With the time change last night, we were not surprised there were just three of us at the Pinnacle this morning for breakfast. Then you add the tours that were 13 hours yesterday, so many of these folks did not get up early. That's what sea days are for……resting up for the next port.
The end of this segment from Cape Town is ending soon in Athens. There was a Mariner luncheon in the dining room at noontime for those 200 or so folks that are leaving. We asked Presty how many were disembarking, and he said a bit under 200, but some existing passengers who were slated to depart, booked the final segment at a deep discount, and are staying onward. There will be 200 boarding in Athens, so our final number of 1100 passengers stays near the same.
We had forgotten the statistics of the Zuiderdam, so we looked it up on Google. Built in the Fincantieri Shipyard in Venice, the ship was completed in 2001. The capacity is 1916 passengers, with full capacity at 2272. So technically, we will be sailing half full or half empty depending on how you look at it. The crew totals 842, but with the decreased guest numbers, the crew will be reduced to maintain the passenger to crew ratio. Many of them will be leaving as early as tomorrow in Kusadasi, in Athens, and again in Barcelona. Here are a couple of ship facts that we found interesting. About 85% of the staterooms have ocean views, while 67% have verandas. The art collection of bronze figurines on every deck has a Venetian theme reminiscent of Carnival in Venice. We have noticed that the starboard side has male statues, while the port side has the females.
Captain Frank delivered his noon time talk giving us the weather report with sunny skies and some clouds. There was a 6 knot wind or gentle breeze and the seas appeared glassy. There was no more than a 3 foot swell and the temperature was a comfortable 65 degrees. If you found a spot away from the wind and in the sun, it was much warmer. We found that right on our veranda all afternoon, and it was most welcomed. We are sailing in waters 8000 feet deep and were maintaining a speed of 18 knots. Since we are quite close to Kusadasi, Turkey, we think the speed has been reduced from 18 knots to maybe 14 knots. Around 5:30pm, we spotted a large Greek Island on the port side which might be Rhodes.
The Captain mentioned that we are traveling in a very sensitive area regarding cyber security and GPS readings. Interference with these systems are a concern mainly because we are in a military zone where the tensions are strained in this Middle East area. Truthfully, we have always wondered if the ship was really going to keep Egypt on the itinerary, being that it is so close to countries at war. Maybe we will feel better about this when we leave Turkey and Greece, and get to Italy, and further away from the Middle East countries.
While watching the news, we got wind of a gigantic sand storm heading from Northern Africa's Sahara Desert to the Mediterranean Sea around the area of Germany. We wondered if we were seeing some of that haze created by these blowing sands. Supposedly, this sand storm may be problematic with Germany's solar power grid, and although we are not visiting Germany, we will be in that general area in a few days.
The sun set was close to dinnertime at 7:45pm, so we waited to see another neat one, but the sun disappeared behind dark horizon clouds and sunk without being seen. The skies were pretty in soft shades of pastels. Starters were salads, and a soup with spinach. I asked for no spinach, and it was done. Our mains were one prime rib plate and one linguine dish with pancetta and parmesan cheese. Dessert was one Bossche bol that we shared.
Ruben Vilagrand, an illusionist, performed in the World Stage tonight. He was billed as one of the finest silent illusionists and visual artists of this era. He was also an award winner as a magic inventor.
Looking forward to our visit to Kusadasi, Turkey tomorrow. It has been quite a while since we were there.
Bill & Mary Ann
