At Sea in the South Pacific Ocean

Yet another sun drenched day with a perfectly blue calm sea. The color of the water is an almost iridescent blue – it sparkles away and is really a beautiful site. Our tablemates saw dolphins yesterday, so we are on the lookout for some today.

We overslept yet again, despite leaving the curtains open. Those beds are just too inviting!

We went to the Chart Room to say hi to our new World Cruise Concierge, Jacqueline, but she was at the church service, good lass. We settled in there for Brian to enjoy the coffee (the best free coffee on the ship), and me to make sure the pastries don’t go stale.

I overcame my disappointment that the beading lady, Julia, had disembarked when I saw that at 11:00 during craft corner, they would be selling jewellery kits. I purchased two kits. They are not as nice as Julia’s, and involve the use of needle nosed pliers, which came with the kit. Now, I am not a fan of tools, so I was not happy. Needles, yes, needle nosed pliers, no. Brian, however, is thrilled. His very own set of needle nosed pliers was taken off him by security when they confiscated his handy dandy tool thingy when we embarked in Southampton. Now he had access to such a weapon again.

At his noon announcement the Commodore let us know that we are passing over Easter Fracture Zone, an area of marked seismic activity. We continue to have a long, low southwesterly swell, with a temperature of 74 degrees. He said we are “passing along a narrow corridor of perfect weather on the bluest of seas”. Apparently there is bad weather to the north and south of us, so I approve of his current course.

Brian went to hear the talk by Roy Hunt on “The Lives and Music of George and Ira Gershwin”, but I had to feed my Cunard addiction, and attended the talk by fellow passenger Stuart Wilson on the Cunard Line from Britannia to the glory days on the two Queens. His slides were all from postage stamps of the ships. One wonders why Cuba and Malawi felt compelled to have stamps with pictures of Cunard ships on them. There really wasn’t any new information, but I always enjoy hearing about the history of the line, and he is a good speaker.

Next it was Sunday lunch in the Golden Lion. I do wish they would do a Sunday roast, but the beef and mushroom pudding was good enough, and after that we found ourselves a place in the sun near the pool.

Brian declined to leave his place in the sun to attend the wine tasting, so I had to go it alone. As usual there were mostly bin end wines, but there was one very pleasant French white wine that is actually still on the menu. Cider for lunch + wine tasting + sun = afternoon nap by the pool.

We had met a charming Nigerian couple at the World Cruise party, and had arranged to meet with them for pre dinner drinks. Ann and Keith, our tablemates, joined us too. It turns out that the Nigerian couple, who now live in England, live about 5 miles from Ann and Keith!

Another coincidence is that Pam and Alan, our other tablemates, have family from Thornhill in Scotland, which is where my parents lived, and until recently, I owned a house. When there, they stay at the Thornhill Inn, which is our favourite eating-place and pub in the village. They make the best sticky toffee pudding in the whole world.

On leaving the dining room we bumped into Terry Waite, and he gave us an invitation to his party on February 25^th. Yay, I love a party! I was feeling honored as I thought that this was quite exclusive, until he handed me 2 more invitations to give to friends. Not so exclusive after all!

Godivas again on the bed tonight. Yes, this must be a permanent move.