February 25, 2024 Sea Day 67 Day of 138

 Today has been a blustery rainy day at sea. The temperature was a high of 84 degrees, but it has rained with thunder and lightening just to give us some excitement. I took a picture to give you an idea of our day outside. Did you notice the change in my day count? The ship counted the day we lost when we crossed over the International Date line, so today I am correcting my count to match their count. That way we will both hit the half way point at the same time. We are getting very close to the half way point of our world cruise. You may be surprised to know it seems surreal. 

My second picture is a do over for me. I really wanted a picture of me with an Australian Koala bear. We missed the port that we were going to see Koalas. Iris and John bought a stuffed Koala for their Granddaughter. They allowed me to take my picture with it to help stop the flow of tears. Sigh, There will be no more tears, but I still want the real thing. Some day.

Tonight the eight of us are celebrating John's 80th birthday with dinner at Manfredi's. It is the Italian restaurant and the food is great. We will do our best to not overeat. It was a lovely night to celebrate a great guy. We toasted him with champagne at the end and some kind of raspberry dessert. The staff delivered it with a song, and a small battery candle.

Last night Mike bought me an Australian Opal. I wore it tonight, and before you can ask me for a picture I will post one. It is beautiful, and wait until you see it in person. They look like they have fire inside them. The colors are intense and ever changing. Thanks Mike!

We ran to the star theater for the second show of the two tenors. They put on another amazing show. They had us singing with them, and they did 3 encores. They also announced if you wanted more they were going to end the night at our pub venue, singing with the band. They are great guys.

We headed back to our room, but the lightening storm has intensified, and the lightening and thunder are right on top of each other, so we had to go for a front row seat. Here I am with my computer in the Explorer Lounge, finishing the blog, Mike having his nightcap, and Mother Nature putting on a show. We couldn't even get a front seat as there are so many with the same idea. I will post a picture that shows a little of the show we are watching.

We lost another hour the other day, and we understand we are to lose another hour tonight. That makes us a day ahead and 8 hours behind you at home in the Pacific Northwest. It keeps getting more complicated.