At Sea

Sunbathing - the idea seems pleasant enough to me, but my skin just isn't made for it. I spent 20 minutes on each side of me on the lounge chair between 8:20am and 9am. Later in the day, the damage was apparent: red, itchy bumps on my arms and chest, and general redness on my face. I thought the sun woudn't be that strong that early in the morning, but at 18 deg N latitude, I guess I was wrong! Anyway, my skin is clearing up slowly and I'm staying out of the sun.

There isn't much to report while we are at sea. I continue to go the fitness centre each day - the view from the panoramic windows there on Deck #13 is wonderful to take in while exercising. Lots of people use the equipment, especially in the late morning and early afternoon, but I can work around that.

Last year on our cruise, we met an elderly couple from Kiel - Dorothy & Wolfgang. In a Fado restaurant in Lisbon, they were seated at our table, and I have stayed in touch with them since then. They are very pleasant and kind people: Dorothy is 73 & Wolfgang is 78 years old, and is suffering the after effects of a stroke. Ann recognized them in a crowd on the second day of our cruise and we were pleased to be re-united again. On Sunday, we met for lunch in one of the restaurants, and were able to share our experiences since we last saw each other. Dorothy & Wolfgang have been on 2 other cruises since our cruise last year. The most exotic one was on the QE 2 from New York to Capetown, South Africa, via Rio and Montevideo. The trip took 3 weeks and life on the QE2 sounds more formal than on ours: Wolfgang had to wear his tuxedo 11 times for formal dinners! They still are able to manage their 24 foot (7 meter) sailboat in Kiel and had a wonderful summer of sailing. Due to Wolfgang's impairment, Dorothy has to operate the sailboat herself, which she finds easy to do, except for docking.

Scrabble is a game to which Ann challenges me daily. We usually find as quiet a place as possible on the ship to play our game, while Ann consumes a latte. I have won 2 games of the 3 we have played, although Ann is a good player and it's probably luck in my case!

We usually have lunch in the restaurant but today I wanted to try the cafeteria for a change. There was lots of selection but it was quite crowded and noisy. We're going to meet our German friends again tomorrow (Tuesday) for lunch.

The sea state was reasonably smooth on Saturday & Sunday, but last night (Sunday night), things changed. There was a mild storm with some rain and the wind was blowing about 60km/h from the east. With our heading of about 60 degrees, there was a lot of wind on the top deck this morning. During the night, we found it quite rough, with lurches that woke us up. It felt like we were on a jet plane encountering moderate turbulence. There seemed to be 2 major wave patterns - one coming from 30 degrees to port and the other about 30 degrees to starboard. Each of these cause a certain rolling of the ship and, since our cabin is at the stern, it also goes up and down quite a bit. By 10am this morning, the sky cleared and we started pulling away from the low pressure centre causing the wind. It is now late afternoon and, although there are still lots of white caps, the wind has dropped to about 40km/h, the sun is shining, and the ship isn't bouncing around quite as much. We certainly notice that athe ship's movements are significantly more noticeable on Deck #11 where our cabin is located compared with Deck #5 where the restaurant is located (and was where our cabin was last year). If you want to avoid some of the ship's tossing, I would recommend getting a cabin as low in the ship as possible.

During the night tonight, we will be passing the mid-way mark on our way to Madeira. Hopefully we don't have any more rough seas.

That's about all the news we have. Life is relaxing and comfortable on board. We meet people from all over the world and are never bored.