Tales from the South Pacific, July 13-29, 2011 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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They tendered us over on the glass bottom boat. We spent a few minutes getting the lay of the land (word is you can walk around the island in 7-10 minutes), and then I found us some mats so we could spread our stuff out on the sand.
We snagged snorkels, masks and fins and proceeded to try them out. A crew member was positioned offshore to offer snorkeling tips. Sue did much better and lasted much longer than I did. Unfortunately, with the congestion, having my head in the water bothered my ears a lot, so I contented myself with hanging out and taking pictures.
It was very shallow near the shore and for some distance. Sue is in the distance.
Sue describing the electric blue starfish.
There were indeed starfish that were very boldly colored in what was, frankly, a fairly sparse area for snorkeling in my opinion. I have previously snorkeled off Big Pine Key in Florida. This reminded me more of the snorkeling in Jamaica offshore from Montego Bay.
Fellow tour members snorkeling or checking out the aquatic life from above.
It was a lovely day.
Lunch as I mentioned was a BBQ and picnic--there was grilled fish, sausage, chicken, potato salad, garden salad, cole slaw, yam casserole, bread, and, of course, fresh fruit. They had sodas and wine and beer, and the crew periodically would call out "more beer!"
Lunch as seen from... uh... behind the seating section.
There were a few buildings on the island and I believe it is possible to actually rent it and stay there.
Some of the younger crowd found a way to occupy themselves while the older folks napped and relaxed after lunch.
International Jungle Rules Beach Volleyball. It can be dangerous.
We were well into the afternoon when they started rounding us up for the trip back to Port Denaru. The sail back was wonderful--lots of spirited singing by a large number of crew members, and we were also treated to a demonstration of how to husk a cocoanut and crack it open with your hand. Yes, you read that correctly. I saw it done, but I wouldn't have the guts to try it. I'm just sayin'.
When we got back to the port, we disembarked, thanking the crew and leaving them some tip money. There was a shopping center at the port with shops and restaurants, and we had some free time to look around and to get some supper if we desired.
I buttonholed Rony and asked if there was a Chemist's shop (pharmacy). Lo, and behold there was and it was open! A very nice man helped me. I had to repeat myself a couple of times when I asked for what I wanted, but he went away and came back with Sudafed. Score! I was so relieved. I usually travel with some but I guessed it was sitting at home with the arthritis medicine. DOH! My biggest concern was the upcoming flight to New Zealand and keeping my ears clear, though for the BBQ and at this point I couldn't really taste much of anything, including the lasagna I got at the pizza place where some of us went for supper.
Afterward, Sue got a mango gelato. It looked wonderful, but I thought, "Why bother?"
Some people were quite late assembling for the ride back to the resort, but we finally got back on the bus for what turned out to be a fairly harrowing ride back, including close calls with other vehicles and significant tailgating. I mean, we were close enough to read the displays on the the dashboards in the cars in front of us! I don't know, maybe the driver had a date or something. I will say that he knew where every pothole was, though, and worked to avoid them. At speed. And there were a lot of them!
We didn't quite kiss the ground when we got off, but we certainly disgorged with a sense of relief. We took the launch across to the resort and split up tp our rooms to get situated for the night (and take medicine!). We have a 5:00 AM wake-up call and are supposed to assemble at 5:45 AM. Tomorrow we fly to Auckland, New Zealand and then travel to Rotorua.
By the way, the traditional greeting in Fiji is, "Bula". It means "cheers" or "life". We used this a lot. We were also told that Fiji is one of the top ten honeymoon destinations in the world. I wonder why?
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My biggest concern was the upcoming flight to New Zealand and keeping my ears clear, though for the BBQ and at this point I couldn't really taste much of anything, including the lasagna I got at the pizza place where some of us went for supper.
I don't know, maybe the driver had a date or something. I will say that he knew where every pothole was, though, and worked to avoid them. At speed. And there were a lot of them!
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