At Sea

April 14^th, 2024

Ah, a blissful sea day where nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Skywalkers is still plagued by duck hunters. They are everywhere. There is a duck hidden somewhere in the lounge, but despite the hordes who search every nook and cranny, so far the small plastic object has remained elusive.

I too have searched the area where we sit, so I can tell the duck hunters that there is no need to try to see if it is under the table or chairs or cushions where we are sitting. Some still need to look for themselves, which is a little bit annoying. No, there is no duck under my empty Coke can. I can’t see how there could be.

Today we learned the Banana Boat Song at our steel pan class. I wish we would be allowed to take our steel pans back to the cabin so I could practice more. However, the folks on each side of us might not be so keen on it. The steel pan really is so much fun, and I think our little group sounds very professional. I hope our concert at the end of the cruise goes well.

There are 3 swimming pools to choose from for my afternoon swim. The one in the middle is  my least favorite as you have the movie under the stars, (although it is broad daylight), blasting away above you, and I feel a bit uncomfortable swimming lengths while people are trying to watch a movie.

The pool at the front is longer than the other 2, and thus lends itself to the possibility of actually swimming rather than standing around or floating, but it is always a bit crowded. It is a social gathering place. No one actually swims,  they seem to be there just to keep cool and chat. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is no chance of swimming due to all the people in the way.

This actually amuses me a bit. On other cruises where there have been serious swimmers there in their goggles and swim caps, grunting away at those of us mildly recreational swimmers to get out of their way, I’m not sure how they would cope with everyone just floating around randomly. Anyway,  I am resigned to just float around randomly myself. It’s not good exercise, but it does feel very relaxing.

The aft pool is my favorite. It is smaller than the other two, but it is not as crowded and you can actually swim. It’s quite a long walk from our cabin, which is at the front of the ship, but I do enjoy it, and as you dry off you can watch the wake 15 decks below. Also the bar makes quite good pina coladas. Did you know that there are 5mg of vitamin C in the average pina colada? One has to prevent scurvy when you are on a long ocean voyage.

After a busy day of not really getting anything done, it is time to watch the sunset.

I didn’t see a green flash, but apparently there was one there.

After dinner Brian likes to stop by the International Café for a cup of coffee. The Café is right next to the atrium, and there is always music going on there in the evenings.

And a big crowd listening in.

We chose to go to the production show instead.

It was a really great show as always, and a great way to end the evening.