Another day at sea was perfect, since it gave us time to catch up on internet work and do some research for the next port in Australia. And that will be a new stop for us called Airlie Beach. It is located in the Whitsunday Region and is one of the starting points for a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef. This coastal town is small with only about 1300 people in 2021. Since we have been to the Reef twice, we will be exploring the town instead.
Captain Friso came on for his noon talk and stated it was another beautiful day despite the heavy overcast skies. As long as the seas were not acting up, it is a beautiful day for the crew and Captain. We are all hoping for a nice day tomorrow, but Captain Friso said he had no control over the weather. It will be what it is…..no kidding. We are following the coastline now and have 303 nautical miles to go to reach Airlie Beach. Although he predicted heavy rains tonight, he said tomorrow may be OK.
The only other business of the day was everyone getting paperwork to fill out for our upcoming stops in Indonesia. Usually the directions are straight forward, but this time it is a bit more complicated with QR codes and/or a computer confirmation. We shall have to get some advice on this one, because we cannot generate a QR code without a cell phone. One thing that was written was interesting. It was that the fee for the visas is not negotiable as it is dictated by the country of Indonesia and not HAL. We have a couple of days to figure it out.
The breeze was muggy while we took our promenade deck walk at noontime. We could see some dark rain clouds on the horizon, but it never did rain here. After lunch, we actually had sun on our veranda, and enjoyed sitting outside for a while. Out of the blue, some birds glided by, so of course, we had to get some shots of them. They were mostly gannets with a few brown boobies among them. It is possible they are roosting on the bow flag pole, then hunting for flying fish. The fish are few and far in between.
Kimberly delivered her talk on Cairns, and a new lecturer, Rob Quintrell, spoke about war history and the plan to invade Japan. And a guest chef has arrived by the name of Scott Bridger. He gave a cooking demo in the Rolling Stones Lounge. He may be doing a specialty dinner in the Pinnacle Grill as well. Some of the usual activities seem to be geared to the newly-embarked passengers, like they are starting over for this segment.
Lunch in the Lido was good as usual, and the sugar ice cream cones that suddenly appear from under counter are always a plus. We have a very thoughtful ice cream server.
We were treated to another unexpected sunset around 6:35pm. It began as a faded horizon, then developed into a pretty nice scene. There has not been one sunset the same, and we always look forward to the next one.
Dinner had some new starters like empanadas with surprise sauce….something fruity and spicy. We added one shrimp cocktail and a Caesar salad. Mains were one veal and spaetzle mushroom gravy stew, and the other entrée was lamb chops coated with a spicy breading. Actually very good and cooked thoroughly. It was served on a bed of quinoa which is growing on us. Desserts were a whoopie pie (chocolate cake filled with marshmallow cream), and one scoop of raspberry sorbet. One was really sweet and one was refreshing.
Tomorrow – a new port to explore.
Bill & Mary Ann
