Yellow Fish cruises: Day 34: Port Douglas

I said in yesterday’s post that I thiught a four hour day today in Port Douglas sounded just about perfect...but then quickly forgot I had said it. I didn’t realize it until we were back on the Ruby Princess this afternoon, but that’s exactly what I had. And it really was perfect.

I was so slow to get moving this morning that G took a tender into Port Douglas with Paul and Marlene and let me sleep awhile longer. In the end, I slept almost nine hours last night. I think that sightseeing with some degree of discomfort is physically draining, and am not unhappy that our next two days are at sea. G found WiFi on shore and texted me, telling me they’d meet me on the pier about 11am. That gave me time to shower and have a leisurely breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet.

WiFi has occasionally been sketchy the past couple of days.

This morning was one of those times.

I was hearing tender tickets being called all morning, and they were up to number 1150 by the time I left the ship. The Elite tendering location (the Michelangelo Dining Room) was empty when I got there, and I was instructed to simply go down to the tender pontoon. I got lucky today, and was one of the very last to board a ship’s tender. It took at least 35 minutes to tender in to the Port Douglas Marina; the last 5 minutes were required to simply get through the marina. The tenders came into a slip directly next to an expensive yacht, which must have made steering them to the dock slightly angst ridden. I spotted G immediately, and he me; we were both wearing our “don’t get hit by a taxi” T-shirts, which are great “spotting each other in a crowd” T-shirts, too.

It was quite warm today, and sunny, and I don’t think any of us were too excited about walking around the town. Instead, G had found a place on the pier to rent a small pontoon boat and take it up the Dickson Inlet, an estuary bordered with tropical mangrove forests and home to estuarine crocodiles and several species of birds. It was also on this estuary two years ago that we saw mudskippers, those fish that jump up on land and then walk across it, using their back fins.

Self-motoring a small pontoon boat up a crocodile-infested estuary?

Count me in!

Of the four of us, Paul had the most experience with boats, so naturally the task of getting us out of the marina, past all those pricey yachts, fell to him. But once we were in the estuary, he let me take over and that was a hoot. Unfortunately, we saw no wildlife but two birds: no crocs, no mudskippers, no herons, nothing. Oh well, it was a comfortable little cruise, and the building clouds and breeze kept us cool.

Captain Paul got us out of the Port Douglas Marina

The estuary was initially fairly wide...

...but had quite a few boats in various stages of disrepair anchored along the way.

Gorgeous, healthy mangroves

Captain Yellow Fish soon took over the helm

We actually had the boat out for an hour and twenty minutes, but, in typical Aussie fashion, we weren’t charged for the additional time over an hour. The cost in US $ for the rental was $8pp, and there was nothing else we could have done for that price in Port Douglas. To celebrate our frugal day, we gathered at a bar/restaurant on the pier and had beers (it must have been another Very Special Occasion, because I had one, too).

To celebrate our safe return, a stop for a beer on the dock.

Paul, Marlene and Yellow Shirt

G had asked ShoreEx Rex what time the ship’s tours were returning today. We didn’t want a repeat of yesterday’s long line to board a shuttle back to the ship. Rex said most of them were returning starting at 4pm, so at 3pm, we were boarding a tender back to the ship (exactly four hours after I’d arrived on shore). I can’t say I’m sorry to have the last of these long tenders behind us. Though our return wasn’t as tumultuous as the one we experienced two years ago in Port Douglas, it was a bit of a rough ride.

We were starving, but had just enough time to get cleaned up for the evening and get to the Elite Lounge when it opened at 4:30pm. Some smoked salmon there took the edge off my hunger, but didn’t ruin my dinner of a starter of sweet and sour veggies followed by seared sea scallops. We found out today that our waiter Homer is going home in Sydney in a few days. Oh nos! We will certainly miss him.

Day 6 dinner menu, page 1

Day 6 dinner menu, page 2

Day 6 dessert menu

Seared sea scallops

Tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment was production show MagicTo Do. This is the second time we’ve seen it this season, and we purposely got to the Princess Theater early enough to get center seats about a third of the way back in the theater. Magic To Do is definitely better seen from that location to catch everything taking place on the stage...but it’s still not a favorite. The song Colors of the Wind is exquisite, a visual delight, but that’s the only high praise I can offer.

Despite the extra sleep last night, I was wiped out. We returned to the cabin and found a documentary on the birth of Stanford and the Silicon Valley that is very interesting. I think the best I can hope for is to stay awake until it’s end.

I must apologize for being slow to respond to emails from readers. I have nearly 50 to reply to, hopefully in the next couple of days. But please know I read them all the same day I receive them, and very much appreciate knowing that someone besides Mom is following along.