Green Apples and Soda Crackers...

That is what is available at the purser's desk when the ocean is a bit wavy. Those foods are supposed to keep the stomach settled when you may not be sea-sick, but you feel a little 'funny in the tummy'.

This is our third day at sea since leaving Melbourne, we reach Fremantle in 11 hours. [Eight in the morning is our scheduled arrival time.] I suppose the 'authorities' will have their way with us again tomorrow morning in case we have taken on a load of obnoxious weeds or a plague of weevils while rocking around in the Southern Ocean. Our plan is to rent a car for the day and take off a bit north of Perth, so time is of the essence for us. Moe is going to explore Fremantle and may get into Perth.

The weather has been like a typical October day in Vancouver, cool and foggy most of the time. If the skies were clear and we had good visibility I believe we would be seeing land, we are heading north now, and in the Indian Ocean. The roughness seemed to worsen where the Southern and Indian Oceans merged. 

Moe joined us at our new table tonight. We all get along well, and have a happy table. We have people as follows: A widowed Japanese lady who married a Taiwanese man who died 18 years ago. A widowed American lady whose husband died nine years ago. A school teacher from Iowa, and an American couple now living in Costa Rica.  Plus Fellette and I. We have friendly, intelligent and informative conversation.  I think that everybody is a bit relieved to be at a table without stress.

I think Moe quite enjoyed the table. She had an enjoyable conversation with the widow of nine years. Her form of exercise at home is tennis, bike riding and swimming. Her form of exercise on the ship is dancing. She dances for maybe three hours a day with the dance hosts on the ship. At present there are five. These are gentlemen who are employed by Holland America to dance with unattached woman who enjoy dancing. Apparently there are about 12 women who attend the dance spots. The hosts are required to attend when and where there is dancing happening on the ship. There is a fair amount of stress and pressure in that job let me tell you.

The Japanese lady is a great conversationalist as well. Moe would like to spend more time with her I think, she has a wonderful gentle nature about her. She also has good eating habits that we could all learn from.

The teacher from Iowa is the sister of the couple from Costa Rica. She is an outgoing, intelligent, gentle interesting lady as well. She is interested in you. This is a pleasant change from some other strained tables that are on the ship.

GOSSIP DEPARTMENT: Upon departure 42 days ago there was a table for six composed as follows:  A single man, travelling with his elderly parents, a single older woman and a couple. Apparently the single woman was a proper 'nasty', so after a few days of that, five of the six decided to eat in the alternate restaurant. The 'nasty' woman sat by herself for days on end, alone. One day she joined the table that we sat at, [before we came]. They decided that that would not happen again!

Now, the ship has seated five other unsuspecting people at that table with miss 'you-know-who'. There is now a pall cast over that table again that is so obvious you can cut it with a knife. 

The story continues. The five who boycotted the table were relocated at another larger table. Again, they were seated at a table that seems to have had at it one of the 'characters' on the ship at it, so the five who boycotted table number one are now eating in the alternate restaurant, AGAlN! 

Update: The five have been given a table of their own and all is well.

Please remember when reading this that the average age of people on the ship is somewhat over 65. We had dinner last night with a veteran from WW II, he was in the 10th Mountain Division in Italy. He was born in 1923. [85]. Today a man in the theatre while waiting for a lecture to start talked to me about the book I had, written by Ernie Pyle, he was also born in 1923, also an infantryman. There are not a lot of spring chickens here kids.

We had our port talk on Bali today.  The real adventure begins after Australia!