A lot of big swell and movement in the night but woke up to lovely blue sky and sunshine. El capitano came on and said that we were now completely clear of the cyclone area and that the swell was just a residual effect from it.

Decided to make the most of the sun so took our Kindles up to the pool on the top deck. It was lovely to feel the sun and heat again. Hopefully now we can have some good sunbathing seadays as we cross the Pacific.

We painted a scene from Akaroa, New Zealand in art. A small white house standing by a stone bridge oer a stream flowing to the beach. It was ok but not one of my favourites.

So what with sunbathing and all the rest, Bob had a deeply satisfying power nap in the late afternoon. LOL. Then we did our usual thing and had an icy G&T on the rear deck at our level as the sun set. We are on deck 8 which is one above the promenade deck and at the first level of stern terracing which begins at our level with a largish rear deck with Jacuzzi, swimming pool, occasional bar and plenty of teak deck space. It's always quiet out there on this cruise so we had it to ourselves. We like to sit there with our chairs facing out to sea and our drinks. It really feels like it's a wonderful private yacht that we are totally alone on….

We decided to have dinner in Glasshouse for a change as they had a pianist playing which would give it a good atmosphere. Really delicious food. We shared a three small plate starter: 2 x tempura king prawns and a plate of mozzarella, tomato and basil jelly salad. The king prawns are beyond belief huge. Amazing. We had a bottle of Castro Douro red wine which was delicious. For mains, I had the calves liver with pancetta, creamed cabbage, sweet potato mash, colcannon and a red wine jus. Bob had King Crab and Caviar open face sandwich with salads. It was all utterly delicious. Total cost including all drinks was £30.

After dinner we got chatting to the couple on the next table who were from Liverpool and who had a lot of cruising experience especially as the husband had been in the merchant marine and their son worked for P&O. Interesting. We found we had a lot in common which weirdly ended in finding out that they had two dogs. I just knew it before I asked. Yup… Schnauzers….. Two girls who sound as adorable and wonderful as schnauzers always are.
The forecast for tomorrow sounds great. We have been very lucky to largely miss the cyclone. Some of the islands around us have been utterly devastated. I cannot help but note how very remote and isolated the islands of the Pacific are. It's been notable since we left South America. We've been in a great big ship. God knows what this weather would have been like in a yacht or small boat. Not survivable probably. We moan about our weather in the UK but while it is pretty awful weather but we are unlikely to find it fatally awful.

I have rather lost track of time. Sometime soon we cross the dateline again and have the same day (march 18th) twice. We also go from being 13 hours ahead of the UK to being 12 hours behind the UK. I think this is on Wednesday night. I think for us both Wednesday and Thursday are March 18th. Anyway, on the second March 18th we will be in Pago Pago, Samoa. Until then we are at sea.