Wednesday, Day 46 - Feb 21 - Cruising the Great Australian Bight

We wake to a grey rainy morning. There are large swells and the ship is wallowing but not too bad.  Although the Captain tells us at noon the wind and waves will pickup as the day progresses. This is typical of the Australian Bight otherwise known as the great Southern Ocean. We remember the wind off the water and the huge waves that rolled in when we stayed along this coast in 2009.

There is a lot going on today. There are two lectures this morning: Bound for Botany Bay Part 2, which Dick goes to and the Marine Biology of the Indian Ocean which we both skip since it sounds rather dry. However, several people said it was very interesting.

The ship holds the door decorating contest this morning. The theme is the Australian Adventure. This activity has been a topic of conservation for several days with a number of people really getting in the mood. A ballot with maybe 25 suite numbers listed is passed out and we are asked to vote for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Carolyn goes around and looks at all the doors. There are some outstanding ones so it is hard to pick a best one!

The winner is 701 which is an artist’s rendition of the Australian landscape. It is also Carolyn’s first place choice.

Carolyn also goes to the cooking demonstration: Choux and Eclairs by Pastry Chef Pascal. He makes it look really easy to make the pastry for the eclair. There are tables set up with finished eclairs, the filling chocolate to pipe and a bowl of glazing chocolate, the topping, so we can try our hand at completing the finished product. We look like a bunch of kids who have licked the icing bowl clean by the time we are finished!

Just before noon Carolyn goes up to the Pool Deck to check out the Australian Deck Bar B Q. The staff always do a beautiful job setting these special deck lunches up. It is worth a few pictures, but way to much food for us.  About 1PM Carolyn goes to the Compass Rose for a bowl of French onion soup. Dick was going to skip lunch but soon joins her and has a chicken dish.

During the early afternoon the ship movement really picks up so Carolyn decides that is a good time for a nap. While Dick plays on the computer.

There is another early Showtime Special tonight at 5PM featuring “More Folk Songs and Stories and Sing-along” with Terry Bishop. We head to the theater about 4:30PM to get a good seat as Bishop is very popular. Glad we do as the theater does fill up. This entertainer will be with us the rest of the way to LA so we are looking forward to his shows...he is good!

There is a cocktail party with our travel group at 6PM. It is a fairly small group, but the Captain shows up and we have a great time visiting with him. He has sailed all of the Regent ships over the years and tells us some interesting tales about crossing some very rough seas, one where the Voyager was heeled over 30 degrees in the Tasman Sea for 20 some hours due to gale force winds! It is a timely conversation as we rock and roll along the southern Australian coast.

From there it is on to dinner. We have Italian in the Compass Rose tonight and head back to the room. One of us watches some of the Olympics while the other goes to bed. We turn the clocks back another hour tonight so we have a long night.