Okay, so they were 1- to 2-meter swells, not 1-foot...

The General Manager came to our stateroom and explained why we couldn't stay in Mooloolaba today.

The general manager, a personable “British-Indian” whose name is Manesh or something close to that, asked if he could visit Rita and me, and as we stood on our veranda, he explained that while the waves are terrible on the “shelter side” (leeward side) of the ship, the entrance to the port is experiencing higher waves and is narrow enough that passage by the tenders would be “50/50”. He said both the harbor pilot and our captain were on the tender for a trial run right after we anchored, and together felt it was too questionable and could get worse later today.

As we talked, the ship was rotating, and sailboats and other boats nearby demonstrated that the swells were 1 to 2 meters and maybe more, and I watched as the tender struggled to get attached to cables so it could be lifted out of the water. (I should have taken pictures — sorry!)

So, no pictures of Rita and me holding Koalas today. (That’s offered at the Australia Zoo, among other animal closeups.) Our only visit will have to be via the zoo’s website which I shared yesterday - https://australiazoo.com.au/. You can come on that tour, too!

We’re awaiting a revised daily schedule. There will doubtless be three lectures, and we can catch up on ones we missed by streaming them on the stateroom TV. And of course, there’s eating and drinking and card playing…. and real estate work for me! Maybe I’ll get a head start on my next “Real Estate Today” column….

Bye for now.