At Sea on our way to Darwin

8^th March 2012 

For the next 3 days we will be at sea on route to Darwin. Conditions are very mild with almost glassy seas, a very light breeze and the outside temperature is around 30C.

As we steam north we turn back out through the reef to follow the main shipping channel on the Oceanside of the reef. We go through the reef before we reach Cairns and by 12 noon we are about 70nm out to sea due east of Cairns.

There is no sight of land, and apart from the odd pod of dolphins, some sea birds and a sighting of 2 whales all we can see is the horizon.

We had our usual morning walk, and lazed around for the rest of the morning, reading, having a cup of coffee etc.  There was a mahjong gathering on at 10.15am, that Carole decided to go to, and I went off to a destination information talk about Darwin (which was actually very good).

We met up for lunch after which Carole went off to the spa , whilst I had a wander around and read a little. We caught up with the tail end of a vegetable and fruit carving demonstration by one of the chefs and whilst missing the demo, we did see the creations.

Tonight is a formal night (no shorts or thongs) and the Captains welcome function. We wandered down to the Atrium where all of the formalities were taking place at around 7pm (after a quiet drink on our balcony), had a free glass of champagne and managed to avoid all of the ships photographers.

After dinner we went to a show in one of the theatres. It was a magician / comedian, who was very good and had the audience in stitches for a bit over an hour.