Latest news with #NewCaledonia

Carnival Cruise Line celebrated for heroic rescue

Yahoo

4 days ago

General
Yahoo

Carnival Cruise Line celebrated for heroic rescue

Carnival Cruise Line celebrated for heroic rescue originally appeared on Come Cruise With Me. Just a week after Carnival Paradise rescued a group of refugees from an adrift vessel near Cuba, another Carnival Cruise Line ship's crew sprang into action to make a dramatic rescue on the other side of the world. Carnival Splendor was sailing south of New Caledonia in the South Pacific during an eight-day cruise from Sydney when the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Noumea alerted them of a distress call from a disabled catamaran carrying four people and three Splendor was five hours away from the catamaran and immediately rushed to their aid in the middle of the night, as cruise ships will always do when they learn of anyone in peril at sea. One of the rescued couples, who feared for their lives while stranded on board the disabled catamaran, have since recounted the frightening ordeal and the cruise ship's extraordinary response, in a touching letter addressed to the entire Carnival Cruise Line Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald shared the letter from rescued sailors Juli and Ivan on his popular Facebook page that's followed by more than 600,000 Carnival cruisers. 'To all the Carnival crew, we are Juli and Ivan, two Argentinians 25 years old, traveling around the world for one year. We got the opportunity of crossing from Australia to Fiji in a catamaran, a bit more than a month ago, and from what you all know, it didn't end as expected,' the letter began. The sailors detailed how they ended up adrift at sea hundreds of miles from land.'After 8 days of crossing the ocean and having lost both engines, we were caught in a storm, which first made us think we were going to get hit by lightning and ended up breaking our mast in two after 50 knots of wind surprised us. 200 nautical miles away from New Caledonia, and this being our first passage, we were frightened to death,' they explained. The sailors reported contacting every coast station they could, but did not receive a reply for hours until the voice of Carnival Splendor Captain Eduardo Ferrone brought them hope. 'After two hours with no news, we received a call from your captain, saying he knew about our situation and that by doubling their speed in the middle of the storm, could reach us in just five hours. That was and will [for]ever be the best notice of our lives,' the letter emphasized.'After 5 hours, hoping the catamaran didn't sink because of the mast hitting us on every wave, we received the second-best call of our lives, from your captain asking us to drop the first flare, and straight away confirming he could see us,' the letter continued. Finally, Carnival Splendor reached them at 3 a.m., swiftly bringing them aboard the cruise ship and saving their lives. But what Carnival crew members did for them did not end there. 'What followed was just beyond reality,' the letter continued. 'This boat and its crew not only saved us but gave us all kindness, warmth, smiles, and attention which made recovering a completely different experience and a much easier one. There are no words to thank you all for being part of this recovery and exceeding expectations. Human values on board showed us better, and for that, we will be forever thankful.' More Carnival cruise news:The letter ended with heartfelt words of gratitude to Carnival Splendor's captain and several other crew members whom Juli and Ivan thanked by name. 'Special thanks to the Captain, Eduardo Ferrone, for being our guiding light in the middle of the ocean, giving us hope by making the call to save us and taking us back to land,' the emotional letter read. The rescued sailors went on to thank many other crew members who not only made sure they were safe, but who received them with exceptional kindness and concern for their health, well-being, and happiness. 'To all of you, thanks for the warm words and treatment, this would have been a different story if it wasn't for you," they added. "We will forever be grateful to Carnival Cruise Line.' (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472. This story was originally reported by Come Cruise With Me on May 28, 2025, where it first appeared.

