Easter Island, Chile to Pitcairn Island

With another set of clox last night we finally returned to Vancouver time (Z-7), but only for 24 hours, as I anticipate a further hour back tonight. We also passed through Longitude 123W, which means we also passed due south of Vancouver, at a distance of about 5,000 miles. As we wind our way sedately across the South Pacific, we enjoyed yet another fine day at sea, aboard the aptly named Sea Princess.

Temperature: High 23C/73F, Low 20C/68F

Wind/Weather: ESE’ly wind at 15 to 20 kts. Confused swell with a short/moderate SW’ly swell on port bow and longer/low ESE’ly swell from astern. Initially partly cloudy, but developing into overcast and rain.

Sunrise/Sunset: 07:27/18:58

Clox: Z-7 (back 1 hr last night) after 5 months we finally returned to Pacific Daylight Saving Time

Navigation

Throughout the day Sea Princess maintained a W’ly course across the South Pacific Ocean towards Pitcairn Island. We started the day at a shade over 17 kts, but around 09:30 reduced to about 13 kts, while the engineers tinkered with their toys in the engine room. On completion, they returned another engine to the Bridge and we resumed passage at the previous speed of 17 kts. About 22:00, they dropped another engine, tootling along at a snails pace of about 13 kts.

Closest point of land today was the tiny, uninhabited Ducie Island, which we passed on our stbd side in the early evening, at a range of 55 miles.

Activities

My day started, as usual, about 05:30 down on the Promenade Deck for my daily walk, finding yet again the fwd end blocked off. I can only assume it will be this way until Sydney. I tip-toed around for 1 hr 45 mins, probably covering at least 6 miles. On return to the cabin, I got back to work on the Easter Island photographs and completed/posted yesterday’s blog post. Judi was sleeping soundly, so rather than wake her for breakfast I continued working while she racked up additional hours of beauty sleep. By the time she woke it was too late for breakfast in the dining room, so we headed up to Horizon Court for a quick breaky.

Another couple joined us at the table and I suspect she is the b…h that complained about walking on the Promenade Deck. We got talking about exercise and when I mentioned starting at 05:30, I almost got assaulted with accusations and questions – am I running? do I wear hob-nailed boots? etc. followed by the statement that we have obviously never had a cabin on deck 6. My response was no, but we accept the ambience of shipboard life, with people stomping above, cabin doors slamming and cupboards and drawers opening/closing all around. Oh! by the way we are also accepting of the fact that the ship’s structure creaks and groans in the almost continuous seas experienced since departure Sydney. Needless to say a rather tense breakfast, which fortunately we had almost finished by the time they arrived, so excused ourselves and headed back to the cabin.

Shortly after breakfast, I headed to the Princess Theatre for another science lecture titled, “Why are we warm blooded”. Another excellent lecture from David, explaining the difference between warm blooded (Endothermic) and cold blooded (Ectothermal) beings. The big difference is warm blooded being require regular food supplies to maintain a core temperature above the normally lower ambient temperature. He provided an example of the crocodile, which as cold blooded, only needs to eat about once per month. On return to the cabin, we headed down to the Wheelhouse Bar, where we listened to the excellent Trevor Knight conducting his Ukulele class, while I continued to work on Easter Island photographs.

After the noon announcement we headed to the dining room for lunch about 12:30, sitting with 2 other couples, with one couple originally from Freemantle, now the Gold Coast, that we have met regularly. They toured the U.S. many years ago, so we enjoyed some excellent conversation about our respective travels and RV’ing lifestyle. The galley was on fine form today, as my breaded chicken breast was tended, tasty and even served hot. With, yet again the same stuff on the daily schedule, we headed back to the cabin, where I worked all afternoon on writing a blog post on our Easter Island tour. Saving it, I went back to proof read it, only to find the software frozen. On exit and re-opening, poof, just like magic my previous 4 hours of work had disappeared into cyberspace. A tad more than slightly perturbed, the best tonic was to Skype with Heather, Jamie and little Owen. We got to enjoy watching Heather feed him for the first time, having only recently started getting solid, or at least mushed food. Heather couldn’t spoon it in fast enough, as he definitely has a healthy appetite. The dogs are also enjoying his progression to solid food, as thy are ensconced at the base of his chair waiting for scraps to hit the floor. A most enjoyable 45 minutes, as we can’t wait to be home and see our grandson again, since he was barely 2 months old when we departed Vancouver.

I then started rewriting the blog post on Easter Island, until heading down for dinner. I tried something different tonight, as it was rib eye steak again, which was extremely thin and tough the last time this menu was presented. Rather than the fish, I tried the roast gammon with a pineapple sauce. Great combination and thoroughly enjoyable. Post dinner entertainment was another show from the excellent Trevor Knight. Again, he didn’t disappoint, completing a rendition of numerous John Denver hits. 

As another day closes, we bid you farewell, till tomorrow and hope for fair skies and following seas.