Day 11 – Sailing towards Nuku Hiva

The sun was up very early this morning as our time changes are marching ahead of true local time.   We will retard clocks one last time tonight, by 30 minutes, but we still have over 2000 miles until Nuku Hiva.   With a time zone roughly 1000 miles wide we are ahead of schedule on the time changes, but now we will have 4 days to adapt to the local time on Nuku Hiva.

Good Morning Amsterdam (GMA) was Standing Room Only today – which means the attendance payout is doubled to $4 in Dam Dollars.   The previous night’s entertainers continue to be the guests on this morning show.   Jeff and Tessa Evason live in Annapolis and described how their act transformed from a Magic Show with Tessa as his assistant to the Mentalist show it has become today.

GMA wrapped up just in time to catch Barbara’s lecture on Avatoru, Rangiroa, French Polynesia where we will anchor. The Island doesn’t have much tourist infrastructure and Barbara is always working to set peoples expectations.   She always reminds people to think of what a port offers as opposed to dwelling on what a port lacks.

During Ukulele class we finished going thru our song and began to fine tune some of the timing. We are also learning to sing the song and it is a good thing that we are in a large group with the vocals masked by the Ukuleles.

I stopped by the first Veterans group meeting. A great bunch and we all traded sea stories of varying degrees of exaggeration I’m sure – of course all of my stories are precisely true.

Day 2 of our 4 day craft project continued with our shellacking of the paper beads that were drying on overnight on sticks. Tomorrow morning we will remove them from the sticks and continue with the project in the afternoon.

We missed lunch and decided to head up to the Crows nest for tea.   However we failed to notice that today’s tea would be in the MDR and was billed as a Royal Dutch High Tea. There was a big turnout and ¼ of the MDR on deck four was filled. There were more baked goods than normal, along with small sausage cakes and some miniature chicken pot pies – which were very good. It wasn’t clear to me what the difference is between a Royal Dutch Tea as opposed to the normal teas.

The people who joined our table were from Hawaii and Florida.   They went to the Captains Dinner the previous evening and explained that while you will be in the same restaurant as the Captain, there is no expectation that you will be at his table.  They remarked that they only saw him when he made some brief remarks opening the dinner.   They suggested that Presidents Club people will be seated at his table with the other guests sharing tables with various other officers.

Tonight was James Bond night in the Pinnacle Grill.  A lot of white dinner jackets and classic tuxedos.  Here is a picture or the entrance decorated for the evening.

We were joined by Sarah for dinner this evening. She is a British Saxophone player who will be providing the entertainment in a few days. She joined the ship in Fort Lauderdale, arriving 15 minutes prior to sailing due to flight delays. Her baggage was delayed, but she always brings one instrument in her carry on to give her something for a show if the other bags don’t catch up in time. She was reunited with her bags in Puerto Limon and we are looking forward to her show in a few days.

The Jack Pack – a male quartet – singing beautiful harmonies such as “Save the Last Dance for Me”, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and “My Way”. They were very good and received a standing ovation. The 22 entertainers are frequently seen throughout the ship and the Jack Pack has gained a loyal following in the Crow’s Nest after Midnight. The entertainment thus far has been exceptional.

• The Jack Pack