The Zaandam has begun the six- day trek back to San Diego, and the weather couldn't be better. Whether it lasts this way, time will tell. According to Captain Smit, we are headed northeast now at a high speed of 18 knots or better….feeling like a herd of horses headed back to the corral. We are also going to cross the Equator at 2am Friday morning, but he promised the horn would not be sounded. We are also approaching what is called the "doldrums", which we are not sure exactly what it means, but we will find out later. The plans are that the ship will do 20 knots to get ahead of schedule, like many other captains have done on several trips we have been on. He will put the pedal to the metal….his words. Tomorrow he expects the winds to be 25 knots with the waves at 2 meters or six feet. The temperature will remain in the high 70's. There may be cloudy skies and some showers with waves to increase to 3 – 4 meters by Sunday. The distance we have to travel to arrive to San Diego is 2478 nautical miles. Sunset will be 2 minutes before 6pm, and the sunrise will be 5:42am.
The majority of our day was spent on the computer, reading, or playing games on the Kindle. A slew of photos had to be processed as well as catching up on yesterday's reports. The internet has been squirrely with s-l-o-w sending and receiving. Even with the door propped open, it still took a long time to send big files. Even though we are told it doesn't matter where we are logistically, we are really in the middle of nowhere in an ocean that never seems to end.
The high light of our day was another invitation to pre-dinner drinks and a President's Club Dinner with hosts Captain Ane Smit and the newly-embarked Hotel General Manager, Darren Lewis. We met with one other President's Club member and his grandson in the Mix Bar at 6pm. Joining us were one of the front desk supervisors and the travel and cruise director, Daniel. This was the first opportunity we have had to get to know the cruise director, and he was really interesting and easy-going. And although we have been on some of the same ships and cruises as Darren, we have never formally met since he has not been in this same position years ago. We enjoyed a quick round of drinks, then went down to the Pinnacle Grill by 6:30pm.
We were seated at the table in the back room and given a menu where we had choices. For starters, there were jumbo lump crab cakes, forest mushroom soup, or the wedge salad. That is one of our favorite items in this dining venue, so we both ordered them. Once again, we could have had our choice of wines, but we declined. The entrees were a dry aged Delmonico steak, grilled lamb chops, or Dover sole. We have never ordered the Delmonico, so we both asked for a smaller portion, knowing it would be huge. And it was, as Darren and Daniel both ordered the regular size monster steak. They ate every bit of it too….it was that good. Dessert followed after a nice port wine was served. It was the same as the dessert we had at the first dinner…..a deconstructed pavlova with mango sorbet and a strawberry leather leaf curled in the center. Sweet -sweet-sweet.
The conversation was all over the place and flowed easily, which is nice since the dinner took a long time to be served. We asked the question about the "doldrums" and Captain Smit explained it well. Simply put, the south meets the north, creating a calmness that is only unique to this area above the Equator. It was not good for the sailors from the past, since without wind, they were dead in the water. Now we know. It was time for Daniel to leave and announce the second performance in the World Stage, so it was the perfect time to say thanks again and we went our separate ways.
Back in the room, we sent the rest of the photos hoping the internet speed was faster. It was a little better, but still on the slow side. During dinner, the subject of the ship's wifi came up, and Daniel said he had to laugh because he saw that many guests were propping open their doors with a shoe in hopes of a better connection. His room must be near ours because we have seen the same thing, although we use a door stop we borrowed from our room attendant. So much for day one at sea. Five more to go, but who's counting?
Bill & Mary Ann
