Btimmer

It's 7:35am and the Captain just announced that due to wind and swell conditions the Moreton Island port call has been cancelled. The anchor will be raised, the test tender be raised and stowed, and we'll continue our cruise on to Sydney.

Tonight we received another change of itinerary letter cancelling our stop at Kaikoura, NZ on 11/14/22 and substituting an additional day in Wellington. For this change we will receive $250 each as a non-refundable shipboard credit AND 10% of our cruise fare paid as a Bonus Future Cruise Credit. The terms and condition of the credit were erroneously not included on the reverse side of the letter. We'll probably learn those tomorrow.

When was your attempt? Based upon what I see outside and the Captain's careful wording, I'm not optimistic.

At the noon report today, we are down to 30 total cases (28 passengers and 2 crew). That's really good news. There's been a lot of motion to the ocean today, and the Captain set us up for some probable tender challenges for tomorrow.

It's a bit rougher at sea today after leaving Airlie Beach yesterday. We're on our way to Moreton Island. As of last night's departure message from the Captain, the Covid count was down again another 2 passengers . He reported us to have 41 cases comprised of 38 passengers and 3 crew. The recent reductions all have come from the passenger count. I appreciate receiving hard numbers for the Covid count rather than vague statements. We'll get another update in about and hour and a half at the noon "Voice from the Bridge" message.

On the Airlie Beach tender.

We have arrived at Arlie Beach. The first tender was used for a medical emergency. We're just about to tender ashore. As 5 Star Mariners we have a nice waiting room in the BBKing lounge with refreshments.

Covid Report as of 11/3/22 @ 4:30pm in Cairns The Captain just announced that our Covid numbers are down 7 people: 40 passengers and 3 crew. We have a decreasing trend which is very good. We did a crocodile tour and visited Port Douglas today. It was a great time.

Covid Report as of 11/2/22 @ noon The Captain just announced that our Covid numbers are down 2 people: 47 passengers and 3 crew. Tomorrow we arrive in Cairns, Australia and have a face to face Passport inspection.

There have been multiple trivia sessions per day and many different topics. Last night was Beatles trivia.

Today, we spent day 2 on Conflict Island. We did a walk to the International Airport, walked the 2,100 foot runway, and back to our starting point. Then we did a shore excursion snorkeling trip to the platform near the abyss. In the afternoon, we snorkeled on the north side of the floating pier. It was the best snorkeling of the 4 locations we tried. Over the two days we spent around 6 hours in the water. Our assessment of the snorkeling is that it's "okay", but clearly did not live up to the hype of the HAL shore excursion manager. I wouldn't book the snorkeling shore excursion here. Simply snorkel from the beach on each side of the floating dock. Time your snorkeling to be at or approaching high tide. Then snorkel the long distance out to the abyss and it's pretty cool. One location we have snorkeled at that's clearly superior is Moorea in French Polynesia. And there are undoubtedly others. That being said, it's a wonderful place to visit. It's sort of a Half Moon Cay on steroids. And it was blazing hot, but there's lots of shade and refreshments are available. They only take credit cards. The water is like bath water in terms of temperature. And it's crystal clear. Here's a few pictures from today. We didn't find Terminal 2. . . Lying on the runway. No traffic spotted. A live clam shell (3' across) The Abyss Dead clam shell (2.5 feet across) They all begin this way! Our Walking Path

Your cabin steward will be able to provide masks. We've brought our own K95's. Yes we appreciate the communication. The report today was 47 passengers and 5 crew.

The Halloween party is still underway in the BBKing Lounge, but we didn't stay for the voting. There were some very creative costumes.

Day 1 in the Conflict Islands is in the books and it didn't live up to the hype for the best snorkeling. The Captain just updated us on the Covid numbers which are 45 passengers and 5 crew which is the same as yesterday. After the tenders are retrieved we're heading out to sail overnight in the Coral Sea before returning in the morning for day 2 here. The ship hovered in position all day and the water depth was 1150 feet! It's 94° here and the water at the shoreline is bath water warm. Here are a few pictures. view of the beach As seen from the dock Starfish Underwater selfie The Abyss

We were on that Maasdam cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it! The highlight of that cruise was our private excursion out of Wewak to the Sepic River. The CD and Hotel Manager advised us against it because we were 3 plus hours by a dirt / gravel road from the ship. The number of Covid cases isn't alarming to me and I REALLY appreciate the Captain sharing precise data with us. Our enjoyment is not hampered at all. We mask up indoors most of the time. Once again we are having the time of our lives meeting new people and enjoying friendships with friends from prior cruises. In my blog today, I comment on a discussion with Freddy (a front office officer) whom we've sailed with before.

There's a small spelling correction from my Alotau post. The young boys are preparing (chopping) the young sago palm trees for the sago not sagle. It's an important source of starch for PNG people's food source.

Today in Alotau, Papua New Guinea, we procured a half day cultural tour from Alotau Tours. The tour agency came highly recommended by our PNG speaker, John Hocknull. I would totally concur. It's 94º! We're the second cruise ship to visit here since the end of the pandemic lockdown. They are thrilled to have us back. The Noordam is due here later in November and possibly the Zuiderdam. Here are a few pictures from today. Lovebirds Bridge? What bridge? Port Welcome Dancers Drummer Back at the Port Men's work is to chop the fibers so the women can process the sagel Sagle process being completed. The jell is allowed to congeal and the liquid is discarded. Children's welcome dance Tim, Ben, & Angela

I will pass the info on. Prayers from me too.

This was a paid pop up in the Lido. It was offered twice this cruise. I wrote about our fiasco with the first one in my blog earlier in the cruise. To summarize the story, we signed up for it, received a telephone message that it had been cancelled, but we stumbled upon it the day it was held. In any event it was much better for us than a Sel de Mer pop up. Thanks for the compliment on the pictures. It was a fun day snorkeling. Best so far this voyage.

The Seafood boil was excellent tonight.

Bobby says hi!

We were on the Rotterdam for a couple of weeks in November to December 1.

Bobby is the best! He's been our regular server in the Lido Pool area. I'll say hi for you. When were you on with him?

Today (Saturday, 10/29) in his noon announcement, our Captain announced 44 guests and 4 crew testing positive for Covid. That up 4 passengers and level on the crew. He also announced that we will now have two days at the Conflict Islands. That's really good news!

Here's some more information about how I do my underwater photography. I shoot virtually all of my underwater shots with a GoPro Hero 7 Black. I shoot short video clips in 1080p and then review them frame by frame using the GoPro App Quik. I select the still photos that I want, and then transfer them wirelessly to my iPhone 13 using the Quik APP. On the iPhone I load them up using the photos APP and then crop them using that App. I then sharpen the images using another APP called Camera+ which I load using the Edit function in the Photos APP. It's quick and easy to do and produces excellent results. I'm not a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination. I've simply found an easy way to deal with photos using pretty common tools. If you have more detailed questions, feel free to post the question in this thread and I'll attempt to answer.