March 15 - At Sea
This morning we were scheduled to anchor at Esperance. We stopped there, but after about 30 minutes the captain announced that it was too rough to deploy the tenders. And after consultation with the home office in Miami, we were instructed to head directly to Fremantle (Perth) and skip the other 2 ports we were supposed to have. There was concern that Australia was thinking about closing their ports to cruise ships.
Checking the news later in the day, I see that they have indeed closed the ports. However, one report said it wsa closed to ships from foreign ports. Since we've been in Australia since February 29, and in New Zealand for a week or so before that, I'm hoping we will be exempt. No word yet from the captain, but I'm sure they are still trying to work this out. Unfortunately, even when we get to Perth tomorrow, we will have to be at anchor until our scheduled berthing in 3 days on Wednesday, March 18 as the berth is currently occupied.
We spent much of the day packing our nonessentials in preparation - now that may be premature. If we can't get in, will we just head off directly to the US? To Miami or San Francisco? Again, so many questions. Hopefully we'll know more tomorrow.
Otherwise, a normal day with a good lecture by Terry Bishop about the bombing of Darwin. We had breakfast with Tim and Maureen and dinner with Phil and Carol.
Hope all will become more clear tomorrow.
Checking the news later in the day, I see that they have indeed closed the ports. However, one report said it wsa closed to ships from foreign ports. Since we've been in Australia since February 29, and in New Zealand for a week or so before that, I'm hoping we will be exempt. No word yet from the captain, but I'm sure they are still trying to work this out. Unfortunately, even when we get to Perth tomorrow, we will have to be at anchor until our scheduled berthing in 3 days on Wednesday, March 18 as the berth is currently occupied.
We spent much of the day packing our nonessentials in preparation - now that may be premature. If we can't get in, will we just head off directly to the US? To Miami or San Francisco? Again, so many questions. Hopefully we'll know more tomorrow.
Otherwise, a normal day with a good lecture by Terry Bishop about the bombing of Darwin. We had breakfast with Tim and Maureen and dinner with Phil and Carol.
Hope all will become more clear tomorrow.
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