RNZ News

4 days ago

Business
RNZ News

French politicians in New Caledonia this week

Leader of Rassemblement National (RN), Marine Le Pen in New Caledonia. Photo: Marine Le Pen Facebook French national politicians have been in New Caledonia as the territory's future remains undecided. This week, leaders from both right-wing Les Républicains (LR) and Rassemblement National (RN), vice-president François-Xavier Bellamy and Marine Le Pen respectively, are in the French Pacific territory. They expressed their respective views with regards to New Caledonia's political, economic and social situation, one year after insurrectional riots broke out in May 2024. Since then, latest attempts to hold political talks between all stakeholders and France have been met with fluctuating responses, but the latest round of discussions, earlier this month, ended in a stalemate . This was because hard-line pro-France parties considered the project of a "sovereignty with France", brought forward by French minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, was not acceptable, because three self-determination referendums have been held in 2018, 2020 and 2021 and all of the three consultations resulted in a rejection of independence. The last referendum, in December 2021, was however largely boycotted by the pro-independence movement and its followers due to cultural concerns around covid-19. The pro-France camp is accusing Valls of siding with the pro-independence FLNKS bloc and other more moderate parties such as PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) and UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie), who want independence from France, albeit at varying degrees. Valls is considering transferring key French powers to New Caledonia, introducing a double French/New Caledonian citizenship and an international standing. The pro-France camp is adamant that this ignores the three no votes. Speaking to a crowd of several hundred supporters in Nouméa on Tuesday evening, Bellamy said he now favoured going ahead with modifying conditions of eligibility for voters at local provincial elections. The same attempts to change the locked local electoral roll - which is restricted to people residing in New Caledonia from before November 1998 - was widely perceived as the main cause for the May 2024 riots, which left 14 dead. Bellamy said giving in to violence that erupted last year was out of the question, because it was "an attempt to topple a democratic process". Les Républicains, to which the Rassemblement-LR local party is affiliated, is one of the major parties in the French Parliament. Its newly-elected president Bruno Retailleau is the Minister for Home Affairs in French President Emmanuel Macron's coalition government. Bellamy told a crowd of supporters in Nouméa that in his view, the decolonisation process prescribed by the 1998 Nouméa Accord "is now over". "New Caledonians have democratically decided, three times, that they belong to France. And this should be respected," he told a crowd during a political rally. In Nouméa, Bellamy said if the three referendum results were ignored as part of a future political agreement, then LR could go as far as pulling out of the French government. Marine Le Pen, this week, also expressed her views on New Caledonia's situation, saying instead of focusing on New Caledonia's institutional future, the priority should be placed on its economy, which is still reeling from the devastation caused during the 2024 riots. The efforts included diversifying the economy. A Paris court convicted Le Pen and two dozen (RN) party members of embezzling EU funds last month, and imposed a sentence that will prevent her from standing in France's 2027 presidential election unless she can get the ruling overturned within 18 months. The high-profile visits to New Caledonia from mainland French leaders come within two years of France's scheduled presidential elections. And it looks like New Caledonia could become a significant issue in the pre-poll debates and campaign. LFI (La France Insoumise), a major party in the French Parliament, and its caucus leader Mathilde Panot also visited New Caledonia from 9-17 May, this time mainly focusing on supporting the pro-independence camp's views. On Tuesday 27 May, the French President's office issued a brief statement indicating that it had decided to