If a day at sea needed a name, then "hump" day would work just fine. At least, that is what Captain Thomas called this Sunday, the third sea day out of five on the way towards Hawaii. During his noon talk, he announced that the Zaandam was at the halfway point doing the trek to Hawaii. We have sailed 1204 nautical miles from San Diego and have another 1121 nautical miles to go to reach Nawiliwili, Kauai on October 21st. He continued to explain in simple terms about the wave action that causes rolling, pitching, and yawing of a vessel like ours. And yes, we are doing all three of those maneuvers while maintaining a speed of 18 knots. The stabilizers are out, giving us the best possible ride, even with the 8-foot swells.
The temperature remained a steady 71 degrees with 70% humidity. The winds were 14.8 mph at 8am, but as the day advanced, so did the winds. Overcast skies early in the morning turned to broken clouds with some sun in the mix. We are very lucky so far to have no rain. Last month a series of tropical storms and hurricanes passed through the Islands with much flooding and some damage. It is the season for these storms, but we are keeping our fingers crossed they hold off for a while.
This morning was the Sunday Hawaiian Brunch in the dining room from 9:30am to 12:30pm. This gives the guests a chance to sleep late, and we suspect the dining room waiters can do the same. This venue is nice for some, but we prefer the Pinnacle Grill.
When we left after another nice breakfast, we discovered there was a roadblock of passengers in the hallway outside the Captain's Shop. Tables had been set up outside with all of the leftover HAL Alaskan clothing and souvenirs from the Alaska season. It was like a feeding frenzy at the zoo with people sorting through the sizes of clothing. Of course, if you were looking for small to extra- large clothes, you would be out of luck. If you wanted extra small or 3xxx, you were in luck. We could not see the prices of the t-shirts, but at the end of the Alaska runs, they were selling for $7.75 each we think. No sense trying to price things here, so we went to deck five and the other larger store by the Ocean Bar. The manager of the Shops happened to be there and told us the t-shirts were selling for $3.87. No wonder people were going crazy.
We were really only interested in the sale pricing, but then.....we noticed that the Shop had many new items they just brought out. A dressy poncho-type top caught my eye immediately and figured it was a good buy. Not on sale, it still is a good way to use shipboard credit.
Caught up on internet work, we took a long walk on the promenade deck where a few more folks were relaxing on the port side of the deck. There was less wind and the sun was shining little by little. We did see a few flying fish and later in the day, some masked boobies appeared. We are still on the lookout for the dog onboard because the doggie relief area is still set up.
One of the places we like to sit is at the Seaview Pool, so we headed there to find the tables and chairs are finally set up on the back deck around the pool. It's not quite hot enough for swimming, but there were a few serious sunbathers. We never did get offered any water or lemonade like we always did on the Volendam. Come to think of it, no one else around us had drinks either.
It was salads and a shared sandwich for lunch today. There was actually a fairly nice sunset tonight, followed by a casual dinner. Starters were one cod slider and one tomato/mozzarella salad. Mains were a pork chop and chicken meatballs with rigatoni, both served hot by Betty. Desserts were one scoop of mint chip and a slice of a chocolate caramel tart. The smaller portions really do us a favor.
The entertainer in the show lounge was Wendy Law with a return performance. Her instrument is a 200 year old cello and actually has a name: Sebastian. Her music is classical, bossa nova, and tango.
Tomorrow starts day 4 on the run to Hawaii. Hope the weather warms up a bit more.
Bill & Mary Ann
