A day at sea is just what we needed to recover from such a full day we spent yesterday in Yap. Now we have our sights set on Manila in the Philippines, which we will reach by Friday. On the original itinerary, we were supposed to stop in Cebu. But that port was cancelled months ago, shortly after they were hit with the terrible storms and floods. Now we will be spending two full days in Manila.
So this morning Barbara H. gave a talk on things to see and do in Manila. It is a huge city with lots to see, so we would recommend to anyone who has not been there before, to take a tour of the highlights. The traffic can be overwhelming, and the streets full of people. It's much easier to navigate in buses and groups, we think. We are certain that Barbara will say the same thing at her talk.
We did try to spend some time at the aft pool, but the weather was not cooperating too well today. It was nowhere near 85 degrees, since the clouds covered the sun off and on all morning. We got tired of taking cover every 20 minutes or so. Deciding our time would be better spent working on reports and photos from yesterday, we went back to our room and worked on that project. One of us made a run for a hamburger and a plain hotdog at the Dive In Grill, eating them in our room.
What did we miss during the day around the ship? Well there was a souvenier market sale in the atrium this morning. They well selling trinkets from previous ports, and they had HAL vases for sale. The guest speaker talked about Apollo: the final journey to the moon. And the Dancing with the Star program offered classes on the samba.
We watched a movie by the name of Rush, all about racing cars. By the way, we are still waiting for the movie, The Hunger Games, to be returned to the front desk. It is going on three weeks now that we have been on a waitlist. You would think they would have more than one of those DVD's. Speaking of the front desk, we had to fill out Philippine Health Declarations Forms and turn them in to the staff. The officials need to know our occupations, telephone number, and the state of our health in regards to colds or flu. They also needed to know if we have been to any chicken ranches in the last few weeks. We wonder if the few chickens we saw yesterday in Yap would count?
We were been invited to a 50th anniversary cocktail party in the Explorers Lounge this evening. Even though we do not know the celebrating couple all that well, we thought it was nice that they included us with their 100 or so guests. We went around 7pm, and found that we were standing in the receiving line with Captain Jonathon. We asked him about the port of Yap yesterday, at which he said that he hopes to never sail into such a treacherous harbor ever again. Christel, the guest relations manager also told us that HAL will never send another one of their ships into this harbor ever again. We are certain that the Captain had the Costa Concordia in mind as he and the pilot navigated in the narrow channel surrounded by rocks and coral.
While chatting with Christel, the guests relations manager, we asked about the rumor about the person from the ship that had been attacked while in Madang. She confirmed that the person attacked was a crew member who had been out for a bike ride. The object of the attack could have been his bicycle. The good news is that he is fine, and back to work, but shaken from the experience. You see? One of us was not wrong by having the sixth sense of possible danger surrounding us. Christel further warning us about wearing any jewelry while in these ports, especially the stops we will have in western Africa.
Two entertainers were at showtime tonight, Amber Jade, a clarinetist, and singer, Seamus Earley with a brand new show. Rumor has it that both ladies were quite talented.
Finally, after many weeks, we put the clocks back one hour tonight as we head in a westerly direction to Manila.
