We had just the best day today. Things came together in a sort of positive perfect storm and, really, couldn’t have been much better than they were. It always helps when we have a morning with no (or nearly no) schedule, and that’s what we had today. G was up and at ‘em early, but he left the cabin quietly and allowed me to sleep awhile longer. He does get at least an hour more sleep than I do every night, first because he falls asleep easily in about 16 seconds, but also because he doesn’t have to write blog posts. ;-)
Still, we met up in the back of the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast before 8am. I was so disappointed when I looked through the glass in the door from Aloha Deck out to the Terrace Deck and saw rain falling. Not today! Please not today! The Golden Princess was scheduled to be cruising through some scenic areas all afternoon, and I really had been looking forward to it. Breakfast was light (just cereal for me), and I headed to the fitness center for a workout until it was time to get ready for this cruise’s Most Traveled Guests luncheon. G had already gotten ready and was at the Grapevine Wine Tasting (excuse me for a minute while I shed a tear or two), but returned by noon. The luncheon was starting at 12:05pm so that Captain D could make the noon navigational update announcement.
Except it wasn’t him making the announcement. When we arrived at the Crown Grill, we discovered he was a little under the weather. Instead we sat with Hotel General Manager Martin May, whom, it seemed, everyone other passenger on the Golden knew but we had never met. We were seated with two couples, one of whom, Christopher and Sandra, were celebrating their 50th anniversary today, and that was really very special.
Lunch was fantastic, as it always is. I had a veggie starter like the one I had last cruise with grilled vegetables (and wondered, like I had last cruise, why nothing I do with vegetables at home makes them taste half as good). I was able to have one of the usual entrees, orange roughy with large prawns and a tomato sauce and, it was delicious. When dessert was served, something white and creamy was set in front of me and I was absolutely certain that this decadent looking dessert couldn’t possibly be for me, but was assured that it was strawberries with a vegan cream that the pastry chef had prepared especially for me. Seriously, could my life get any better? As I’ve said, I am getting fruit plated-out at dessert time and even my beloved Princess sorbets are starting to feel a tad repetitive.
I am so spoiled I discovered, when Martin shook G’s hand and said, “This must be G” that someone from Princess DOES read this blog. I once said that no one did, at least not that I knew, but then discovered one senior officer (or at least his wife) does, and now find out that a Hotel General Manager has it bookmarked. It’s a little unsettling. First, I’m always a little shy when I meet a reader in person. After all, I feel comfortable divulging a lot of personal secrets on my blog (it’s just my diary…that thousands of people read), things about hair color and root canals and bedtime ablutions and living for months in an inside cabin, and I’m totally comfortable with that because it’s anonymous. Except when it isn’t any longer. And today I racked my brain trying to remember exactly what I’ve said about the Golden Princess, most of which, I think, has been justifiably very complimentary. But don’t worry…you’ll still get me, totally unfiltered. I can’t be anything but forthright and honest in my comments.
But Martin did ask, and I should probably explain again here, because I haven’t for awhile, where the name Yellow Fish comes from. I started diving in 1997 and took to it like…well, a fish. I adored it, and went on to get my advanced diving certification. Of course, scuba diving is an equipment intensive (and expensive) sport, and when I bought my gear (mask, goggles, fins, BCD, wetsuit, even a tank for dives in our area), I bought bright yellow or yellow and black everything. We were staying at an all-inclusive resort on the southern end of Cozumel and doing three dives a day and I got very good at managing my breathing to extend my time underwater. It would be middle-aged me and a bunch of 20-something athletic guys who would be the last to come up from a dive. One of the Mexican divemasters started calling me Pescado Amarillo, or Yellow Fish. When it came time to start this blog, I needed to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons, but thought that Pescado Amarillo was a bit of a mouthful and so stuck with its English translation.
Or it could simply mean I like the color yellow and live in Amarillo, Texas. ;-)
But, I digress (it was, after all, a sea day).
We finished the luncheon around 2pm, just as the first views of Wineglass Bay were appearing off the starboard side. Here I had a decision to make. I was all cleaned up for the Most Traveled Guest party, being held this evening, and so could have just sat up in Skywalkers and watched the view. However, the day, which had started out so dismally, had turned gorgeous and I just had to be on the open decks, regardless of what it would do to hair and makeup. (Lucky are men who don’t have to worry about such things. G could be on a run and then be ready to go to the party 15 minutes later.)
We changed into shorts and T-shirts (really! In Tasmania! After we froze in Queensland!) and sat on loungers on the Terrace Deck and enjoyed Destination Expert Wendy Fuller’s narrative over the PA about the history of this area and how Wineglass Bay got its name (it’s very sad. It has nothing to do with its shape or wine at all. It’s because so many whales became trapped in this area and were killed and their carcasses dragged up on the beaches that the water was red from the blood). Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!
That water color!
We loved watching the beautiful blue wake. 
The aft view from Deck 16. We were sitting in those loungers near the railing on Deck 14. 
The ship slowly curved its way through this passage.
Source: Maps.me app
Our location at 3:15pmSource: Maps.me app
The beaches were miles long with the whitest sand we’ve seen. 
Such blue water (and look at that sky!)
Colorful rocks and cliffs
But, truthfully, it was easy to put that newly acquired knowledge behind us because the scenery, which by then was on both sides of the ship, was so beautiful. The sky was bright blue with only a few hints of clouds, and the water was the most spectacular shades of blue, too. Wineglass and Oyster Bays are part of Tasmania’s Freycinet National Park, and the beautiful areas we were enjoying are not even reachable by road. Long beaches with bright white sand lined the shoreline in several places (but I bet that water is COLD!), and the rock formations were so colorful. We stayed out there for hours, until the weather changed in.a.heartbeat. and became suddenly windy and cold and spit rain and we ran to the comfort of our cabin.
We had been invited to go the early Captains Circle Party tonight, at 4:45pm, but I asked instead to attend the later one at 7pm because of the scenic viewing that was scheduled. We gave up our table for dinner and opted to just have something in the Horizon Court Buffet if we were hungry later in the evening. We were joined at the party by Pat, whom we met last cruise (and who reads this blog too. Oh my.) and were honored to be this cruise’s second most traveled passengers (the numbers, because people ALWAYS email me to ask, were about 1120, 960 and 940 days with Princess).
Sunset about 8:15pm. Love spending our winter in the Southern Hemisphere!
We did go to the Buffet after the party, and had a light dinner, and then chose to skip production show British Invasion to go to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to So Cool Quartet and their easy listening music.
The weather for tomorrow is supposed to be clear and cool (low 60s) with a strong wind developing after noon, which was the motivation for Captain D to reschedule our port order. Low 60s sounds about 30 degrees warmer than our last visit to Hobart, and for that I am grateful.
Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention that I’ve added some more pics from our first cruise to this blog, if you’d like to go back and look at them.