Sea Day Two En Route to Bali February 21, 2017

Black Dog Magic held 60 cans of Coke

Black Dog Magic

Silver Sushi, she held 100 cans of Coke in her cargo net below

Calm Sea Day Yesterday

En Route to Bali now at S13 degrees 51.723' E114 degrees 47.210' heading 3 degrees North at 14 Knots. 6:39 am local and the sun just came over the horizon and the temperature is about 80 degrees with no wind.

Our last stop in OZ was a small town of about 2,000 people called Exmouth. This town could also be called Timbucktoo or the middle of nowhere. It only exists because of two things and the first is a joint operation between the U.S. Air Force and the Australian government to operate a huge antenna array that communicates with submarines in the southern hemisphere. Similar to the one in the U.P. but this one is above ground and is located here because they almost never have cloudy skies. The second reason is the Ningaloo reef. this is the second largest barrier reef in the world. It is also almost pristine because of it's remote location. The reef was our goal and to be our highlight. Alas, our tour was cancelled. It is the absolute height of their slow season so most operators are closed and it was Sunday in this tiny town. We tried about every way to get our own tour but no go. There was only ONE Taxi operating in town and that was as a favor to the owner of the taxi service. Dawn almost decided to walk 20 kilometers to snorkel. She was so disappointed she went back to the ship to work on Black Dog Magic. Bill and I buckled down and took the only taxi to the lighthouse for a picture then a swim at a deserted beach. The water was 86 degrees and crystal clear. After the swim we stopped at the Manta Ray resort within walking distance of the ship and burned our last Aussie dollars on Tasmanian wine and a seafood plate. The flies were again bad and the temp. was HOT. Back on the boat we got confirmation it was 114 degrees F on the pool deck! In Exmouth it is at least two days by car to get anywhere but they have an airport and you can fly anywhere from their as long as you go to Perth or Perth. We left Exmouth on time at 6:00 pm but after about an hour turned around and went back due to a medical emergency. Back at Exmouth they put the tender down, loaded a few bags in and loaded a guy in a wheel chair then his wife. We don't know who it was but he is likely in Perth now. Good by Australia, it was fun! Hello two days at sea and the start of Asia with two stops in Bali with one in the south and one in the north. "Call me the breeze" My name is Louise just stopped by my table on deck to say good bye. She is off the boat in Bali headed to Orlando via LA and Dallas.

Seafood plate at Manta Ray Resort

Prawns on Seafood plate

Captain Fluffy's taunt the day before boat building contest

Campground from lighthouse, Exmouth

Northern tip of Ningaloo Reef from lighthouse

Today's Sunrise

Yesterday was the much anticipated judging of the boat building contest on deck. This has been talked about for the last three or four weeks now. Captain Fluffy (Joe) and Polly have won the contest many times in the past and gave us some hints. The only problem is in this whole time nobody said what the judging criteria would be or what the rules of boat building are. We took a couple hints from Fluffy and a few other secrets garnered from others (think Harry plying Fluffy with drinks at dinner) and Dawn spent countless hours in the room with glue, paint, cutting, rigging etc. What a mess. For the actual contest Dawn assembled her crew. She was Commander, me Lt. Commander, and assisted by First Lieutenants Bill, Harry, & Peggy. We all had on name tags and New Zealand black shirts. All the boats were set on tables on the pool deck for an hour prior to going in the pool. The Captain, staff Captain, Engineers and others did the judging (on what?????) we don't know. Captain Fluffy and Polly won again but were tied for first with what I thought was a weak entry. The tying boat was a sail boat and only could handle six cans of coke. It had a small sail and sailed from one end of the pool to the other so I guess that counted. We had much bigger sails and may have been able to sail the pool before loading but heh, we are smarter now. We held 60 cans of coke actually in our cargo hold while Fluffy held 100 cans but that was suspended by nets of potato sacks below the boat. Our (Dawn's) second place finish came with 300 Silver Sea points. We may have enough now for a hat AND a pen! Dawn will provide more ship building information in her blog section she has been promising for a while now. The Sea is like a lake right now (7:42 am) and could not be better. It is now 83 degrees and time for a little raisin bran and skim milk for breakfast.