One-third of the trip is finished

This is our third sea day; one more and then we port in Burnie, Tasmania. We just cleared Australian Customs and Immigration (7:00 am) in the Cabaret Lounge. It’s the first time I’ve been dressed that early! It was a pretty painless process - a real benefit of the small ship is no long lines.

Note to Peter - you are listed as our emergency contact for Australia as yours was the only address we could remember while standing there. If we are bad and go to jail you can come to get us out. How is Fred?

The sea was really rough the last couple nights and all day yesterday. They had a some of the outside decks closed. We could step out onto our balcony, but the wind and spray sent us back inside quickly. We heard people from the starboard side saying their balconies were flooding from the spray. We are port side and were sheltered from the wind… If our side was sheltered I can’t imagine what their side was like. It is a bit calmer this morning, but still pretty choppy. I am so impressed with the way this small ship handles the rough seas. It rocks far less than the larger ships we have been on. I guess it is the see-saw (teeter-totter) effect. When the board is short the high end isn’t very high but when the board is very long it goes way up… and what goes up must come down.

By now we recognize everyone onboard and have talked with many of them. When there is a new face it is an entertainer - they have changed at several of the ports. We will be loosing about 200 passengers in Sydney - that’s almost 1/3 of the ship - they must have run a real promo on that particular segment. Many of those people have said that they booked primarily for the chance to go to Easter Island. Segment 2 will have the lowest passenger number and then I’ve heard we fill back up in Dubai.

What are you folks doing to the DOW??? We have CNN back and Jim just said it’s under 7500.