Sunday - At Sea

 We awoke about 8 a.m. this morning with my head cold still in full force. Had a ok sleep though.... slowly getting better.

Kelly headed off to grab us coffee and I put up the blind so we could see the seas rocking and rolling. The winds are up and the sea swell is probably the worst we have seen on the cruise. Not terrible.. just the most we have seen. Funny thing I noticed was the sun was on our side of the ship. As we are heading south to Hobart it should be setting on Starboard. I put on the navigation page on the TV and sure enough we are heading North 006°... we started to speculate that the weather was worse down south and they were killing some time as we have also slowed to 8 knots. 

About ten minutes later the captain came over the P.A. System and announced that a crewman was ill and required a medical evacuation to shore, hence the deviation. They had a helicopter inbound to pick him up within the hour and, once the "rescue" is complete, we will resume normal operations to Hobart.

We had our flight apps going and could see the incoming helicopter as well as a second plane circling overhead. This was a Australian Maritime Safety Authority Challenger 604. My understanding is that the top cover aircraft assists with communications with the helicopter pilot & medic to land based assets. The planes can also provide electronic and visual search, deployment of emergency supplies, command and control and homing in on distress beacons.

This is the helicopters flight path as it had just dropped the SARtech off on the ship and was waiting for the retrieval.  BTW SARtech is what we call these guys in Canada... the ones that are dropped down to assist in crashes etc. 

This was the actual jet that was overhead the ship.

Flight path of the jet as it orbited the ship in support of the mission.

 

We, like everyone else on the ship, went up to the top deck to get a view of the action but the crew had all the deck access blocked for safety reasons. Flying debris, rotor wash etc. Luckily we found ourselves on the Deck 14th elevator area with it's huge glass windows overlooking the pool area. Wee Kelly took the opportunity to get up to the window and, while crouching down, probably got the best video of the airlift operation. I had to reduce the quality of the footage to get it posted properly but here it is below.

The crew had done a great job preparing for the arrival and had moved all the lounge chair etc. from the pool deck. They also had dedicated firefighters with O2 bottles all ready if there were any major issues during the airlift operation. They had clearly done this before.

Pool deck right after the departure of the helicopter.

 

Once they pick the individual up (no heli pad on this ship) they will head to Merimbula for medical attention. This certainly made for some interesting excitement on this sea day! 

 Now back to our regular programming.... 

We went for lunch in the Ocean Cafe and met up with George. Turns out Avis had caught a cold and was staying down to get some rest. We went back to the cabin and I needed a quiet time so I put down the big blind and drifted off while Kelly grabbed her knitting and headed to the solarium and a big lounge chair. 

Following my “rest period”, I jumped into the shower as Kelly arrived back. We dressed for chic night and head out on the town.. er ship. 

The Eden was hosting a singles meet up night so we stopped in at the Martini bar for a beverage. Met a nice couple from Kelowna that had been on since Honolulu and we compared cruise lines and various perks etc.  We also looked over the planner and picked a few activities for the remainder of the evening. 

 

Off to the theater were we saw a vocal performance by Australian singer Arena but before the show started they had the Captain and Executive Officer's come out. The captain advised everyone that the crewman airlifted off early was ok and he was having surgery tomorrow. (We suspect appendicitis but who knows?) He thanked his crew for a great job and had received a commendation from the rescue folks on what a great job they did on completing the procedure. 

 

The show started and she could certainly belt out the tunes. The band's saxophone player was absolutely fantastic during one of the sets!  A short successful stop at the roulette wheel for me but sadly, Kelly did not hold up her end :-)

Back to the room to finish up today’s blog and hit the rack.

 

We are in Hobart tomorrow and had hoped to see some relative's of Kelly's but those plans have now been cancelled.  Not to worry, we will figure out something to do.

Steps today 5,500