All at sea but within sight of land. Last night we left Koto Kinabalu and sailed with Borneo insight, until, as we are walking deck ten, we start to see Balabac and then Palawan. The later is 450 km long and will be visible all day today and tomorrow as it’s capital is our port tomorrow.
Before walkies we have to get tested by the Filipino authorities. This involves walking along the corridor in pairs being watched by a heat-sensitive camera, anyone running a fever pulled out and will not be seeing the next few day’s ports of Puerta Princessa and Manilla. I checked the CDC website and Westerdam does not have any health alerts so it’s mostly for precaution although we did see a couple of people at the supplementary section which we weren’t invited to visit.
After lunch we laze, look at the ice cream stall, but reflect that on some other lines a member of the bar team would be pouring Baileys or some other suitable liquor over, so we don’t bother!
A bit of work, reading and writing until it’s time for swimming. As the afternoon wears on it becomes apparent we’re going to get a good sunset so head up to ten for a while.
Before long it’s dressing, canapés and we’re in the theatre watching a magician called ][CELONE. I wonder if his birth certificate has square brackets? It’s a nice reference for aged Apple users, but he is at least two decades too young to understand this!
Dinner is the pop-up Morimoto again, we have a quandary – repeat what we enjoyed nearly three weeks ago or try something new. I try something new and regret it – I send back my calamari as it’s inedible rubber, and have some pork gyozo instead which are wonderful. Frans, the Pinnacle maître d’hôte comes rushing over to say he’s tasted the calamari and withdrawn it from tonight’s menu.
Mark sticks to the lobster again whereas I try the Ishiyaka Buri Bop, a very special hot-stone dish where the rice fries on the stone pot whilst the Buri – Yellowtail / Jackfish – cooks to one’s preference. The soy and rice wine accompaniment perfectly compliments the delicate flavours.
We finish off by swapping our previous choices, Mark has the dark chocolate sphere and I have the white chocolate ganache. Both are delicious.
