Relaxing at the aft pool, we had the treat of seeing a small flock of red-billed tropic birds. You would never suspect that they are in the pelican family, but these birds have four webbed toes, instead of three. They have the reputation of being plunge-divers with water-repellant feathers and bones with substantial air spaces. This helps them float back to the surface with their prey of fish or squid. The ones we saw today were more like the white-tailed tropicbird, with two long central tail feathers that twist and flutter while in flight. We had trouble spotting the tail feathers, because the color was orange instead of white. Obviously, these birds are able to fly great distances, because Captain Jonathon said we were over 100 miles away from the nearest island. Later on in the afternoon, we were able to get some good photos of these pretty birds.
The Location Guide, Barbara, gave a talk on the Marshall Islands this morning. Since we have never been there, we will make it a point to watch her talk on the TV later. Actually, we did get some great info from Leta and Bill, who have been there many times over the years. Except, at that time, it was during his career as a pilot in the Air Force. They remembered it as being extremely beautiful, with lagoons, tropical atolls, and hot, steamy weather. Since there are no tours offered, we suspect we will have fun exploring on our own.
Our job of the day was filling out forms for immigrations/customs for the upcoming port in the Marshall Islands and Singapore. The ship gets a group visa, and some of those are actually free. Some will come with a nominal fee, which is charged to our ship board accounts.
We heard mixed reviews on the Chinese New Year dinner in the Lido last night. Some folks said they never saw Asian food like they served, while some others said it was good, the usual stir-fry fare. No fortune cookies however. And as we suspected, it was crowded big time.
Tonight was another gala evening, with the Black and Silver Ball taking place in the Queen's Lounge at 9:30pm. For that reason, the singers and dancers of the Amsterdam performed at 5 and 7:15pm. We could hear the singing when we walked deck three to watch the sun set.
No one at our table made it to the ball, since we had a guest from Shore Excursions….David. He is a pleasant young man who speaks at least four different languages. Being from Belgium, he enjoyed chatting with our Dutch buddies, as well as each and every one of us. Although we have not had much interaction with the shore ex people, he seemed to remember seeing us on several cruises. As recently as the Tales of the South Pacific. The conversation flowed until 10:30pm, when we realized the surrounding tables were being set for breakfast. David confessed that he had looked up all of us in their guest info, so he would not be blind-sided by going to a difficult table. He admitted to having some pretty long evenings in the past. Guess we passed inspection.
He told us of some interesting things about crew preparedness in regards to safety. All of the crew has to be certified to handle any emergency with possible ship accidents. He claimed that a lot of extra training has been required since the Costa Concordia had that terrible incident several years ago. Good to know they are all trained well, and not only the sailors, but the dining room and stateroom stewards as well.
There were crab legs, filet mignon, veal chops, and lobster on the menu tonight. We had the veal and it came with the creamiest mashed potatoes and a mushroom gravy. Excellent. Finished the meal with a small slice of key lime pie.
This evening we had a nice surprise gift in our room….two umbrellas. Now, does that mean we can expect rain? Of course, we are heading into winter time in Korea, Japan, and China. However, when we listened to Barbara's talk on the Marshall Islands, she warned everyone of feral dogs in these islands. Never heard that one before, but we do know one of our friends that got a severe bite while visiting Nuku alofi in Tonga a couple of years ago. Barbara said to bring an umbrella to ward them off in case you are attacked. So we had to laugh when we saw two of these on our bed.
Another job tonight…..a clock change. Since we will be crossing the International Dateline, we had a gentle reminder that the ship's clocks will be turned back one hour and one day forward, as we sail into a new time zone. Does that make sense to you? So we will end up losing Monday and go right to Tuesday. And as we mentioned already, we will get this lost day back, one hour at a time as we circle the globe.
There is rain in the forecast tomorrow, but we sure hope not.
Bill & Mary Ann
Photos of the tropicbird……
Guess you can tell……we like tropicbirds
