SATURDAY, FEB 13TH--AT SEA

What “lake” are we cruising in today??? Ocean looks like a swimming pool so enjoying the smooth ride with lots of sun today. Was 86F at 9am but now at noon it is 82F. I walked on deck for an hour this morning and with wind from the ship making 17 knots, it was not too uncomfortable. Showered now and ready for some lunch. This afternoon I have croquet and darts tournaments. During the Captain’s daily 9am PA, he said at noon (now) we would be going through a 2 mile gap in the Great Barrier Reef. Well, it is noon and he just made another PA saying that they had to shut down one of the 4 diesel engines for repairs so they could not maintain enough speed to make it to Thursday Island tomorrow morning. We were only scheduled to be there 5 hours anyway. So he has changed course and we are proceeding toward the next port of Darwin, Australia. So now we will have two more sea days before arriving there on Tuesday. He said they anticipate having the engine back on line later this afternoon. We could see the reef after all. I took my telephoto lens up to take photos but really needed wide angle one so not sure how pictures will come out. The reef was just below water level but the colors of the water (due to reef) was beautiful. There are also some very small islands in the area. What a great day weather wise and great cruising with these calm seas. We had table for 10 last night at dinner with my special request for veal parmesan. Table just to big to hear everyone though. We were on front row in showroom for the production show by ship’s singers and dancers. GREAT show. This is taking me all day to write. Just back from my tournaments. No luck in croquet but came in second place in darts. My shuffleboard partner, George, beat me. Lots of fun.