February 26, 2017

    This is Sea Day #1 of the South Australia coast and New Zealand’s South Island cruise. Late yesterday evening the ship turned back, due to a medical emergency, and stopped at the Fremantle pilot station for the patient to be transferred to a Perth hospital.

    This morning, the sea had swells of about 1.5 meters.  The sky was mainly sunny with a few long wispy clouds, temperature was about 22 C and there was a medium wind that made it cool enough to wear a sweater or long sleeved shirt for deck walking.

   The ship was still hugging the western coast during the morning, just about 5 km from shore. This morning the ship passed Cape Naturalist on the northern end of a peninsula near Collie, Australia and a few hours later Cape Leeuwin on the southern end of the peninsula.   On land the ground along the coast is a national park.

    After breakfast and walking circuits on Deck 5, we attended the presentation on the Australian destinations over the next week: Esperance, Adelaide and Melbourne.

     After lunch the ship started the direction change as it rounded the coast near Albany, Western Australia, to go east into the waters of the Southern Ocean along the south coast which is part of the Australian Continental Shelf called the Great Australian Bight.  The latitude in the early afternoon was 35.00.08 degrees south.  The most northerly latitude, in the southern hemisphere, that we reached was in Bali, Indonesia, on the last cruise when the reading was about 9.20 degrees south. 

    This southern coast was explored by English Captain George Vancouver, even though the Dutch and French knew about the great southern land, but had not colonized it.  In the late 18th century, the western part of Australia was known as New Holland and the eastern part New South Wales. In 1791 Captain Vancouver landed in King’s Sound (Albany), which was the territory of the Mineug aboriginal tribe, and claimed the land as a British possession. In 1826 Major Edmund Lockyear sailed from Sydney to establish a penal colony called Fredrick Town, but the name later was changed to Albany.   Once the Swan River colony (Perth/Fremantle) was developed the convicts went there.  Whaling was a big industry in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries until ceasing in 1978.  Albany was an important international port until the early 20th century until being displaced by Fremantle.  There are so many floral species along the coast between Albany and Esperance that the area was declared a UNESCO World Biospere Reserve because of its important Mediterranean ecosystem.

    We got some reading done before going to the mid afternoon Foxtrot dance lesson with Joy and Emanuel, where we met Mary and Tom from Blackpool, England, who we saw dancing on the Top end cruise.  After the lesson we joined Bob and Maureen for coffee at Latte-tudes.

   The water in the shower, set at its coldest, now can give warm water still on the hot side, but cooler than last week, when the plumber was in a told us that the sink cold water was 71 F, even though we tried to tell him that it was shower cold water that was the problem.

   The Cruise Compass, daily agenda had scheduled a hosted Ballroom Dance prerecorded music hour, at 5; but the Colony Club, on Deck 6, had been booked by a private group from 4:30 to 5:30. No mention was made with an announcement or poster by the entrance and the instructors at the Foxtrot lesson, the hosts, were not advised until after they had finished their lesson, but didn’t arrive until 5:20. We went with Bob and Maureen to the Centrum on Deck 4.   The group did not vacate the Colony Club until 5:45, as a staff member guarded the entrance from half a dozen eager dancers.  The group had paid to rent the club and the scheduling problem was not realized until too late. The staff member apologized several times.  We, Bob and Maureen and a few other couples were able to get three dances to good recorded ballroom music, before going to dinner at 6.

   The four of us joined Ann, Stan, Cathy and Deb for dinner. Appetizers chosen were Bay Scallop Gratin, Lobster Bisque and Roman Vignole Salad.  The main course was Hoki (fish) Filet with roasted potato, cauliflower, tomato and grapes or Beef Tenderloin with mushroom sauce and whipped potatoes.  Dessert was Lemon Meringue Pie and Strawberry Cheesecake.

  After dinner was the Captain’s welcome cocktail party at the Centrum, where sparkling wine was served and the department managers were introduced.  The entertainment this evening in the Aurora Theater was comedian, Ivor Richards.

Steps today 13,833