12. Here we go again

We have just completed five full days at sea. To be frank, the first four of those were not particularly pleasant as the sky has been overcast although not raining, and the seas have been rough with waves in excess of 20ft at times. Most people, including ourselves, seem to have gained their sea legs and therefore it's not been too much of an ordeal but the constant shuddering of the ship as it was battered by the waves became rather wearing. At least on the fifth day the sea calmed somewhat and a few laps of the deck were possible without getting blown away. And it has always been pleasantly warm.

So, it's now morning on the sixth day and we are supposed to be docking in Chan May ready for a day ashore in Hue, Vietnam. However, overnight the wind speed rose once again, the sea state has worsened and the captain has just announced that we are not going to dock as the port is effectively closed. So, we are now heading for Hongkong and waiting for further information as to what is going to happen and what the revised timings are. It's hugely disappointing fior everyone but we cannot control the weather. We understand that it's all down to typhoon Saola which, although not particularly ferocious, covers all of the South China Sea and is refusing to budge. So, with luck (which has been somewhat lacking on this trip!), we may get an extra 24 hours in Hongkong if there is a berth available. 

In the meantime we just have to make the best of the events that are going on around the ship. We have won a couple of trivia competitions, attended a talk about Japanese weddings (very interesting indeed), listened to the various musicians (mostly pretty good), gone to some of the shows (rather mixed), tried a ukulele class and a couple of craft classes. Another fascinating workshop was about the Japanese language; how it works, how it's pronounced and how to write it. I just about managed to draw my name.

Last night, being Halloween, there was much more of a party atmosphere on board. All the bar and waiting staff put heart and soul (pun intended) into making their Halloween outfits and many were very good indeed, including Sandra, our dining table waitress who was unrecognisable such was the skill of her facepainting. After dinner we had no option other than to hit the nightclub with the party crowd.

Postscript 

The captain has just been on the pa again with an update. There is no berth available in Hongkong until 11pm tomorrow (Thursday) night, so tomorrow will be our 7th consecutive day at sea. The best we can hope for is a rather nice evening sail in to Hongkong and then we will pick up the itinerary again as planned on Friday morning. We have now had three cancelled ports and have been given a total of $200 each in compensation. One more missed port and we will be coming home with more money than we started. Fingers crossed I will have something a bit more interesting to report on in a couple of days!