Day two at sea brought more rain along with thunder and lightning throughout the night. The lightning lit up our room like a Christmas tree, even with the curtains mostly closed. The thunder was explosive at times. That is exciting to us since we don't get these types of storms where we live. And thank goodness for that, or else there would be more wildfires in Northern California. Lord knows, we have had enough of those to last several lifetimes.
Early morning breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill may as well have been dinnertime since it was so dark outside with all of the clouds. Even the usual group of early birds did not show up until later like at 8:30am. Some of them looked annoyed because their tables were occupied. However, it is first- come, first -served basis.
Most of the entire day remained dreary with constant rain showers. The scenery of the reef and cruising the Far North Region as well as the Torres Strait was no different than being out at sea. It was many shades of gray including the water and the skies. There were no ships passing either. It could have been worse if the swells were deeper and the seas were rolling.
According to Captain Friso, it was another beautiful day. He must have been referring to the slight sea state, mild winds, and pleasant temperatures. He apologized for the liquid sunshine and hoped it would improve as the day advanced. No such luck….. We have 600 nautical miles to reach Darwin on February 22nd.
After a light Lido lunch, we tried our TV to see if the port talks were working for Darwin. Lo and behold, the talk came through finally. Except Kimberly was not the lecturer, because she is still under the weather. Erika and another Kimberly from shore excursions took her place. She was also missing at the coffee chat at 9am and no one took her place. Hope she gets better soon.
We watched a really good movie before dinner, Billy Elliott. It is not a new movie (most of the movies are far from new), but it was well worth watching again. By 6pm, the rain let up and the clouds began breaking up on the horizon. It felt good to go down to the promenade deck and get some miles in. It was soaking wet, but not crowded at all.
Dinner started off with our everyday regulars of shrimp cocktails and Caesar salads. Mains were one chicken Kiev with risi bisi on the side. We have had that before, but forgot what it was. It turned out to be a creamy rice mixed with peas. The other entrée was lamb osso buco with a creamy polenta and mini zucchini. One dessert of a berry meringue torte finished the meal nicely.
Entertainment in the World Stage was a vocal group called The Tap Pack, a play on the words…..The Rat Pack. The music took us back to Sinatra and Dean Martin and their sidekicks up to modern day Bublé and Beyonce.
And we happen to be in one of those unusual places in the world where the clocks go back ½ hour tonight . That puts us on the correct time for Darwin, and sadly, our last stop in Australia.
Bill & Mary Ann
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