World Cruise - Day 49 - Mar 1 - At Sea

I think I’m starting to get jaded on sunsets.  I took a few pics this morning, but since they weren’t as brilliant as other mornings, I stopped with just a few (OK, I guess I took about 20, but that’s relatively few compared to other mornings).  I liked this one the best:

…and Krissie liked this one the best (when the sun was up further in the sky):

I had a couple problems with the last blog entry where part of my post got deleted (that was my error) and three different blog posts got sent out in one e-mail (that was Blogger’s error).  So if you got the e-mail without the sunrise at the beginning of the post and for three days at once, those were the two errors.  I updated online the post from yesterday to correct the missing information (I think I accidentally deleted part of it while doing one of my updates throughout the day yesterday), although I’m not sure why Blogger held the sending of the e-mail for three blog posts when I had posted each on a daily basis.  Not sure why and not sure what I can do to fix that one.  But I do typically do my daily post at the end of the day before I go to bed, so sometime before midnight or so onboard, which would be 5a Pacific and 8a Eastern (and 1p London for Sonia), although posting the day prior, since we’re ahead rather than behind the time zones.

Zumba again this morning, then went to breakfast at the buffet and had this wonderful view of surrounding islands as we entered inside the Great Barrier Reef:

Then late in the morning played ping pong, then went to see Art Howe give his presentation.  Art Howe is a former major league baseball player (he played for Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros) and manager (he managed Houston Astros and Oakland A’s).  He is probably best known for being the manager of the Oakland A’s in Moneyball.  In the movie, he is portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.  He talked about a lot of the background stories in his baseball career, including things you usually never hear about, like the discussions he had with his pitchers when he went to the mound and discussions with umpires (including why he got thrown out of the game several times, they were pretty funny stories).

After the presentation I got my pic with Art:

I got a pic of Chuck and Lorraine with Art as well:

Nice guy and very personable.  His next presentation he’s going to talk about Moneyball specifically.  I read the book, but I haven’t yet seen the movie.

Trivia was tough today, we got 12 out of 20, the winning team got 13 out of 20.  Some of the more interesting questions: What product claims that if you are often a bridesmaid and never a bride, it’s because you’re not using their product?  Listerine.  Which turn of the century product company introduced a product called Graino?  Jello (we said corn flakes).  What luggage company manufactures The Survivor?  Samsonite.  What Agatha Christie novel originally titled And Then There Were None was changed to this title when made into a movie in 1965 and 1975?  Ten Little Indians.  What actor played Henry opposite Katherine Hepburn in this movie?  Peter O’Toole (we put Richard Harris).  What movie featured John Travolta, Debra Winger and a mechanical bull?  Urban Cowboy.  Who was the TV son of Henry and Alice Mitchell?  Dennis the Menace.  Which Star Trek character did not join the crew until the second season?  Chekov (we put Scotty).  What was Lumpy’s last name on Leave it to Beaver?  Rutherford.  What was private eye Mannix’ first name?  Joe (we put Richard).  What actor said: “I never drink…wine.”  Bela Lugosi (we put WC Fields).  What TV newsperson said: “The camera never blinks”?  Dan Rather (we put Walter Cronkite).  What was the nationality of the first astronaut who was not Russian nor American?  Czechoslovakian (we put East German).  Who played James Bond between Sean Connery and Roger Moore?  George Lazenby.

Today the lunch buffet was Mexican Cantina.  They have great guacamole onboard, they make it fresh.

Krissie’s been quite the walker during this cruise.  I forgot to mention that as part of her daily routine on my blog post a couple days ago.  She usually goes for a walk after breakfast for almost an hour (while I play ping pong), then again in the afternoon.  However, today is pretty hot and humid (low 80s temp and very humid), so she might skip walking in the afternoon.  I walk with her sometimes, although I can’t keep up with her.  I can do her speed (which is pretty fast), but only for about a mile, then I start slowing down.  She’s the Energizer Bunny and keeps going and going and going…

In the afternoon I went to a lecture by naturalist Ann Burgess on “The Quest for Spice” (talking about the explorers going to the “Indies” in their quest for valuable spices) and reef pilot John Cardelli on “Maritime Marvels” (talking about the super yachts and super cruise ships that have gone through the Great Barrier Reef).  John is doing double duty onboard, both giving lectures and also acting as the pilot to navigate the ship through the reefs.

We really stunk it up today in afternoon trivia.  We got 8 out of 20, winning team got 17.  Yikes.  Some of the more interesting questions (we missed all of these):  What was Dustin Hoffman’s female character’s name in Tootsie?  Dorothy (we put Dottie, yes, we know that is short for Dorothy, but there is only one right answer).  In what ocean is Ascension Island?  Atlantic (we put Indian).  In international car registration, what country uses the two letter designation ET?  Egypt (we put Ethiopia).  What is the lightest metal?  Lithium (we put aluminum).  In what year did Roger Bannister break the 4 minute mile?  1954 (we put 1958).  How many players on a soccer team?  11 (we put 7).  What is the longest mountain range in the world?  Andes (we put Rockies).  What is the world’s third largest desert?  Gobi (we put Mojave).  What was the name of the dog in Enoch Lighton’s five books?  Timmy (we put Harry).  What family is the largest omnivores?  Bears (we put cats).  Which fruit of an evergreen tree can be pickled for eating?  Olives (we put pine cones).  Which pop icon’s first children’s book was named English Roses?  Madonna (we put Michael Jackson).  A couple of the hard ones that we got: Between what two countries does the Simplon Pass cross?  Switzerland and Italy.  Which cells enable us to see color in the eye?  Cones.

Krissie and I both had very nice veal chops at dinner tonight.  We both had the black bean soup, then the mixed greens salad, the veal chop entrée with asparagus and artichoke and I had the coffee crème brulee for desert Krissie had the pineapple sorbet.

The show tonight was an encore from Ross Maio, whom we also saw the other night:

He was listed as a “multi-instrumentalist” for the show the other evening (he plays one instrument, the accordion, but it has a synthesizer on it so it can sound like many different instruments, even bagpipes), tonight he is listed as “multi award winning international instrumentalist”—I guess “multi” is the key to your billing here.  He played the Beer Barrel Polka and invited up anyone who was interested in polkaing (not sure if that’s a word, but it got thru spellcheck) to dance on the dance floor.  I asked Krissie if she wanted to polka, but she declined.  I’m pretty sure that if Rebekah was here, she would have gone out there with me.

Tomorrow is Cairns, Australia.  Patti, both Krissie and I will be going scuba diving, not snorkeling (although that is also offered on our tour).  We are going out on a catamaran named Reef Experience to scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef.  We will be taking ginger tablets with our breakfast to try to avoid any possibility of seasickness.  Others who have gone on this tour in the past have said that quite a few people got seasick, since it’s about a two hour ride out to the reef and lots of bouncing up and down, which can take down even people who are not typically prone to seasickness.  My understanding (to be confirmed) is that the catamaran stops at a platform near the reef where they have additional amenities.  The day is listed as being all inclusive, but our experience with diving is that you still have to pay for your equipment separately.  There are several others onboard who will be on this tour, including Dan (who will be doing the introductory scuba dive).  Krissie is doing the introductory dive as well—she has done an intro dive in the past, but is not certified.  I’m certified, so I will be doing the certified scuba dive (where we will be able to dive deeper).  We are very much looking forward to our day tomorrow.  Patti, I will have my underwater camera with me and will also bring my laptop in case there is another diver with a more high end underwater camera (mine is only 2MP) where I might be able to download images on the boat ride back.  I hope to have some good to great underwater photos on the blog tomorrow.  Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef is on my bucket list.