Tuesday – August 15, 2017
It’s a gray overcast rainy day with poor visibility. The fog horn was sounding its mournful cry again this morning. At 9:00 AM it was 54 degrees with eight knots of wind (3 on the Beaufort Scale) We’re heading due East to Alesund, Norway.
The ship was rolling and shaking all day and walking a straight line was challenging. By 3:00 o’clock the wind picked up to 21 kts (6 Beaufort) from the SE.
I haven’t gotten used to the ship’s movement yet. Just when I stop thinking about it, the floor moves and I have to hold on to something. It’s weird to be taking a shower while the walls are moving up and down. Sometime last night, I was awakened by the increased side-to-side rolling of the ship and I felt like someone was turning me over. It’s pretty funny. Fortunately, I haven’t felt seasick!
Today is another “relaxing” day at sea. Except no one told the wind or the boat to relax!
I had a light breakfast then we went to hear John Nixon talk about “The Race For Tea.” This was a lighthearted lecture in which he described the maritime history of commercial sailing ships which brought tea from Asia to England. Captain Nixon also talked about the most common teas available today and the best way to “make tea.”
We attended another interesting lecture entitled The Vikings – Scandinavia and The Viking World presented by Dr. Thorsteinn Hannesson. He is a science professor from Iceland who attended the University of Michigan. He described the migration of people from the Nordic countries to England, Scotland, Iceland, and Greenland.
It was a quiet peaceful day aboard the Rotterdam.