Today turned out to be a rather nice day weather-wise, as well as a productive one for both of us. During his noon talk, Captain Frank said we were already halfway to our next port of the Seychelles. We have 380 nautical miles to go at a speed of 19 or more knots. At noontime, we were one degree above the Equator, and he predicted we will cross it around midnight. He jokingly said we may feel the bump as we go across the line, which we all know is invisible. He was happy with the temperature of 87 degrees with mostly cloudy and sunny skies and a slight wind. We have smooth seas, but are subject to a slow swell that tends to roll the ship back and forth. Both stabilizers are being used, even though it may slow down our speed. He said there will be no noticeable changes tomorrow. He went into a description of the effect of the Equator on the currents and winds. He went further into the fallacy that water in a sink will circle clockwise or counterclockwise depending on what side of the Equator we are crossing. The simple explanation was that the amount of water was too small to make that judgement. His scientific explanation of this theory would need a lot more investigation on our part.
We discovered by the absence of some of our friends at breakfast, that many more guests are getting sick with a virus. Among other symptoms, the illness seems to affect people like a flu that settles in your chest with a bad cough. Unless you have other complications, we rather doubt an antibiotic would help in this case. The people we knew that were ill, had low fevers and were quarantined until the fever disappeared. The health warning in the Daily newsletter has become an everyday item now on sea days.
Besides another port talk about Reunion, there were other activities happening this afternoon. One was a wine tasting with the wine guys Mike and Jeff for an unannounced price. Cupcake Tea was held at 3pm, and lectures went on about ancient seafaring and trade in the Indian Ocean and field photography, a great subject for the camera folks onboard.
In order to keep up with the port days, such as yesterday, we spent a lot of the day working online with pictures and research. It's always nice to have some spare time to prepare for our adventure overland in South Africa. The time is going by so fast, it will be time to leave. Packing conservatively for that trip of five days has to be narrowed down to keep our bag under 44 pounds. Everything is casual, so that makes it easier.
Lunch was light in the Lido, which works better for us at dinner. And dinner time had some good starters of a breaded cod slider and a bowl of wonton soup. I asked for three wontons, hoping that the chefs would not cut the wontons in half this time like they did on last year's world cruise. We still laugh over that one, like they didn't think we would notice that? Mains were one chicken breast with a honey-mustard gravy and one plate of BBQ ribs. Both were good. Desserts were a strawberry leche cake and a scoop of pineapple sorbet. Our morning waiter, Adi, said they have run out of fresh strawberries and are using frozen ones in baking. Even the blueberries disappeared this morning. We would be surprised to see replacements now until we get to Durban maybe.
There was a different kind of entertainment tonight with the appearance of an illusionist that also had contortion in his act.
Looking forward to another day at sea, and hope the weather is the same with lower temps and a light breeze.
Bill & Mary Ann
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