Spydah

Due to Australian Government regulations overseas-run ships such as Le Laperouse have to drop anchor in an overseas location at least once every twenty days. Otherwise, presumably, they are regarded as Australia-based and would have to be crewed by overpaid Australian sailors. To comply with this absurd requirement, on the trip from Darwin to Broome the ship diverts out to Ashmore Reef 320 kilometres offshore in the Timor Sea. On the northbound return journey this legal requirement isn’t necessary.
The expectation for this day of visiting an exotic location is that there would be no Zodiac excursions. In keeping with our newly-established routine Elspeth began her daily activities by attending a pre-breakfast gym class while Brian busied himself with sorting out the previous day’s photos and blog. We then attended an interesting lecture from Brett, our resident geologist, on the geology of the Kimberley. It was followed shortly after by a somewhat less interesting lecture “Navigating Nature - Understanding Water Signs” given by one of the other naturalists.
This was a day of informative lectures, with Elspeth then going to a late morning workshop on bird identification while Brian headed up to the Observation Lounge to meet with Alex, the ship's official photographer, and practise using some of the more advanced features of his camera. By then our ship had reached Ashmore Reef and had dropped anchor a kilometre or so away from a moored Australian Border Force vessel.
It was during this period that the captain’s voice came over the loudspeakers with a major announcement. We were going to be able to go on Zodiacs to the reef lagoon. Evidently this is a huge privilege which occurs only occasionally on these trips. Not only does the captain have to be confident that the conditions are right but the Border Force people have to give their OK. While we wouldn’t be going ashore it would give us a chance to take a closer look at the wildlife. We were warned that the sea was a bit rough and the Zodiacs would be bounced around. Elspeth, along with many other passengers, elected not to go, while Brian chose to join the brave and foolhardy. We would travel for about half an hour each way and would spend half an hour at the reef.
The Zodiacs set out in a convoy carrying half of the reef passengers and when that group returned they would take the second group, which included Brian. The first contingent duly returned, all of them wildly excited. The place was so full of wildlife, with turtles surfacing everywhere around them, but a red-footed booby had actually landed on one woman’s head and had calmly sat there for about three minutes. But then came the anticlimax, A mere one hour later Brian and his fellow passengers in the second group saw far less. A couple of people got brief glimpses of surfacing turtles but apart from them and the occasional passing sea-bird there was virtually nothing. Despite this Brian thoroughly enjoyed the experience and returned happy but soaked.
Continuing in the manner to which we’d like to become accustomed we headed once again to enjoy cleansing pre-dinner ales in the Observation Lounge with its 270 degree views high up on the sixth level. After then attending the daily briefing about the following day’s exciting planned activities we rolled up to another beautiful dinner in the Nautilus restaurant - just the usual sequence of amuse bouche, appetiser, main course, cheese and then dessert. For the first time on this trip the sea was somewhat choppy and poor Elspeth decided to restrict herself to a mere two courses.
From there we went downstairs to the quiz night where our ad hoc four person team performed quite respectably. Czytaj więcej