The South Seas theme continues with classes on tiare head dress creations, the history of the lei, and ukulele playing. If you already have mastered these projects, then a new guest speaker might appeal to the crowd. Terry Greenberg presented a lecture all about life onboard a tiny wooden sailing ship in the past. Our tablemate Bill learned about rum being added to the barrels of water that were brought on the ships. He said it kept the water fresh for longer, and was nicknamed grog. If you had a lot of rations of water, you might be a happy sailor.
Speaking of grog, we were invited to the third wine tasting session. It was complimentary for testing the Navigator wine package that is sold onboard. As most everyone knows, we don't drink a whole lot of wine, so we missed this tasting once again. It still is nice to be invited.
We spent a few hours at the aft pool, where we watched six workers finally scrubbing the fake teak decking. They worked with the powerful scrubber for hours and only got part of deck cleaned. That is how badly it was stained over the last two months. We figured that since we will be heading back to San Diego at a healthy clip, there should be little problems with the built-up soot in the stacks.
The usual time we have lunch is right after 2pm. Guess we planned that right, because after we left the pool, it began to rain, and heavily at times. We ordered room service chicken Caesar salads and shared some sandwiches. The room service has been excellent this trip. We seldom had to wait beyond a half hour, and the orders have been complete for the most part.
Dinner tonight was "gala", and we had a guest…..the 4th engineer. Gosh, these cadets are getting younger every time we meet one. He was a very nice fellow from England, but lived on the Scottish border. He was happy to be able to visit with Bill & Sylvia, who are from England, although we believe Bill is Scottish. Anyway he said he is onboard for four months at a time, then off for two months. He will do this routine for 5 years before he comes a full fledge officer. Since he will be on the Amsterdam until February, we will see him on the world cruise.
The entertainment this evening was a show with the singers and dancers called "Take a Bow". This is a concert-style production with light opera. This group has been outstanding , and we do hope they will be on the ship in January.
Hope the rain goes away, and we get a nice day in Nuku Hiva.
Bill & Mary Ann
