We all wondered why it was so dark this morning when we showed up for breakfast in the Pinnacle. It looked more like dinner time, then we realized it had to do with putting the clocks ahead one hour again last night. There were only three of us waiting for the doors to open. Of course, today was Sunday and that means 11am brunch in the dining room. And it also can mean that many people forgot to put their clocks forward.
Well, the Captain was correct…the seas had calmed down overnight, and the winds had slowed to 9.4 mph. When the sun finally appeared, the temperature was 66 degrees with mostly clear blue skies with a few scattered clouds. It sure makes a difference with the color of the sea water when the sun is shining. It changes from a dull grey to a deep blue and way better for picture-taking.
After our comfortable morning walk, we tried to bring up the port talks by Kimberly on our TV that we have been missing. There were seven of them. Not one of them would down-load. It was more than frustrating since Kimberly can provide good information that you cannot get online or in the books we have brought with us. However, we did watch the Tygerberg Children's Choir from Cape Town for the third time….yes, it was that good. We will try for the port talks later this afternoon.
Captain Frank sounded the noon horn, then came on with his sea day update. We were 127 nautical miles southwest of Dakar, Senegal doing from 15 to 17 knots. We will pick up the local pilot at 6am, and be docked starboard early he hopes. The sea swells were only 4 feet and we are still using one stabilizer. The air temperature was 70 degrees and the sea waters were 72 degrees. The weather should remain nice tomorrow although the afternoon winds will pick up. The Captain's trivia today had to do with hurricanes…specifically ones that originate in this part of the world. These storms begin in the Sahara Desert when the hot winds hit the cooler winds and create what he called atmospheric disturbances. These tropical storms occur mostly from April to November and happen to be the same hurricanes that will travel transatlantic to the east coast of America. Interesting.
For a change, one of us made a run to the Dive-In grill for a cannonball burger and one regular hotdog. We did add some fries, but probably won't do that again. A bit too greasy for us. And because this lunch was "to go", the chef wrapped them up with the foil. It took all of 10 minutes to get the order, and five minutes back to our room. We got wrapped up with a movie we have never seen before we tried the port talks again. By 5pm, the early dining time, all of the port talks came up. So we watched them one after the other, taking notes. There is no rhyme or reason to this, other than no one else was watching because it was the early dinner time.
We needed another walk, so we headed out around 7pm to deck three. At the most, we counted five folks doing the same as us. On our second time around, we spotted dolphins jumping in the wake of the ship on starboard side. Wish we had the good camera, because they were too fast and too far to get good shots of them with the smaller camera. Sometimes you have to simply enjoy the show and store the images in your head. And earlier in the day, Bill saw two sea turtles, so I wasn't crazy when I saw one a day ago.
Our dinner time arrived, but instead of it getting dark, the sun was shining bright and high in the sky. Just the opposite of the darkness this morning. Both of us ordered wedge salads and the every day shrimp cocktails. Our mains were one beef brisket, similar to last night's entrée, and one custom made chicken piccata with linguine noodles and marinara sauce. Both were excellent. We shared a thin slice of carrot cake…also tasty and full of walnuts.
There was no entertainment in the World Stage with the exception of a movie "Everyone Knows". Instead there was a new activity of a Sock Hop held at three starting times in the Crow's Nest. Guests were invited to dress in their favorite 50's outfits to shake, rattle, and roll to the music of the Fantasea group that usually plays in the Ocean Bar.
Tomorrow will be the first stop in the Canary Islands and we are looking forward to it.
Bill & Mary Ann
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