convene "all stakeholders" to fresh talks in Paris some time in mid-June. The talks would aim at "clarifying" New Caledonia's economic, political and institutional situation with a view to "reach a shared agreement". Depending on New Caledonia's often opposing political camps, Macron's announcement is perceived either as a dismissal of Valls' approach or a mere continuation of the overseas minister's efforts, but at a higher level. New Caledonia's pro-France parties, on their side, are adamant that Macron's proposal is entirely new and that it signifies Valls' approach has been disavowed at the highest level. Minister for Overseas France Manuel Valls, former congress president Roch Wamytan, RDO president and founder Aloisio Sako. Photo: Delphine Mayeur / Hans Lucas / AFP Valls himself wrote to New Caledonia's political stakeholders last weekend, insisting on the need to pursue talks through a so-called "follow-up committee". It is not clear whether the "follow-up committee" format is what Macron has in mind. But at the weekend, Valls made statements on several French national media outlets, stressing that he was still the one in charge of New Caledonia's case. "The one who is taking care of New Caledonia's case, at the request of French Prime Minister François Bayrou, that's me and no one else," Valls told French National news channel LCI on 25 May. "I'm not being disavowed by anyone." Most parties have since reacted swiftly to Macron's call, saying they were ready to take part in further discussions. Rassemblement-LR leader Virginie Ruffenach said this was "necessary to clarify the French state's position". She said the clarification was needed, since Valls, during his last visit, "offered an independence solution that goes way beyond what the pro-independence camp was even asking". Local pro-France figure and New Caledonia's elected MP at the French National Assembly, Nicolas Metzdorf, met Macron in Paris on Friday last week. He said at the time that an "initiative" from the French president was to be expected. Pro-independence bloc FLNKS, on its part, said Valls' proposal, nothing lower, was now "the foundation stone". Spokesman Dominique Fochi said the invitation is however scheduled to be discussed at a special FLNKS convention at the weekend. A woman in Paris carries a placard with the text '170 years of French colonisation is enough. Independence for New Caledonia and support for the Kanak people'. Photo: AFP / Eric Broncard/Hans Lucas Because of the signals it sends, New Caledonia's proposed political future plans are also causing concern in other French overseas territories, including their elected MPs in Paris. In the French Senate on Wednesday (28 May), French Polynesia's MP Lana Tetuanui, who is pro-France, asked during question time for French foreign affairs minister Jean-Noël Barrot to explain what France was doing in the Pacific region, in the face of growing influence from such major powers as China. She told the minister she still had doubts, "unless of course France is considering sinking its own aircraft carrier ships named New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis-and-Futuna". French president Emmanuel Macron is this week on a south-east Asian tour that takes him to Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, where he will be the keynote speaker of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue. He delivers his speech on Friday local time to mark the opening of the 22nd edition of the Dialogue, Asia's premier defence summit. The event brings together defence ministers, military leaders and senior defence officials, as well as business leaders and security experts, from across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and beyond to discuss critical security and geopolitical challenges. More specifically on the Pacific region, Macron also said one of France's future challenges included speeding up efforts to "build a new strategy in New Caledonia and French Polynesia". As part of Macron's Indo-Pacific doctrine, developed since 2017, France has earlier this year deployed significant forces in the region, including its naval and air strike group and its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle . The multinational exercise, codenamed "Clémenceau 25", involved joint exercises with allied forces from Australia, Japan and the United States.

