AT SEA Tues. July 23

            Rain again!  An hour or so ago we had some very welcome blue sky. I decided to do a small update on what’s been happening since we didn’t visit Torshavn (July 18). Most of the time since then we have had fog, rain and a lot of rough sea.

            Every morn I’ve been waking to the dismal sound of the fog horn bellowing every two or three minutes; every evening I’ve gone to sleep to the same mournful sound. Although there’s no fog today – yet. (10.30am) The skies are leaden and the sea has once again started to have ‘white horses’ and look very unsettled.

            The Captain warned us earlier that the North Atlantic was noted for rough weather. And rough weather we’ve had. He also said he was taking a course between two Low Systems to avoid as much unpleasant weather as possible.

Four nights ago we ran into the worst of it. I just took to early bed. I know that works for me when things get really bad. I don’t get sick if I climb into bed, cover my eyes and tell myself I’m being rocked on the bosom of the deep. Then I drop off to sleep.

That night Bruce decided to go down to the show in the Theatre. About 9.30 the door flew open and he arrived back.

He said “Well – they’re all staggering around out there like a mob of drunken sailors!”  In this he included himself.

The ship was kicking and bucking occasionally in a most alarming way likely to throw everyone off their feet. The Captain recommended moving around the ship cautiously, especially on stairs, and advised the use of handrails. It’s funny how a big ship like this can be hit by the occasional wave which feels like some sort of Titanic adventure. (Mind you, we passed within 14 miles of the Titanic wreck the other day. No icebergs around.)

At midday today the Captain tells us that totally unaccounted for bad weather has struck again, and winds of 35 to 40 knots an hour are pushing the sea up into ominous waves. Too bad. Maybe it’s bed for me in a few hours. Again.

What else has happened as we have progressed in a mainly South Westerly  and Westerly direction towards New York? Three times in the last few days we have had to put our clocks back an hour overnight. And it’s coming up again tonight to get to New York time: 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time.

Sunset and sunrise have also changed dramatically. At Torshaven  the sunrise was at 4.17am and sunset at 10.47pm. Today sunrise was at 5.23am and sunset (provided we have sun) will be at 8.33pm. And the changes will progress in the next few days.

Temperatures have also changed as we moved South into warmer climes.

Torshavn – low of 11°C and high of 12°C (really turned out colder than that with the fog). Today they told us to expect low of 14° and high of 20°.

            At noon the Captain said the unexpected weather deterioration was likely to continue through this afternoon and evening.

            Oh well . . . .

AT SEA Tues. May 28, 2013

Another day of mild sea. White horses are rare today and the ship is steady. Not that I’m complaining. I’m a really bad sailor, and as soon as we start to  pitch or yaw, I take to bed for a few hours until we stop the uncomfortable swaying about.

We have maintained a Westerly course according to the Navigator. We seem to have been passing close to land on both sides today, and they have been islands I didn’t know existed. I guess they are part of Indonesia, and we headed into the Java Sea and turned to the North West.

Tonight we put our clocks back another hour, which I find much more comfortable than when we head East and lose an hour’s sleep every second night. It is about 9pm here, and already 11pm in Sydney. Bruce’s body-clock is keeping Sydney time so he is in bed asleep. He was reading till his eyes got just too heavy, so he gave in and went to bed. In the morning he will wake up early (not even Lucy to take out) and get up, go and have breakfast, and come back here telling me loudly ‘It’s 8 o’clock. Time to rise and shine.” I open one eye and drift to the surface slowly.

By the time I get up, shower and dress it is probably 9 o’clock before we head upstairs to the Horizon buffet on Level 14. I have breakfast and Bruce is ready for morning tea, and thinking about going to a morning ‘Scholarship at Sea’ Lecture. He has been going to a series by an Economy lecturer – a professor – on things like poverty in The Third World. He has been enjoying them.

I thought I would talk  a bit about the dining rooms. There are two large dining restaurants on Level Five and Level Six, called  ‘Rigoletto’ and ‘Traviata’. Each has seating for 480 people, and there are two sittings in each every night. It is amazing that the kitchens can cater for so many people with meals that arrive at the table  hot and pretty fancy. Our Evening meal is early. At 5.30 each night. In another setting it might be late afternoon tea time.  The Late sitting is 7.45, when they do it all over again.  I am impressed that they can present nearly 2000 hot and appetizing meals on time if needed.

These sittings are never full as there are several other places you can eat. There’s always the Horizon Buffet up on Level 14 which is much less formal than the dining room. Dress code not so strictly ‘Smart Casual’. There is also a smaller Steak House and a Pizzeria. If you want you can have catered breakfast and lunch in the Dining Room. You can even order breakfast and have it delivered to your cabin. We’ve never gone to breakfast but occasionally have lunch in the dining room as it’s very civilized – that is, not so crowded, or noisy, and the lunch menu is very pleasantly served by the waiters without your having to queue and hassle for table space.

The dinner menu is varied and –as I said – can be ‘fancy’.  There’s a choice of three ‘Appetisers’, then ‘Soup and Salad’. Three soups and a special salad. Main Course has a choice of several pastas, two fish dishes, chicken. Sometimes lamb.  And lastly beef or pork.  Tonight Bruce had ‘Turf and Surf’ (“rare’ please) and I had Australian Spring Lamb. We are spoilt for choice – though I find servings too big.

The desert menu follows: tonight there was ‘Chocolate Obsession’ and I had the much less exotic Apple Crumble with Crème Anglaise!

And to think I don’t have to think up what to cook tonight for another 90 or so days.

Alas – it will come around again, but in the meantime not having to do so is very pleasant.