In the Coral Sea between Australia and Papua New Guinea, bound for Rabaul. 16,282 miles from NY. It’s 6 pm here and 3 am in NY at the moment. It’s Tuesday for us, I don’t know what it is for you. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch the President’s State of the Union address, whenever it is.
On Thursday we'll be at Rabaul, a site of WW II interest and also a site with many active volcanos. I missed the talk on the geography today but can catch it later on TV.
We're learning a little about a lot and seeing just a tiny bit of the areas we visit. (Must guard against drawing conclusions.) Have enjoyed talking with local people, which so far has been easy, English being the dominant language up to this point. Must admit, however, that there is English, American, Australian, and New Zealand "english"! It's clear to me that we Americans have a lot to learn from others and it's time we stopped telling others how to live or expecting them to go along with our way. I'm humbled by much I hear and see.
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What's a day at sea like? Today, as an example: 7:30 walk several times around the ship on deck 3, breakfast, journal or read (currently Nicholas Shakespeare’s In Tasmania), attend lectures (e.g., “Dangerous Marine Animals with Oceanographer & Meteorologist Prof. Denny Whitford), attend Rotary meeting (speaker the Maitre d’ of the dining room) and lunch, watch crew teams in crazy competition on deck, work out, relax, dinner (formal), a dance show. And that’s about 1/30th of the options available. Dress codes for dinner range from “elegant casual” to “semi formal” to “formal.” You can always skip the dining room and eat elsewhere on the ship or have a meal delivered to your stateroom if you want to.
Big thrill of the morning - watching flying fish. Then, this afternoon, mesmerized by graceful creatures gliding around the bow of the ship. I’m not enough of a birder to know whether they were gannets, boobies, or albatrosses. The bird book didn’t help either. Some were pure white with black trim, others grey or mottled in color but all were elegant in their ballet.
The fact that the sun is in the northern sky down here sometimes confuses my sense of direction, which is normally pretty good. Never quite sure where to look for sunrise and sunset - however, I have found it often enough to take way too many pictures! Yesterday there were some great cloud formations but I’ll only put one or two on the gallery!
Latitude: 13 degrees 19.40 S; Longitude: 149 degrees 55.09 E
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5 comments:
Hi Lois,
I've really enjoyed reading your blog and looking at the great photos posted on your website.
You have two great shots of macadamia trees in bloom that I would like to add to my PowerPoint presentation on macadamia sourcing and quality. I took quite a few pictures of the mac orchards when I was in Guatemala 3 years ago but I don't have any shots of the trees in bloom that are as good as your photos.
You may not realize it, but you have now visited 3 of the 4 major macadamia growing areas in the world. Australia, where they grow as a native species, Hawaii, where they were first introduced as an ornamental tree more than 50 years ago, and Guatemala, where they were introduced more recently as a cash crop to supplement the income of coffee growers. They also grow macs as a commercial crop in Kenya & South Africa.
It was interesting to read your comments about the political discussion group that you pulled together. Sounds like you have a good number of countries from around the world represented, which should make for some spirited conversation. Looking forward to watching Obama's address to Congress this evening. He sure has his hands full with the ever deepening financial crisis.
Winter still has an icy grip here in Pennsylvania. It has been in the mid to high twenties for much of the past 3 days.
Happy sailing!
Dan
Dear Lois,
I love the shipboard daily schedule! I can just see you taking part in all the wonderful activities. Your trip has certainly helped me to get through this winter. It has been wretched and the temperature is still in the 30's. To make matters worse, there has not been one good snow storm and for a snow lover, that is really bad! Sloane is coming for four days so Tom and I will be busy! Dean is near Kandahar and still no real date for his return to the USA. All we really know is that he will be traveling back and forth between MacDill and Afghanistan for the next several years. The speach last evening was, I thought, magnificent. He is so composed and such a great communicator. I hope you were able to hear it. How could citizens not be inspired and hopeful about the future after his words? Keep well and continue to enjoy and take me away from the endless winter at Conococheague. Love, Deanna
Hi Lois - I received your card today. I'd like to follow this blog, but I'm not sure how. See mine at lyndengallery.blogspot! Will read more this evening. Take care! Lisa
I'm enjoying your travels. Thanks for the postcard. Wish I were there. Sylvia
Happy new year.
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Bathmate
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