After a fitful night of coughing, I was rudely awakened by the ship captain's announcement coming into all staterooms explaining why we would not be visiting Mooloolaba today. Mooloolaba (what a name!) is a city on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Our ship was already sitting offshore as he made his announcement. As in similar situations, the captain made a decision he knew would make some passengers quite unhappy, but he will always err on the side of caution.
I crawled out of bed, pulled back the curtains and wow - a gorgeous day outside! All sunshine and blue water. But Mooloolaba is a tender port, which means loading hundreds of people in and out of bouncing tenders from the ship and onto shore while fighting large swells that make it not only dangerous but next to impossible. Good call, Captain!
definitely not tender friendly
No doubt many passengers had excursions planned, but as they say “it is what it is”. Their accounts will be automatically refunded, the pilot boat will come to see us out and we’ll be on our way to our next port. A new schedule of shipboard activities will be quickly printed and dispersed, and everyone will go on with their day on board. Still not a bad deal - at all. For me personally, I would have probably tried to get off just to try to take in such a beautiful place but in all honesty, another day of rest, medication and liquids is exactly what I needed.
small section of skyline from balcony with my cell phone partial view of Mooloolaba shore from our balcony
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| not today, Mooloolaba |
pilot boat guiding us out of the harbor
A little history lesson: Mooloolaba derives from the Aboriginal word mulu, meaning snapper fish, or mulla meaning Red-bellied Black Snake. Originally known as Mooloolah Heads, the name was changed to Mooloolaba by Thomas O'Connor in 1919 when he subdivided land for sale there.
https://www.queensland.com/au/en/places-to-see/destinations/sunshine-coast/mooloolaba
While closing out this blog, I stopped to watch history being made as Artemis II astronauts splashed down in the Pacific. Praise be to God for a safe touch down for these brave astronauts and for the United States of America!
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| splash down! |
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