Our third day at sea was even nicer than yesterday. The unbearable heat let up a bit and there was a much stronger breeze. The partly cloudy sky was just that….no rain. Our big treat after breakfast was seeing tons more flying fish. And out of the blue, we spotted two birds. Where they came from is a mystery because they were gannets. They have possibly hitched a ride from our last stop or even Sri Lanka. According to the research we read, they are out of area. Whatever the reason, the one larger white bird did most of the hunting. We believe the second smaller bird is a juvenile, probably related to each other.
There were so many small flying fish, they appeared as a cloud of white. The flying only lasted a few seconds, then they were gone. All the bird had to do was wait for the school to come out of the waves. Bingo….the bird caught them in the air. It took a lot of patience and time before we got some good shots of the hunt. Oh want fun we have. It appeared to us that the younger juvenile was learning from the older one. And it's possible that the Seychelles will be their new home.
We are about as relaxed as we can be for tomorrow's 2 day visit to the city of Victoria on the island of Mahe, Seychelles. We have been here several times over the years, and have taken each and every tour as well. So we plan to hike to our favorite spots such as the Botanic Garden and the nearby city. Lunch may be a possibility here, and we do recall they have beer. Ice cold beer.
At noon, the Captain said we had 399 nautical miles to go to reach the islands. And for some odd reason, he had to pick up our speed since we were falling behind in time. Then he addressed the area of the Indian Ocean that we will be crossing to get to the coast of Africa. He explained that the weather in South Africa can be dicey this time of year, and he would keep us advised as to the conditions we will be facing as far as swells and rough seas are concerned, not to mention rain. This reminded us of another world cruise a few years back while in this same area. If we recall, some of the ports had to be cancelled. Zanzibar, Tanzania was one of them as was the stop in Madagascar. We would be disappointed if that happened again, since we have never been to Zanzibar. It sounds so exotic.
We did cross the Equator yesterday around 2:45pm. The Captain said he hoped King Neptune will forgive the snub, since there would be no ceremony this time. For those of us that are sailing up the west coast, there will be an opportunity to become Emerald Shellbacks, but more about that when it happens.
We planned our pm walk around 6pm to catch a possible sunset. And we were not disappointed with another tropical display, even better than last night's. Many people at the first dinner come out to take phone pictures along with many of the waiters and cooks.
Dinner was as light as we could keep it. Lunch had been filling. We had a tataki appetizer and one bowl of chicken spaghetti soup. It is the room service staple, but no where near as good as it used to be. Then we had one veal piccata plate and one Peruvian chicken, which was so big, it took up the entire plate. It happens to be one of the Club Orange entrees and it very good. But it needs to be shared, which we did this evening. We wrapped it up with pineapple and coffee.
The Grand Voyage Band put on a performance with "Notes from the Great American Songbook". We happened to be passing by the door of the show lounge when they were practicing and listened for a bit. It's nice for a change to have just music to enjoy. No comedians, balloon blowers, dancers, or singers. Just good simple music we all know and love.
Back in our room, we had the next sticker for our travel booklet. This segment was short….from Singapore to the Seychelles. Some folks will be leaving tomorrow and new ones will be coming. We do not believe the numbers are very big this time.
Bill & Mary Ann
