Anchored at Port Douglas
16°28′10″ S 145°29′31″ E

The passage from Cairns to Port Douglas was actually only a few hours so we arrived at our destination around 8:00pm last night & dropped anchor out in front of the village. This is the farthest north we will go on our trip.

The ship spent today anchored at Port Douglas but Cath & I decided to stay on board. We were tired, we are not used to the heat & humidity & there were a lot of people lined up for the water shuttles because this was the ship’s last stop before heading back to Sydney.

This lifeboat is not much bigger than Santosha. However, it can carry a lot more people – rated for 220 passengers as a shuttle & 240 passengers as a lifeboat! During our ride to shore the other day we were truly packed in there like sardines!

Photo above: the lifeboat getting ready to be hoisted back on board. This is 3 decks below our balcony cabin. An interesting process to watch launching & recovery.

It was nice being on board a mostly empty ship – easy to find cool, quiet places to sit & relax. Fewer people on board also gives the ship’s staff a little bit more time to take care of the passengers.

We have a favourite cafe in our neighbourhood back home in London where we often get tasty cappuccinos but we have never seen anything like this!

I think I’ll ask Master Barista, Namchok, who is from Thailand if he wants to come home with us!

Cath is torn between cappuccinos or bringing our cabin steward home with us. No matter which way we look we are being spoiled.

After enjoying our cappuccinos we found a comfortable spot by the adults only pool to sit & read & snooze for a few hours.

Thankfully the 24 hour buffet was only a few steps away.

Later in the afternoon we took in a live music performance in the Princess Theatre & then went back up to the Lido deck to catch an Elton John concert on the outdoor theatre screen.

Before we knew it, it was time to eat – again! Then back to the Lido deck for a Latin Dance Party featuring the ship’s singers & dancers.

The pace is (almost) getting to be too much for us to keep up with! Not sure what we will do for excitement when we get home? It’ll be extremely hard to match this!

Tonight the ship is headed to a very small & remote island about 450 kilometers off the east coast of Australia. More about that tomorrow!

Cheers!