Monday – August 14, 2017
At 8:00 AM the temperature was 48 degrees with a 14 knot wind (4 on the Beaufort Scale) We’ve traveled 2858 nautical miles since Boston.
We’re heading East to Norway. We had a great time in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was a fantastic city and interesting country and we’d like to return on our own some day! Maybe drive around the “Ring Road”?
Today was another Sea Day and I didn’t take any pictures. We checked the ship’s schedule to see what’s available to do. Most of the choices didn’t appeal to us, for example Ping Pong Tournament, Beer Tasting, Tennis, Jackpot Bingo, Dutch Shuffle Board, etc.
We were interested in two of the lectures. In the morning, we heard John Nixon talk about “The Work of the Marine Salvor: Shipwrecks,Disaster & Salvage.” I thought this was a surprising topic to present to passengers while cruising on a ship! He had worked for an international salvage company and he related his experiences as a Salvage Consultant. He talked about the types and causes of casualties: structural failures, grounding & stranding, stability & capsize, flooding & listing, and human error. He spoke mainly about commercial vessels which were shipwrecked during the last fifty years, so the topic seemed remote to us sitting comfortably in the theater as the ship gently rolled back and forth. Captain Nixon had photographs of all the disasters he spoke about and his lecture was very interesting.
Later in the afternoon we also heard Location Guide Barbara take about our next two ports: Bergen and Eidfjord, Norway. I always enjoy travel photos and her talk was enjoyable. Jeff and I visited Bergen a number of years ago and loved it so we’re looking forward to seeing the city again. Eidfjord is one of Norway’s famous fjords and it looked beautiful in Barbara’s pictures. I hope it’s not raining when we cruise there!
Tonight was another dress up – Gala Night. We wanted to eat in the dining room so we wore our dressiest outfits and shared a table with two other couples. David and Henry were from Seattle, Washington and Linda and Hank from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We had good conversation and a pleasant evening. We’ve been lucky so far!
The weather was lovely all day: bright and sunny with some clouds. The sea was relatively calm with just a few white caps later in the afternoon. At 11:00 PM the temperature was 52 degrees; we’re sailing directly into the wind with 17 knots of wind from the east; we’ve traveled 3095 nautical miles so far.