The idea of writing a blog isn’t just a personal diary, as I keep one of those anyway, but having learned from other blogs about ships, places and people, the idea is that a blog can be informative for those intending to travel, and there may be an occasional tip they may find useful.
It is also a means of keeping in touch with family and friends without sending daily postcards (remember them?).
About the only thing this blog will be good for is as an insomnia cure. I obviously can’t now post much about the various sections of the ship, the activities or the entertainment, for which I can only apologise.
Breakfast was delivered between 8:30 and 9:00am, the only meal where you can choose a time.
Paula, although not feeling 100%, tested negative so is still free to wander, fetched me a coffee and a toasted Ciabatta with ham and cheese and I had my sugar supply for the coffee.
I rang the front desk to find out how the free internet could be accessed and they gave me a voucher code. I expected the free internet for four days but it is for seven – for up to 4 devices. So Paula’s laptop and phone are now OK.
Paula’s WhatsApp group had 77 messages and one, from a dear Swiss friend, had no less than 33Mb of pictures… Sorry Mr R, we had to delete - far better to post the pics on Farcebook. The same goes for umpteen videos. Not everyone has unlimited data or a fast internet speed.
My laptop is set up to send emails, but incoming emails stay on the server, so I can access them without downloading. Once home, they are then downloaded to the PC. However, as has happened many times before on board, I can’t access them. Something about ‘my IP address has changed’. I’ll just have to leave them until later. Hopefully, if I’m free Boxing Day, I can sort them whilst ashore.
Murray’s prediction proved to be correct as the Captain made the announcement that we were heading straight to off shore Tauranga, where we’d be met by a team of divers at 5pm and they’d work for 24 hours cleaning the hull of sea snails, Russian mini subs, drug attachments, illegal immigrants and any other nasties, to the satisfaction of NZ Bio Security.
And another Captain’s announcement at 1pm. A medical evacuation at 2pm. For those out on the decks, they had to scuttle indoors whilst those of us on the port side, had to keep off the cabin balconies. I snapped the helicopter’s arrival from just inside the cabin, before closing the door. Interesting that in the past, the helicopter has hovered over the rear of the ship, and all occupants of cabins in the aft section (that is a nautical term for the rear…) had to vacate their cabins, even if in the middle of the night.
This time the helicopter hovered mid ship or forward, (at a rough guess) so either the protocol has changed or this ship layout is more conducive to a medivac.
All went well and whoever was airlifted off made it to Auckland hospital. We wish them well.
The dive crew arrived spot on time at 5pm and therefore, nothing happened to report, as we sit patiently for 24 hours, before resuming the journey – a wet Christmas day in Lyttleton.
The evening was a quiet one after watching the end of the Bond film. The varying sound quality played havoc with my hearing and a low drawl from the baddie was totally unintelligible most of the time. I couldn’t help getting his brilliant portrayal of Freddie Mercury out of my mind.
We usually go to bed at 11:30pm at home, so being all showered and tucked up at 9pm is a new experience.
A static day at sea tomorrow and although I’m feeling OK, I haven’t yet taken another RAT test, so no idea whether I’m testing negative or positive.
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