Saturday – August 19, 2017
Last night as we left Hardangerfjord, the Captain announced that we might have rough seas ahead. He predicted ten foot waves; assured us the ship was fine and we should hold on to handrails especially on the stairs. It was calm as we continued through the long fjord but it started to rain about eight o’clock. We were having dinner in the dining room, which is in the aft end of the ship, overlooking the Norwegian mountains. We could feel the motion of the ship as it moved out into open waters.
Sometime very early this morning, the ship’s movements woke me up. The bed shook and vibrated as the room pitched and rolled. I got up to see what was happening outside but only saw rolling seas. Later when I looked out again, there were whitecaps on top of the waves.
At 8:30, the temperature was 57 degrees and the wind was blowing at forty-three knots from the south/south west (9 on the Beaufort Scale). We were off the coast of Denmark in 150 feet of water according to the information on the television. We have traveled 4133 nautical miles since Boston.
When I got up, I didn’t feel so well. I put a Scopolamine patch behind my left ear and waited to feel better. The Rotterdam pitched, rolled, shook, and vibrated all day long today. I’m very glad I wore the patch.