a crew BBQ from 8-11pm and then Bingo and free raffle in the Marque at midnight, then disco after. Some of the main big prizes are Mac book pro, 2 wii gaming systems, cameras, Ipod touches, mp3 players and many more. I bought a few funny prizes like a barbie clock, some games and two sweet radio controlled Helicopters. I thought the helicopters were cool. I will be hosting the bingo giving away $2,000 grand prize, $1,000, $500 and two $250 games. It will be a good fun day for all the crew. I am missing home sometimes now or miss the idea of “normal life”. Ship life has big highs and big lows and can get tough sometimes. But we all are a family here and that is nice. To all of you back at home or where ever, I miss you all. I hope to keep my blog more up to date. It is now Dec 20^th at 1am. Goodnight and if I don't write before the celebration of the birth of Jesus, Merry Christmas everyone! <3

Oct 29th-Nov 17th Melbourne Cup, Champagne Bay and more

On Oct 29^th we went to Melbourne Australia, which was a heck of a experience! It has an artsy/hip atmosphere and is nothing like Sydney. While we were there it was busy because the Melbourne Cup was happening on our second day there and that was an experience. Matt and I hung out the first day and night and got to play at a pub. There was a duo playing there already and we hung out with them. It was great cause the bar bought us drinks for playing.

The next day I was not able to go to the cup because I had a concussion unfortunately. That really mad me mad because a friend “Abby” who nows horses well told me to bet on Dunegan. I was planning on putting 20 bucks or something fun down on the horse but didn't go to the Cup. Then I watched from my TV Dunegan WIN the Cup!!!!! GRRRRR!!! Oh well! I went out that night with a bunch of people. The next day Sophie and I went for a stroll in Melbourne and went to the aquarium and hung out with many fish and sharks, then we ate at a cafe and chilled. We had a nice time together.

That cruise was only 7 days long, two sea days, three days on land and then two sea days back to Sydney. It was the first time that we were dry docked for more than one day. This meant we could come and go when ever we wanted as long as we made it to our gigs. We could come back to the ship when ever and leave whenever. Such a great place.

On Nov 4^th, after Melbourne cruise we did a 3 day cruise that just went out to sea and anchored by some islands which had a pretty view and then came back to Sydney. It was a booze cruise.

The next cruise that started on Nov 7^th was on my top five cruises. The people were so fun and lively! We went to Noumea which i've been to many times but this time Matt, Sophie, Joanne, Sean, Aaron, Jenni and I rented mopeds and a scooter car and scootered around the island. The weather was so nice and the view was just amazing. The sea had wind surfers and kite surfers covering the water and mountains all around.

Our next port was Lifou which I have been to before but this time I came prepared. I bought an underwater camera finally and was excited to use it. Danielle and I went snorkeling on the opposite side of the island where there is great coral and I took lots of pics and videos. We then walk up this mountain to this church that over looks everything which was cool. I then went snorkeling back by the tenders where I always find sea turtles and wanted to take some pics and videos swimming with them so I was excited.

So I put on my gear and headed out, and realized the water was pretty choppy but I still wanted to see if I could find any. Sure enough within minutes I found this HUGE sea turtle with a mossy old shell on it. I was so excited to get some good shots with it. I took my camera out and turned it on and started a video and 8 seconds later IT DIED (The camera not the turtle)! I was so upset! I kept trying to get it to turn back on but the power was gone. It was a great old turtle that let me hang with it. I got to touch it and when I did I was a little nervouse because his long neck turned and looked at me as though he was telling me to nnnnnoooock iiiiit ooooooaaaaffffff. It was so fun! Ill be back after this New Zealand cruise and then I am goon find them again!

Our next day we went to Port Vila. Chad, Danielle, and I played with some cava and chilled in the sun. We then met up with some of the other musicians and had a smoothy at a cafe/bar. I then found some of the spa people and hung out with them. We ended up renting these little speed boats that fit two people and zipped around the island with them. That was fun!

