Day 95 April 8 (Split, Croatia NOT!)

All those going ashore for tours in Split, Croatia take one step forward. NOT SO FAST. You're not going anywhere Amsterdam passengers.

This morning while eating breakfast early enough to make the 8:45 AM tour I was signed up for the Captain came over the intercom. Not a good thing except at 1 PM daily when he gives a daily report. This was unusual. The problem was 45 knot winds and big swell. We were anchored and the plan was to use the tenders to transport passengers to and from the dock. They actually had a tender out and had to ferry one of the entertainers and some immigration personnel to shore. On it's return the waves and wind made it VERY difficult to get people back aboard the ship. Some passengers saw it and said they were very worried and/or scared. So the Captain was on the intercom to tell us that we would have to abort the intended port day. The forecast showed no let up in the immediate future. Too bad. Split looked like a nice port with some interesting history. Apparently it is a very popular port during the tourist season and we would have been lucky to avoid the mobs of tourists. Of course, if it was anything like Venice the crowds would have still been there. In any case we were told we would still arrive in Malta (our next port) at the scheduled time. The ship did make a fairly close "drive by" of Split before we left the area. Incidentally, when I switched my tv to the front camera channel to see what the sea looked like up there the song playing was the theme from the Titanic! Someone has a sick sense of humor or it was just a coincidence. Hmmm.

A revised schedule of events was quickly published and delivered to our cabins so we could have a full day of activities onboard. Not their first rodeo, they got it done very quickly. I think it was under my door before I left for 9 AM Tai Chi!

At 10 I went to where our Vantage group usually meets and Chris was there with about 10 or so others and we had a wandering discussion. During the meeting someone asked how often this type of thing happens. Chris said that when it is a tender port rather than docking there is usually a 50% chance of having to abort the operation. Wow! We have been very lucky so far. This is our first time and I'm sure we have tendered a half dozen or more times.

There was a lecture at 11 - basically 25 maps of the development of Europe, etc. historically. Not scintillating, but somewhat interesting. Lost trivia by a couple. Tried to email you guys about the situation and send a few pics but it never made it. The show was a harpist named Gosia (from Poland). She was ok but not great.