At sea

Today dawned bright and sunny again. I love being in our new cabin. If you lean over the balcony lifeboats obstruct your direct view of the ocean, but if you are sitting on the balcony or in the cabin, all you can see is the water below. Very nice. However, if faced with the option of a longer cruise in an ocean view cabin versus a shorter cruise with a balcony for the same price, I do think we would go for ocean view again, but if the upgrade fairy visited we would not reject her.

We went to the morning port talk on the Amazon. I suppose I knew how big the Amazon is, but it was interesting to know how really, really big the river is. I had always though that it was odd that Manaus has an opera house, but was surprised to learn what a large city Manaus is, with a population of over 2 million, so they are certainly entitled to an opera house. And a lovely looking one it is too.

Dada, who gives the port talks, went on to warn us of the dangers of the area. It’s not enough that you have the risk of Zika virus, malaria, and yellow fever, not to mention piranhas and anacondas, those beautiful large water lilies have spikes that can go through hard surfaces. It was starting to sound like a dangerous place. The next speaker was Patrick Keen who talked about his expedition in the jungle of Guyana to the King George Vl Falls. The perils he faced along the way sounded like something out of Indiana Jones. Who knew there was a fish out there that had lungs and gills, and could eat you up in an instant? Then there were all of the deadly snakes, and huge insects. I was beginning to think it might be safer to stay on board.

To calm myself down, we headed out on deck to bask in the sun. It is very interesting that although the ship is full, there is never any problem finding a lounger in the spot you want to be. We were on deck 10 again, near to the Pavilion Pool. I spent the day reading in the sun, and swimming in the pool. The pool was not crowded, but there was a very determined woman swimming laps, and it was a challenge to keep out of her way as I did my best doggy paddle up and down the pool. Playing in the pool was a very charming 8 year old with his Dad – I thought of myself at his age having wonderful adventures with my parents. What a lucky lad, life long memories to sustain him through the most mundane of days.

At the lido pool you can get a hamburger for lunch, and eat it out on deck. I was very tempted, but we decided to eat indoors at the Lido instead today, but I do see hamburgers and fries al fresco in my future.

Now I am concerned that we have our very own Bermuda Triangle in our cabin. The first thing to disappear was one of Brian’s T-shirts. I had put it in the laundry bag, but when I got to the machine, it was nowhere to be found. Next was the birthday card for our daughter that I had brought along to post in Barbados. Nowhere to be found. Then the port information on Barbados. It is crazy, we have a small cabin with a limited number of places to store things, but things still tend to disappear.

Tonight there was another welcome on board cocktail party for world cruisers. I do wish that when the captain made his little speech he had told us how many world cruisers are on board, and where we all come from. I love that sort of information. . However, the appetizers were superb, and I would have been fine making them my dinner. They also had the beautiful world cruise cake on display; I hope we get to eat it before it goes moldy.

Dinner was excellent again, and our dinner companions are good fun. The show was an acrobatic couple who could do things with their bodies that bodies are certainly not designed to do. They were lovely to watch, but I do worry about what their joints are going to be like 20 years from now.

When we got back to the cabin, there on our bed were the latest world cruise gifts – a baseball cap and a tote bag. They are both great souvenirs, especially as the shop has a very limited supply of world cruise goods. I do so hope they will do a world cruise scarf eventually.