Blue Book of Boats

Last night at dinner it was “Pirate Night” with the crew and some passengers all dressed up with eye patches, hooks, peg legs and other pirate gear. Dinner took a long time as they kept stopping to have their photos taken.

In the middle of dinner the ship hit something. There was a thump and a shudder went through the ship, then a minute of so later the starboard prop made a large vibration. The dining room is right aft directly above the drive pods, so I could easily identify the sound and vibration. The engines were idled and I suppose the props were stopped, as the ship went very smooth and silent. Then a few minutes later the engines started up again, but all night there was a noticeable vibration from one prop. I think it must have been a whale, as the thump was muffled and whatever hit the prop did not make any clanging noises as you would expect it it was something metal such as another boat or floating container. No announcements were made so it remains a mystery.

We arrived in Suva as scheduled so it didn’t slow us much. Still, I’m pretty sure the prop is damaged.

Suva is the largest city in the Pacific Islands with over 200,000 people. It isn’t very pretty on approach as the port is industrial and there are a lot of rusty old ships at anchor.

As we docked a large Police Band appeared and played a large selection of music, starting with marching tunes but then there were Beatles and at one point they were dancing the Macarena on the dock. The side of the ship was lined with people as they applauded this performance. It certainly made us feel welcome.