Boarding Silver Cloud

 This morning we have to go through the process of being transported from the hotel to the ship (only about 1-2 km away), and board Silver Cloud. Departure from the port is scheduled for 4 pm, but as the boarding is running behind time, I suspect it will be later.

Our luggage was picked up at the hotel earlier this morning, so boarding is just going through security, the normal checking of identity, and most importantly getting an imprint of your credit card, in case they can sell you something on board.

By the time we are on board it is around 1.45 pm, a couple of the restaurants are open, so we sat around the pool restaurant enjoying a cool drink and a hamburger before our room was ready at 2.15 pm.



The ship is looking a bit tired, but the room is comfortable and we look forward to exploring it in more detail later. The safety briefing is a 3 pm, which we have to attend in person, and go through the normal process. It was all over in half an hour.

Pool deck

Zodiacs are stacked on upper decks


National Geographic Orion on the same wharf in Darwin

We now found out about the software glitch that has shut down much of the internet internationally, as the TV in the room is not working. The internet service also has problems, but because we use Apple gear we seem to be unaffected. They finally make an announcement over the PA about this as they are being overwhelmed by enquires from passengers.

Departure from port is delayed by around 30 mins, and we head off out to sea towards Wyndham, where we will stop on Sunday 21st. Tomorrow is at sea. 

Obviously we are in no hurry to get there as we are only doing around 10 knots. Seas are calm and there is not a lot of breeze, but the outside temperature is still on the cool side for this time of the year.

There is a briefing by the expedition team at 6.15pm, introducing the team and outlining the plans for each of our days at different destinations. The only land based tour that we are doing is out of Wyndham, where we have a trip to El Questro Station, a long day but looks very interesting.

Dinner tonight is booked at La Terrazza, the Italian restaurant on board. The food was not great and the service rushed.



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