Sailing to the Whitsundays.....Day two at sea

All at sea

 

We woke up early to the sun rising over a calm and tranquil sea. A whole day of rest stretched ahead. It’s very nice to have the freedom to do absolutely nothing!

 

this is the life

oh yeah.......

John and I got washed and polished and mooched up to the buffet breakfast for some toast and coffee. Lots of people with young families were out and about at this early hour, dressed ready for swimming and sunning themselves on deck. It was still a bit windy and cool for us, but at least the sun was out and it was a brilliant day.

 

Charlies Coffee Bar has become our meeting place to catch up with Julie and Lynden for drinks (or at a pinch, coffee). After discussing our plans for the day we all went our separate ways and agreed where and when to meet up for lunch. Barb found John plugged into his earphones lazing in a sun lounger with his e-book in the Oasis – a child free zone on the aft deck. It was in the sun but largely out of the wind.  Wonderful!  We sat out there for some time both reading our books and then re-located to the casino once it got too cool, and also too noisy with the advent of a happy hen’s party group. At this time of day the casino was a peaceful haven and we could curl into comfy chairs and continue reading. Bliss!

 

even John can't contain his delight

Barb just lovin, it

We all lunched at the Waterfront restaurant - a la carte but still part of the deal. Seemingly there are other options but they have to be paid for. Ugh.  The meal was pretty good and we booked in again for dinner tonight at 8pm.

 

in the Oasis

Barb at the Casino reading not gambling

Drinks in the Casino bar

Our planned sailing trip for tomorrow at Airlie Beach has been cancelled due to lack of support, which made us all rather sad. When we went down to re-book for an alternative all the good ones were fully booked and we settled for a bus tour around Airlie Beach and some shopping.

 

Julie and Lynden at lunch in the Waterfront Restaurant

Charlies is on the lowest of three levels (oops - decks) making up a fairly large and very high atrium, an area named, curiously, The Atrium. In the early evening, and before dinner, this is where we were seated, drinks in hand, to watch one of the several shows. It was the Pacific Cirque crew again from last night but with a different act. They were terrific. One girl wound herself in and out of the legs of a chair, all the while dressed in a tutu and pointe shoes, performing a very graceful ballet routine. Another slid from a rope dangling from the ceiling and a couple performed daring routines on a single trapeze. Add to that juggling and balancing on tall unicycles and you pretty much have a Cirque de Solei in microcosm.

 

the Atrium art auction

stairs to pose on

Cocktails at Charlies Bar

Dinner at the Waterfront was lovely. Ask me about the crème brulee and I will probably be in paroxysms of remembered delight (she still is …).  We went straight from dinner on to another evening performance in the Marquee, a Neil Diamond tribute by an Irishman David Byrne. He was really good and did a great Johnny Cash impersonation too. The party of drunken yahoos in the row behind didn’t add quite as much to the show as they imagined, and Peter Byrne really shone through.