Cruising from Bali to Irian Jaya and down to Cairns

[RooFlyer]

So, another day at sea. Sunny and about 30 degrees ; seas remain very calm. Have had barely a rock all voyage. Getting lots of reading done but of course, there is always lunch.



Some swimming, some walking the decks, more reading. I've never been forced to do this much relaxing before - its not bad.



There was a talk by Ms Ockrant, the French Special Guest, with a talk on China. To be honest, it was a bit superficial for those of us in Australia who hear about this country every day. She showed a Chinese map of the world:



Then, sunset.





The entertainment on this cruise has been very good. I haven't been to many shows, but the ones I've seen are engaging. There are 5 in the troupe - 3 support type singers and a main female and a main male vocalist.

Tonight's show as "Pacifica" and as usual, hosted and introduced by our Cruise Director Giuseppe:

 

[RooFlyer]

The show's theme 'Pacifica' was only vaguely related to the costumes and content but hey - they have a limited costume dept.

The poor sound in the videos is down to my phone - it was good 'live'

'Bound for South Australia

Finale - 'We are Australian' - bit off with faint French accents, but went down a treat.

 

[Pushka]

The show's theme 'Pacifica' was only vaguely related to the costumes and content but hey - they have a limited costume dept.

The poor sound in the videos is down to my phone - it was good 'live'

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'Bound for South Australia

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Finale - 'We are Australian' - bit off with faint French accents, but went down a treat.

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Is it weird having the shows around the pool area? I'm not a fan of the shows much anyway.

 

[VPS]

We set sail then, bound for Agats, with a sea day tomorrow.

Unfortunately, just after lunch, we were informed by the Captain that there was a medical emergency on board and we would be missing Agats (where we would have had a 'New Guinea tribes' encounter) and sailing for Thursday Island where the gravely ill passenger would be taken by medivac helicopter (since amended to by boat). So an extra sea day.

The person who is ill is an Australian and we all got to know him. He was obviously not very well - relied heavily on a 'walker' and chatted about his heart issues. From later things learned he should not have been allowed to board, given his multitude of health issues. Still he has to be taken ASAP to the next available medivac point, which is Australia, not West Papua.

Lunch that day was a traditional Filipino fish dish. The Filipino staff were extolling its virtues.

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Later in the day we passed Le Jacques Cartier, another Ponant craft. They sent a zodiac over with boxes of something.

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Then we ploughed on for Thursday Island. We didn't go full speed, as we only needed to be at Thursday Island at first light on Wednesday - can't do a night-time transfer.

Maybe they were sending over some more gin

 

[Quickstatus]

Teo of them came aboard, dunno why (didn't bring fish)

Local Gin?

They sent a zodiac over with boxes of something.

Gin?

 

[RooFlyer]

Is it weird having the shows around the pool area? I'm not a fan of the shows much anyway.

This was the only time, talking advantage of the (predictable) warm evening. It worked very well.

 

[Daver6]

Maybe they were sending over some more gin

Would have been a much larger boat. That little thing couldn't carry enough for @RooFlyer 's needs.

 

[kevrosmith]

Are you aware of the bar named Gin Social, at the Hilton in Cairns on your eventual arrival? Might be just the place for you to make up any lack you’ve recently experienced

 

[RooFlyer]

So, with so much sea-time, I've been teaching some of the French crew some strine expressions like - 'Don't come the raw prawn with me, mate'.

We're getting there ...

Are you aware of the bar named Gin Social, at the Hilton in Cairns on your eventual arrival? Might be just the place for you to make up any lack you’ve recently experienced

Unfortunately, connecting straight through on a plane to Brisbane.

 

[drron]

Well @RooFlyer you have confirmed Ponant was not for me. My afternoon ritual on Silversea was 1 or 2 G&Ts with trivia from 4.30 pm and then a double gin and tonic to take to the golf putting at 5.30. It certainly worked as every now and then I would go without or with a single shot of gin. My results were much worse on those days.

 

[RooFlyer]

Well @RooFlyer you have confirmed Ponant was not for me. My afternoon ritual on Silversea was 1 or 2 G&Ts with trivia from 4.30 pm and then a double gin and tonic to take to the golf putting at 5.30. It certainly worked as every now and then I would go without or with a single shot of gin. My results were much worse on those days.

Well, I chastised them severely, so now I permanently have 1/2 litre (!) of gin (only Gordons) in my fridge at all times and I've trained the cabin steward to bring ice and lime at about 3pm. So crisis averted.

Of course, oodles of gin from the bars around the ship, too; it was only the minibar 'minis' that didn't get loaded.

The good news is that we reached Merauke on the Indonesian/Papuan south coast at about 6pm today and the Indonesian immigration authorities came aboard by coast guard cutter almost immediately. Took them about 4 hours to process passports, do inspections etc (the Captain hoped for 3) so now we are fanging it on exactly the same course back to Thursday Island, should arrive early tomorrow afternoon.

First clear Australian immigration (no Smart Gates - might get a stamp!!) then a quick trip to Thursday Island, which wasn't on the schedule.

 

[kookaburra75]

Well, I chastised them severely, so now I permanently have 1/2 litre (!) of gin (only Gordons) in my fridge at all times and I've trained the cabin steward to bring ice and lime at about 3pm. So crisis averted.

Well, that gives us another euphemism for our gin. Besides "hard tea" when drinking from china tea mugs, we can now say "Rooflyers Water" for a carafe.

 

[RooFlyer]

Backtracking a bit. The 16th - my birthday. All the crew and officers I came across during the day wished me a happy birthday, by name.

In my cabin later - a note signed by the Captain with his Masters stamp - nice touch.



Having dropped our critically ill patient off at 4am near Thursday Island, we were heading full power towards Merauke, the nearest Indonesian port where we could do exit immigration.





Of course there was lunch to contend with - seared tuna (seared on one side only)



.... with a chunk of pineapple and salsa.



About 5pm we were off Mermauke and the Indonesians were approaching





Coast guard



They took 4 hours of looking at passports, inspecting bits of the ship and other stuff, and then we turned around about at about 9pm and headed back to Thursday Island!

 

[RooFlyer]

Next morning woke up and we were nearly back in Australian waters and my eSIM had switched itself over to my Telstra SIM (see eSIM thread).



A bit later, the first of two pilots came aboard. Still lovely weather and seas. That's Cape York at 'Punsand'.







But nothing gets in the way of lunch. Parmesan risotto with huge shavings of parmesan.







We glided into Thursday Island harbour





The town was a lot more modern than I was expecting. Its the base for the Torres Shire and I guess a lot of state and federal government admirative people here.