The health impact of nuclear tests in French Polynesia – archive, 1981

The Guardian

6 days ago

Health
The Guardian

The health impact of nuclear tests in French Polynesia – archive, 1981

By Christopher Price 17 September 1981 A recent Canard cartoon shows Adam and Eve looking at an H-bomb. 'Look, H for Hernu,' (the new Socialist defence minister), says Adam. 'Yes and for Horror, Holocaust, Hecatomb and Hiroshima,' adds Eve. French Socialists have never hitherto allowed the nuclear issue to dominate their politics. If it is beginning to do so now it is partly because keeping their independent nuclear deterrent, which they continue to test underground in Muroroa atoll in French Polynesia, implies continuing colonial domination of the islands of the South Pacific – an issue which is very much alive, both among the Indigenous people of the Pacific and in the rank and file of the Socialist party in France. The official position – 'auto-determination' – as stated by Mr Henri Emmanuelli, the French Colonial minister when he visited France's Pacific colonies was that he would discuss anything if a democratic majority wanted to. But he also said that recent election results made a referendum on the subject unnecessary. That none of these three groups of islands (Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna) can immediately prove a majority for independence is partly due to strenuous French efforts over the years to stamp on emerging independence movements. More powerful than anything else [influencing the calls for independence] are the pollutant effects of nuclear tests on the human and natural environment. They are now beginning to make themselves felt. Hitherto everything that happens on Mururoa has been officially secret. But Mr Hernu has now a new 'frankness' about the tests in an effort to allay anxiety; and immediately after he left the Centre d'Expérimentation du Pacifique issued its first-ever admission of an accident; it was not safe to swim off Mururoa. In fact, authoritative reports state that there is now a crack 15 to 19 inches wide and over half a mile long in the atoll below sea level; that radioactive leaks into the Pacific have been taking place for many years; that a neighbouring atoll, Fangataufa, has been literally blasted out of the sea. It is not yet possible to gauge the effect of such leaks, but coupled with the profound disquiet about Japanese plans to use the Pacific as a nuclear waste dumping ground, fears about pollution of fish and other marine life and consequently poisoning of the whole ocean, island populations will undoubtedly put further pressure on the Mitterrand government to reconsider its nuclear testing policy. 'Why don't they do it in Nice?' was the one constant question put to me by the Polynesians. It echoed 'Mururoa and Auvergne', the most telling of the posters in the campaign which forced the French, eight years ago, to put the tests underground. Now there is a new twist to the story. It's not just H-bombs the French are exploding inside Mururoa. It was confirmed by Mr Giscard in June 1980 that France had been undertaking feasibility studies of neutron bombs since 1976, and this week Mr Mauroy, the Socialist prime minister, committed his government to strengthening France's strategic nuclear arsenal and to the development of the neutron bomb. The knowledge that France is as keen as the US on upping the nuclear option can only add to the disquiet. On top of this there is mounting, though not yet definitive evidence of cancer and brain tumours in the area, especially among the young. The French authorities counter that there is still less radioactivity in Polynesia than in the Massif Central. Maybe, but the fact that they go to quite extraordinary lengths of security in the treatment of such cases in French hospitals, suggesting a pathological desire to suppress such evidence as exists. One Actuel reporter, Mr Luis González-Mata, who tried to investigate the issue in Polynesia and in France, met continuous hostility. So far the French government's response to the political pressure has been to offer that decentralisation of local government to its overseas territories which the towns and cities of France are soon to enjoy. But it will be pressed to go further. The Pacific Forum comprising all independent Pacific countries, decided in Vanuatu in August to send a delegation to Mr Mitterrand demanding to know his intentions. This is an edited extract. Read the article in full. Mururoa has been the centre of French nuclear tests for decades, largely in secret and often with scant regard for the people who live nearby. For the first time the native workers and their families tell their side of the story. 7 September 1990 Manutahi started work as a welder on Mururoa in 1965 at the age of 32. That was before the tests had started. He worked on the construction of the blockhouses Dindon and Denise. In 1965 and at the beginning of 1966, we were allowed to eat all the fish in the lagoon but when we returned in 1967, we were forbidden to eat any. I worked mainly on Fangataufa where we were building a new blockhouse called 'Emperor.' It was on Fangataufa that I saw the areas of worst contamination when I went with the guys checking the atoll with Geiger counters. When there was contamination the light would go on and the indicator started to move. In one area the indicator went very high. It was forbidden to touch anything and there were barriers to prevent people from entering the area. