Skipping Soggy Shore Excursions Ashore in Sydney

---

I think every cruise director tells the story of booking 3 acts that must embark in Sydney Nova Scotia, and receiving a text message from the Captain that only 2 have gotten onboard as they’re about to remove the gangway. Michael told his version of the story last night at the show. A frantic cell phone call to the third act confirmed that the act was right where he was supposed to be, on the pier looking for the ship. The act couldn’t find the ship and Michael couldn’t see anyone on the pier, so he asked his booking to describe what he could see… After all, Sydney Nova Scotia isn’t all that big; maybe, a dozen houses or so. He started by saying, “Well, across the harbor I see the Opera House…” You get the picture. I enjoyed some Eggs Benedict in the Lido, and Sharon had scrambled eggs and potatoes. A call to Dennis and Erin agreed that the weather looked a little “iffy” for going ashore; and, maybe they would try the pier a bit later for some shore side shopping. Sharon has had “Success Seeking Succulent Fudge Ashore in Sydney” in the past… Maybe ‘that’ should have been my title.

We checked out the Sudoku sheets in the Exploration lounge, but they were just those left over from the one time some were put out. Really disappointing for the Sudoku Lovers among us… They don’t even list Sudoku any more in the daily “On Location” planner. And don’t think they won’t be hearing about this; although, I must say they’ve returned to printing the Sudoku on a full sized sheet of paper.

We called Erin and coordinated to head up to the Crow’s Nest in about twenty minutes and perhaps play some cards up there. Sharon and I arrived early to find that the Crow’s Nest was closed for rehearsal. Sharon went down to the Oceans bar, and after a short wait upstairs, I headed down and looked for her on the Upper Promenade, checked out the Exploration Lounge (still no new Sudoku) and found Sharon in the Oceans bar. We went back upstairs and met up with Erin, and decided to play spades in the Exploration Lounge. Dennis was still napping. Spades went very well for Sharon, who was the hands down winner, and Erin and I tied with something like minus 40 points each… pretty bad.

It was after 11:30 when Sharon and Erin decided to go ashore and do their shopping. I went up to have a chicken sandwich at the Dive-In with some French Fries. It was delicious. I got it with grilled onions. When 1:00 PM rolled around I went looking for Sharon and found her and her sister by the pool on the Lido Deck eating lunch. They said it was actually quite warm out there though it was very windy (the Comedian that night pointed out that it was a great day for Flags). Sharon had found some maple fudge but it wasn’t from the Fudge Shop we’d visited here before. It was prepackaged and sold by a woman who made other chocolates. Still it was maple. She also got some hand painted red earrings from the place I bought her some blue ones on our last trip here. Dennis then returned with some desserts. We sat a bit while they finished lunch, and then went up to reserve our spot in the Crow’s Nest for Team Trivia. The nice thing so far on the Rotterdam is that there haven’t been any scheduling issues where the Crow’s Nest is so packed with other people that you can’t find any place for your team to congregate. In my experience that is usually been the case; but, not so far on the Rotterdam!

