January 23 - Cruising the Pacific Ocean

This is another day at sea so we are hitting the lectures again.  The first lecture was by our Destination Lecturer, Ken Rees.  He talked about Kiribati, out next port of call.  The island is a third world nation that is struggling economically and is likely to be one of the first nations to vanish as the oceans rise due to climate change. 

The second lecture today was by General Anthony Zinni who talked about the art and science of mediation.  He was involved in many conflicts as a mediator, including various Middle East and Indian Subcontinent events.  It was actually rather fascinating to hear about the events and some of what happened during the mediation process.

In the afternoon Mary took some time off from the lectures to go to the Advanced Piano class.  It was very elementary for her but she got her hands on a keyboard for a while. 

In the afternoon we also heard from Bill Toone, one of the biologists heavily involved in the work to save the California Condor from extinction.  And the last lecture was by Adrian Vickers, a professor from the University of Sydney who specializes in Polynesia.  He gave a talk about the peopling of the Polynesian Islands.  The caliber of lectures on this cruise is excellent and we are enjoying them immensely.