Day two at sea sure was different, because we woke up to dark skies and rain showers….heavy at times. Of course that is typical for being so close to the Equator. So there was no sunrise to behold due to the dark billowing clouds that filled the skies. The seas also became rough during the night, waking one of us up quite often. You would be surprised at the strange noises in the room like creaking and twisting….things you would not notice during the day. And sometimes the slamming noises are caused by inconsiderate folks that let their doors close loudly. Mostly after 12am.
The usual sea day activities took place today, and added to them was a sign up for a shipbuilding competition. The teams can meet up and build the most seaworthy vessel in hopes of claiming the title of "Dam" Shipbuilder. Seaworthy means it has to float for more than a few minutes. Hula and ukulele lessons are still ongoing.
A new lecturer, Dr. Christine Drake , talked about Kiribati: The only country in all four hemispheres. And a port talk was given on Fanning Island, our port of call tomorrow. That should be rerun on the room TV's we heard. We are still having problems with the TV pixelating and losing the programming. We were told that it was ship wide. It did come back later in the afternoon.
One job of the day was filling out a traveler health form for American Samoa as required by their government. Some of the basic info was already printed on the forms, and we had to answer some health questions. No visas are required for US citizens.
The Captain's talk was short and sweet. We have 280 nautical miles to arrive to Fanning Island tomorrow. The current winds were 10 knots but would increase to 15 – 20 knots. That is not good news since we will be tendering to shore tomorrow. Someone must have asked the Captain for the sunrise and sunset, because tonight's sunset will be at 6:10pm and tomorrow's sunrise will be 6:22am. If it remains cloudy and stormy, we will not see these.
For a change, we had cannonball burgers from the Dive-In Grill, which were ready in 10 minutes. They were way better than we remembered, so we were glad we tried them again. We passed on the fries, because they are usually stuck together and rather greasy IOHO.
At 4:30pm, we were invited to a President's Club and Suites get-together party in the Atrium on deck three. It was a good chance to say hi to our new Captain and some of the officers we already know. Having just joined the ship in Honolulu, we asked Captain Willems how long he had been off. He said their contracts are 10 weeks on, and 10 weeks off, which he seemed to prefer. Another question we had was with the sea conditions as they were, what are the chances that we can tender to shore tomorrow. His answer surprised us when he said he has never taken the ship into this area before. He is aware of the nasty currents and various tides, so he said they will give it their best. We also visited with Clare, the cruise director, Murat, the food and beverage manager, and Kumar, our personal concierge. Except for the few PC members we know, the rest of the guests were new to us. The gathering ended by 5:45pm, and most folks went to dinner.
We went back to the room, gathered the camera, and went out on deck six forward to watch the sun go down. It was blowing a gale out there, and the sunset was minimal. Better than this morning though.
Dinner was good since it was the Canadian Thanksgiving meal. We started with crispy brie with lingonberry sauce, a small salad, and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Mains were the traditional turkey feast and the other was Wienerschnizel with cranberry sauce. Both good. We ended the meal with small slice of pumpkin pie. Also very good.
The show this evening was delivered by a fellow by the name of Bradley McCaw, a pianist with cabaret act with some rock & roll.
Everyone we talked to said they were keeping their fingers crossed for a successful tender day. All aboard will be 12:30pm, a very short day indeed.
Bill & Mary Ann
