Day 64 14th March 2011

We are sailing towards Christmas Island at the moment. This is one of least developed nations on the planet. It is over 1000 miles from Honolulu and is probably best known for being the site of the British nuclear bomb tests. It is a very poor island with 5000 inhabitants making a small living from exporting coconut related products. We attend a port talk about it this morning and this island as virtually no infrastructure for visitors. It can only be accessed by the ships tenders and there is some risk of going a ground so the tenders will carry fewer passengers than normal. It is likely to take a long time for people to be taken to the land and then returned. The island is largely sand so wheelchairs will probably be very difficult to move. In light of all these negatives we decided that Chris should stay on board Aurora and I will go ashore on my own.

Today is quite windy with a lot of spray coming on deck. However, it is quite warm with temperatures around 28c but with a high humidity. The ship is moving around a good deal due to the wind. Chris has gone to see the film Inception this afternoon while I am busy doing Open University marking. Last night we had dinner at Café Bordeaux serenaded by the Jeff Fowler band who mainly played jazz. It was a lovely meal and a pleasant evening. We went to see a magician after dinner who I thought was good and Chris didn’t so a split vote.

We have learnt that on 3^rd July 2012, all seven P and O liners are going to sail into and out of Southampton together to celebrate P and O’s longevity (over 100 years). We have been looking at the possible cruises we could go on to take part in the event but nothing leaps from the page as yet.