At Sea North Atlantic

Day 8 & 9

Day 8 was uneventful. Slept in till noon. Joined a card group on board and we play Whist. Played this card game decades ago and the game is easy to pick up. Card Counting and Strategy is something that takes a bit of time but it’s clear that it can be achieved. I won the first day amongst jeers of You sandbagging us? I thought you don’t play cards! Just a quick study, I guess!

Day 9 arrived with high seas. By the time we awoke, seas were topping 6 meters (18-20 feet) and the motion in the ocean was substantial! As the day went on, the oceans rose and challenged us to a rip roaring good time of balance and walking on a ship! We’ll be pros in no time!

We chose to go to Lunch in the restaurant as opposed to the Buffet and we were sat at a table of 6. Partway through the meal, plates and glasses were sliding off the table and were rescued by quick hands of all at the table!

By the time my Whist Group met at 2 PM, we were on a bucking bronco! One of our card group was ever thrown completely out of his chair during a round! Fortunately, he was okay and only landed on carpeting. This is after we also decided to move the group out of the Whist Room which had a hardwood floor to a carpeted area so the tables and chairs had more traction.

After cards, I went into one of the lounges to meet up with Elee at a Trivia Game where we were sorely trounced (After winning the morning game!) and during that game several people were tossed about. One lady (80ish years old) was tossed across the floor and was most concerned not with her safety or condition, but with the fact that she lost her Bingo Card! Another lady was hit by a marble coffee table top that somehow landed on her. It appears that no injuries were sustained.

All this rough seas appear to be caused by the Bay of Biscayne, that body of water that borders the west of France and the north of Spain. Not something that I have experienced previously but many passengers are aware of. Apparently this is a turbulent area of the oceans of the world! But also, because of it being winter, this is an area of concern.

This morning, we have been informed that we will not be going to Ponto Delgado in the Azores because of the rough seas and a storm front, but we will be going to Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Still Portugal, but a different island that is much closer to the mainland. We had a private tour that we had booked, and will probably lose that. But Funchal sounds interesting in its own right. Time will tell and you’ll have to stay tuned to find out what we do!

As a side note, I love the feel of a boat rocking in rough seas and I know I will fall asleep to the motion and wake refreshed in the morning! See you then!

Day 10 & 11

Day 10 is also a day at sea and we wake to relatively calm seas. Somewhere around midnight last night saw the calming of the waves. An eventless morning with blue skies greets us.

We attend a Creative Writing class this morning that turns out to be a dry and uninformative lecture that neither of us needs. So on to the bar for the fun quizzes and heckling of our new found friends. A quick lunch and it’s on to Whist with more new found friends!

The afternoon sports a Whist Game where I take third place (as a Newbie! First day I won the round!) The on to a game of Scrabble and back to the bar where the Drink of the Day, the “Smooth Sailing” keeps my glass full! Dinner and live music in the bar take up the evening hours and we retire.

Day 11 is uneventful also except it’s Formal meet the Captain night. But nothing special because we never meet the Captain! We are instructed in writing to go into one of 2 specific bars and we we be summoned to meet the Captain for a photograph. We and 25 plus others followed instructions to a tee and were never summoned. Sheesh! So we ended up “All Dressed Up With No Place To Go!”