The Lido is large, casual buffet.
On the forward side, there are small tables and lounge chairs surrounding the
pool. In the afternoon, there is usually a band with a female singer. They play
all the big hits from the 50’s on up.
In the center
of the Lido deck is an enclosed dining area with small tables. But the aft
section is pretty much devoted to smokers.
There is a shallow pool with the
deck chairs set up permanently inside the pool. You have to wade in ankle deep
water to get to the chairs. They are almost never used but they were the best
sites to view the stars last night as there were no obstructions.
I picked out
lounge chairs just behind them which also had a good view.
There is a large
screen where the Star Lady reviewed all the sights in the southern skies. Then,
they turned off most of the lights and she used a laser pointer to point out
the different constellations and features of the night sky.
She used the
belt of Orion as an anchor point. She showed how to position our hands like the
Rock On symbol to measure 20 degrees in any direction.
We saw the Southern
Cross! I was very excited. I think I will remember that night for the rest of
my life.
Jupiter was
up and it was possible to see a few moons as dots on the surface using powerful
binoculars. They were passed around but I didn’t see any.
Bill said the most
impressive site to him were the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic
Cloud which are vast, spectacular galaxies. They do look just like clouds but
they don’t move.
She told a
joke about Sirius. Canopus (the second brightest star) said, “I’m the brightest
star in the sky.” The response was, “You can’t be Sirius.”
We saw Alpha
Centauri and Beta Centauri which are bright, paired stars. There are two stars
that appear to set together. I can’t remember their names. But, the Polynesians
knew that this happened when they were near Tahiti.
They had a
very complicated navigation system.
There aren’t as many striking
constellations as there are in the northern sky. For one thing, they lack the
north star. And their purported shapes have even less in common with reality.
That makes the accomplishments of the navigators even more impressive. But,
when the first Europeans met them, they reported that the males were slow and
the women even duller.
The native peoples routinely navigated vast distances
using their system. They carried breadfruit to eat, which lasts a long time.
The ship
docked in Raiatea about 30 minutes ago. Since we are docked, we can walk right
off the ship. We have been waiting in our cabin for the ship to be cleared.
The
sanitation measures onboard are pretty strict right now. Yesterday, the room
stewards washed the walls and doors in the entire ship.
