Day 22 - 10/24/22 - At Sea to Noumea, New Caledonia - Day 1

 Today was the first of two sea days on our way to Noumea, New Caledonia (New Scotland).  We've been there a couple of times previously so we're still up in the air about what we will do there.  After breakfast Rachael's coffee chat was with the Staff Captain and Environmental Officer.  It was interesting and the most interesting piece of news came from the Staff Captain when he answered a guest question that went like this, "There's a quarantine guest cabin next to us, can you tell us how many Covid cases are onboard?" For the first time since the resumption of cruising, I felt that a ship's officer answered this oft requested question straight up.  He replied, "There are 10 or less quarantine cabins and all of the cases are mild." He went on to say that Covid is going to be with us for a while and we are going to learn to live with it.  While it was good information it does not explain why the sudden emphasis on hand washing.  Is there some other virus present?  Also, over the past couple days, I've noticed many more passengers masking up.


Neil gave a nice presentation on Noumea and Papua New Guinea.  He specifically noted that the snorkeling in our first stop at the Conflict Islands is simply the best he has ever experienced in the world including the Great Barrier Reef.  So I booked us on 2 of 3 remaining spaces on the ship's snorkeling trip to a snorkeling platform.


Neil's talk was followed by a new pair of lecturers who joined the ship yesterday.  John & Morag Hocknull immigrated to Australia from Scotland as a newly married couple.  He obtained a commission as a police officer in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where they spent some 25 years getting posted to a new location every two years after leaves back to Australia.  They have two sons and one is a very successful pro golfer and the other was honored with being named Australia's entrepreneur of the year.  Today's talk was just an introductory teaser for what's to come.  It should be good.


After a Lido Pool lunch (there was terrific fruit buffet) with Erik & Marilyn, on the Main Stage screen, we watched the movie Amelia about Amelia Earhart.  It was good to re-watch it and I got my popcorn fix.  Afterwards I had a long chat with another passenger about cameras, the itinerary, and the shipboard photo contest entries before downloading Angela's snorkeling pictures and working on my blog.  


After a quick dinner with Erik & Marilyn, we all attended the Aussie comedian, Gavin Baskerville's, second set.  He was clean and funny but still a bit hard to understand at times.  We wrapped up our evening watching three sets in Billboard Onboard.

The ship has been rocking and rolling all day.  Even Nathan & Grace in Billboard Onboard renamed their top 100 set, Rock & Roll and featured songs with rock or roll in the title or lyrics.


We have another sea day tomorrow.  It's time for bed and the ship is rocking and rolling.

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