Asia Cruise 2012: At Sea

11^th April 2012

As expected, the sea and wind built overnight with wind in the morning blowing at 25-30 knots, with seas 3-4 m, making for a bumpier ride than we have become accustomed to.

As we were sailing into the wind, the apparent wind was pretty strong and managed to tear the aluminium cladding off a section of one of the stacks. The crew cordoned off the aft deck as the sheet of metal thrashed around in the wind for a couple of hours before finally disappearing into the ocean. We lost a similar section of cladding going north in the rough conditions we had before we reached Japan.

By noon we were just south of Cairns and well outside the reef.

In the morning we went to presentation by the 3^rd Officer, on the operation of the bridge, which covered most aspects of the operation of the ship and was very interesting and well presented. In the end he had to stop the questions as the theatre was need for another presentation. The theatre was almost packed.

After lunch, I went off to see a movie “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, whilst Carole had her usual mahjong session.

The wind continued building during the day and it looks like we are in for stronger winds and bigger seas tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was a formal night with lobster on the menu.