February 23, 2016 – Thursday Island, Australia

We had a very scenic cruise through some of the Whitsunday Islands Sunday afternoon upon leaving Hamilton Island. The Australian Reef Pilot was alongside the crew on the navigation bridge as we dodged around some of the shallower portions of the Great Barrier Reef in this area. We were surprised at the amount of evergreen trees on the islands at this latitude.

Monday was a very relaxing (lazy) sea day for us, as the ship cruised almost due north along the Queensland coast of northeast Australia – the Cape York Peninsula to be exact. The sky was clear, winds were nearly calm (2 - 3 kts for most of the day), seas were placid, and temperatures were warm (low 91’sº).

At his noon update, Captain Vorland told us that we were within 10 nautical miles of the site where Captain Cook famously discovered the Great Barrier Reef in 1770 by running aground on it.

Seas continued extraordinarily calm overnight. Here’s a photo taken from our balcony:

Sometime during the night we turned left (westbound) and headed through the Torres Strait, which is a fairly narrow sea lane separating Australia and New Guinea. It is approximately 93 mi wide at its narrowest point. To the south is the Cape York Peninsula (the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland), and to the north is the Western Province of Papua, New Guinea. We understand it is a hazardous passage through the strait, as it is very shallow in places, and there are at least 274 reefs and islands to watch out for through here. Additionally, strong tidal currents occur in the channels between islands. Yet more reasons for the Australian Reef Pilot to be on board.

We were scheduled for a five hour stop this afternoon at Thursday Island, within the Torres Strait, 24 miles north of the tip of the Cape York Peninsula. This is a small island, with an area of about 1.4 sq mi. However, it is the administrative center of the Torres Islands. We were told that the population of Thursday Island was 2,610 at the 2011 census. Noteworthy is that during World War II, Thursday Island was a base for Australian and United States military forces due to the concern about Japanese forces invading Australia across the strait from New Guinea.

Several days ago we were warned of possible problems going ashore on Thursday Island, and of the planning that was underway. This is the rainy season in this part of the world, and strong currents were also expected. There are no docking facilities on the island for a ship of our size, so we would need to anchor offshore and go in using smaller boats. Captain Vorland and the local authorities communicated and decided to use catamarans from the island rather than the ship’s tenders for the 20-minute ride to shore.

We arrived off Thursday Island at about 11:30 this morning, and things looked ominous – cloudy, windy, and choppy water. Then the rain started. The catamarans arrived and attempted to pull up alongside the ship, but a stable platform could not be established. We were watching this from a vantage point on our balcony and didn’t like the looks of it. After a while the Captain came on the ship’s loudspeakers and announced that he was cancelling the visit to Thursday Island, for safety reasons. We definitely agree with that decision.

Here’s what Thursday Island looked like during a time when we could take a picture. 

                           

Life continues on board Serenity. We’ve taken two more beginners’ piano lessons, moving up from “Twinkle. Twinkle Little Star” to “Love Me Tender” today. We’re using Yamaha EZ220 keyboards, and it’s actually a lot of fun.

We attended an interesting enrichment lecture given by Sir Roger Carrick, a former British diplomat who retired from Foreign Service after serving from 1994-97 as High Commissioner to Australia. He covered the history and evolution of ties between Britain and Australia from five different perspectives. This was an excellent summary given by someone who really knows the topic well.

Catching up on more activities -- Sunday evening, we enjoyed a piano concert given in the Galaxy Lounge by Bernard Walz, one of Australia’s premier “pops” pianists; he was nothing short of superb. We’ve dined at Silk Road and at Tastes this past week and will go to Prego next Friday. We had decided to go to each of the three specialty restaurants once each segment of the World Cruise. This is a short segment (12 days), compared to the first segment which was 22 days long. We skipped the “Curtain Call” stage show last night. Although the Serenity singers and dancers do a great job on this, we’ve already seen it three times before and decided to read and relax instead.

We’re now heading for Darwin, Australia, with scheduled arrival on Thurs morning (Feb 25).

Jim & Ginny