Friday, 10 March 2017
At Sea — Coral Sea
Stats @ Ship’s Time 10:00p (AEST) … UTC 12:00 Noon (10 March)
Temp: 84.4F (29.1C)
Position: 12.19.11S / 143.18.17E
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.
~ GK Chesterton ~
Today we hoped to see Cooktown — the town named for Captain James Cook … at the place where he came ashore after beaching his ship, which had limped here following a “reef encounter” offshore from Cape Tribulation. Instead, we saw the Australian coast on one side and the reef islands of the Coral Sea on the other side as Insignia charted a course through the northern extension of the Great Barrier Reef. Yup, we missed the port.
Up at 6:00a after an early night to bed to rest our bodies — drained more by the heat and humidity of Cairns than by our GBR activities — Mui and I went up to the Waves Grill at 6:30a for breakfast. We had already decided we would have a leisurely morning and not hurry off the ship on the first tender, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have breakfast before the tourgoers crowded into the Terrace Café.
As we ate our light meal, we watched a tender head towards the Endeavour River and nearby Cooktown … hidden behind the peninsula jutting out into the sea. We had a clear view of the estuary, and the weather looked good. But moving our eyes slightly to the left, the weather story was different, with the coast veiled by a grey curtain of rain showers heading from land to sea. Somewhere out there thunder was rumbling. The tender, filled with the equipment required to set up shoreside operations, seemed to be struggling with the swells. Not good. But the helmsman persisted, and after a while the boat was but a small dot on the horizon. It was going to be a long and bumpy ride … assuming we got ashore.
Shortly, another tender was bobbing on the water … being prepared for passenger service. As I watched the seaman trying to place the Marshall Islands registry flag in its holder, I crossed my fingers that he would not be dumped into the water by the sudden jerks and lurches caused by the swells. Then the boat disappeared, and we turned our attention to the weather once more. The rain clouds were dumping a load on Insignia by now … white caps trimmed the swells … visibility was down to zero. And, off in the distance, the tender that had gone ashore with equipment was coming back. Was it returning to pick up passengers? The question remained unanswered since we could not see the tender platform from where we were sitting.
As Mui headed to the cabin for first dibs on the shower, I headed to the deck five promenade to check out the tender operations. What should my eyes behold but a boat being cranked up out of the water to its place in the davits. Alrighty — no tendering … confirmed … and double confirmed when the tender platform was then raised and the gaping hole in the hull was sealed. A few minutes later, Captain Luca came on the P/A to announce that he was, regretfully, canceling our call on Cooktown … his decision aided by weather information showing conditions would be getting worse, not better.
Bye bye Cooktown … maybe next time!
I’d been looking forward to the port, but I can’t say that I was entirely unhappy by this turn of events. We had plans to hike, and what we had seen of the weather would have made it way too soggy to proceed with those plans.
I spent much of the morning and the afternoon sitting in a lounge chair on the deck five promenade. This time it was the rain that booted me off the veranda. Actually, I never got to sit out there since our furniture was soaked by the overnight showers and the on and off rains throughout the morning. No matter, the promenade was dry and the next best thing. And it was a nice change of venue. Even better, I had the starboard side practically to myself since all but a few others preferred the port side where they could watch Australia slide by as the ship continued north.
‘Roo or crocodile anyone? That’s what was on the menu for the special Australian Dinner Buffet at the Terrace Café tonight … grilled kangaroo steak and crocodile, and emu, ‘roo, and venison sausages. Of course there were plenty of other typically Australian dishes, too. But these were the most popular. I tasted the crocodile — it really does taste like chicken … a very tough chicken … I didn’t much care for it. I just couldn’t bring myself to try the ‘roo … after all, I was petting and feeding them just a few days ago. Kidding aside, I was told it tasted like liver … blech!
Tomorrow is the first of two sea days before our final port of call in Australia. By tomorrow morning, we should be rounding the northern tip of this island nation/continent.
© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.
Is this the rainy season in your part of the world now? Or does it just generally rain a lot there? Curious. I wouldn't be eating the roo, OR the croc! I don't eat liver either! blech is a very good word. I guess March in Australia is a bit like September in the northern latitudes?
ReplyDeleteYes, it is the rainy season. When I was booking our Darwin tour, the operator described it as "cyclone season." It's the end of summer ... heading into fall around here. But the "seasons" will change again for us when we cross into the northern hemisphere again ... a little more than 10 degrees to go now.
DeleteOh, heck, another failed port.
ReplyDeleteI tasted alligator sausage once at an upscale restaurant in St Francisville LA a number of years ago. Tasted like sausage. That same dinner featured turtle soup, and I tasted that, too. I couldn't bear to eat much 'cause I kept seeing cute little turtles being thrown, screaming into the pot! Be like chowing down on 'roo! Bleah!