We woke up pretty early on Friday and had a hearty breakfast. Danishes, croissants, eggs, and bacon were all available in large quantities. This day became the day of poker for those of the crew who were into it.
The first round of poker:
This ended up with me and my cabin-mate being the last two standing. We decided to split the pot rather than hold up everyone else, as we both had started the strategy of hunkering down behind our chips, waiting for the ideal hand.
After such a big breakfast, it was unanimously decided to skip lunch, and go into a second round of poker. Those not playing spotted some otters swimming in the lake. I promptly abandoned my hand and scrambled out onto the rocks to get what pictures I could:
I also got this lovely shot:
The rest of the table wasn’t inclined to wait for me, so I got folded out of the pot I called on. However, I managed to outlast everyone to come in a distant second, and thus win a portion of the pot. Throughout the second game, those of us not playing (and sometimes those that were!) were watching Madagascar and Deuce Bigalow that played in the background.
We took a break after the second poker game. I eventually went out and practiced with my camera taking night shots of the stars. I really appreciated how many stars one could see so far in the wilderness, and enjoyed experimenting with my camera and tripod (amateur level both). I also discovered that the noise level at ISO 400 on my Canon S400 was really too much. The bigger pictures for the starry sky convey the details better I think:
I particularly liked the last sky picture above, because it captures both a shooting star and the remnants of sunset on the horizon. I lucked out, but it’s too bad about the noise. 
This one turned out interesting, as someone in the houseboat was playing with the searchlight, wondering where I was perhaps (I was huddled outside the houseboat taking pictures; it was pitch black).
Dinner were some delicious savoury crepes made by one of the crew (a Frenchman, no less): ham and egg and cheese, peppers, etc. We watched Team America over dinner, and then I ventured out to the hot tub with some of the others to enjoy warm waters and bright stars, with a laptop playing good music in the background.
The hot tub was very relaxing, yet after we had all returned back below decks, I joined in on the third round of poker for the day. This was a particularly grueling game, going until 3-4 AM. I made many mistakes, from very basic ones early on (thinking I had a different hand) to strategic (playing directly against one person early on for big stakes on weak hands). I eventually got pushed out taking the non-paying third place, and watched #2 desperately go all-in repeatedly until she was finally caught. After such a late game, I slept very soundly.
