About the same time we were waking up, the Zuiderdam was leaving the port of Agadir, Morocco. As promised, Captain Frank departed the port when it was felt safe to do so. The temperature began in the high 60's , but later in the day it had dropped to 55 degrees. The winds had picked up and we were experiencing significant sea swells up to 12 feet. The "white horses" were back, which we have not seen since Captain Friso was at command. In addition to the winds and waves, it had rained during the evening and it continued on during the early morning hours. One nice thing was that it helped wash off some of that desert sand that had accumulated all over the ship. It appeared that it was going to be an overcast day at sea.
We were the very first customers at breakfast, even going after the 8am opening. When they can do it, a lot of folks like to sleep later. Especially after going on several shore excursions day after day. For the second time this cruise, Barb popped into the upper dining room and joined us for a spell. She loves the fresh squeezed orange juice, so had two glasses of it. Downstairs that would have cost her $7 plus gratuity. Crazy, huh?
Two lectures took place – one with Ian discusses the upcoming ports of Malaga, Cadiz, A Coruna, Spain, Lisbon, Portugal, and Brest, France. That is a whole lot of info for a 45 minute talk. A new speaker has boarded by the name of Dr. Palshikar lecturing on the Tangier Traveler.
It was a good day to spend some down time sitting on the veranda, even though it was chilly, and reading while watching several gannets fly by and skim the high waves. They are much prettier bird that a sea gull, and we would have loved seeing them do their high dive, but that wasn't happening today. Oddly enough, there was a small fishing boat that we passed that had no one in it. We guess that the officers from the navigation deck had spotted this empty boat as well. There have been times when Captain Mercer actually stopped long enough to make double sure there was nobody stranded.
An ice cream social was held in the Lido at 3pm, which is a new activity here. This may have been better when the weather was warmer. Funny fact: ice cream sales increase in the wintertime….go figure.
The other big event was a special Seder Dinner that was held in the Lido portside, by reservation only. Five of our tablemates attended, although not all of them are of the
Jewish faith. Each of them get, among other items, half of a chicken and bottomless complimentary wine. We chose to have a quiet dinner for two at our table, and found many other guests were missing, also at the dinner. Or perhaps at the Tamarind which was held again in the Pinnace Grill. The menu selections were from the Culinary Council, and we had a baby beet salad, one regular salad, halibut, and tempura shrimp with the vegetarian ramen noodles and tempura vegetables. Sure was good for a change. The halibut was even better than in the Pinnacle Grill. Dessert was not fruit, yogurt, or jello, but two donut-like chocolate-filled pastries. Vanilla ice cream was suggested by Nik, so we ordered it. Very good.
The entertainer this evening was Michelle Montouri, a cabaret singer. We are sure that Greg and Heo will attend unless they call it an early night, and get some extra sleep for their 13 hour tour tomorrow. We should be in the port of Casablanca by 7am tomorrow.
Besides our pillow chocolates and a happy note of the day, we had a notice that our clocks will be going ahead 2 full hours the morning of April 8th. Most unusual, it must have something to do with daylight savings time, which not all the countries recognize. A comedy show had to be switched to April 6th, probably leaving the 7th a dark night.
Bill & Mary Ann
