Sea Days Darwin to Hong Kong

Bit of a longer stretch of sea days now - 5 full days before we get to land again.

We've got ourselves into a comfortable routine now.  An hour in the gym every second day followed by buffet breakfast.  On non gym days we either snooze in a little or walk around the deck, and generally have room service breakfast delivered.

The first thing we wanted to know after leaving Darwin was what happened with the sea rescue.  We later learned that there was a boat in distress and we rendezvoused with the coast guard to assist them find them.  They did and they were rescued, so all was well.  

I dragged poor Tony to an enrichment talk today called "Lets twist again".  I thought it would be a fun trip down memory lane learning some interesting things about the origins and influences on early rock and roll.  Except it wasn't.  They had some ex b grade radio jockey do a power point presentation with absolutely no tunes.  Oh well you live and learn.

Sunday night saw us approach the Indonesian Islands and it was also our second formal night and corresponding "Gala Dinner".  Tony had the lobster and I had something I had been hoping for - Beef Wellington.  Tonys lobster was ok - probably half the size of his first one, and my wellington was nice.  After dinner we went to the Sweet Soul Music production show which was pretty good.

Spent a lot of time on Monday watching the various sea birds of the starboard side of the ship.  I was able to use google lens to learn that they were Brown Booby's.  Incredibly agile and graceful hunters they were, swooping down as such a speed to try to catch a fish.  Even the fish here are smart - the ones we saw were flying fish.  So even without the birds, watching them zoom along just under the surface of the water to pop up and then literally fly a short distance was something I wont forget.

Monday afternoon had us crossing the equator.  There was a pretty poxy ceremony that lasted at least 30 minutes.  Was a nice memory though.  We changed things up for dinner tonight.  As I couldn't secure a reservation in Allegra, we were booked into the Concerto restaurant.  Slightly different theming and ambiance to the other one, but the food was exactly the same menu.  The location of this restaurant is much better - its midship, rather than fully aft!

Tuesday was a quiet day.  We spent a fair bit of time catching up the video - I say we but its 95% Tony.  After lunch we went to the trivia in Princess Live.  It was general knowledge, and although we weren't completely rotten, we did stink a fair bit.

The  12 o'clock broadcast from the captain warned us that for the next 36 hours we would be sailing through the Philippine Islands, and as such the ship was doing a drill to check readiness to combat pirates.  They said it was highly unlikely, but they like to be prepared regardless.

Dinner tonight was our second Specialty restaurant - Sabatini's Italian Trattoria.  We were quite measured and only ordered 3 courses, we could have had 6!!.  It was very good food - the lasagna was excellent.  We sat at a table across from a lovely couple that we ended up having quite a chat with.  Bruce and Cheryl from WA.

Wednesday was gym day.  And sitting on the balcony watching the world go by.  Late afternoon we were passing by one of the largest island in the Philippines - complete with its own volcano puffing away.  Was awesome to watch.

Thursday started with breakfast in bed, watching tv, reading and watching the sea roll by.  We were finally back in "safe" waters with only fishing boats to be concerned about.  I took us to a friends trivia session in the evening.  The questions were really obtuse, and some of the people there were quite frankly obnoxious.  We still managed 14/20 so probably a C grade.

Needed to be in bed early tonight as its Hong Kong tomorrow!!