{"id":12003,"date":"2017-08-08T16:55:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T20:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=12003"},"modified":"2017-11-27T18:42:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:42:27","slug":"day-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=12003","title":{"rendered":"Day at Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, August 8, 2017<\/p>\n

We left Red Bay Labrador yesterday evening and we\u2019re sailing northeast from the Maritime Provinces of Canada to Greenland. \u00a0The ship rolled back and forth all night long in moderate seas and\u00a0I can\u2019t believe I slept until nine o\u2019clock this morning! \u00a0I guess I was rocked to sleep like a baby in a cradle. \u00a0It\u2019s 50 degrees and still foggy with poor visibility outside. \u00a0As of this morning, we\u2019ve traveled 1438 nautical miles since Boston. \u00a0According to the ship\u2019s log which is broadcast on the cabin\u2019s television, the depth of the water at this moment is 11,740 feet deep! \u00a0I didn\u2019t know the ocean was that deep! \u00a0(I really miss Safari!!)<\/p>\n

\"VikingMapEastbound\"<\/p>\n

We moved our clocks forward 30 minutes last night as we crossed into another time zone. We had a quick breakfast before going to the theater to attend a Q & A session called “Ask the Captain.\u201d \u00a0The highest ranking member of the shipboard crew is Captain Hans Mateboer. \u00a0He was an engaging speaker and very knowledgeable with a good sense of humor. \u00a0He was born in Holland but now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. \u00a0He told us his personal and professional life story and answered questions from the audience. \u00a0An interesting anecdote was his scariest sea experience when his Windstar ship caught fire and sank. \u00a0He has been working for Holland America lines for 27 years and this is Captain Mateboer\u2019s last cruise. \u00a0His 94 year old mother and other family members will join him for a retirement party at the cruise terminal in Rotterdam, Holland when we arrive there.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

Later, we returned to the theater to hear Barbara the Location Guide share her insights and slide show of \u2018\u2019\u2019What to do in Qaqortoq and Reykjavik,\u201d our next ports of call. \u00a0I researched of both places before we left home, but it\u2019s always helpful to hear from a person who\u2019s an expert. \u00a0Qaqortoq, Greenland is another tender port and the pictures of it look a lot like Red Bay, Labrador.<\/p>\n

Although Greenland, has its own government, it\u2019s part of Denmark: Danish currency, flag, aid, language, etc. \u00a0Although geographically Greenland is located in North America, politically it\u2019s really a European country.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

Right after Barbara\u2019s presentation, we heard Jim McParland, the geologist, talk about \u201cFjords.\u201d \u00a0He explained that fjords are formed by the movement of glaciers which is why they\u2019re only found in extreme northern or extreme southern hemispheres. The most spectacular fjords are found in Alaska, Norway, Chile, and Greenland.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

Since today is a long \u201cSea Day\u201d the Rotterdam had “High Tea\u201d at 3:00 o\u2019clock. \u00a0It was a fun activity! \u00a0They served small sandwiches, scones, little pastries, and a selection of teas. \u00a0We were joined by a couple from Washington state who had cruised all over the world. \u00a0We enjoyed trading travel stories with them.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

After all the sitting all day, we had to walk around the boat to get some exercise. \u00a0Jeff went to take more photos of art objects on the ship and I walked around the outdoor Promenade Deck. \u00a0It was chilly and the wind was blowing and the sea churned, but it was exciting and I had fun! \u00a0No one was out and the only sound was the swishing of the ocean.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

Tonight was “Gala Night\u201d which is Holland America\u2019s version of \u201cFormal\u201d night. \u00a0Because the current trend is informal dress for every occasion, they don\u2019t require tuxedos or gowns but encourage passengers to \u201cdress up\u201d for dinner. \u00a0The requirement is that this can be as simple as a nice shirt for men and a better blouse for women or as formal as people want. \u00a0Therefore, there is wide range of dress among passengers and some people do not dress up at all.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

I enjoyed dressing up on the last cruise so I brought a couple of “dressy” outfits on this cruise. \u00a0Although many people paraded down to the dining room at 5:30 for their first seating in formal wear, we made our entrance at eight o\u2019clock. \u00a0They had a special \u201cGala Menu\u201d and the waiters were very cheerful.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

After dinner, we stopped to hear the Adagio Duo play classical music – piano and violin. \u00a0It was a quiet and peaceful way to end the day. \u00a0Tomorrow we\u2019re going to Qaqortoq, Greenland. \u00a0I hope it doesn\u2019t rain and the fog lifts, at least for a little while\u2026..<\/p>\n

11 PM Notes from the Bridge: Wind – N\/NE 26 knots 6 Beaufort Scale, \u00a048 degrees, \u00a0sea is 11,760 feet deep, \u00a01645 miles from Boston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, August 8, 2017 We left Red Bay Labrador yesterday evening and we\u2019re sailing northeast from the Maritime Provinces of Canada to Greenland. \u00a0The ship rolled back and forth all night long in moderate seas and\u00a0I can\u2019t believe I slept until nine o\u2019clock this morning! \u00a0I guess I was rocked to sleep like a baby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12047,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12003\/revisions\/12047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}