Day 115 - Saturday April 22 at sea - day 3

Sea Day 3 photos
position at 7:15am: N32 29.57 latitude W40 48.55 longitude
(1400 miles E of Bermuda, our next port)
temperature: 66F, Cloudy
distance since FLL: 37,351 miles
This is our last Saturday onboard Voyager for this World Cruise. By this time next week we will have spent our first night back on land. We will have had to fend for ourselves for a few meals already and make some really big, almost limitless, decisions about what and where to eat. (No pressure, Margie!)
Today is Debbie's brother Matt's birthday. Happy B-day, Matt!
The Atlantic was a little rougher last night, but still much better than what it might be. The room cracked a little. It was pleasant and crowded on deck this morning as Clay walked. The 66F temperature and the time change last night brought out all the regulars for their early morning walks. The sun was up before 6am this morning, and that is the first time that has happened since we left the Med. Debbie was up early this morning because Clay warned her 3 times last night as we went to bed that he needed to be at Roger's Tour Talk on Bermuda at 9am. So, when Clay returned to the room, she was up and ready. Clay forgot he had insisted she get up early and then claimed he was only joking. (3 times? It wasn't funny the first time!) We will have an early breakfast in LaVeranda today. Debbie got 2 chocolate croissants and a bowl of raspberries so it was a good start for her even with all the rolling. Clay had cereal and then a peanut butter & banana sandwich. Sabine had peanut butter at the ready for Debbie, so Clay took it instead. Debbie had a few tastes of the peanut butter and it was really good today. Captain Dag said in his Vords of Visdom that there is a huge high pressure system over Bermuda and that we will have excellent weather. In the meantime, we just have some strong crosswinds that are making things a little unpleasant right now but that it will pass. OK, keeping our fingers crossed. Last night at the SSS party, Capt. Dag promised that one, the ship will not fall over when we reach the end of the world out here and two, that no matter what happens from here on out that he is sure we will arrive in Hamilton, Bermuda on time. As we were killing time this morning waiting for our cabin to be ready, Lars came by to ask how his picture turned out. Clay showed him that it is a perfectly charming photo. Lars is holding Bob by his little feet. Debbie told Lars that Bob looks good and Lars just cracked up. He asked if it was on the Internet yet. (Debbie knew that Lars was on to us weeks ago, when he kept asking about Bob!) Not yet! Wwe have a few more pictures at least to take and that will still only be a fraction of the people working onboard, so we will apologize in advance to anyone we leave out and who might feel spurned. Sorry! It is not our intention to hurt feelings.
Debbie met Lou Harris in the hall this morning and he asked her to come to his lecture at 10am. It is about Richard Nixon. Sadly, though Debbie did not tell Lou Harris this, she plans to attend Jacquie's Fusion Fitness class about that time and will not attend his lecture or Bill Miller's 2nd lecture. Clay may go to Bill Miller's lecture on "The Queens" at 11am. He is at Roger's Bermuda talk right now.
Debbie did some more packing and then dressed and headed out to Fusion Fitness at 10:15am. Jacquie cancelled the class because the seas had gotten too rough and she decided it would be unsafe. Well, it is getting rougher. Debbie is hoping it is one of those situations where it has to get a little worse before it gets a lot better. So, she got to go back and do even a little more packing. We have 4 suitcases packed up now. We need some cardboard to stabilize some fragile items and then we will have a 5th suitcase packed up pretty quickly. Most everything else will have to wait until the end because it is electronics, clothes or bathroom stuff that we are using everyday.
Freddie said in his noon announcement that we are in rough seas with 5-meter swells and Force 6 winds on the Buford scale from the south and all of this is good conditions for the mid-North Atlantic sailing. He reiterated that about the Bermuda high pressure and that the weather there would be excellent for our visit. UMM, OK, but we are watching the waves and swells grow higher through the day and the barometric pressure drop through the day. So, what we are wondering is this - is their data correct up there - are they telling us what they want us to think instead of what is really happening - when are those smooth seas returning??? We know we were lucky for a couple of days and should shut up, but we will shut up when our cabin doesn't sound like a popcorn popper in a hurricane!
Tonight is the first of the 2 World Cruisers' dinners in the crew quarters and LaVeranda is closed for 2 nights so the crew can eat up there instead. While we expect this to be fun, it seems unfair that we are displacing not only the crew, but also the other passengers onboard are down to only room service or Compass Rose if they did not already have reservations in either Latitudes or Signatures for these 2 nights. At lunch today there is a lobster BBQ on the Pool Deck. These are usually pretty elaborate seafood extravaganzas. Since Debbie does not eat seafood, not sure where we will eat lunch today. Clay wants Debbie to do some more packing today, he is still worried. Guess more packing is on the agenda for today. More later. So, given the rough seas we decided not to head higher. We went down to Compass Rose. Debbie had chilled cream of raspberry soup and Ricardo asked her if he could bring her a straw for her milkshake. It was good and yeah a bendy straw would have made it even better! Clay had skirt steak quesadilla appetizer and it was larger than some entree portions. Clay can have all the quesadillas he wants when he gets home! Another happy thought about something missed and soon to be back in our lives. We both had sandwiches. Debbie had roast beef and cheese and Clay had tuna salad. Clay had ice cream for dessert and Debbie had low-carb American Fudge Cake, it was very fudgy, yum, and it had a raspberry on top. Debbie won't be getting that at home. Boo-hoo.
Debbie had planned to return to the aerobics room for Total Body Toning, which Jacquie assured her would take place this afternoon. But, it is getting really rough and Debbie struggled to get back to the cabin after lunch. So, she plans to nap it off and see what conditions are like later. The Spanish brothers had finished the 3-D puzzle and were preparing to destroy it when we came by after lunch. Clay got a last picture of it completed and just before the boys wrecked it. They were working on a new flat puzzle already. Clay woke Debbie at the time she requested but told her she should stay in bed and not try to go to class. She is desperate for exercise right now and she hates to be told what to do, so she got up and tried to tough it out. Took extra meclizine and some Maalox, but never got as far as getting workout clothes on before just sitting and crying. Clay told her it would be over soon, like that is supposed to help. We'll lay on the bed and watch the Batman Begins DVD and see if that helps. In the meantime, we'll close the sheers so we can't see the waves dripping off our balcony railings. More later.
So, the movie was OK, but the rough seas suck. Clay saw a brief rainbow off the balcony as the sun made a brief reappearance today just in time for it to set. Debbie did dress and go down to Compass Rose for dinner. But, we only had an entree and dessert tonight and back to the cabin. We made a quick stop outdoors to check on the sunset. There were too many clouds too low on the horizon but we saw a bright streak of light. We don't know if it was a meteor or if some space craft is making a re-entry now. But, that is what it looked like, not a jet. It is the middle of the ocean. So, we got another DVD after dinner and will try to watch it before Debbie knocks herself out with Dramamine. We hope that we enter that big Bermuda high pressure some time soon, like tomorrow.
Sea Day 3 photos