Now this next port is a place everyone needs to see if they every can. Its called Champagne Bay! The sand is white as snow, water so blue and mountains in the back. This is the place they filmed “Blue Lagoon” with the guy and girl that were stranded on an island and end up loving on each other and making a crazy sweet life. They then had a child and had to find out themselves how to live life.. So cool. I did not go to the actual blue lagoon which was 10 min away from where I was, but I will be back there in a few weeks and plan to go there. I instead went with some passengers out in a boat and snorkeled the reefs. Then hung out with lots of crew playing football in the water and just having a great time. Love those days!!!

On the ship it can get boring when we are at sea because there are only a few things one can actually do. I am a person that loves to get out and kick it doing something active and the only thing there is to do is workout a little during the day. That is why I eat up every port and try to experience as much of it as possible. These are one of the best tropical islands one could ever dream of going to and being a part of them makes me love what I am doing. This cruise like I said in the beginning was great and the people were packed at our shows! I love when the energy is high and people are jammin!

So we just left Sydney and it is Nov 17^th. We have two sea days and are going to New Zealand!! I am told that this is going to be amazing! It will be colder than any of the other places, so no swimming or snorkeling, but maybe surfing (with wetsuit). I am told that the view is going to be amazing as we fit the ship through these mountains. We will be so close to them that sometimes waterfalls will fall onto the top of the ship. I will write soon hopefully. I miss everyone!

Tonga and Fiji

It is now the first sea day for the Melbourne Cruise. But I will write about this cruise later and talk about the long 16 day cruise that we just finished yesterday.

I found that I don't really talk about my job too much. What gets me by and makes me love what I am doing is the time that I get off the ship and do things that I've always wanted to do.

As a musician on board we need to figure out what the audience wants to hear to make them enjoy there stay on the ship. For myself it is pretty sweet because I can play whatever I want to compared to the acts that are pre-set. This does not mean I don't get sick of what I play but I can change things up to make it more interesting or just learn more tunes. I feel so lucky to have my job because it is my show and as long as I entertain people that is all I have to do. Last cruise we found that changing from older jazz tunes to oldies was the best way to make everyone happy with a few pop and rock tunes slipping in here and there. It can be tough sometimes but fun it always fun! Aussies love to be entertained and that is what I love the best. We kick it with the passengers and get them to perform with us. That gets everyone involved and makes the show shine way better when it includes the audience.

Some cruises can be between five to 16 days long. The shorter cruises normally have a much younger age group compared to the longer cruises, which keeps us “entertainers” on our toes. It is so nice to have a younger crowd after the last cruise because everything is more lively (no offense.. please). But let me go back to the beginning of the last cruise to Tonga and Fiji.

The first port on this cruise was the Norfork Islands. I didn't get off the ship because the tenders had a hard time getting passengers to shore and back because of the swells and I heard people were getting sick on the tenders. As I was hanging outside with Jenny, Yvet, Sophie, Pippa, and Sean (who are singer/dancers from England), they said that that island looked like england which I found fascinating because I have never seen england. There were islands all around us which were so pretty!

Our second and third port was Tonga. The first Tonga port Matt actually got out of bed and came out! A big group of us got on the tender and stepped on to the island. We walked around and jumped in the water and played with some star fish. Then we had drinks at this small restaurant that had a pool out side with no water in it. Not sure why it is not being used. The weather was so warm and sunny and the people were great. The local life on some of these islands are so fascinating.

