March 22, 2019 - Sea Day, Coral Sea - Friday , Day 75

March 22, 2019 - Sea Day, Coral Sea - Friday , Day 75

We have left Cairns and are heading north toward Papua New Guinea. The sea is calm and the sun is shining for the first time in 4 days. We learned last night that the Torres Strait was closed shortly after our passage because of the dangerous waves and wind caused by the cyclone. We are really lucky to have passed through when we did.

Now we are bracing for a new wave of lectures. In Cairns several new speakers joined us. We are offered presentations on corals, marine life, tropical plants, green turtles and traditional life and customs. We are charged up and raring to go. We will have break for a special seafood luncheon. Then we will return to the showroom.

Tonight we used our last complimentary dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. We had great jumbo shrimp cocktails. I had the excellent cedar planked halibut. Alice opted for the lamb shops. This is where things broke down. The sides were hot. My halibut was hot. Alice’s lamb chops were not even lukewarm. She was a third of the way through them when the waitress came by to ask how things were. She was mortified. She knew Alice had ordered this before with good results. She also knew this did not meet their standards. She offered to place a new order. Alice did not want to waste these and she did not want to get the replacements at about the time I finished eating. She finished them. 

For dessert Alice ordered the soufflé that I had last week. It comes very hot, and it includes a chocolate truffle to plunge into the center of the soufflé. I found it delightful, and I am not the chocoholic Alice is. Guess what. It came without the truffle. We flagged down the waitress. She brought the truffle after a bit of a wait.

So the Pinnacle experience was not our best meal there.

Nonetheless this was a fine day.