A day at sea is what we all needed. It will be the first of three days on our way towards Darwin, our final stop in Australia. Boo-hoo. Even enduring the high temperatures and even higher humidity, our time in the country down-under has been just fine. To sweeten the day, we woke up to a pretty rainbow over the many islands we were passing early this morning. Of course, rainbows mean rain, and we did have showers off and on all day. For the most part, the rain fell mostly on the series of islands and sandy spits on both sides of the ship. At some points, we spotted trees growing out of the shallow waters near these islands. So strange. Also interesting was seeing frigatebirds flying near the ship. Then we saw several channel markers where the birds were perched. There must be a good source of food for these pirate birds.
One thing we have noticed is that the casino has been closed ever since we got to Sydney on March 7th. Our guess is that since the Volendam has been sailing close to the coastline, we are not in international waters and they must comply with the local regulations. Perhaps we can ask that question at the President's Club cocktail party tomorrow evening at 6:30pm in the Atrium deck three. Checking today's newsletter, the casino will be opened today because we are crossing past Torres Strait directly to Darwin, putting the ship far from land. The closure must have put a dent in the possible revenue the casino generates. And what occupies the time of the staff that work in the casino during the weeklong closure?
Our morning consisted of catch-up work on the computer. In order not to fall too far behind, one of us processed pictures, and the other wrote daily details. It has become a habit where Bill takes his walk, while I type or label photos. It has worked out better for one of us that has been having some back and hip problems. Call it old age, but this is a better way of dealing with it. Walking onshore is not a huge problem, but walking on a moving ship seems to activate the joints even more. There seems to be the same group of walkers at 11am or so, and it is a good time to catch up on innocent ship gossip.
Before noontime, we went to the Seaview Pool for some fresh air and mugs of ice-cold lemonade thanks to Ramon who takes care of us. Salvadore stopped by and said hi also. With this heat and humidity, the deck fellows make sure we keep hydrated. The scenery was nice with the small islands, sandy spits, a few atolls and some commercial ships like tankers. The channel markers are different from regular buoys. They appear to be equipped with modern technology.
Captain Rens came on with his daily update, most of which we had trouble understanding. The aft speakers are not that great. The temperature was in the low 80's and the humidity was up there at 83%. The winds were light as were the passing showers which provided a slight spritzing. Felt good actually. We had 966 nautical miles to reach Darwin on March 16th. The ship's speed was around 14 knots. We are still sailing in the Great Barrier Reef area, and that is why we are seeing so many deserted islands and sand spits.
Around 2pm, we had room service mini burger sliders and nothing else. They really are that good, and we do not overeat. Dinner tonight was dressy and also dubbed Derby Night. We had been given a flyer with the in-house jockeys and slips of paper to guess the winner of the five contestants. It began at 8:30pm with the actual race to begin around 9:40pm. In addition, there was a Fancy Hat Competition at 9:30pm where a winner would be chosen.
The actual dinner followed the same theme with the guests invited to don their fancy hats, which some did. All in good fun, it was amusing. Even some of the lady officers wore a fancy hat to host tables. Also amusing. The menu had the usual dressy night items such as escargot or crab and shrimp dip. Our waiter is finally telling us what might be tough, such as the beef tenderloin. We had different salads, mostly because Caesar does not come with the good dressing. One of us ordered the salmon and found it very good for a change. The other entree was the Kentucky BBQ shrimps, 4 in total, with a pile of assorted veggies in a creamy sauce. Grits were in there somewhere. We splurged with desserts of a hot fudge sundae and one slice of cake.
Due to Derby Night in the Lido poolside, the World Stage went dark tonight. There was a movie, Freakier Friday in the Wajang. Probably shown because today happened to be Friday the 13th.
So much for day one at sea. Two more to enjoy.
Bill & Mary Ann
