February 6, 2024 Sea day 48th day of 138

 Mike checked the ship tracker, and we seem to not be going toward the Milford and Doubtful Sounds. At noon the Captain came on and said that late last evening it was learned that the bar pilots in Hobart are striking on Saturday, so we are not able to enter the port. This was a required stop for immigration purposes. We have to meet with immigrations face to face with our passports, and visas before we can enter Australia. So there has been some behind the scene scrambling to find a port that is able to do this for us. Sydney is our only next option, so we are headed to Sydney to accomplish this on Friday, then we will try to come back to pick up some of our missed ports of call. It is disappointing, but not the end of the world. I am happy when country's protect their borders. We have been required to carry our key cards and photo ID, and they have been checked at every port since LA. 

Today I joined a jewelry making class. Stephanie would be proud of her Aunt who tried her hand at making earrings. We made Paua pronounced "Paw uh" Earrings. The Paua shell is used to represent the eyes of human. They are used in their carvings for the eyes, and as jewelry. It is something that usually comes as a gift to you. This was our class.

You can see this was well attended. Our instructor was overwhelmed with women who talk and don't listen, demand attention right now, and take things without asking. We are like herding cats. Her husband was trying to assist her, but he wasn't sure of the instructions. I did finish my earrings, and they didn't turn out too bad.

Tonight we enjoyed the Comedy and Magic act of Phil Cass & Philippa. We were a little leery of this from the last magic act which was painful to watch.  We are looking forward to their next show. 

We set our clocks back another 1 hour tonight, so now we are a day ahead of you all and 4 hours behind you. It is all very confusing.