Monday, March 14, 2022
Did get our passports turned in before we set out for the evening. Gave us receipts for them that I put in the room safe. We should get them back on March 27th.
Both the Dance Band and the BB King Band had the night off. Good for them. Sad for us. We went to the Sea View area to enjoy the warm breezes. Some members of the BB King band were having a good time in the pool and hot tubs.
Dinner tonight was a shared table – a couple from Kona, Hawaii, and a solo traveler but I didn’t hear where she was from. I did hear her say that she has traveled on several HAL world cruises and was even on the ill-fated one in 2020 that had to disembark all its passengers in Perth, Australia. She is scheduled for the world cruise in 2023.
I would be interested in hearing about the logistics of booking a cruise that long. Hard for me to imagine how you deal with stuff back home being gone essentially from January to June.
Chuck and I had the same dinner – Shrimp Louie cocktail, black bean soup, and grilled red snapper. We both skipped dessert. Another excellent meal.
The wave action was getting rougher so we decided to skip the main stage show – a cabaret singer. Read my book until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.
Ended up having a restless night. Temperature of the room felt warm. Think the air conditioner is struggling as we get closer to the equator.
Ate a late breakfast in the Lido. Afterwards, I attended the lecture by Ross, the onboard naturalist – The Culture of Whales. Again, he was an excellent presenter.
Some interesting points –
The humpback whale sound was first recorded in 1967. Scientists determined that the male whales sing the same song and it lasts for 15 minutes on one breath of air.
The song was made into an album in 1970 and it made the Top 50. It inspired people to work harder toward protecting whales and other species.
The song is found to change slightly each season.
The humpback whale sounds were sent into space on the Voyager II.
Bubble netting is a group activity where humpbacks will work together to surround tiny fish and other creatures with a net made of their air bubbles. The humpbacks will then dive below the bubble net and come straight up through the bubbles with their mouths open to swallow all the fish. This group activity was first observed in pods in Norwegian waters but it wasn’t long before it was also seen in the Hawaiian and Indonesian pods.
Orcas, too, will work together to capture their prey – seals, sea lions, penguins, dolphins, and even other whales. They are especially good at lining up side-by-side and swimming fast toward a small ice berg. This action creates a wave that will wash a seal right off the berg.
After the presentation, Chuck and I went to the gym and then did a mile walk on the promenade deck. I spent the rest of the afternoon sunning by the Sea View pool.
It was very windy and one time I had to chase my Diet Coke can across the deck before it could go overboard. I wished I had remembered that I had taken my swim shoes off. The deck was super hot so I was doing the high step-hop trying to capture that aluminum can. I’m glad the Internet has been spotty; otherwise, I feel certain I would have ended up on YouTube – “watch old woman chase Coke can.”
Chuck decided that an afternoon spent napping in a cool cabin would be better. I think it was a good choice.
Tonight is another Gala night so the main dining room will be crowded.
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