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion It was during the drilling work that I got contaminated. I was working in a little hole trying to dismantle an old pipe. I wasn't careful enough and got splashed by some water that had been left in the hole. It was mainly my hair that got wet as I wasn't wearing any protective gear on my head. I tried to wash it but it was difficult to get the stuff out. When I went into the decontamination chamber all the alarms went off. I washed my hair three times but it was still radioactive … So a specialist had to use some special product to decontaminate me. I know of a quite a number of people who gave got sick working at Mururoa and Fangataufa but I don't know what was wrong with them. I think that a lot of them had been poisoned from eating contaminated fish. Tama began working at Mururoa in the 1960s as an office worker. I got sick from eating fish several times. I was itchy all over and my skin peeled just like a snake. One of my friends was less fortunate he died after eating fish and mussels from the sea. I left my job at Mururoa even though I earned as much as a member of the Territorial Assembly and got free flights home every weekend, because of a terrible accident I saw. The first French neutron bomb test codenamed Meknes was supposed to take place on 7 July 1979. A big bunker had been built just for this test. Inside the bunker was a container in which the bomb lay. Above the bunker itself was a control room which was connected to it with a thick double-glazed window. Before entering the main room, you had to go into a room where you put on an 'astronaut' suit. You had to go through a system of several automatic doors before entering the room containing the bomb. There were only two workers inside the bunker at a time and they only worked there for two hours at a time. All in all there was a team of 17 people. On 6 July 6 the accident happened. I had just finished tea. I had been replaced in the control room by one of my mates. While I was walking back up the steps to the control room I was about halfway up the explosion occurred. My colleague was flung out of the control room just in front of me dead instantly. Another 'astronaut' my boss, Rene Villette was killed inside the bunker. The other 'astronaut' had just been on his way out and was severely burnt. He was evacuated to France and died soon afterwards. I asked for an immediate discharge but, while my French workmates were sent home after two weeks, I had to stay on for another two months. I think it was because I was a union member and the military didn't want me to go back to Tahiti and tell people there what had happened, especially as anti-nuclear feeling was growing there. Tolmata has four surviving children. While her husband was working at Mururoa, she had six other babies who died. Our first and eldest child was born in 1975. She always seems to be sick with a chronic cough and stomach pains but she goes to school and is doing alright there. My second baby was born prematurely at seven and a half months and died the day he waw born. My third baby was born at home at full term but died there two weeks later. She had a skin problem. Her skin would come off immediately if it was touched. The doctors said that the baby was fine but obviously she was not. No one knows the cause of her condition. Eugene, my fourth baby, was born at full term but died when he was two months old. He had diarrhoea and we took him to Mamao, the hospital in Tahiti. The diarrhoea continued for some time. When it stopped, it was replaced by another condition. The baby became rigid, like wood. Every part of his body was racked by continuous muscular contractions and he had a high temperature. It was impossible to open his fists. The doctors would not talk about his condition. He was at Mamao for two weeks and then he died. The doctors did not tell us anything and refused to fill out his death certificate. Without a death certificate the baby could not be buried so I pleaded with the doctors. They told me to get my general practitioner to fill in the form. The nurses at the hospital told me to tell people, if anyone should ask me, that my baby had died en route and not in the hospital. In the end I had to give in and ask my general practitioner to fill out the death certificate so that my child could be buried. I have no idea why all this happened and there was nothing that we could do about it. On top of that, we are angry that we were not allowed to stay with him in the hospital when he was so sick. Because of that we weren't there when he died. I think my children have died because my husband worked at Mururoa. Tupou lived and worked on Fangataufa and four years during the first underground tests there. His job was chef d'equipe with a group of workers looking after the drilling gear. After each underground explosion there was a sort of tidal wave that washed over part of Fangataufa and a few days later thousands of stinking dead fish washed up on the shore. Initially there was no ciguatera, but then we were told not to fish any more. We couldn't eat coconuts or anything else that grew there. I know people who got sick and were evacuated but nobody told us what the problem was. Nobody told us whether there were any dangers or what effect the dangers would have. Most of the island was fenced off but we were only told to respect the signs. If we didn't on the first occasion we got a warning, on the second we were sent back to Tahiti immediately. But, of course, we went fishing all the same. The problem is the amount of unemployment in Tahiti. People see all the luxury goods, the fancy cars and the beautiful homes and they want to get them too. Just to earn some money to feed their families, they have no choice but to go out there to Mururoa and Fangataufa and work under those dangerous conditions, even though they may not want to at all. Testimonies Inside Stories of Mururoa Test Site, published this week by Greenpeace New Zealand. This is an edited extract. Read the article in full.

