Day 35 & 36 - February 7 & 8, 2025 - Friday & Saturday - At sea & Mooloolaba, Australia

I will start with Saturday the 8th.  The morning was partly cloudy with some light rain as we were nearing our destination of Mooloolaba.  While Kay was getting ready for breakfast, I looked out our veranda and saw a beautiful rainbow. Below are three different photos of various focal lengths. 

You can easily see the double rainbow.

In this photo, the rainbow is between me and the cargo ship!  It almost looked like I could reach out and get the pot of gold.

I don't have much to say about Friday.  It was a rest and sea day after two busy days in Sydney.  The day was mostly overcast and we attended several very good lectures.

Mooloolaba is a coastal suburb of Maroochydore in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is located  60 miles north of the state capital, Brisbane.

Located on the Sunshine Coast, Mooloolaba is famous for it's beaches.

Today we would be taking tenders to the pier.  One of the tenders is located directly below our cabin.  After breakfast (and the rainbows) we heard a terribly loud bang and I went outside to investigate.  

Although the sea swells were not really high, it appeared the crew was having difficulty in lowering this tender.  As I watched they detached the cable and the heavy hook and it was swinging wildly. 

We had an early excursion and were to meet at 8:45 in the Star Theater.  Normally the wait is very short before your group is called, but this morning it was almost 40 minutes.  We should have known this was a bad omen.

The sea was a little rough, but not nearly as bad as some tender rides I have had in the past and in our 400+ days at sea, I have had a few.  

If you look at the map above, you can see the port entry between the jetty and the Port Cartwright Lighthouse.  It is obviously a fairly narrow entrance.  Our problems began just as we passed through the entrance.  The jetty acted as a funnel for the waves.  As the tender started to make a turn into the main part of the port a large wave, so tall we were looking almost straight up as it approached, hit us sideways.  The tender must have tilted 30 degrees.  Carl and I were sitting on the end of our bench seat and were dumped into the floor along with many others.  

I don't know their names, but these two worker from the spa were on the tender, going into port on a rare free port day.  They immediately jumped in to treat the injured.  Cleaning wounds and applying bandages.  They instructed Carl to see the medic to make sure he didn't have a cracked rib.  We know one lady had to have stitches in a finger and another had a badly bruised and cut face.  One lady had to be removed in a stretcher, in shock from injuries.  My tail bone will be sore for a week, but other than that I am fine.  Carl also is quite sore from the tumble but had no broken bones.

This is our tender.  It is also the one I saw earlier and it appears that the swinging hook broke a window.

At any rate, we did finally get our feet on land.  We were about 45 minutes late starting our tour, so we were quickly herded to our bus for a 45 minute ride up the coast to Noosa Head.

We boarded a ferry on the Noosa river for a 45 minute ferry ride, which took us by a few beaches and expensive home, some of as much as $30 million Australian dollars.  I have no photos of the ferry ride.

At the end of the ferry ride, we were give about an hour of "free time" in Noosa Head.  It appeared to be primarily a holiday spot for locals in the region.  The beach was beautiful, but unless you wanted to shop, there was nothing to do.

Since it was around lunch, it was difficult to find somewhere to just have a beer.  Everything was crowded and we saw no pubs or bars, only restaurants.  We finally spotted a Pizza restaurant which didn't look too busy.  Our waiter was not too enthusiastic when we said we just wanted a beer, but he did warm up to us when he realized we were from a cruise ship.  Apparently not many come to this area.  We would have had lunch if we had time...

We boarded the bus for another 45 minute ride back to Moolooliba.  It was not the best excursion I have ever had.

Arriving at Mooloolaba, Carl and Janet took the waiting tender back to the ship for Carl to see the Medic.  Kay and I stayed in town to have a look around.

Mooloolaba was really a delightful place.  Had I known, I would have just stayed here and not done the excursion.  There was a really nice pavilion near the pier with plenty of restaurants, pubs and shops.

A quick 5 minute walk took us to the beach.  It has been voted one of the top beaches in the South Pacific and I could see why.

There were hundreds of multi-colored tents covering the huge beach area.

Mooloolaba, like all other Australian beach towns have a Surf Lifesaving Club.  This organization is an all volunteer organization which was started in 1907.

From their website:

With over 198,000 members and 315 affiliated Surf Life Saving clubs, Surf Life Saving Australia represents the largest volunteer movement of its kind in the world.

Surf Life Saving is a unique not-for-profit community cause that exists through community donations, fundraising, corporate sponsorship and government grants. Since Surf Life Saving was established in 1907, over 715,000 people have been rescued by our surf lifesavers.

10,275 RESCUES ANNUALLY

1,765,990 PREVENTATIVE ACTIONS ANNUALLY

1,326,544 VOLUNTEER PATROL HOURS ANNUALLY

61,568 FIRST AID TREATMENTS ANNUALLY

*Above stats refer to ten-year period from 2013-2023.

This was a Saturday, and there were dozens of young people with the organization's distinctive swim suits. 

As we walked farther and farther down the walkway, the sand was still nice, but the beach became more rocky.

Along the walkway, there were these interesting Pandanus trees also known as screwpines.  They are a variety of trees which have aerial roots which form a pyramid to support the tree.  This species  the Pandanus tectorius, has been used for hundreds of year by the Aborigines for everything from food to medicine.

We had a nice chat with a local couple.  They too were interested in the fact we were from the cruise ship.  They indicated that they never saw cruise ships in Mooloolaba.  Perhaps it is because of difficulty of tendering and the fact there is not a deep water port.

At the pier to board our tender for the return to the ship.  You can see our orange tender in the background.  It was a small and very packed pier.  Our ride back to the ship was again a bit rocky.

Tomorrow is another sea day before we arrive at the Whitsunday Islands.  The weather is not looking great, but I am hoping it will improve.