Star gazing

Super Bowl (Monday for us)

They decorated the Cabaret Lounge: one side for the Falcons and one side for the Patriots (the cheaters as the Falcons side asserts). All the screens were set up so there were 3 images to watch and I think the feed was ESPN. It is also available in our cabins but the atmosphere in the Lounge is great fun.

The dancers started out with pompoms and cheers. They put out ring toss and bean bag throwing so that kept us occupied until the pre-game started. It was touching to see #41 do the ring toss.

The culinary department put out hotdogs, hamburgers, pizza, buffalo wings, guacamole with chips and salsa with potato chips. They even provided paper plates and utensils as if it were a tailgate party.

In order to get our seats secured, we went to the 9:15 am lecture. This speaker has done several other programs none of which I Wanted to do especially when I saw her line of products she was selling. She is one of those jack of all trades people: writer (one class was on how to write), producer, director, it goes on and on. Topics she’s previously done are obesity, meditation, etc. We went because this morning was a documentary about a former war correspondent. I enjoyed his background but it basically was promoting his (and hers) business. I’m disappointed that Princess is supporting this though I am sure she has a lot of followers because we see her T-shirts around. But I’d rather have speakers as we have experienced in the past such as historians, experts from WHO, UN, and such.

So Bingo started but Ed was holding down the front row seats for the game. I left for Trivia. My usual team was missing in action (as expected they were saving seats for the game too) and I joined a team where one of the women who usually shows up was the seat holder for their group. Nice people; one couple were Canadian and the man’s take on American football was very funny.

So I had my share of unhealthy food (though Ed and I ate only a little of the buns) and am back to my usual routine.

Stargazing

Even though tomorrow is Bay of Islands which means we get up (early for us), we are looking forward to this rescheduled very uiique event scheduled for tonight. The sea right now is almost glass, the weather is probably below 70 but the sun is very hot/bright, and little wind. So we might get lucky.

In the meantime, I am taking out our New Zealand dollars and getting my photographer’s vest so I don’t carry a purse and have anything valuable secured.

Not quite sure why

We received an invitation to cocktails in the Library at 6:45 pm. We still don’t know the criteria used for the invites. There were maybe 30 passengers there, some have been on this ship before. There were several staff there and it was a great opportunity to meet and speak with them about their careers, what they like about this ship and their work. Really a nice experience.

But I wish they had told us about the snacks (I don’t want to try to correctly spell that French word) as I probably wouldn’t have eaten dinner. I have taken in more calories today, and eaten more junk food, in so long I can’t recall.

Tomorrow is a tender port and we have a tour at 10 am. The ship is supposed to anchor at 8 am and we have to be in the tour group by 9:30 am. We do not return until midafternoon and the ship leaves at 6pm so the last tender to the ship is 5:30 pm. We have a little New Zealand money and I am happy with it but Ed wants to get more. Not sure of why but we’ll see how it goes. The currency is New Zealand dollars btw but I don’t know the exchange rate. The weather is 58 to 67 and overcast so I’ll take a light jacket and enjoy the marvelous weather. And a hat. And sunscreen. No concern about bugs.

Star Party

One of the young staff was given this assignment and he made a yeoman’s try. He looked at some of his materials and said: “Boy we really are out in the middle of nowhere!” Several folks helped him and now of course there are apps that help you find stars and constellations. We went up to the 11^th deck (the highest we get onto) and there were probably 100 passengers there which is quite remarkable for us as the last time we did this we had maybe 40! Since the moon is bright, it somewhat impedes what you can see and the ship’s lights also decrease what you can see. BUT it is still spectacular. You cannot imagine how many stars there are and how crisp they appear. We discussed and saw the Southern Cross which is what seamen use to navigate in the Southern Hemisphere. Did you know that the waxing and waning of the moon is from the opposite side in this hemisphere? And many of our old tyme constellations that we know so well, look entirely different down here.

There was a good breeze and it was actually cold to be up there on the open deck but it was great fun. Such a unique experience. I hope we do it again on the Indian Ocean or some other site.