Dravuni Island 6 January

Quite a surprise last night when we returned to our cabin, to find our we have been invited to cocktails with the Captain in a couple of days! Not sure if it is totally random who they invite or because guest setvices got to know me by my first name for the complaints about power outages and poor service!!! Anyway, we are definitely going and I'm already kicking myself that I didnt bring the blue taffeta and tiara for the occasion. (Okay, the blue taffeta is long gone and it wouldn't fit me these days, but you get the picture, right?)

I had hoped for a sleep in this morning as we had both decided that we were not interested in going onto Dravuni Island this morning as no shore excursions were offered and we would have had to tender onto and off the island which had proven to be a nightmare previously. However at 6.30 they started lowering the tenders and that was bloody noisy. Then shortly after, every ten minutes they were calling for people to board the tenders and this continued in rapid succession until about 10am and then intermittently throughout the rest of the day. There wasnt anything of interest for me on the island as it is simply a nice sandy beach where swimming or snorkelling is what others are interested in. The local village is very small. Apparently it takes about 15 minutes to walk the width of the island so, no, not interested in being on a tender to get there and back. Just as well we decided about the island visit as there was sporadic rain, high humidity and low visibility all morning and into the afternoon.

So, after a 9 am breakfast and a lazy morning, we headed for coffee and as it was so busy on the deck with people waiting to be called to board the tender, there wasnt a seat in sight. Trying our luck we headed to a nearby restaurant where they do the craft sessions on sea days, and askecif it eas okay to sit there and have our coffees. We werent at all confident that we would be allowed in due to the sign indicating elite guests only, but we were welcomed in an enjoyed a quiet and comfortable spot for our morning tea. We then had a walk around the deck but it proved windy and wet at the stern of the ship so only did one lap. Had we managed 2 and a half laps we would have covered a mile.

I then found a lovely quiet spot to read while Julie headed back to the ever present jigsaw she was working on. We met up for lunch and had a nice British pub style meal. I order the chicken curry and trifle. I make a much better trifle, but as I didn't have to do the dishes I was happy enough with their version. For dessert, Julie opted for the bread and butter pudding but tried to explain to the waiter that she wanted it without custard as the menu indicated that it was with custard so she thought there would be more custard served along with it. I tried to tell her that it was simply an explanation of what it consisted of... bread and butter, custard and raisins. She wouldn't accept that. I eventually tried to get her to understand that she had totally confused the poor waiter in telling him that she didnt want custard with the pudding, but wanted cream. English was not his first lanlanguage was soooooo confused by her request. I said that bread and butter pudding without custard is simply a piece of bread with butter on it! It wasnt like she was going to get the raisins served in a little bowl along with the bread and butter! So when dessert finally came I asked the waiter to bring her some cream which he duly did so that she could put it on top of the bread and butter pudding.... Just another moment in my life experiencing a Julie moment... And then she couldn't fit much of it in...

Lunch out of the way and Julie heads back to her jigsaw and I'm back at my quiet spot catching up on the blog and reading. This really is the life and I was clearly born to be a lady of leisure, pity my parents didn't know that and brought me up to have to work for a living! A pleasant afternoon for more reading in my quiet spot. Julie found me later and we went for coffee. We found a table for two near the cafe so Julie grabbed the table and I went and ordered the coffee which did take a while but in the interim a woman had asked Julie if the seat by her was free. Julie told her that she was saving it for me. Because the woman apparently looked lost Julie told her she could sit with us if she wanted to, so as I am heading to the table with our coffees, this woman is dragging a chair from nearby to sit with us. Immediately she tells us her name is Frances. She is from Sydney, travelling alone. Thankfully she had her back to me so I couldn't hear all she was telling Julie about why she travels alone and something about how good a canoli cook she is, blah blah. She then tells us how she gets constipated so has to take a tablet which makes her go everyday. In fact the word she used was'drop' every day. Not to be content with that gem she went on to tell us she was lactose intolerant (she is eating a rice pudding at this time, while waiting for her coffee order) and had previously been constipated for 2 days due to the different food on the ship. Thankfully she was called up to the counter for her coffee at which time I have said to Julie that she sure can pick them! We are to make a hasty retreat as soon as she comes back to the table, which we did... We then went to the quiz which was well under way. The young man running the quiz was a lot of fun and even though we didn't take part in the quiz we had lots of laughs at his stories and how he ran the session. Julie has retreated to her jigsaw and I'm happy to go up to the cabin and blog and read until it is time for pre dinner drinks. the rain finally stopped late afternoon and it was time to depart the island. That's the last landfall we will now stop at until Sydney.

Dinner was pleasant with chicken dumpling pho and roast chicken.

Time for the show which was an 80s disco turned. Now time for bed. In delaying the island the ship had gotten quite a rock and roll going so I'm relying on my tablets to stop potential sea sickness. Time will tell.