Cowbright: Another Sea Day

So where in the world are we? I was glad to see a map this morning that shows me exactly where I am.

our ship is now between the arrow and Belem

We missed last night's Meet and Greet Cocktail Party for "ATW" passengers (those traveling the full 180 day itinerary). It's a chance for guests to schmooze with the Captain, Cruise Director and other crew members. Dress was country club casual and I wouldn't have felt comfortable wearing sneakers and jeans so we blew that off.

I'm going to give a shout out to the people on this ship who take care of us. Our steward (Jose) makes our bed and cleans our room while we're having breakfast and takes our laundry for 1 day service while his partner Kino cleans the bathroom and refurnishes towels and leaves our toilet paper folded to a little point, morning and evening. Prashant (butler) is so very professional and they all work so hard. Last night when Ronnie had gone to eat, I still wasn't feeling great and didn't have much of an appetite anyway, so he very cheerfully went to one of the specialty restaurants onboard and brought me back a bowl of French onion soup. Always so pleasant, always above and beyond.

Today has been a cloudy sail day with just the regular ship board activities to pick and choose from. This morning early we were headed to the Terrace Cafe for breakfast, but changed our mind and decided to go to the Grand Dining Room instead. It's more formal than the self-serve cafe where we've been eating almost all our meals, and we would need to to be dressed better at noon or dinner but we decided we could get away with jeans and sweats at breakfast. We had a table for two next to a window in the corner, so it was ok. Ronnie ordered pecan pancakes and I had blueberry - both good.

entrance to Grand Dining Room, Vista

I confess to being lazy this morning while Ronnie went to the gym to exercise. I admire his discipline! Quiet time, exercise, Bible reading (he's using a guide to read through the Bible in one year) and practicing the ukulele (teaching himself). The truth is, I'm just not as disciplined as he is. Sigh...

This afternoon we attended a couple of different onboard lectures. The first was "The Crown Jewel of Islands" by geographer Lori Bremner. She spoke on coral reefs which she referred to as "the vibrant rainforest of the sea". It was interesting to learn the symbiotic interplay of so many of the living creatures in the ocean. (You do know that coral is alive, right?) I especially enjoyed the video of the octopus and how many times it can change its own appearance to either hide from their predators or sneak up on their prey. They can change themselves (color and texture) into something almost impossible to see in an instant!

lectures take place in Horizons Lounge

this colorful fish eat the algae off of other fish - a win/win!

We stayed for a second talk by a recently retired forensic scientist who has worked on many important cases. He showed slides of various methods he's used in solving murder cases all over the world. I'm quite a detail person, and I've often thought that I might have been good at forensics. However, the idea of digging up dead bodies or searching for them through landfills does not appeal to me at all. Still, how satisfying it must be to solve a case and bring justice to a victim and his or her family!

Tonight's show "Musicals and Memories" is still TBD. I feel sure we would enjoy it because it will likely include songs we love from Les Miserables. It doesn't start until 9:15 so I guess we'll decide after dinner if we want to go or just watch a movie in the room. It's nice knowing you don't have to do anything except what you feel like doing, but at the same time it makes me feel like I'm wasting opportunities. I guess the bottom line is that one can do as much or as little as one wants while floating along on the sea.

PS Adding some photos I snapped from tonight's fish dinner. Hopefully the fish and veggies offset the dessert!?