Quick hits

 One of my readers corrected my choice of words (I’m surprised that BOTH of my readers didn’t correct me) regarding my parody of parity in Parati. Correction duly noted. 

It appears that the ship Excursions Group (aka the Destinations desk) noted the long wait yesterday for those going ashore. Today they have anchored in the bay and placed not one, or even two tenders in the water, but I have seen at least four tenders placed into service. Today’s adventure should be a nice excursion with a much-better-informed-and-prepared Frog taking a “schooner” (albeit diesel powered) to a secluded beach where we will be allowed to swim and snorkel in the ocean’s waters.

Last night, upon posting my blog, I went topside to walk for an hour. It would seem that because we are, in theory, headed up the east coast of South America, that our course should be somewhere in the range of 30-60 degrees from magnetic north (heaven only knows what the declination of Rio de Janeiro is). A quick check of the interactive map on the bridge showed, however, a course heading of 176 degrees. We were heading almost due south. I mentioned earlier that one thing I wanted to see during this voyage was the Southern Cross (the southern hemisphere’s counter-point to the North Star, or Polaris. During my walk on the upper weather deck I came across a group playing putt-putt golf in the dark and I asked if they knew which of the various visible stars ahead of us were part of the Southern Cross. The two men each had star gazing apps on their phones and they quickly deserted their golf game (something Steve F. likely would never do) and began searching the sky. Their efforts proved fruitful in that we were able to find not only the Southern Cross but Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri (the southern pointers). Unfortunately, due to a light layer of Light Pollution, mixed perhaps with atmospheric pollution, my camera was unable to “see” and capture the constellation.