With the hour back on the clocks last night, there was a line of guests waiting for the Pinnacle Grill to open for breakfast shortly before 8am. Ready or not….here we come. A new breakfast waiter, Agus, took our order for a change. We think we surprised him with all of the coffee we drink.
The number of morning walkers doubled today. For one thing, there was no rain and even though the clouds persisted, it was warmer and a little more humid. And to top it off, there were a few masked boobies chasing after the flying fish. Studying their behavior, we think once these birds are full, they will land and rest on the water for a while. Since the closest island is Hawaii and over 700 miles away, we know these birds are true sea birds, and only go to land to raise their young.
Another little observation we made is that the promenade windows are not cleaned with squeegees anymore. Years ago, we did a last-minute Alaskan cruise, taking any room we could get. That happened to be a window room on deck three. Every morning around sunrise, we woke up to the screech of our windows getting cleaned. Sort of like nails on a blackboard, we vowed never to book a room on that deck again. Now the cleaning is nearly silent.
Checking out the activity at the Seaview Pool area, the Captain came on with his noon talk. He speaks so clearly, as does the cruise director, that his every word can be understood. Anyway, he and his staff captain had a bet on the type of sea birds that have been following the ship. Captain Paul guessed they were petrels, while the staff captain said they were laysan albatross. Their final decision was that they were the albatross, so the Captain gave this one to his friend. Now, in our opinion, these birds were the masked boobies, fitting the size, weight, coloration, and the areas they frequent. Perhaps they were seeing different birds that we did not see, but we know the behavior of these birds is far different from petrels or albatross.
The sun had come out off and on today, so we took advantage of that on our veranda. Lunch was two burgers from the Dive-In, while we finished watching the movie Australia on our TV. We like that feature of being able to watch movies without having to get DVD's at the front desk. When it is working, the newer flat screen interactive TV's are a big improvement from what we had on the Amsterdam. For some reason, we have lost some of the signal around 3pm every day this week. It's not like there are mountains to block the signal. Eventually, it comes back.
It was the Pinnacle Grill for dinner this evening. It was not very busy at 7:30pm, so we got excellent service as always. The wedge salads were perfect with the hanging bacon. We both ordered steaks – one a filet and the other a smaller rib eye. French fries and mashed potatoes were the sides. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and pineapple sorbet. Nothing fancy, just refreshing.
The show of Musicology with the Step One Dance Company must have been well attended since the crowd of folks filed by our "window" while we were eating dinner. We have seen this on the N. Statendam and enjoyed it.
Tomorrow will be day number 5 crossing the Pacific. Ready to be landlubbers soon.
Bill & Mary Ann
