20231003 AAAA Trip - Pacific Ocean to Japan - Calmer seas and albatross

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 17/105 - Pacific Ocean - Day #5 to Japan

We awoke to a brilliant sun and blue skies - a far cry from yesterday's gray and dreary skies.  The water was calmer, but not calm.  We're still in waves ranging from 8-10 feet with slightly larger ones coming this afternoon and evening.

The World Café featured a waffle station with fresh fixings, so that’s what we opted for at breakfast.

Arlona chose fruit to top her waffle

I went with my usual - butter and peanut butter

Arlona headed to knitting.  I grabbed my camera and went up on deck because we were being escorted this morning by birds and lots of them.  Most aren't getting very close to the ship, so my photos are less than stellar, but I wanted to document them anyway.  From the looks of it, they appear to be shearwaters, kittiwakes, fulmars, and...albatross, specifically Laysan albatross.

This looks like a shearwater

I believe this is a northern fulmar

I'm fairly sure that this is a Laysan albatross

What a wingspan!

Albatross and Kittiwake hanging out together

While Arlona was in her knitting class, I took part in a battle of the sexes Baggo event in the atrium.  It went back and forth through three rounds, but the men wound up victorious and have bragging rights for the next couple of days.

Arlona wrapped up her first knitting project this morning, and I think she looks pretty darn cute.

The Titanic Swim Team's trivia tailspin accelerated today with a measly 8/15 showing.  In our defense, it was a rough day for everyone as 11/15 was the best score today.  Here is evidence of the toughness.

• What animal is Rottnest Island in Australia known for?
• We took a wild guess with platypus, but it is the quokka - a small wallaby-like marsupial.
• What company founded in 1856 is known for its iconic trench coats?
• We went back and forth and chose London Fog over the correct Burbury
• What NBA player holds the record for the most rebounds?
• We almost said Bill Russell (#2 with 21,620) but took a stab with Dennis Rodman (he's #23 with 11,954) - Wilt Chamberlain has the record with 23,924
• What is the capital of Latvia
• None of us could even name a city in Latvia - it is Riga
• Folks who work out regularly can suffer from "DOMS" - what does that stand for?
• We didn't know - it is delayed onset muscle soreness
• What was Stevie Wonder's first #1 hit?
• We guessed, For Once in My Life - it was Fingertips, recorded when he was 12 years old
• What is the gestation period for an African Elephant - 21, 22, or 23 months?
• We guessed 23, it is 22

Like I said - rough.

We enjoyed lunch, chatting with several very nice Aussies.  We have met some extremely nice folks so far on this cruise.

I mentioned the other day that the internet seemed to be sucking. Since then, I've changed my mind.  The IT manager from our Polaris cruise has been promoted to fleet IT manager and he is here with us on Orion at the moment.  We had a nice chat with him last night. He explained how they have implemented Starlink but have some usage throttles in place to make sure enough bandwidth is available for all. Overall, the internet is much more usable than we have experienced on any other Viking ship, so perhaps there is progress being made.  Celebrity’s is still better, but this is an improvement.

We did some more therapy time in the hot tub this afternoon.  Arlona walked and swam laps in the pool – a challenge with the ship’s movement today.  The water level was dropping and rising more than two feet at the ends of the pool as we sailed through the swells.

We enjoyed time in the Explorers’ Bar again and then another nice dinner chatting with folks in the World Café. Tonight’s entertainment is a singer (not our thing) and a movie on the pool deck, Tár.  We opted to skip both and enjoy conversation with friends at the Explorers’ Bar.  One of the excellent bartenders, Niti, brought us popcorn from the movie.  Life is good.

Tonight, we move another hour again, making for our fifth straight 25-hour day.  It will be nice once we reach Japan and our time stops moving for a while.