Another Sea Day

We are now in the Torres Strait and can see a number of islands, very small, in this part of Australia. I had heard of Thursday Island which is the largest, I have not heard of Wednesday and Friday Islands. The first Europeans were not very creative when it came to naming islands. We know from one of the passengers on board that Thursday island has a hospital and I suspect is a regional center for most of the surrounding islands. It is as well there is a hospital there because there was a medical emergency on board. The ship had stopped for quite a period of time and we found out during the cocktail party the captain hosts however he is an apology because he is dealing with the medical emergency. The captain hosts one of these events each trip, makes those of us who have traveled for passengers who have travelled often with Ponant feel 'special'. During dinner the pilot boat draws up aside the ship no doubt to pick up the passenger and their partner and take them ashore to Thursday Island. I doubt they would want to be sailing into Indonesian waters and then have to find somewhere to drop off an ill passenger. The ship moves very quickly after this to make up the time that has been lost, we won't be missing out on anything.

We do see a few birds later in the afternoon indicating there must be land nearby. We can identify a frigate bird and another large bird, but I'm not sure what it is.Read more