Finally, the last sea day is upon us, as tomorrow we reach Nuku Hiva. With almost 8 sea days, I am pleasantly surprised that I haven’t heard any griping, such as “OMG, not another sea day. This was rather common on our last WC when sailing from Freemantle to Ceylon. By day 7 or 8, sea day complaints were common.

Temperature: 29C/84F, but did hit the low 30’s in the afternoon

Wind/Weather: Partly Cloudy, moderate winds/sea, easing by evening

Sunrise/Sunset:  05:44/18:08

Clox:  No Change (Z-9.5)

Navigation

We maintained S by W courses at about 16 kts throughout the day. Although I didn’t hear the Captain’s Noon announcement, I estimate we are about 2,600 miles from L/A and are about 310 from Nuku Hiva.

Weather

The wind freshened overnight and when having breakfast, I estimate the wind speed was about 30 kts, giving moderate seas. Later in the evening, the winds subsided to about 10 – 15 kts.

Meals

In addition to the regular dining options throughout the ship, they provided these additional specials:

• Aquavit Terrace (07:00 – 10:00) – Organic Muesli Bar
• Aquavit Terrace (17:45 – 21:00) – Polynesian Shrimp Tacos

We headed to the MDR for breakfast, where the menu, while extensive, is mostly the same every day. I am working through each selection available. Today was French Toast, which were huge 2″ slabs, with a hint of cinnamon. They also provide real Maple Syrup. Very tasty, although 1 piece was slightly undercooked. Judi had eggs benny again, with the eggs cooked to perfection.

Lunch was a new venue – Living Room Bar on Dk 1. At the end of the bar they have a small display case with open faced sandwiches, muffins & biscuits. I tried the smoked salmon & shrimp. The smoked salmon was to die for, OMG it was amazing. Judi had a couple of biscuits.

Dinner was back in the MDR, where we shared a table with 2 other couples – Illinois & Minnesota. For main course, I had sole with prawns, which was excellent. Again cooked to perfection – cooked, but still moist. Judi had the Pork Tenderloin, which was also excellent.

Activities

As usual, my day started about 06:00, completing 14 laps of Deck 8/9. Very pleasant, with a little wind over the decks, to counter the every increasing temperatures.

After breakfast, we headed up to the Theatre for a presentation of Captain Cook’s 3 voyages of discovery from Dr Robyn Woodward. Again, well presented and very informative.

Due to some football match (sadly it wasn’t Spurs & Liverpool), trivia was brought forward to 11:00. We started off like gangbusters, getting the first 12 questions all correct, but sadly, we failed miserably on the final 3 questions. Our total of 12/15 was 2 behind today’s winners, who scored 14/15.

In the afternoon, I worked on the blog, then we headed to the first Port Talk at 16:00. They covered both Nuku Hiva & Tahiti. Cruise Director provides a travel magazine type description of each port, then the Shore-Ex Manager discusses each of the tours. They aren’t available for purchase any more, so it was a great reminder for everyone regarding the respective tours booked.

After dinner, it was back to the Theatre for the Viking Vocalist’s performance of “A Musical Journey to the Sounds of the Sixties”. Going for a little over an hour, it was a brilliant show, comprising top 60’s hits from both sides of the Atlantic.

Since we have a port day tomorrow, we elected to forgo a nightcap and return to the cabin to prepare everything for tomorrow morning.

Apologies, but no photos today, as the wi-fi won’t upload photos to WordPress. Hoping thing get back to normal tomorrow.

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