We assembled in the Crow’s Nest for Team Trivia starting at 2 PM for the official start one-half hour later. Attendance seemed to be light and we were hopeful that those pernicious teachers wouldn’t show up until the normal 3:30 PM starting time (note we really don’t know they’re teachers but…). I had shaken things up by leaving my red hat back in the cabin. Again it would be just the four of us, so we would have to wing any Canadian sports questions. We were worried when Michael started with the first question by asking “What country lies on the northern border of Nigeria?” I really need to add some map help to my spreadsheet. Dennis proposed Tanzania so we went with that. The correct answer was Niger. They felt they should have known that since they’ve been looking at Africa maps etc as they plan for their Safari next year. We had a couple of easy questions, such as “What game has suits such as bamboo, circles and wind?” Everyone was scribbling down “Mahjong”. Michael then asked what Caribbean destination you would be in if you arrived in Port of Spain. We were clueless, and Dennis and I proposed “Haiti”; and, even though these are in my spreadsheet, I haven’t studied the capitols as well as I might otherwise. The answer was Trinidad. Staying in the same category, Capitols of the World, Michael asked “What South American world capitol translates to “I saw the mountain”? We were leaning towards Santiago, just because there are definitely mountains to be seen in Chile; but, I was trying to come up with some name that had “Mont” something or other when it hit me, “Montevideo”. And this Uruguayan capitol was indeed correct. Michael wanted to know “What is the first day of the year in the Roman Calendar (a) March 1, (b) January 1, (c) February 29 or (d) June 1. Since we knew that the tenth month of the Roman Calendar is December (from a previous trivia question that is in my spreadsheet) we surmised that it must by (a) March 1. And it was! Another question that seemed to stump most teams was “Under Islamic law, how many wives may a man have at one time?” Most teams went with “No limit”. I urged us to go with 4, and it paid off. Dennis knew what building they use to repair trains on a turntable, another answer most teams didn’t get: Round House. And for the bonus question they hit us with a 4-point question, 1-point for each correct association: “What city hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2012?” Being a coin collector I knew that 1996 had to be Atlanta, the second of two years US commemorative coins were issued for the Atlanta Games. And Sharon had a family association for 1992 that occurred during the Barcelona Games. I knew the Seoul Games of 1988. And everyone seemed to remember the London Games of 2012. Most teams seemed to skew these years a bit. There was one question that Michael had allowed partial credit, “In the world of vintage cars, what does ‘MG’ stand for?” If you had the wrong answer, but had “Morris” in the answer or “Garage” in the answer, you got the half-point. Teams were dropping like flies when Michael was searching for teams with ten or more points, already half were being silent. By thirteen, just three teams remained in the running. At fifteen points just two were left. We remained at sixteen edging out the second place team by half a point. So we got our New England pin featuring a lighthouse, and now we can go home with our heads held high, and I don’t care one bit that those darn teachers filtered in later expecting to play at three thirty! Michael actually offered us a choice of pins, so I suggested that Sharon select the “Asia” pin. I later told her, “That one’s been going for $20 on eBay!” Erin and Dennis chose the Canada/New England and Mediterranean pins. I told Michael, “We really enjoy your trivia, almost all of your questions are ones that we haven’t heard before!” He smiled, acknowledging, “I write my own questions each day, I don’t use the ones that are circulating among the other HAL cruise directors.” He obviously enjoys doing this game, and it makes it enjoyable for us, even (or especially) when his questions offer a stiffer challenge; or perhaps because as Dennis blurted out with his hands in the air “We won”!

Sharon was getting ready for mass and I took the camera out on the Lower Promenade deck. What had started as a dismal drizzly day had turned into a pleasant afternoon as we sailed away from Sidney. Ashore, the variegated patches of tree canopies made a quilt-work collage the melded into the farms and towns and reddish cliffs made bright by the waning sunlight. Shoreline colors were available on either side of the channel we were traversing, heading out to sea where we would traverse to the right around this finger of land on our way to Halifax on the other side of this peninsula. We’d heard that around Sidney, this was the peak leaf peeping time, and there was certainly visible from the ship deep reds and yellows; but mostly greens that were starting to change. As we were reaching the ocean the shore became much more bleak, and here the trees seemed dark and barren and appeared to already have shed their foliage.

