Report # 33 Sailing Towards Pago Pago January 30, 2014 Thursday Partly cloudy, lots of sun, 77degrees

After spending three days in a row in port, we needed today to rest up. There were a few things going on, such as a talk on upcoming ports in American Samoa and Fiji. Two guest speakers have joined the ship. John Gascoigne spoke about the cultural history of Tahiti, before and after European contact. In the afternoon, Dr. Denny Whitford., a retired US Navy Captain and oceanographer presented a photographic introduction to ocean waves. It would be useful to learn how to read the waves as we sail. One thing we do not ever want to spot is a rogue wave. We are sure that the folks on the Prinsendam have some frightening memories of the waves that hit them out of Punta Arenas a few years ago.

It took quite a while today to download photos from yesterday, and even more time trying to send emails. The internet on the ship is still not working correctly. There has been a notice in the newsletter for those who are having problems to bring their computers to the techsperts, and signing a waiver for them to check it out. We sure are not comfortable with doing that, since we have a very old computer, and it is extremely sensitive to any tampering with settings. We don't see an end to this any time too soon, and the natives are getting restless, we hear. It's no wonder that so many passengers are taking their computers to each and every internet place along the route so far.

The dining room was decorated for a formal evening with the theme of Tropical Paradise. Emerald green palm trees with gold streamers for the trunks hung from the ceiling, along with mobiles of parrots swinging in the breeze from the air-conditioning. At least the dining room has been much more comfortable since we reported how hot it has been in there. Bet the waiters are happy for the cooler temps, because tonight they were wearing vests and heavy felt parrot hats during the entire dinnertime. It could have been much hotter for them too.

We had a special birthday celebration for Margaret tonight. When our waiters brought her cake, two of the Pinnacle Grill waitresses came to our table and presented Margaret with two yellow Asian lilies for her birthday. Since she and Keith are in a room on deck seven, they eat breakfast and lunch on the starboard side of the dining room every day. It is reserved for deck seven passengers. And their waiters are from the Pinnacle Grill, so they have gotten to know them well. We were happy to be able to celebrate this special day with her.

The group Black Tie from Australia had their first cabaret performance this evening. We will give a review tomorrow on them and the latest entertainers for the previous week.

And, tonight the clocks went back one wonderful hour.

By the way, our windowsill garden is thriving this year. Should have sunflower blooms before springtime at this rate.

Windowsill garden

Amaryllis, sunflowers, & wildflowers