A catamaran with three dogs was in danger. A cruise ship saved them.

Washington Post

24-05-2025

Entertainment
Washington Post

A catamaran with three dogs was in danger. A cruise ship saved them.

On a stormy night in the South Pacific, four sailors and three dogs huddled in the cabin of a bucking catamaran. They were adrift, nearly 200 miles off New Caledonia, with no engines or radio communication. The mast had snapped, and the dangling pieces were bashing and scraping against the hull. One big wave could shatter their protective armor. With a mix of hope and resignation, the ship's owners, Dustin Leonard and Helena Franczak, called for help. Then, cuddling their dogs, they waited for a response. About 100 miles away, captain Edu Ferrone was steering the Carnival Splendor toward the cruise ship's next port in Vanuatu. He had learned of the distressed sailboat and was weighing the comfort of his passengers against the perilous predicament of the sailors. Five hours later, a massive vessel emerged from the darkness and sidled up next to the tiny boat. 'We see this beautiful floating city coming toward us,' said Franczak, 'and we're like, 'Yes!'' On May 14, Leonard, 38, and his fiancée, Franczak, 39, set sail from Queensland, Australia, on the 42-foot catamaran La Vita. Their crew included Julieta Zapata and Ivan Boueke, hired deckhands who would help with night watch. They also brought their French bulldogs, Juno and Potato, and an Alaskan klee kai named Wiggle — all salty dogs. 'They love boat life so much,' said Franczak, who documents their adventures on the YouTube channel Sailing Barking Cat. 'Every day at sunset, they chase each other and run around the boat.' If a storm is brewing while they are at anchor, Wiggle will sit on the bow and contemplate the sky like an ancient mariner. For their maiden voyage, they planned to sail to Fiji. A storm was forecast two days out, but they were confident they could outpace it. Leonard, who founded a wine company, said the first few days were challenging. Large swells and blustery winds knocked them around, but the voyage was otherwise smooth. Then trouble hit. First, the engine's starboard battery died. Soon after, the port battery started to overheat. The boat was 'rocking like a rodeo,' Leonard said, so they had to wait a day to attempt a repair. They called their diesel boat mechanic on shore, but the engines were kaput. 'This is like a seven- to eight-day trip and we're not even halfway done, and we have no engines,' Leonard said on a Zoom call aboard the Splendor, which was docked on Mystery Island in Vanuatu. 'We still have the sails, so we start sailing and are making good progress.' They were inching closer to New Caledonia when a surprise storm blindsided them. The tempest kicked up the waves to more than 16 feet and wind to 40 knots. Rain pummeled the sailboat, and lightning electrified the sky. They were drenched and worried about getting electrocuted, so they engaged the autopilot and hunkered down in the cabin, all seven of them strapped into life jackets. 'We thought we were gonna get through it,' Leonard said, 'but then all of a sudden …' A gust knocked a wind instrument off the mast, severing their line to critical information. It was 'hairy,' Leonard said, but they pressed forward. Until the mast broke in two like a brittle branch. They activated the emergency beacon, or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, alerting search-and-rescue units of their dire situation. They still had Starlink; however, the cloud cover was so thick, they had to wait for a clearing in the sky before they could send coordinates to rescue operations. 'We are in trouble, we need help, we lost the mast, we are in the danger of taking water anytime,' Franczak recalled of their urgent message. 'Help!' After departing a few days earlier from Sydney, Ferrone was sailing at a leisurely pace when he learned of the sailboat in distress. In an email to The Washington Post from the cruise ship, he said he was surprised to read the communication from Nouméa's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, and he immediately grew concerned about the passengers' safety in such treacherous conditions. 'As a dog lover, I also thought about those little creatures,' Ferrone said. Ferrone said he checked the catamaran's position on the nautical chart; it was roughly on the cruise ship's course to Vanuatu. Moving at a steady clip of 20 knots, the Carnival Splendor reached La Vita around 5 a.m. To help guide the cruise ship in the darkness, La Vita deployed flares that illuminated the sky. Because of the rough conditions, Ferrone did not want to dispatch lifeboats. Instead, he gently maneuvered the 113,573-ton cruise ship next to their boat and tied up to them. Ferrone described the approach as 'entering a china shop on the back of an elephant.' The dogs were first off, handed over to crew members on deck. The humans used a rope ladder and had to time their escape to the movement of the waves. 'If you missed and slipped in between the cruise ship and the boat, it'd be instant death,' Leonard said. Franczak lost her footing and was hanging on by her hands. Crew members yanked her up by her arms. Leonard, the captain of the ship, was the last to evacuate. Once onboard the cruise ship, the rescued party, who had had enough time to pack a bag of essentials, were screened by security. The housekeeping, food-and-beverage and medical staff provided them with blankets, food, water and medical attention. They also received two cabins and WiFi, free of charge, and an invitation to dine with the captain. Over dinner, Ferrone casually mentioned that he could marry the engaged couple at sea. (During the rescue, Franczak lost the diamond in her engagement ring.) Their dinner mates, who included several of the ship's engineers, shared harrowing tales of other at-sea rescues. 'They save a lot of sailors,' Franczak said. 'Everybody had a lot of stories. There was like eight or nine rescues.' Last week, for example, Carnival Paradise rescued five people from a small boat south of Cuba. The dogs, who have become a star attraction, earning cuddles from cruisers and crew members, have free range of the ship except for the dining areas. Room service delivers their canine-friendly meals, such as sweet potato and chicken. To cool off, they splash around in a kiddie water park. The couple are waiting for their insurance company to approve a tow and hope to be reunited with their catamaran in Nouméa. Once La Vita is back in service, they plan to sail to Vanuatu, Fiji and Indonesia. On their odyssey, they will likely cross paths with cruise ships. When they do, Franczak said, 'we will wave and send them lots of love.'