Today was our final day of the crossing of the Pacific, and I have to say it has been quite smooth. The second officer said in his navigation talk that it has been the smoothest crossing he's experienced.
After the morning interdenominational service which I led on the topic of generosity, Harry Strong gave an excellent presentation on Curtis Flying boats. Mr. Strong has been volunteering in the restoration of several of these vintage items and has direct personal experience with them.
For the noon PA announcement of the position and meteorological update and time zone change, Bruce, the Cruise Director, gave it and the Captain gave the onboard events update. Both were deadpan serious, and we all enjoyed the switch. Following lunch, the Navigational talk was on the general subject of maritime education and how to get one's license to become a master of the vessel. We also received a weather update that indicated the rainy weather should hold off until we leave Kodiak. He also indicated that we have a damaged left or port stabilizer and that we are running solely using the right stabilizer.
Terry Greenburg then presented his final talk on Asia in which he predicted a flip flop in the importance of the Eastern economies compared to the present dominance of western economies, particularly the USA. I found the evidence compelling, although it probably won't happen in my lifetime. But the symptoms are all showing up now.
From the end of Mr. Greenburg's talk until dinner we reassumed our whale watching position in the Crow's Nest. The watching was good; the finding was not. Later my wife saw some dolphins.
Tonight's entertainment was a variety show featuring Rob Watkins and Electric Strings.
Today we learned the US immigration procedure and it will be a bit unfair for those with early non HAL tours. The procedure will be for those on the higher decks to be processed first and proceeding down to deck 1 which is scheduled last in 2 hours after the start. HAL tours will be processed among the preceding groups. Fortunately my non HAL tour doesn't start until noon.
Stay tuned as we are about to finish the final 5 days of this 44 day cruise with a sailing down the Alaska and British Columbia coastlines.
No comments:
Post a Comment