Day 16: Sunday 18 January 2026

Appropriately as today is Sunday we found ourselves at Airlie Beach which is in the Whitsunday region of Queensland. 

The sail in was very pretty and reminded us of the Norwegian or New Zealand fjords.

As soon as we had signal from the shore, Traitors was downloaded ready to watch later.

We had breakfast on the back of the ship. It was already getting hot but we found a shady spot.

The tender ride took about 15 minutes and then it was another 15 minutes on the shuttle bus to the town centre and very attractive marina.  There was a market to browse round but, it was so hot and humid, we decided to return to the ship. We sat outside on the tender and we enjoyed being semi blown away.

Lunch today had a Spanish theme.  We had said we wouldn't eat much but the tapas, paella and pasteles were too tempting to resist.

The dining room was exceptionally busy with people returning from shore and a couple asked to join us.  We realised it was the Captain Cook talk. He and Graeme had a good chat about the transit of Venus, how the Tropic lines came to be established, universities in Australia and the UK among other things. He also told us about his apparently rather rewarding line in doing guest speaker talks on cruise ships, saying that he had to turn down 19 invitations to cruise and speak one year before he retired.

When we got back to the cabin we got a pleasant surprise.  On our first day, we realised that one of our cases had been damaged between dropping off at the port and arriving at the cabin.  We were given a brand new case (which we think matches a carry-on that G got in Belgium).  It was then time for the Traitors followed by a loyalty party.  As usual the drinks and canapés were plentiful and E got a piccy with Captain Theo.

After dinner we planned to go to the show but were so tired that we ended up watching tennis on the TV and going to sleep.