February 19, 2017

Today is the seventh official Sea Day. The ship is still crossing the Timor Sea to get to Bali, Indonesia.  The sky had, above the horizon, a ring of tiny fluffy grayish mini clouds and a small tower of clouds partially blocking the sun in the east.  The morning temperature was 28 C, according to the thermometer on my Midway aircraft carrier museum souvenir, and the wind was not blowing as hard.  The sea waves were almost calm.

    Since Deck 5 had just been washed and was still wet we climbed up to Deck 11 for few circuits, mostly in sunshine, (steps 5,432) before going down to Deck 4 to the dining room for breakfast. Our table of ten included two American couples a couple from Melbourne, Australia and couple from Manchester, England. The English couple had flown Singapore Airlines from Manchester to Singapore and stayed there a few days before taking a flight to Sydney.  They usually holiday in the Caribbean in February.  The rest of the morning we read in the shade on the Deck 5 lounge chairs, taking breaks to walk around Deck 5 and stop for cappuccinos, where we met Maureen and Bob.  Out of curiosity we looked into an elevator car and saw that near the door on the floor is a section of floor that can be changed daily so that people know what day of the week it is.  Since we always take the stairs, we had not been aware of the practice, which is common on cruise ship elevators.

   After lunch in the Windjammer buffet on Deck 11, we attended Philip Shubert’s presentation about the Arafura Sea and the Timor Sea, which the ship has been crossing for the past four days and the international agreements between Australia, Indonesia and Timor about fishing and oil and gas rights as well as China and Japan and fishing rights and how to preserve marine life.  Most of the afternoon, we read in the shade on the Deck 5 lounge chairs but took a break to visit the casino which was not too busy. Part of the afternoon, the Indonesian Sumba Island could be seen at the horizon.  Up by the pool was the “Men’s International Belly Flop Contest” which had a large gathering on Decks 11 and 12 to view the event.

     Larry is part way into his third book, while Claire is reading her fourth book.  All the books were from the ship’s library which included authors David Baldacci , Stuart Wood and Australian author, Felicity Young.

     Bob and Maureen were waiting at our table in the Cascades Dining Room when we arrived. Dinner appetizers chosen were Papaya, Lychee and Water Strawberry Salad, Breaded Mushrooms and Shellfish Saffron Consumé, followed by entrées of Pan-fried Pork Medallions with mashed potato or Greek Calamari Salad.  The dessert choice was White Chocolate Cheesecake. 

       We met Maureen and Bob to go to the Colony Club to dance to the Kronos Band.  They played some Frank Sinatra songs and a few others.  We danced a rumba and a foxtrot to 4 or 5 minute melodies. Then we listened to a few more Foxtrot long tunes before the four of us left to find seats in the Aurora Theatre for the comedic hypnotist, Anthony B. Laffa’s show.  It was an entertaining show.

Daily steps = 13,691