Arrive at 7 am – Depart at 3 pm

After 3 early starts, we enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in today.  

Our plan was to go ashore around noon and explore the Eggs at Merry Bay.  In 2009, Icelandic artist Sigurður Guðmundsson created the 34 enormous eggs in honor of the 34 species of bird that nest within the area.  Each egg is mounted on a pedestal, along with a sign that gives the birds’ official Latin name along with its common name.  The eggs are located along the waterfront, about ¾ mile from the tender landing.  

All aboard today was at 2:30 pm.    

When we left the ship around noon, there weren’t any tender lines.  The tenders were moving back and forth almost empty.

We started walking toward the eggs around 12:45 pm and arrived around 1:15.   We spent 30 minutes taking numerous photographs using our tripod and remote shutter trigger.

As we were getting ready to leave, the boat that was blocking the view of the Nieuw Statendam left giving us a nice unobstructed shot with the ship in the background.

On our way back to the ship we stopped at the Free Willy Museum and Gift Shop.  There wasn’t much for sale, and we couldn’t quite figure out what it was all about.  

While the weather was good and the skies partly cloudy, we did get a few sprinkles from time to time.  About halfway back to the ship, a rainbow appeared over the Nieuw Statendam.   I took pictures quickly and kept moving, hoping to get the ship centered under the rainbow.   Here was my final shot with the rainbow surrounding the ship.  This has to be a good sign of great times ahead for Holland America.

Tonight was the Orange Party – starting at 9:30 pm in the BB King lounge.  

On a cruise earlier this year, that ship hosted a pub crawl which ended up in the BB King for the Orange Party.  They’re wasn’t a pub crawl tonight and the Orange party lasted about 45 minutes.  The BB King Band took a break right after the Orange Party dance contest and that pretty much ended the party.   They could improve the energy level of the party with more participation from the ship’s entertainment staff.  

The Orange Party was at the same time as the 9:30 show and the musicians were playing in the Rolling Stone Rock room which keep attendance lower than it might have been otherwise.