Noon Report:

• Location: S 10° 48.70′, E 129° 22.70′
• Speed: 16 knots
• Course: 268º (That’s due west!)
• Weather: Partly Cloudy
• Temperature: 28º C, 82º F
• Wind: NW 19 knots, 22 mph

That wind speed is classed in the UK as a “Fresh Breeze” which translates to “pretty windy” and “choppy seas”. We’re getting buffeted about quite a bit as we continue to head west toward Indonesia.

Today started like any other sea day – a refreshing walk followed by breakfast.

Our first lecture began our preparation to arrive in Indonesia:

Cheryl’s Factoids:

• Indonesia is 3 times bigger than the state of Texas, spread out almost as wide as the United States.
• Indonesia is going to MOVE it’s capital Jakarta FROM Java to another island (Borneo) due to the rising sea levels!
• It has 700+ ethnic groups/languages/religions so in order to give some unity to Indonesia they merged several of the languages together to make one “official” Indonesian language and that is what is taught to all the school children.
• Indonesia was run by the Dutch until the Japanese occupied it in March 1942. After WWII Indonesia declared its independence from the Netherlands 3 days after the Japanese surrendered in September 1945. This inaugurated a period of diplomatic negotiation, armed revolution, and UN mediation that resulted in full independence being achieved in December 1949.

Following this lecture I ran upstairs to grab some photos of our first SUNDAY BRUNCH which was laid out on the pool deck:

Then it was back to the Theatre for the next talk:

Those who have been following the BLOG may think this title sounds familiar. It is. This is substantially the same lecture Russell Lee gave back in early January. But people who boarded in Los Angeles had never heard it, and since we’re headed for Komodo…

It was still a delightful and engaging talk that began with the quesiton: “What is a dragon” and proceeded to look at different views of dragons in different cultures as well as the universalness of dragon legends in so many cultures around the globe:

Also…Extra points if you can cite the reference of the title “Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon”.

Following the lecture we stayed put for a half-hour waiting for the final choir rehearsal at 12:15.

Then we hit the brunch buffet! (YUM!)

Following lunch we retreated to our stateroom and put Cheryl to bed (OK, she was sitting up reading but at least she was in bed).

4:30 saw us back in the Theatre for the port talk on the next 2 ports – Rinca (Komodo National Park) and Benoa, Bali.

Then it was off to church, then dinner.

After dinner it was back to bed for Cheryl (her fever had spiked) while Randy did his best to support the BBB team (10/24 – still below the 50% line, but a valiant effort nonetheless – maybe next time I’ll send Cheryl and stay in bed myself.)

Following that less than stellar performance, it was time to move to a, well, modesty prevents me…

The guest Talent Show:

There were about a dozen acts – classical piano, Irish jigs, Elvis impersonation, demonstration by a medium, original poetry, several vocals in different styles, and the grand finale – The NepTUNE singers:

Sadly Cheryl, being in bed, missed the opportunity to participate. We’ll try to keep her healthier for the next show later in the cruise.

And yes, I had a solo – 2 measures long.

Back at the stateroom we moved the clocks back another hour (I think that’s 12 which means we’re half-way around the world from Florida) and settled down for a long ‘pitch & roll’ nap.

So that was the second sea day as we continue to head west. More tomorrow.

Till then, R