In preparation for this trip, I read that the Pacific Ocean covered one-third of the earth’s surface. That’s big. We’ve been at sea for five days with another day to go before we reach Easter Island, our next stop. Easter Island, a tiny volcanic island, is about half of the distance between the west coast of South America and French Polynesia, which is only about half of the way to Australia at this latitude. Seeing nothing but ocean and one school of dolphins for five days gives big a whole new meaning.

We are even between two satellite feeds, so I can’t upload photos. Thankfully, text still works. Today, I had my first chorale rehearsal. We worked on Bohemian Rhapsody. One of the women said, “I did not expect it would be so hard.” My response was “I did expect it to be hard, and it is.” The rhythms are tricky, the tempo quick, and the words crisp. To help me learn it, I tried to find it on the internet tonight and after waiting hours, it still did not download. I will try again when we get closer to land or on a different satellite. Our performance is at the end of the trip.

I start the days at sea with a walk and the morning stretch class. My bridge lessons continue each day at sea at 9:30 AM, and I practice with my fellow beginners in the afternoons. I hope the bridge group at church will let me play when I get home! In addition to learning bridge, I plan to help one of our Road Scholar group teach Mah Jongg. At least six of the group have expressed a desire to learn. Sandy and I learned last night that there is a performance of Turandot at the Sydney Opera House on the evening we are docked overnight in Australia. We bought the last two tickets, so now not only do we get to see this amazing structure, we get to hear it’s acoustics. Wonderful things continue for this country girl. Thanks, everyone for your interest and comments.