Will the rocking and rolling with pitching ever stop, we all asked this morning at breakfast? We had hoped the motion would have improved, but it has only gotten worse. This happens to be close to the area where we encountered 55 - 60 foot seas back in 2002, so we are nowhere near that, and hope never to be.
Our travel hosts have a desk outside the Wajang Theater on sea days, which makes it convenient to chat with them on those days. We share stories of the present as well as the past which has been fun. Today, Kumar, our Mariner rep, stopped by to join in the conversation. He reminded us that the US Customs and Immigration agents will be boarding the ship in Kodiak to clear the ship for entrance into the USA. If our stop in Kodiak does not happen due to inclement weather, then the agents will board in Sitka instead. With that said, we all agreed that our port of Kodiak might be a 50/50% proposition.
Captain Frank came on the speakers with his voice from the bridge and current state of affairs with the Volendam. The ship was keeping an 18 knot speed with considerable listing now as well as the pitching, rolling, and rocking. He stated that we had near gale force winds with swells over 9 feet. There was 12,000 feet of water under the keel, and we still had 936 nautical miles to go to Kodiak. Tomorrow's weather did not look any better with higher gale force winds of 45 to 50 knots with 18 foot swells. We could expect showers and reduced visibility. And we are not alone due to the fact there are other vessels taking this same route and all were being monitored. Oddly enough, Bill spotted some birds, perhaps sea gulls, flying around the ship during his daily promenade walk. We are passing some islands of the Aleutians, so seeing some birds is not unusual.
Finally Captain Frank stressed for all of us to be aware of sudden movement on the ship and to please wear proper shoes. Again, he doesn't have to tell us twice. In his wrap-up, he said he was keeping his fingers crossed for a landing in Kodiak. That speaks volumes. Once again, we will be putting the clocks ahead one hour at noon with the sunset at 8:45pm and sunrise 5:55am.
One of us spent the better part of the day figuring out the computer problems and communicating with our son at home. He has been instrumental in sending directions to unravel the mystery that is ongoing. It was riveting just watching the heavy spray soaking our veranda all afternoon. The wind has been whistling through the closed and locked veranda door making it sound like we are back in Antarctica.
We skipped lunch again, snacking on some pistachios and pretzels. Really not hungry, we know the importance of keeping some food in our stomachs to ward off seasickness. Activities and lectures took place as usual except for anything outdoors. Too cold, wet, windy and just nasty, most everyone stayed inside the ship today.
The Pinnacle Grill hosted a new guest chef, John, with an unforgettable dinner with specially-crafted plates. However, how are we supposed to know what kind of cuisine he was cooking? It was not advertised very well. We do know that if you did not wish to have the wine, it was priced with or without it. That is fair, we think.
Dinner for us included one arancini, a bowl of chicken noodle soup (on the menu), Caesar salad, and a chicken appetizer. Mains were one bowtie pasta with pancetta, and chicken fajitas with one tortilla, guacamole with tomato-cilantro rice. All good. Desserts were coffee fudge ice cream.
The show on the World Stage was Cello 2 Cello once again with a journey through jazz, pop, classical, and rock music.
One of us got caught up watching the movie "Cast Away" which contributed to staying awake beyond 1am. Maybe not the best choice of movie considering the seas in which we are traveling.
Bill & Mary Ann
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