Tender in a Plight

Had to kiss off Rarotonga due to swells. Not anyone on board — I wouldn’t say there are any ‘swells’ on board, even though someone other than the owner is occupying the ‘owner’s penthouse suite.’ I’d love to get a look at that! As soon as we arrived at our hoped–for anchorage this morning, a tender went ashore to pick up the local constabulary who must come out to check paperwork and okay us to anchor. They encountered rough water, and at 7:30 the PA system bing-bonged and our Cruise Director announced we would be steaming over to the other side of the island. The captain hoped to find calmer seas where we could anchor and from which we could run the tenders that scurry back and forth all day with passengers going ashore for excursions. We rounded the island, but no soap. Bing-bong again: Sorry, folks, that didn’t work. We’ll be moving along now to our next port, Tonga... which we’ll arrive at in FOUR days! This is all we saw of Rarotonga. Chop chop chop...