Happy Birthday Lisa!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!

We send best wishes for a great birthday and wish we were there to help you celebrate properly. And may you enjoy many many more happy healthy celebrations!

Whitsunday Islands (spelling)

Sunrise is before 6 am so we usually wake up around that time. With luck we can bet a few more snoozes in. But I had an appointment for a pedicure because of a problem interfering with my walking in close toed shoes and I can see well enough to do my own toes. I am managing well with my fingers though they may not look so good, they grow and who cares.

The young lady is lovely and quite careful. She is from England and this is her first contract and she was talking about how lucky she was to get this ship. The appointment took 1 ¼ hours and included hot rocks and oils (no choice on the royal treatment I’m afraid) I won’t tell you how much this indulgence cost, but I’m thinking of trying to make a medical deduction out of it given the charge (determined by Princess, not her).

I believe we were sailing through the Whitsunday islands during all this time as you could see islands all around and that is the beginning of the Great Barrier Reef from the south. It is kind’ve overcast but warm and humid outside.

The Queen of the Flattops

The Naval Captain (ret) told the story of the USS Lexington in WWII in the Coral Sea. So many interesting tidbits he includes in his talks.

Trivia

Sat with two from the last morning trivia and they were fine. The young Aussie couple did not show up and I was disappointed. The man who was there, when we were discussing whether or not the young Aussie couple were coming (recall she is going blind) said something about she wasn’t good at it. That kind’ve stabbed at me since I rather identify with her problem. I explained that she had participated and in fact had given us two of the answers.

So they were two and when I went to our area there was another woman there whom they obviously knew. Ed showed up in time and the trivia was again given by the young man from So Africa but he put the trivia up on a screen and had clearly worked on his pronunciation. Still there are two people in separate adjacent groups who got into a shouting match about moving a chair for a better view of the screen. Honest to God.

We were 5 in the end and the woman in our group who was new to me has an ego issue and is sure she knows it all. She’d be better off playing alone as she’s definitely not a team type. At the end, Ed had been doing the scribe work but she insisted we should use her record of the answers. She was quite firm about using her version of the answers and finally I said to Ed let her have her way so we can move on.

After the quiz answers were given, she made a remark that if we had taken three of the answers she had, we would have made 3 more points. This was said with some irritation and I left before the determination of the winners was held. This is just a game and I enjoy the interplay and team process in agreeing on answers. I don’t need a know it all like her around and so we’ll see what happens next time I go. If she’s there, I’ll make my apologies to the man and woman I already knew, and find another group.

Lunch

Dining room didn’t have many folks in it but there is an English Pub event upstairs and I’ll bet most were there. One of the crotchety ladies was again at our table; she was an OR nurse probably before I got out of diapers. She’s somewhat imperious but I can deal with that for brief periods. However, when the other older woman is at the table, I really feel sorry for that person.

A couple from Michigan, probably in their late 40s or 50s who are new onto the ship and leaving in Dubai, and an elderly Aussie couple who are leaving at Hong Kong.

We spoke with a delightful Aussie while waiting for our table and he is probably in his 50s somewhere. He gave us a lot of insight into how Aussie’s travel versus Europeans, and in some instances, Americans. He said there was a lot of room on the Sydney to Hong Kong leg of the cruise. We’ll likely see another mass exodus of passengers in Hong Kong.

Technology help

Uros again helped us get photos onto our Apple devices so that, assuming we can find some decent WiFi tomorrow in Cairns, we can upload some for everyone to see.

Wet and rainy weather are predicted for tomorrow. We have ponchos and will taking them and hoping that the temp is moderate and if it rains, it is mild as well.