Saturday – January 9, 2016
“And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s songs and the white sails shaking. And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying…..”
The sea had been calm when we left Mexico but sometime during the night the wind increased and the ship pitched and rolled waking me up. By morning, we had to hold on to the handrails in the hall and stairways on our way to breakfast. I was happy to be on a very large ship.
I tried to remember the pre-technology Beaufort Scale to approximate wind speed over water based on observations. It was difficult to guess the height of the waves from above, but spray was blowing off the tops of numerous whitecaps reaching upper decks. In nautical parlance, I guessed, it could be described as “a stiff breeze.”
We filled our last day with ship-board activities and music and attended a Q & A session with the chief officers: Captain, Chief Engineer, and Hospitality Manager. We skipped an aerobics class and the acrobatic demonstrations but heard Dingo Dave, the entertainment director, talk about where and how the 1000-member crew live onboard. We also heard ship statistics: 67,000 eggs, 43,000 lbs. of fruit, 53,000 lbs of veggies, 61,000 lbs. meat, etc. consumed this week.
“… And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover….”
All in all, our first cruise was a success. We had a good time, visited historic sites, ate well, and enjoyed the ship’s activities. It was a fun way to celebrate a decade birthday!