Report # 37 Sailing Towards Fiji February 4, 2014 Tuesday Partly Cloudy, 86 degrees

As we continue sailing southwesterly towards Fiji, the seas have remained calm, and the skies mostly blue. The only thing is that it is still hot, hot, and hotter. Guess paradise comes with a price of some kind.

Partly cloudy

It sure was a warm day to have the 5K On Deck for the Cause walk, even at 10am this morning. For a donation of $20. or more, you receive a t-shirt and wrist band, and the proceeds go towards six international cancer organizations. The walk began as scheduled, but as the participants heated up, they were invited to go inside on deck three and walk the hallways. Great idea, and when they were done, sipping gallons of ice tea and lemonade would be an even better idea.

Far end of the Ocean Bar

We spent some time at the aft pool, and in the pool, although the water was almost hot. There were few sunbathers back here today....only the die hard tough ones with gallons of sunscreen. Actually, we began to enter the Fijian waters where some of the 800 Fijian islands dotted the horizon on both sides of the ship. So we had scenic cruising for most of the day.

One of 800 Fijian islands

As we do daily, around 6pm, we go up to the Lido restaurant to check out the entrees to help us decide what to have for dinner. This evening's cuisine included an entree salad, two types of fish, poultry, vegetarian, and veal cordon bleu. The veal dish won out over the others, and it did not disappoint. We had ordered rocky road ice cream when our waiters came with a little birthday cake for Barb. The problem with that was her birthday is tomorrow. Oh well, we all sang her special song along with the waiters, because it is fun. Now tomorrow, Barb will be dining in the Pinnacle Grill with Ellen and Aart, so we plan to celebrate the following day with another cake, this time a strawberry-filled layer cake with roses on the top. Barb loves the idea of a 3 day celebration.

Black Tie was on stage tonight with the promise of a new and exciting show. For a change, this time we attended. A funny thing happened at the Goat Island Cafe in Samoa. When we walked into the cafe, a couple approached us, shaking hands with us, and asking how we are enjoying this world cruise. Figuring they knew us, we listened to get some hints, but the only one thing either of us remembered was the man's voice. It was booming, a deep baritone, and we knew we recognized it. But where? Well, it finally dawned on us that we were talking to Con and Sue, the other half of the Black Tie group. Over the years, they had seen us on the aft deck on several grand voyages, and recognized us from there, of course. Yes, we definitely remembered him once he began to sing tonight.