20231127 AAAA Trip - Sea day sailing the Coral Sea

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 72/105 - Sailing the Coral Sea

It's day #72 and we only have about a week left on this first part of this journey. We arrive in Sydney on Tuesday, December 5, and will disembark Orion and head to our new digs, the Grace Hotel in Sydney.  We will be there until December 12 when we leave Sydney and fly to Dubai.  We will be in Dubai for a week and then board the Oceania Riviera for a 10-day cruise around the Persian Gulf.  For those that have been reading since the beginning, you already know that this upcoming cruise has been affected by the war in the Middle East, canceling one port in the U.A.E, both ports in Oman, and the port in Bahrain.  We're hoping nothing else changes as we're down to only four ports - three in the U.A.E. and one in Qatar.

Today, we're at sea, making our way south in the Coral Sea along the east coast of Australia. 

At breakfast, we noticed what appeared to be small beacons in shallow areas and lighted beacons/buoys to mark a channel along the coast. We're approaching the area of the Great Barrier Reef and I expect there are a lot of shallow areas in this part of the ocean.

Sea days mean Baggo and once again, the officers exhibited their superiority at the sport, continuing their unbeaten string since we sailed in Vancouver.

We had to throw overhand from the floor

We had to throw crosswise to the opposite board from the middle landing

We had to hit our board from the top landing with side-by-side boards - hit the wrong board and score points for the other team

The weather was absolutely beautiful with temps in the low 80s, light clouds, and a nice breeze - a great day to relax on the veranda before trivia.

Trivia was tough today. It was general knowledge trivia but we were only able to manage a D- with 9/15 correct. The failures:

• Who was the first British Prime Minster?
• We had no idea - it was Sir Robert Walpole
• What NFL quarterback broke his collarbone twice in 2015
• Again - no idea - Tony Romo
• In which country was the game Trivial Pursuit invented?
• We guessed the USA but were a little south - it was invented in Canada
• In which Latin American country did the Mombo originate?
• Like so many others, it was Cuba
• Where did gouda cheese originate?
• We guessed The Netherlands but changed to Switzerland, and then France - it was The Netherlands - once again, we talked ourselves out of the right answer
• Who is the Godmother of the Viking Orion
• Her photo is up on deck #1, but we couldn't come up with Dr. Anna Fisher

Today was definitely a learning day at trivia.

At lunch, we noticed that the design of the Coke Zero cans had changed.  They seemed taller but just as wide.

That happened in Asia as well when we went from soda sourced from Denmark to soda sourced from Hong Kong.  They were all the typical 330ml size, or 11.16oz - a little smaller than a US 12oz can. Now, they have cans sourced from Australia and they are 375ml, or 12.7oz - an extra ounce and a half - woo!

It was another restful afternoon enjoying the ocean. 

Besides reading, Arlona walked a couple of miles on deck #2 while I continued to recuperate my aching knee.

We are sailing through the area of the Great Barrier Reef. In the distance, we could see areas of vibrant blue-green water and sandy protrusions above the water. We were hoping for some marine life or birds, but alas, nothing showed up.

This afternoon, I got an error message on my phone regarding my connection to the ship’s Wi-Fi network. 

I was in information technology as a career for 40 years. This is not foreign or confusing to me.  What it says is that they are limiting internet traffic based on the IP address of my phone and that I exceeded some previously undisclosed limit for internet traffic.  IP addresses are unique per device so it specifically was related to my phone.  Arlona’s phone and my laptop all continued working perfectly.

I went to the Explorers’ Desk to get assistance.  Unfortunately, the IT team takes a break late afternoon and were not available. About an hour after I reported it, my phone miraculously started working again.  I went down after dinner and talked with a member of their IT team. He tried to convince me that it was related to the PIN that Arlona and I chose for our devices. That doesn’t make sense, since the error was specific to my phone’s IP address.  The bottom line is that every time I get ready to change my tune about the quality of Viking’s internet service, something like this pops up to keep me fully in the camp of Viking’s networking and internet services still aren’t ready for prime time.  It is a shame since this isn’t rocket science.  They still cannot figure out how to provide reliable, high-speed internet for their guests.  It will be interesting to see how well Oceania does in December. We already know that Celebrity’s premium internet service is awesome.

We caught a nice sunset on the way to dinner plus a pretty sky after dinner.

Tonight’s entertainment is the fifth Duets show by the talented Viking vocalists.  Given that we have seen four over the last couple of months, we decided to skip the fifth.

We’re excited about tomorrow’s port, Cairns (pronounced “Cannes” by the Aussies), Australia, and our day snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef.  It will be my first foray into extensively using the Insta360 for underwater shooting, so I’m hoping I’ll have great photos and perhaps a video or two for you tomorrow.