Report # 45 Day at Sea December 9, 2019 Monday Mostly sunny & 83 degrees

The Amsterdam is now sailing in one of those areas of the world that requires one half hour difference in a time zone.  That means that the Marquesas are on a different time that the rest of Polynesia.  Perhaps it is the distance between the rest of the archipelagos that makes this necessary.  We will be gaining another half hour once we leave the island of Nuku Hiva tomorrow. 

 

The dining room seemed fuller this morning with more guests than usual.  Maybe these passengers have been dining in the Lido, and want to try it before the trip is over.  As for us, we have always preferred the meals here, and even more so, the excellent waiters we have.  It is almost like assigned seating for the six of us that have been sitting at these same tables for at least three years now. 

 

There is a new guest speaker by the name of Captain Paul Eschenfelder, and his subject is paradise undiscovered or Polynesia before Captain Cook.  And the follow up lecture on the final port of call, Nuku Hiva, was discussed by EXC Guide Helena.  We have visited this island so many times, we have lost count.  It is another laid back village where you can walk and explore the few sites right in town.  The best we can hope for is that it does not rain like in Fakarava.  As exciting as it was, coming back soaked to the bone was not the best experience for some folks.

 

Another guest chef joined us recently.  Her name is Nina Curtis and she demonstrated how to make Vietnamese salad rolls and sunbutter sauce.  We have not attended any of the classes, but Denise has enjoyed most all of them.  There is no more "hands on" cooking classes like we used to have.  And we have not seen the four star perk with getting the America's Test Kitchen aprons either.  Glad we got them when the getting was good.

 

Ship sales went on in every shop, including a wines of the world festival with unlimited wine tasting for $25 plus 15% service charge.  This will take place December 11^th at 1pm.  Bet this would appeal to many of our friends that love wine.  Sip and savor with the guest chef still happens for $7.  That was popular on the grand voyage this year as well.

 

Yesterday we received the last of the President's Club amenity of sodas.  Usually we get a bouquet of flowers, but the ones we bought in Polynesia will last until we leave. Then today, we got an invite to a President's Club cocktail gathering in the Crow's Nest on Thursday.  It will be hosted by the new hotel director, Craig Oakes, who replaced Henk in Papeete.  We met him a few years ago, and found him to be delightful.

 

We spent the majority of the day at the pool, and really were glad that the weather has eased up on the humidity.  Even the temperature seemed more tolerable, because there was a nice breeze.  Not sure how long this will last as we travel further north.  It is difficult to wrap our heads around the fact that this is the month of December, and here we are baking in the tropical sun. 

 

After lunch in the Lido, we caught up on internet work.  It has been taking a lot of time to send emails, especially those with photos.  It could be the area in which we are sailing, but with the megabyte plan, we do not worry about the time it takes to complete sending or receiving.  If we were still relying on the minute plan, we would have used them up in a hurry. What we really like is having the freedom to research things we need to know, just like we do when we're at home.

 

One of the mysteries has been solved, thanks to the help of our friend Richard.  That netted ball that was being dropped on the flag pole of the bow was actually the signal to those who need to know that we were at anchor, and not on engine power.  Normally, we would be at the sail away festivities in the Seaview pool area, so we have never seen that ball dropped on the bow.  Learned something new once again.

 

This evening was gala night # 6.  There was a big turnout for tonight dinner in the dining room.  The majority of people did dress for it, although some did not.  The choices for entrees were the usual, but we both ordered the halibut, which was cooked with a panko topping with a sour cream sauce on the side.  Smashed red potatoes were under the fish, keeping it moist.  Truthfully, the fish was way better than in the Pinnace Grill last night.  We think that while the lamb chops were grilling, the cooked halibut was put on hold, then microwaved to keep it hot.  That tends to toughen up the flaky fish and dry it out. So in the future, we decided it is wiser to order the same entrée, so it is cooked together.

 

Dessert was good…..a slice of lemon meringue cheesecake with blueberry compote.  The texture of the cheesecake was firm and really rich.  We suspect it may have been a frozen product, and we were correct.  But with the quality of the dessert, it was even better than the gelatin-like cheesecake that is made here, in our humble opinion. 

 

Tama brought the menu out for tomorrow, as he usually does.  Once again, monkfish is one of the entrees, but we are still not sure if we will try it.  Hard to get that imagine of that ugly fish out of our minds. 

 

The show this evening was oddly named….Atlantic Crossing – Cool Britannia.  Should re-name it Pacific Crossing. Anyway, the singers and dancers did another fine job as did the lighting crew with the stage's back round dancing as much as the performers.

 

Ready for one more port, then a lot of days at sea.

 

Bill & Mary Ann