Last night during a lovely dinner with friends, we were startled by a voice from the ceiling – it was the Captain, telling us that the weather in Christchurch looked bad for docking this morning and that we would probably have to bypass the city. He held out a little hope, but when we got up this morning, the overnight track made it obvious that we were going to enjoy a surprise Day at Sea.
I got in touch with our tour provider, Christchurch Attractions and they graciously gave me a full refund for the day’s activities.
Diane and I spent a lot of time on the ship’s jogging/walking track – so far today, we’ve logged 20 laps (about 8 km), plus lots of trips up and down stairs. We took a quick peek inside the Magic Carpet and enjoyed some of the ship’s 4,000 pieces of art.
What we mostly saw was the ocean and occasional glimpses of New Zealand.
The ship didn’t have a lot of activities planned for the day, so they shuffled the calendar and brought some lectures forward. I really enjoyed Celia Garland‘s “Whales of the World” – lots of great photos, plenty of information, and she’s a great storyteller. We went to another lecture about AI, Art, and Music; it paled in comparison.
Tonight, we’re having an early dinner so we can make the first seating for A Hot Summer Night’s Dream, which is supposed to have a lot of music and acrobatics and a little Shakespeare. The weather is supposed to get rougher as the evening goes on, so there’s a small chance that the second show will be cancelled.
Conditions are supposed to improve for tomorrow’s port call in Dunedin…we’ll see.