Day 46 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 11/11/16 - At Sea to Adelaide 2

Th centerpiece for today was the Veteran's Day remembrance ceremony which started at 10:45. All who wanted them were provided a poppy. Rev. Barry Sutton opened it with prayer, CD Jeremy shared a few words about the significance of the day, a cadet rang the ceremonial bell announcing 2 minutes of silence, the ship's horn gave a long blast at 11:11am, Hotel Director Mike Mahan shared a reading on the significance and meaning for the empty meal setting in the center of the stage, and a man named Barry read the Flander's Field poem, and finally all veterans present were acknowledged. It was a pretty moving ceremony.

Dr. Wright gave a wonderful lecture on the 12 most frequently asked astronomy questions, and Phil Creaser did a light-hearted overview of paleontology. I spent much of the rest of day reading much of the excellent but gruesome book 'Batavia' about the shipwreck of the Batavia and the aftermath. It makes the Mutiny on the Bounty seem like a Sunday picnic.

We're definitely not in the tropics any longer. It's in the 50's f and very windy while walking the deck. All night and day we also had about 10 foot rolling swells which certainly produced significant ship movement. 

The ship had its premiere of BBC's Frozen Planet and it was good to experience once again (we've seen it previously on other ships). Essentially it's a movie about Arctic and Antarctica with live orchestral accompaniment. The evening's movie was 'Suffragette' which we had seen previously so we didn't watch it.

As our two month trip comes to a conclusion, I took a look thus evening at the 2017 projected route and it's similar to this year and worth considering. However, the Maasdam's trans-Pacific route for 2017 begins in San Diego instead of Seattle. The Noordam is also doing a trans-Pacific route similar to the Maasdam's 2016 route, but I don't know if that route can be connected with the Maasdam's 2017 circumnavigation. 

While the destination is important, don't forget to savor the journey.