CRUISING SOUTH CHINA SEA

Palm Sunday, March 24th

                                                Position at yellow arrow in red circle on map.

                                                               Palm Sunday worship
     We turned our clocks back an hour last night so think we are now 12 hours ahead of Dallas time.  We had breakfast in Compass Rose dining room this morning as they serve caviar and champagne on Sundays.  After that we attended the Palm Sunday worship service.  It was very nice and there was a big crowd today with about 70 showing up.  Next on our agenda was a lecture on Southeast Asia in showroom by Sandra Bowern.  By the way, it is 82 degrees today with hazy skies.

      At 12:15 there was a gathering for Vietnam veterans.  We had a nice little group:  couple army doctors, submarine officer, couple of marines, myself, and a couple of guys just interested in hearing our stories.  This is the first trip back to VN for everyone but me.  I won't go into what was said, but just suffice to say, it was a frank, and at times, emotional discussion. Theme for today's pool side lunch buffet was Tex-Mex.
     This afternoon we will be going through the Strait of Hainan and entering the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam.  Some of my navy friends flew off aircraft carriers stationed in the Gulf during the VN War.
     At 8am tomorrow morning we will be anchoring in Ha Long harbor for the day.  This is the stop for touring Hanoi.  Hanoi is 75 miles from the harbor and the excursion to tour it is 11 hours long.  We did this in 2010 so will not return.  Instead we will be doing a 3 hour cruise in the morning to see the many unique rocks protruding out of the bay.  Then in the afternoon we will have a 5 hour tour of the countryside around Ha Long.
     At 6pm this evening there is a Seven Seas Society (people who have cruised with Regent previously) cocktail party.  At 7pm we have been invited to dine with Franck Galzy, the General Manager.  We met Franck last year when he was General Manager on our Circle South America cruise.  Franck runs everything  on the ship not related to navigation (that is Captain's job).  I know it is going to be a fun evening.
     Here are some photos I took at 11pm last night as we left Hong Kong harbor.