Checking in for the cruise was the predictable well-oiled process.
Hand over the tour voucher and receive a ticket for the boat with morning and afternoon tea included, a second for the bus tour around the island and a third that gets you into the buffet lunch.
You also receive a timetable and a briefing during which the attendant draws helpful circles around the times and places where we'd need to be to catch the bus, get lunch and catch the return ferry.
This was done in a vocal tone suggesting extensive experience explaining such matters to befuddled elderly day-trippers.
Since we don't fit that demographic, I concluded that this was the result of a lengthy and comprehensive training process.
Down at the ferry, we presented our credentials to tour guide Adine, boarded the boat.
We opted for seats upstairs on the outside deck, coincidentally landing the row in front of the suspected Alexander party.
At that juncture, I thought of turning around and asking whether a certain party was who I thought she was.
But I concluded if one of the doyens of modern Australian cooking was travelling incognito, I wasn't going to blow her cover.
The cruise along the Swan towards Fremantle was accompanied by a narrative from Adine. However, it wasn't exactly audible on the upper deck.