Things have heated up as we head in a southwesterly direction now. The "hot" topic of the day was the Safety of Life at Sea drill that was required by international regulations.
To be more specific, an anti-pirate drill was held at 9:30am on the lower promenade deck. Captain Jonathon had come on the speakers to announce this drill, and advised us to follow yesterday's pointers as to what to do in the event of a real attack. That meant everyone had to find a place away from windows and the outside decks. That included being in our rooms too, as most of us have windows. We had already been into our morning walk when the alarm was sounded. So we did get away with going inside the deck doors, and watching some of the fire hose procedures during the drill.
Other passengers had joined us, and even though we were out of the way, we needed to be further inside the ship. We did have some work to do in our room, so we headed down the stairs. We found both of our room stewards sitting on the floor in the hallway. Since they had so much work to do, they really did not like this drill at all. And since the drill was close to being over, they did not object to us entering our room.
Our window garden was in much need of a manicure, with some dead leaves, and dry pots. It took over an hour to soak the plants and give them a trim. It was also a good time to catch up on yesterday's report. We finished both jobs by noontime.
Time to go to the pool. It had to be the hottest day we have experienced so far on this entire cruise. In the short time it took to set up our lounges, we had to go in the water to cool off. Only the serious sunbathers were out today. Other folks wishing to stay cool, may have gone to Barbara's talk about things to do and see while in the Seychelles. And the culinary show was run by David, who prepared a spicy pork and orange chopped salad. It contained hot wasabi and soy saice flavored almonds. He demonstrated how to cook an almond-crusted tilapia fish, fried first, then finished in a hot oven. Later on in the afternoon, guest speaker Brian Stoddart spoke about power and relations in the Indian Ocean. We were having more fun trying to figure out if we could fry that egg on the back decking today. We just have to figure out how to liberate an egg from the kitchen.......
We left by 3pm, and headed to our room to watch the DVD we finally got at the front desk, Hunger Games. We had been given an introductory snippet of the movie by Marianne and Bill, who had highly recommended it. And we have to say that it was a good film, giving us a lot to think about. No doubt about it, the movie was violent. But we do not recall hearing any annoying cursing, or nudity. That seems to be the only way films get attention these days.
Since we missed our morning walk, we went out after the movie to get our miles in. Many guests were popping outside to take photos of the razor wire. Two security guards were posted, one on each side of the ship now. This is only a guess, but we suspect their watch is on a 4 hour shift, around the clock. Nice to know we are being so carefully watched, even while we sleep.
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| You can see some of the razor wire off the promenade deck |
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| Firehoses ready |
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A sharp barrier
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| Could slow a person down |
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| Installed while in Colombo |
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| They did a good job |
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| This will work |
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| This too |
There was a "surprise" dinner in the Pinnacle Grill tonight. It was advertised as a one time only event that may leave you speechless. We are wondering how many of you would pay $79. per person for unknown cuisine? Or would the variety of wines be the only draw for this venue? Judging by the fact there was an announcement for more people to book a reservation for tonight, we doubt they had very many takers.
At dinnertime, we asked about the show last night after dinner. A comedian by the name of Jeff Bradley took the stage. We feel that his attempt at comedy, stunts, and illusion may have been lost on this critical crowd. By dessert time, we were joined by Maureen, our crafts expert. She was proud to show us her new necklace, given to her by some of her students in her afternoon class. It was made from, of all things, elephant dung. Yes, real elephant poop. She explained that the dung is dried and paper can be made from the droppings. She will be teaching jewelry making, using some of this same "poop" paper to create these necklaces. You just cannot make these things up.
While having her coffee with us, Maureen said she had come from this evening's show featuring a group called Journey South, two brothers from the UK, one a singer, the other a guitarist. She said they were on The X Factor, a UK hit series. In her opinion, she claimed they were pretty good, loud, but good.
Sort of got presents this evening. Two cards containing five St. Patrick's Day party buttons were laying on our bed. Silly, but good clean fun for those who like the "green" day. The better present was turning the clocks back 1/2 hour.
Bet tomorrow will be another hot day.
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| One of us cooling off |
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| Sunset near the Equator |
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| Best sunset in a while |
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| About gone |
