Day 41 - February 13, 2025 - Thursday - Coral Sea

We woke to another stormy looking morning, but at least it's not raining - yet!  We continue in the Coral Sea, but we are now past the more shallow eastern coast with the Great Barrier Reef.  The water here is much deeper but nonetheless still crystal clear.

There is not a lot to report, but I will give a summary of the day's activity.  There were several good lectures today.

Our first was by Suzanne Rieger, "Thursday Island: Treasures of Culture, Heritage, Island Charms."  I will be giving more information about this small island in tomorrows post after our visit.

The second lecture we attended was a fantastic lecture by Dr .Dowdeswell.  He is an excellent speaker and presenter.  He gave an interesting program about how the earth's surface has been and still is being shape by wind, water and seismic  activity.  Much of the information he presented was original work he researched while at Cambridge University, UK.

Due to the shallow waters and the barrier reefs, ships are restricted to a very narrow route.  You see these markers many miles off the coast, indicating the shipping lanes.

Tonight we had reservations at the Chef's Table.  I think I mentioned in an earlier post that this resturant features a fixed menu which changes approximately every three days.  Tonight it was "Asian Panorama" along with wine parings.

We all enjoyed the meal, except Janet doesn't eat duck.  The wines were quite good.  We did get the "Premium" wines since we have the "Silver Beverage Package" which was included with our booking.

It seemed strange drinking Mexican wines with Chinese food, but the two Casa wines we had were excellent.

Following dinner we attended the live entertainment.  It featured a Johnny Cash tribute singer.

I was a little skeptical, especially being from the south, to hear an Australian performer with a Pilipino backup band playing Johnny Cash music.

Well... we were in for a treat.  He did an astonishing job conveying Cash's music.  He said he had been singing Cash's songs since he was about 7 years old.  The band, which is the Viking Sky's band, did a remarkable job.  They had only had about a hour to rehearse with the performer before the show.  He said some of the music they had never played before.  You would never have guessed.

I believe this was the most attended live performance I have seen in the Star Theater and it was well received by the audience.  

Performing "Ring of Fire"

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Tomorrow we arrive at Thursday Island in the Torres Straits.