The second Tonga port was even better. It was interesting how it all worked out. About 20 of us got off the ship together and took either a taxi's or the shuttle to town. When we got there everyone was trying to find something fun to do. We ended up splitting up and Jenny, Yvet (Jennys friend that got signed on for the cruise), Pippa, Sara, Aaron, Richard, Simon and I decided to take a taxi to the other side of the island to a beach. It was a 30 min taxi ride but it was so cool seeing the different villages, pigs and dogs walking around and people living such a chill life. We went to a “resort” which had only about 6 other locals in it and us. It was nice to be away from passengers and crew and hangout like we are normal people.. we sunbathed, got food, had some drinks, snorkeled and went kayak surfing. Pippa and I went way out with our snorkel gear and found a drop off that was so scary. It was so un real and cool looking. It looked like cliffs and mountains were under us. Later we jumped in some kayaks that the resort had and surfed the waves. That was so fun!! I love surfing!

After about three of four hours we got in our taxi and headed back into town. At most of the island we go to the taxi drivers always stay and wait for you and then take you back. They don't normally drop you off and then go find another client. Since we took two taxi's to this place, they just chilled under the deck and slept. When we went back to town, Jenni, Yvet and I got some ice cream and walked around while the other had to get back to work. We eventually got another taxi back to the ship but, I got to drive to the ship! I have never driven on the opposite side of the road and the taxi driver let me. It was so sweet!! We have it on film!

Fiji is always amazing!! We went to I think three different fiji ports. I have been to them once before and it is one of the best tropical places you could ever go to. A bunch of us got a bloody right when we got off the tender and had some food. Then we went to the hilton resort and I went sailing, for the first time and did well. Jenny, yvet and I rented a cat for 30 bucks and sailed. At first there was not much wind but eventually it picked up and we were cruising. Now I know what I am doing and plan to do more of that. We then went back to the main tender area where we get picked up and went through some shops. One of the bigger shops had a fiji man playing the guitar. I walked around and saw a djembe drum and started playing it. One of the people that worked at the shop asked me to play with the man performing and we did a few songs together which was so fun. A big audience circled around us which made it so great.

On the last fiji port which was a fiji island, a few of us rented a boat and was driven to a snorkeling area. It was the best idea ever! Jenny, Pippa and I jumped in right away and headed in the coral and within minutes we saw a real SHARK! It was the craziest thing ever. I first looked and had to look again and then brought my head out of the water and yelled SHARK!!! As I did that Jenny also saw it and yelled shark! Pippa then came by me as I followed it and she got to see it too. It was a reef shark about as big as us. I kept my distance but followed it for a bit and eventually noticed no one was around and then I looked up and saw everyone back in the boat watching me. They then came back out but it was funny and crazy!!! Seeing a real shark in the wild was an experience. I did not feel threatened by it because it was far enough away doing its own thing. And I know that most sharks eat small fish and not big things but I do know anything can happen. It was an amazing all together!

All together this cruise was just great! I cut my own hair one day after we came back on board and it turned out pretty good. I just felt I needed a trim and started cutting with a sizers until I liked it. You can really mess up my hair..

After the fiji cruise we then did a five day cruise to Melbourne, I will write about that tomorrow because it is late. It is already after the melbourne cruise and so I am way behind. I will get my act together soon hopefully. Peace, Love and God Bless!!!!  

Surfing Sydney-Manly

Here I am finally going to blog again, boy do I feel lazy. I went the whole last cruise without blogging and now i'm not sure where to start. To those of you who actually read this, procrastination obviously does not work.

Last cruise was a short one and we went to islands that I have already been to like Mystery Island, Isle of Pines and Noumea. I only got off the ship at Mystery Island. I sun bathed and went snorkeling. On the ship I was pretty busy. Since it was my first cruise being Crew Club VP, the president and I made a crazy fun schedule for the crew and there was many late nights for me. We had game night and gave away 250 dollars in a foos ball tournament, acoustic night, Karaoke, and a club night. It was a lot of events compared to what was going on for the crew.

I saw more whales when we left Isle of pines. I decided to take a walk to the upper deck and search. Sure enough, five minutes after I started I saw three of them. I have a feeling they are the same whales that I saw weeks before because they were close to the same area and one of them had a flipped over dorsal fin (like free Willy has..) I'm pretty sure they were killer whales. I love finding things in the ocean. People get really angry when I tell them I saw whales because some people have been on many contracts and never seen anything. Im a hunter!

