Today was a much needed day at sea. Yesterday we were on over-load mode with the transit through the Panama Canal. No matter how many times we have done this transit, we enjoy every mile of it. Believe it or not, we counted as many as 30 trips through this historic short cut. Spotting the various wildlife such as two crocodiles and a bunch of capybaras was the frosting on the cake yesterday.
Of course, we took a few photos along the way. Those of you that know us well also know that the word "few" does not come close to the amount of pictures we take. So with that comes the chore of processing them to get the best ones. That took most of the day. The biggest event was a non-event and that was Crossing the Equator. Usually there is a ceremony involved, but we figured that could be put off when we cross it again later in the cruise. We do hope that King Neptune will gracefully pardon the guests and crew of the Zuiderdam for not recognizing the need for this ceremony. As well as a note, Captain Friso mentioned this in his PM talk yesterday. We bet that the superstitious among us questioned that decision.
The one thing we noticed immediately when we woke up this morning was the weather. It was heavily overcast with early morning showers. And the temperature had dropped significantly compared to the heat and humidity in the Canal Zone. Not that we are complaining, the cooler temps are most welcomed.
What we find curious is the fact that the air-conditioning on this ship is not distributed equally. Funny, we had the same experience while on the Zaandam recently. Our rooms seem to be OK, but the public areas can be too cold. Namely, the photo department and the dining room. It was downright chilly in there this evening. We saw many guests wearing sweaters, jackets, and sweatshirts at dinnertime. We suspect the World Stage is kept on the cooler side as well.
During our morning walk, we did spot some activity in the surrounding waters. The first sighting of masked boobys happened early on, as well as sightings of pods of small dolphins, apparently feeding . The give-away are the smaller dark birds that fly over the schools of fish picking up scraps. These dolphins were not the high-flying ones, but the ones that barely break the surface. It was difficult to get good photos since they are so fast. Initially we thought they may be tuna, which are prolific in this part of the world. But they were not upon closer inspection. The closer we get to Manta, we may see some of the tuna.
Taking a lunch break around 2:20pm, we headed for the Lido. That is one place that remained warm due to the fact there are doors that lead to both pools, and they are well-used all day, letting the heat inside. And there still is a problem with the sandwich section. There is a sandwich maker, but he seems to disappear every time one of us approaches the counter for service. When he did re-appear, he started cutting the rolls, then went away in search of mustard. It took him so long, that a total of five waiters asked where he was. Beats me……he could not locate mustard. He may have gone to Safeway (our local supermarket) to buy it, I joked. Sometimes there is a second sandwich counter opened after 2pm, but not today. (Thanks writer on board for the suggestion.) At least there are two salad makers and they do a fine job with no waiting at all. We will survive, but in the meantime, we may question Assistant maitre'd Asep about the problem there. We are not alone because many other guests do not wait, they leave and go to another station.
The day sped by as we made good progress with the blog. Dinner found some good choices in the dining room. Starters were Caesar salad, a most savory smoked chicken appetizer, and one bowl of room service chicken noodle soup, a favorite comfort soup for one of us. It was OK, but not made the same as the soup on the Zaandam. It was spaghetti soup again. Couldn't help but point that out to Asep, who stopped by to see how we were doing. He agreed, the noodles should not be spaghetti, and he promised to inquire about it with the soup maker. Has anyone ever tried to get long strands of spaghetti on a small soup spoon? Asep did add that the cooks have a pasta-making machine and perhaps they can crank out a different type more suitable for that soup. We shall see…. One more thing……we have noticed that at least four kitchen chefs come into the dining room around dessert time to visit with the guests. They seem to be gathering comments like we brought up with Asep. Great idea to get some instant feed-back.
There was a show in the World Stage featuring Nadia Rosenchtejer with melodies of pop and soul classics. This would be here second performance and promise that it was new.
We were happy that the Port Talk on Manta, Ecuador was finally being shown on our TV. Despite the fact that Kimberly gave her talk at 10am, it was not available to watch until much later in the day. She does a good job covering the basics…..all the way to the warnings about safety in port with hints about keeping our personal safety in mind when going into town.
Since there will be overland excursions going off quite early (after 4am), the ship will dock around 4am. Gladly, we are not on any of them.
Bill & Mary Ann
