Despite staying up for the Love Boat Disco Deck party last night, we had another early start to the day. We kept breakfast simple in the buffet, just oatmeal and fruit for me, and were happy to take our phones off Airplane Mode to be able to text friends at home while they were still awake. The T-Mobile free international coverage is working great for texting and simple internet activities but is very slow downloading (or uploading) photos, which is why I’ve only uploaded a few and then only when I had WiFi at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Tender operations started shortly after 7am but it was closer to 8am when we finally boarded a ship’s tender. The tenders from shore that Captain D had mentioned were actually excursion boats taking passengers right out to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling and diving. It was raining lightly and very windy on the long ride to the Port Douglas Marina and the tender ride was pretty bouncy (but nothing compared to the return). Once on shore, we took advantage of a break in the rain to walk down Port Douglas’ main street, Morcossan Street, across the town to 4 Mile Beach. While we have seen photos and videos of the beach that looked gorgeous, today the Coral Sea was rough and the waves were big. Still, a few intrepid swimmers were out in the water, in a narrow area demarked by lifeguard flags. We walked most of the length of the beach and back, taking photos of the Golden Princess at anchor far off in the distance.
4 Mile Beach on a dreary, windy day
4 Mile Beach report
Really blustery!
The beaches we’ve seen in Australia have a bottle of vinegar stored in a cubby in case of stinging attacks. Yikes!
A constantly peeling tree called a paperback tree. Or, as a landscaping maintenance guy we talked with called it, “job security”. ;-)
We walked back across town and stopped in at a large Cole’s Supermarket to purchase a few things we needed, like toothpaste and makeup remover cloths, and, while we were there, I saw 200 grams (almost 1/2 pound) bags of pine nuts for the unbelievable price of about $2 USD. We would pay close to $20 per pound for them at home, and I simply had to buy a bag to add to salads on the ship. We continued back to the marina where the Golden Princess tenders were coming in to look at some of the many tour options available on the pier. We decided to book a 90 minute boat tour up an estuary that runs right into the sea at Port Douglas that also provided an overview of the history of the area. It was going to leave in about an hour, so we went to a restaurant right on the pier and sat at tables under umbrellas next to the water.
G ordered a beer and I got a green smoothie and we were enjoying watching the marina traffic when suddenly the skies opened and we couldn’t move for cover quickly enough. We were soaked, and I started to rethink our boat tour but, luckily, the rain was short lived and by the time our tour began, we had sort of dried out. We were lucky; it didn’t rain at all while we were on the boat but both the tours before and after ours were caught in rain.
We learned that Port Douglas was founded about the time as the North Queensland Gold Rush in the 1870s. The port was used to transport prospectors, supplies and gold by water, but when a railroad was built that allowed access to the gold fields directly from nearby Cairns, the town fell out of favor and nearly disappeared altogether. It wasn’t until the area was discovered as a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in the 1930s that growth related to tourism began again. Still, it remained rather remote, and electricity came to Port Douglas only in 1957. Now it is home to 3500 people and hosts many times that in tourists every year.
Our captain pointed out all the mangrove forests that line the banks. Half of the world’s mangrove species exist in Port Douglas and it was interesting to hear about their role in filtering runoff silt that comes from the nearby mountains before it gets into the Coral Sea, effectively protecting the Great Barrier Reef. While we didn’t see saltwater crocodiles on our boat ride (fine by me!) we did spot several mudskippers, the fish that can walk upright on land. The fish takes enough salt water into their gills to be able to thrust their bodies up onto land and then get up and walk using their pectoral fins. Crazy!
Just as our tour finished up, it started to rain yet again, so we went directly to stand in the line to go back to the Golden Princess by tender. Luckily, the tender line was covered by a long canopy, so we weren’t standing in the rain, but it did seem to move slowly and it took quite while to board a tender. We soon found out why there was a delay. The tender ride was nothing short of horrible, bouncy and long with several people getting seasick. The tender boat tipped every direction and I was stuck at the very back and held onto a hatch handle just to stay in my seat. We were thrilled to finally see the Golden Princess appear in the distance but the worst was yet to come. The driver could not get the tender boat against the ship’s pontoon and required several attempts before he was successful. We were lucky to simply get back to the ship, and Captain D said later it had been a very challenging day.
I couldn’t wait to get into a hot shower, and then dressed for dinner and went up to Skywalkers before the PES Lounge even opened just to use my iPhone on the local cellular network (I had forgotten my phone on the ship when we went ashore). G joined me for just a short time before we needed to get to dinner. While G had eaten a slice of pizza when we reboarded the ship, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was starving. Luckily, there were several starters I could eat tonight (ceviche, minestrone soup and fruit kabobs) and I ordered them all. My entree was a special vegetarian curry and it was amazing. The executive chef is from India and I have had some good curries and korma on the Golden Princess.
Tonight was the Oktoberfest party, and we left the Donatello Dining Room and walked right into the Golden Princess orchestra playing polka music in the Piazza. We stayed for a while, but needed to get to the Princess Theater to get a seat for production show Let Us Entertain You. Yep, we’re back on a normal Princess ship again. The Princess Theater was just about filled a full 30 minutes before the show started. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that show before, but there were definitely parts of it that have been used in other shows, too, because they were very familiar.
And that was it for us this evening. I wish we could sleep past 5am so we’d stand a chance of staying up past 9pm at night, but after our late night last night, 9pm was our limit. Of course, I still needed to prepare this blog post, and it’s after 10pm by the time I get one written and published.
Captain D said tomorrow’s weather has only a 60% chance of rain (as compared to today’s 90-something %), but that’s still too much for us. We have arranged a flight from Yorkey’s Knob over the Great Barrier Reef, and I’m afraid the weather might affect our plans. We even booked it for around noon, so the sun would be at its highest point to magnify the colors of the reef. I don’t know what concerns me more: not having good visibility or having the flight cancelled altogether. My fingers are really crossed tonight for better weather and some sun tomorrow.