position at 8:45am: N30 10.41 latitude E32 34.08 longitude
(590 SE of Kusadasi, Turkey our next port)
temperature: 64F, 90% humidity, mostly cloudy
distance since FLL: 32,233 miles
Clay was up early for a really nice walk with only a handful of other people. Debbie slept in again. Since we were late to breakfast with nothing pressing to do and see today, we had a late breakfast in the Compass Rose. It was confirmed that the raspberry supply for the cruise is gone and that strawberries were also not fit to be served alone leaving only blueberries. Debbie has an aversion to blueberries. Don't ask. She did get an affirmative answer to chocolate croissants today. Unfortunately, the answer also volunteered the repeated information that chocolate croissants are served every other day. Now we know that is not true and we disabused the waiter of that company line. He laughed and believed that we might be right and they are only served every 3 to 4 days. Debbie had one chocolate croissant and swedish pancakes. Clay had his usual fried eggs & sausage.
It was in the low 60s degrees F this morning but there was no wind so it felt warmer. The seas were pretty rough this morning. We bounced from wall to wall after breakfast and happened by the Club.com as one big sideways lean dumped the refrigerator of sodas as we entered the room to look for a video for our quiet sea day. We did pick a video. Given her fatigue and the rough ride, Debbie was pretty quick back to the cabin and to bed for a morning nap.
They were having an International Country Fair Food Court on the Pool Deck for lunch according to the daily Passages. "With over 30 nations represented onboard the Seven Seas Voyager we invite guests to enjoy all the fun of a Country Fair Buffet on the Pool Deck (11), today for lunch. Choose from a vast selection of delicious hot and cold dishes from around the world, each region represented by a 'stall holder' of his or her own nationality. Savor specialties from Europe, India, Asia, as well as the USA. One visit is never enough, so be selective and then come back for more, betwen 12 NOON and 2:00PM. (weather permitting)" So, it being a perfect weather day we headed up despite the rocky ride. Here was a classic example of the hyperbole exceeding the reality. There were no stalls, no nationalities manning them, not even a bowl of rice to represent Asia. It was for RSSC Voyager's World Cruise, a pretty standard seafood extravangza with the German sides. We have seen this buffet before and it is copious, but it was nothing like the description above. There were cold salads and seafood. There was an enormous pan of paella looking like all the sea had jumped in there. There was a large selection of breads and cheeses. There were grilled lobster tails, steaks, sausages, chicken and drumsticks. There was caviar and pan-seared foie gras. There was champagne and German beer on tap. There was beef goulash, spaetzle, fried potatoes, white sausages and sauerkraut, meatloaf and sauerbraten. It was a big lunch buffet with lots of choices, but no Indian or Asian or national stalls, etc. We ate up there at a shady table. It was good food.
We walked slowly around the top deck and found a small flock of small birds sheltering up there. They must have gotten on and then found themselves too far from land to leave. This raises our observations about flies. The world is full of flies. There must be nowhere on the planet without flies. Now you would have to assume that there are different flies in different areas and continents and islands. We are not fly experts. We have not observed any differences that would indentify different fly species. However, there must be, right? So, here is our ethical dilemma. We pick up a lot of flies everywhere that we stop. Some of these flies survive the voyage from one place to another and are either replaced or supplemented by a new influx of flies in the next port. We assume, again, that some flies leave here and some stay for the next stop or perish onboard and new ones are always arriving. Assuming this to be true, then we are seriously diversifying the gene pool of flies around the world by introducing new blood at each port. Given the number of flies already plaguing the planet, this cannot be a good thing that we are doing. Well, put another way, it cannot be a good thing for us, no matter how beneficial it is for the crossbreeding of the flies. Anyway, the one difference we have observed is that flies from the continent of Africa are the most clingy of all the flies in the world that we have encountered. We have not been to South America yet so cannot confirm if it is a southern continents thing, or just an African thing. We did not notice this clingy flies problem in Australia either, but then all life is weird there anyway, so it hardly counts. Just an observation, no offense to Australians, you live there, you already know this.
We did watch the movie "The Statement" this afternoon with popcorn. Debbie took another nap. She is still hoping to regain her old energy enough for the continued busy port schedule before the long sea stretch home. At this point, she has abandoned any hope of returning to her gym schedule and is pretty sad about that. She will be very pleased if she can just get enough energy and wind back to do some heavy sightseeing. With the antibiotics side effects still lingering and no return of the fever, she is loathe to return to the Doctor's office for another round of $200 daily visits.
Tonight is Informal. We will probably return to Compass Rose this evening.
Some more catching up. We were surprised by the number of curves in the Suez Canal. It is a straight ditch in the northern part, more or less. But, the southern part was surprisingly curvy. Not just to get between the lakes either. There were a lot of fairly large curves just out of nowhere. This was interesting as it allowed you to see forward and back pretty far in the convoy. The other thing that we forgot to mention was a point of interest about Petra. The highest mountain overlooking Petra has a white building on the top that you can barely see. It is a monastery at the site of Aaron's Tomb. This is where the brother of Moses is supposed to be buried. Like Job's Tomb, we have to asked the question again. Did they die up there, or did someone haul them up there after? We don't know. It seems unlikely that either would have died on these mountain tops. We did not see them but there are supposedly stairs cut into the mountain all the way from Petra to the top and Aaron's Tomb. Just thought some people might find this an interesting factoid.
The seas calmed down some later in the day. We continued to have pretty big mostly following swells though through the day. Capt. Dag this morning attributed the force 6 pushing wind and seas with aiding our progress. It also explained the no wind phenomenon. As Debbie, had commented there can't be no wind if we are doing 20 knots. We should create our own wind if nothing else. Clay postulated that there was wind being cancelled out by the wind our motion would produce, producing a null effect. The Capt. apparently confirmed this theory in his Vords of Visdom. You can probably tell, it has been a slow day. Later the wind became a head wind and we slowed down. Still a rougher ride than we have been experiencing.
In other news, Debbie lost 4 pounds overnight. She finds this very disturbing. We have a pretty accurate travel scale with us and Debbie has been using. We will not publish any actual weight statistics, suffice it to say that we both admit to being fat. The disturbing part is where did this 4 pounds suddenly come from and just as suddenly go. Debbie is unwilling to attribute it to an equipment anomaly. She weighs herself at least twice with the same number before calling it THE number for the day. Anyway, went to bed weighing 4 pounds more than she weighed when she woke. Now she is worried. A very slow day.
