The Spice Islands

Since leaving Cairns, we have been settling into the routine of sea days - breakfast at 8AM, dancing class at 11, lunch at 12, movie at 2PM, Happy hour at 3.30, dinner at 6.30, Show at 8.30, bed at ??. Of course there are many other things for passengers to do - so mix and match those activities at your own desire. I have been trying to get to the Library for a couple of days now.
We had another Formal night last night - our second of 19 on the way to the UK. The great majority make an attempt to dress themselves up. As you can see from the photo, I have changed my personality for the
duration of this trip. Yesterday we had an interesting time with our Captain. He is an amateur historian and had put together for us a presentation of an area that he intended to take us through on our passage through Indonesian waters - the fabled "Spice Islands". We have never been on a ship before where the Captain presented an hour long lecture for the entertainment of the passengers - and he obviously enjoyed the experience as much as we did. He took us very close to the tiny Spice Island of "Run" in the Banda Group. During the 17th Century this was the only source of Nutmeg in the world - at a time when Nutmeg was worth more than gold. Then we passed close to the Island of Ambon, which produced Cloves. His historical lecture started at the time when these spices came to Venice, via Constantinople for distribution throughout Europe - and the source of these spices was unknown in the west. Thus started the search by the Europeans for the "Spice Islands" of the East Indies. His lecture contained information that he had personally acquired in various European museums - and it was obvious that he was keen to complete his study with photos of the islands themselves (as seen in the attached photo)