Sea days
We love spending days at sea. There’s nothing like waking up and opening the curtains to a view like this. With an itinerary starting with two days sailing to our first port of call, we are happy!
We headed outside to our favourite breakfast spot. It’s not especially early, but there’s plenty of space and we chose a shady table out of the direct sun, which is already quite fierce.
With my blueberry penchant already noted, my dish of birchermuesli was complete and we enjoyed our breakfast in the fresh air before going in search of the Library to collect today’s puzzle page.
It’s a couple of years since we were on board this ship and we needed a bit of a refresher to recall where things are. In “the old days” there would be a small map folded inside our key card wallets, but those seem to have disappeared. We soon found a deck plan by the lifts though and made our way to what is surely one of the best libraries in the fleet.
We had a plan for the day. I’d marked the things which interested us on the “Passages” programme last evening and we were soon heading out to the theatre for the first of four presentations today. Our route will take us into Antarctica and this first lecture, entitled “Where are we going and what will we see” was a great start. Presented by Robin, leader of the team of experts on board our appetites were soon whetted and there was a palpable buzz of excitement in the audience.
Robin, herself a geologist specialising in ice, went on to introduce the team: Tim the British ornithologist, Penny, the whale expert who’s just completed her PhD at Cambridge, Glenn from Florida, an expert in Polar Exploration and Craig, the Canadian Wildlife conservationist. When we reach Antarctic waters, they’ll set up a team hub with maps, reference materials and resources to enhance our experience.
The second lecture of the day was given by Penny, whose enthusiasm for whales was immediately apparent. We’d met Penny on the shuttle bus when we joined the ship and found her to be very engaging. If her aim was to inspire us, she probably achieved that goal within minutes. I learned so much about the variety of whales we are hoping to see, how to distinguish a Fin Whale from a Humpback or an Orca and my notebook page was soon filled with bubblenet feeding, tubicles, blow holes and tail shapes. Although I’d hoped we’d see a variety of wildlife, I think this was the first realisation that we might actually be in for a very special experience indeed.
As we left the theatre, we bumped into friends from a previous cruise who were heading for the pool deck. The sun was surely now over the yardarm and what’s not to like about a pre-lunch “snecklifter” ? So we sat in good company for an hour or so with an Aperol Spritz until someone might have suggested it was time to eat.
One of the delights here is the choice of venue at every mealtime and we headed for Prime Seven, the grill, which has large windows overlooking the ocean and some pretty amazing art on the walls. So, we sat in the shadow of a work by Miro whilst I enjoyed my grilled salmon and my Hero his seafood platter.
The Picasso hangs safely behind the Maitre D’s desk.
After lunch, the big question was, would we be able to stay awake for Tim’s lecture about the birdlife of Antarctica? The notes in my little book are proof that we did, and though I can’t profess to be anything of an expert, I probably know more about Albatrosses, Shearwaters and Petrels now than at any other time in my life! Yes, I might have to be brave when it comes to the birdlife, but I think that the likelihood of any of these coming anywhere near me is so slim, I will be ok.
Other plans for the afternoon included the first needlepoint session and on my way there, I took a few snaps of the Christmas decorations still in place here on board. It all looks a little incongruous now for we feel we’ve well and truly left Christmas behind us. But it’s not Twelfth Night yet and we still have the New Year Celebrations to look forward to!
I didn’t get much stitching done, realising before long that I really needed my glasses as well as my contacts for such close work in sub-optimal light, but hey ho…I made a start and was already in the right place for the next event of the day: Trivia.
Our new team assembled and, very satisfyingly, won! Three points all round as a reward for knowing the Urals were in Russia, for remembering most of - not all, sadly! - the single word Bond film titles and for working out that Torvill and Dean won their gold medal ice dancing to Bolero in 1984 together with a few other random facts that have sat undisturbed in our memories for quite some time.
When we returned to our suite late afternoon to get ready for dinner, our travelling companions had gained a couple of mates and had been having fun with our housekeepers Agustin and Gil…
We had a dinner invitation from the HR Manager and his partner, so left the bears to their own devices whilst we schmoozed around a table in the restaurant, sharing travellers tales and our appreciation for the good things in life.
When we returned to our suite after the show, we found ourselves in a Goldilocks situation… 🥰