When we got back to Sydney which was October 13^th I had a great day by myself. I was on a mission to go surfing. I have never been surfing and it has always been a dream. I woke up early, ate and left the ship. I walked about 20 minutes to the ferry's (which is by the Sydney Opera house) and jumped on the Manly ferry. It takes about 30 minutes to get to Manly and only costed 13 dollars. I ended up sitting by an older gentleman that told me a lot about manly and said the beach is amazing. As I was walking, there were so many cool shops and people with surf gear. The feeling of the area was so awesome. I have never been to a California beach, but I would think that they could be quite similar. I walked into the first surf shop that I saw and chatted with a guy. He was cool and said the surf is not good now but it will be good in an hour or so as the tide gets lower. He was going to rent me everything for 20 bucks, wet suit and surf board. That was exciting! I was looking on line before and there were lessons and stuff for 2 hours that would be 60 to 70 dollars and so I decided to teach myself and watch others.

I shopped around a bit and to see if I was getting a good deal from this guy and sure enough he was hooking it up. I went back to him and got my gear. I used an 8 foot board which is on the bigger end because it was my first time. I headed out to the water and could not believe I was actually going to finally do this. From watching others I kind of had an idea so I ran in and paddled out. I stayed near a surfing class so I could watch and see what the instructors were doing but stayed far enough away to not bother them. I hung out with a 70 year old man that had a surfing kayak thing, it was cool. The first wave I went for did not work out and so I had try something different and paddle harder. A wave came and I paddled hard and caught it with the old man. I popped up and surfed. I definitely was sloppy on the board, but I got up and surfed the wave. The man and I were chatting, while waiting for good waves to come. It was the best feeling to be out there chilling in the water. He said he could not believe it was my first time and that I was able to get up on my second wave.

The waves were still not that good but I hit a few in that area. I decided to move down more where it looked like the wave were bigger. As I was walking the shore, more surfers started to show up and the waves were getting bigger. I jumped in and headed near some other good surfers. I ended up going near them to hit the waves they were hitting. Sure enough I hit this massive wave and caught it. It was way bigger than I expected and fast. I was so out of my mind I could barley get up on the board. I had both my feet down but didn’t fully stand until the end. I didn't fall but didn't get to surf it to the fullest. That was the wave that would have made my day! I then went back out. At this time, when you get to far into shore, its hard to get past the breaking point for the waves, they beat you up a little. As I finally got back out, these other surfers were hitting waves left and right. They new how to find which waves are going to be good and which way they are breaking. I didn't have a clue and once and a great while would get lucky and hit one. I did get demolished by a few waves. As I was paddling to hit a wave, I was to far in front of it and the wave literally came down on me and shoved me under the water. That is when you really can feel the power of some of these waves. It was so fun! I now have a place to go in Sydney and surf all summer long.

This cruise is going well so far for being a really long one. Its 16 days long and we are going to Fiji which only happens once and great while. We went to an island 2 days ago which was our first port of this cruise, but most of the crew didn't get off. The passengers go first then the crew can go. A few of us waited but the tenders had a hard time getting people ashore and it took to long. Looking at the island was so cool because it didn't look tropical like most of the islands we see. It was really hilly with with cool cliffs and trees like we are in the mountains. The dancers from england said it looked like you we were in england.

Im not sure what else to blab about and I know I talked a lot about surfing. I am sorry but that was probably my high light lately. Tomorrow we will be at port and I am not sure what I will do yet. Today Matt and I payed on the lido deck which is outside by the pools and played a 1pm and 3pm set. We have another at 11pm in the connexions bar tonight, then acoustic night in the crew bar. I think I have typed a lot and so I am going to hit the gym up. Cheers!!!