Day-18: Ha Long Bay But No Hanoi Today

Day-18: Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Beginning Location: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Final Location: Gulf of Tonkin

At 6 AM we decided that we had seen enough of Vietnam and chose to not take the 11 hour trip up to and back from Hanoi. Sure we will miss a few things but it seemed to be a long ride for the one or two points of interest.

With our stay at home decision made, it was back to sleep with my next wakening around 0830. Sheila suggested exercise for the morning so we moved off in that direction, she to the 10th deck lap track for about 4-miles and me to the gym. It was cold on the lap deck so Sheila was well bundled, with a heavy coat and gloves.

After showering I was able to do some Helium work and update a couple of the blog drafts.

Seems that the "Sawdust Bargemen" found a suitable anchorage at last.






Around ten this morning the ship held it's weekly emergency drill, today a Class "B" fire in a 3rd deck workshop. By time they were done, the "fire" was out, the watertight doors and firescreen systems had been tested and the crew mustered at "GQ" stations for training. As for the guests other than having no services available for the 30-minute training period, there was no impact.

The working port of Ha Long.

By one we headed down for a light lunch of pasta for me and fish & chips for Sheila. We shared a table with a couple "of sorts" we had met before and accompanied on the Angkor Wat trip. They are UCLA alumni both living in the Santa Monica area.




The early afternoon activities including reading for Sheila and for me fascination with the off-loading of the ship's garbage onto a Vietnamese "recycle" barge. The barge crew will definitely be parsing the bags and boxes for anything that they might consider to be of value.




Sheila turned in our Vietnam "departure" cards signifying that we've left the country.

At 1900 we were underway from Ha Long outbound for the Hainan Strait en-route to Hong Kong.




For dinner we shared a table in the Toscana Ristorante with a couple from Richmond, Virginia. She was of English extraction and he a Pakistani. He had been a cardiologist in the Richmond area before retiring many years ago. They like others are cruisers, preferring Europe to other parts of the world. Sheila had the Dover Sole; in this case there was no need to ask for the "market price", everything was included.

Lastly we stopped by the Nautica Lounge where a classical pianist was banging out some tunes on the ivories. Didn't have a clue as to what he was playing but everyone seemed to think it was good.

By 2230 we had returned "home". The seas are rocking and rolling tonight, "tippy, tippy" as some would say. The stabilizers are mitigating the roll but at just under 600 feet the Nautica still reacts to the repetitive up and down motion of the sea swells, some of you will remember, up, down, up, down, way up, thud as you drop from the crest of a high swell, then repeating itself.

Here are a few more shots from various rooms on the ship, rooms for cards, puzzles and computers.






Good night to all!