Thursday Island…maybe

 In 2019 our cruise was scheduled to make a stop at Thursday Island…..cyclones got in the way and we just kept going.

Today we awoke with this view:

Looks like we might actually make it this time. Thursday Island is one island in the Torres Strait Islands . As we sailed here yesterday, we often saw reefs,and sand bars along our sides. This area of the Great Barrier Reef is a difficult navigation and the reef pilot has been aboard the entire trip from before Cairns to now. Thursday Island is also the name for the only town on the islands.  In 1884 the main industry was the pearl industry. There were workers here from Japan, Malaya and India seeking their fortune.  Many of the shell buttons that were used in the US came from here.  Both the shell and the pearl were of value. When the pearl industry steadily began to decline and the synthetic materials for buttons started to be widely available, the industry tanked. Now the islands are pristine wilderness with few inhabitants. The islands take a lot of effort to get to.. but the area is beautiful and worth the effort.  Enjoy these first picture of this area. Here’s a google map to give you kind of an orientation- 

 Look in the center for Thursday Island

We had ticket to leave the ship around 8:30 but slept late and had a leisure breakfast before deciding to leave.. As we finished our coffee and tea, looking at the water and watching the waves start to swell, the Captain announced that no further tender operations could safely be run as he was unable to hold the anchor competently at any spot in the area.. All tours would be canceled.. So guess we won’t actually 

“see” the island this time either! Anyway I have spent the morning watching the waves build and enjoyed the fact that Im not in a tender bouncing across those same waves for 45 minute to an hour….

The clouds are a clue to today’s weather

The water is such a turquoise blue. 

The color gradients are pretty. The sea is turquoise,the sky dark blue and the clouds blue gray

The arrow shows one of the tenders bouncing it’s way back to the ship. The waves were almost as tall as the tender. 

Putting one tender back to bed for the rest of the day. 

What will we do when plans fall through? Well, the bridge games are back playing, lecturers jump in with their informative lectures ready to go and the trivia game is on…. There is no way we will be bored this afternoon. Tomorrow we sail the Arafura Sea on our way to the Timor Sea and our next destination will be Komodo National Park (Rinca) where we will once agin visit with the Komodo dragons.