Sharon had cautioned me to wear no jeans to the Pinnacle, so I again donned the new pants that I’d just bought and worn for the first time on gala night. They were a size bigger than I normally wear, but I figured they should at least allow me to sail and dine in comfort rather than try to squeeze into something that really no longer fit, as I had done with some discomfort on our last cruise for my mother’s 85^th birthday in the Caribbean and Panama. Dennis and I arrived at the Wajang theatre, just across from the Pinnacle Grill, just prior to mass ending. Sharon said they could hear us talking. We sat at a table for four and the waiter brought us our amuse bouche (chef’s daily complimentary appetizer) that today was smoked duck wrapped around some herbs and presented with a sauce. It was surprisingly good, and again, I was forced to eat Sharon’s as well. She still regales me about her friend Ruth whom we first dined with on our Antarctic cruise and how Ruth was delighted to dine with someone who would eat her amuse bouche so she wouldn’t feel like she’d insulted the chef. I ordered the lobster bisque and the jumbo shrimp cocktail; and, Sharon ordered the crab cakes for me. Erin started with the tomato and lemon grass soup which was so good, she’s having them send the recipe to her room. I ordered the shrimp cocktail with the fresh horseradish on the side; but, I don’t think our waitress had any idea why I would want this. The lobster bisque is always good, and Dennis thought his crab cakes were excellent. I got three of the plumpest freshest shrimp that I’ve ever seen. They must have been a 6-count (six to a pound). Each shrimp required three bites for me to consume them, and Sharon will tell you that I don’t exactly take small bites. They were delicious; although, the cocktail sauce did not reach the full octane fiery hot variety I prefer even after adding all of the ample horseradish that they’d brought me on the side. I’ve noticed this on my two previous trips, the horseradish does not measure up on the fiery-hot scale to that served on the west coast on our Alaskan cruises, or even this past spring on our Caribbean cruise. Still, these were hands down, the biggest shrimp that I’ve ever been served in a shrimp cocktail! Sharon, Dennis and I all had the filet; and, Dennis and I had a lobster tail added to it. I sort of made a mess of my lobster trying to remove it from the shell and it squirted all over me. I’m glad I wasn’t wearing a suit or worse a tux. I suppose if I had waited they would have saved me the embarrassment and done this for me. The filets were excellent, and went so well with the bottle of Cabernet that Dennis had selected for dinner. Dennis had told the mater di that we were celebrating our Trivia Victory and asked if free desserts were our prize, and he was assured we each could have two! Sharon had her Very Cherry Jerry Garcia Baked Alaska while I went with the chocolate volcano cake with Grand Marnier whipped cream. Dennis had the cheese cake and Erin enjoyed the volcano cake; but, without the whipped cream. None of us had room for the second dessert that we’d been offered, we barely had room for the ones that we ate.

It was 7:30 when dinner ended, so while the others went to get seats in the Theatre, I stopped by the MIX bar to listen in on the Pub Trivia. I’m not sure that we’d have done well on tonight’s challenge; although, I certainly knew some of the answers. I asked Sharon later and even she didn’t know what the name of the hotel is that is opposite Graceland in Memphis. Of course, it’s the Heartbreak Hotel. And when I asked Dennis and Erin about what was the first film about Vietnam, directed by a Vietnam vet, they drew a blank, thinking perhaps “Born on the Fourth of July”. I offered up Oliver Stone as the director and they seemed to agree that “Platoon” was the answer.

The show revived the comedian and the magician/singer that had previously performed with two twenty-plus minute acts. Both did a phenomenal job. This time Ritch Shnyder talked about growing old, finding humor in something that seems to be afflicting most of those in his audience. And Jonathan Neal, the magician, stumped the audience again as he seemed to make oversized cards pop out of the deck on command.

Sharon wanted to go to the casino afterwards because tonight is the casino’s “Smoke-Free” night. The place was packed. I went over to the Fun-21 blackjack table and considered sitting down. The dealer was just completing the shuffle, and the two people at either end had just sat down. When I saw one player remove a wad of cash from his wallet and meticulously separate the ones and fives and eventually find two twenties and a ten I think I was correct in suspecting that this was not the table for me. Three others sat down before the deal started and on that first hand the gentlemen with the ones and fives asked the person next to him if he should split his tens against the dealer’s eight. To be sure, the play was going to be painfully slow at this table, and I had already seen enough. As I was leaving a lady split nines against a seven, and I probably don’t need to tell you how that worked out for her! The others all enjoyed some time in the smoke free environment though there apparently was some grumbling from the smokers.

---