I woke in the middle of the night and remembered it was still the middle of yesterday afternoon in the UK, so the Carabao Cup Final would probably still be in progress. I checked my phone and it was Chelsea 0 Liverpool 0 with extra time being played.
Then the bouncing dots on a yellow background appeared on the BBC website: Virgil Van Dyke scored in the 118th minute! This with a Liverpool time denied the availability of 11 first team players and with a finishing XI with an average age of under 22 at the final whistle. Mentality monsters. Cue a great quote from former Manchester United player, now pundit, Gary Neville: “Look at the energy, the passion, the spirit of Klopp. I can’t wait for him to leave.”
I woke to see the sun breaking the horizon at the start of the day, and almost the first bird I saw was a Brown Booby, followed by the first of a steady trickle of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters through the day.
We went for breakfast at the buffet restaurant up on deck 9, but didn’t even finish before were evacuated to around the Neptune pool as there was to be a medevac. The ship diverted to nearer the coast and a helicopter arrived which initially landed paramedics on the ship to stabilise the patient before they were taken ashore. During this time, all outside areas were closed, including the balconies.
Once we were allowed out and started to return to our scheduled course we passed the tiny island and eco-resort of Lady Elliot Island (it was on the port side though), which is roughly at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. As we passed we saw hundreds of Black Noddies, which breed on the island.
A Greater Crested Tern, a slow trickle of Brown Boobies, a handful of flying fish and a probable turtle were all that were seen in the afternoon but the last hour of the day was was hectic. Shearwaters suddenly became commoner and we passed three rafts of them on the water. Although there were still plenty of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, the rafts seemed to consist largely of Flesh-footed Shearwaters and checking photos afterwards also confirmed at least one Short-tailed Shearwater. There were also a few Grey-faced Petrels. At least two Common Bottlenose Dolphins were amongst the shearwaters, although they were rather elusive.
In the evening, it was the first black tie night and we were invited to the Captain’s Welcome beside the Neptune Pool. The captain stood and the door and welcomed everyone – or he would have done if they had not overlooked the fact that there were four ways in to the pool area. We came in by an ‘unofficial’ entrance, so never met him. We were introduced to the four main officers. Interestingly, all of them, captain included, were British. All had also joined the ship in Australia, apart from the captain, who is, apparently, the third on this journey already due to unplanned departures.
Next day, we pass the Whitsunday Islands in the morning, but they were on the port side again (they would be, we are a going north up the east coast of Australia). It does make you realise the size of the Great Barrier Reef. We entered the seas inside of the reef yesterday and spent the whole day sailing on the inside of the reef, yet for most of the day you could barely see any land on either side (although there are only very low cays on the outer edge).
It is our second time past the Great Barrier Reef and I don’t feel we have really seen it. We have headed for land when in port but I think that not being able to swim means that any attempt to see the wonders of the reef would be severely restricted.
The morning on board was severely disrupted by waiting for the lifeboat drill and then a long queue to hand in passports for inspection by Australian authorities in Cairns.
The sea seemed very quiet anyway, except at mid-day when there were large numbers of terns, mainly Common Terns, but with a nice flock of Bridled Terns off Humboldt Island, at least five White-winged Terns picked out from among the flocks, and a single Black Noddy. A Hutton’s Shearwater was also picked up while scanning the tern flocks. Two Bottlenose Dolphins also briefly showed themselves. In the evening, an Olive Sea Snake floated past.
One thing (among many) about P&O that is different to Ambassador is that there is an art gallery on board, and also art on display in the stair wells, Ironically, despite being on the opposite side of the world, we are navigating to our floor on our stairs by locating the paintings by Ruth Brownlee, an artist based in Shetland. When I first saw one I said “that looks almost like a Ruth Brownlee”, then checked the label and went “oh, it is!”.
When I Grow Up I Will Go There 
Looking forward to hearing what you saw as you sailed north to HK !
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