On Rough Seas

February 17^th, 2025

Every day on the Sojourn is a good day, but today was particularly good.

The sea continued to be rough, but it was exactly the correct amount of swell, 3 meters. We didn’t see any waves come over the deck outside the Observation Bar, but the windows were encrusted in sea spray, probably from last night.

The pitching of the ship reassured you that you were still at sea, but the amount of motion did not seem to be causing much in the way of seasickness, the bags at the elevators have disappeared again, and there was no breaking of glass or things falling over. It was just right.

Well, not entirely. The boat building contest had to be postponed due to the water splashing out of the pool making this event not possible. It will occur after the Canaries if the weather cooperates.

During trivia we looked out at the deck 5 pool and the water beyond. The water in the pool was certainly splashing around, and we could see the stern of the ship going up and down in an alarming manner. But the sparkle of the water and the wake behind us was so beautiful, it was mesmerizing.

Despite the distraction of the view behind us, team trivia went particularly well today, and we achieved a perfect score! First time in 79 days! We are still quite a few points behind the leaders, but we were very chuffed with our success. We will probably do horribly tomorrow, but today we felt like stars.

We headed to the Galley Buffet lunch to celebrate. We were offered sangria as we arrived, we must be getting close to Spain.

The roses on the tables looked beautiful. I love that instead of the standard high flower arrangement on a table, they are low, and you don’t have to move the flowers so that you can hold a conversation with the person sitting on the other side of the table. Good thinking.

In the galley buffet my first stop was at the curry section.

Although this doesn’t look very appetizing, it was a totally delicious vegetable curry, with all of the usual fixings. Wonderful.

I could have been quite happy with just having that for lunch, but as usual there were more delights that just had to be sampled.

We were serenaded by soothing guitar music. All very civilized.

The desserts were amazing, it was hard to decide what to have, maybe one should have a bit of everything. The captain was helping to serve the desserts and insisted that I have a profiterole. I accepted his offer as he added it to my already full plate.

That was a mistake, the profiterole was disappointingly nasty and as hard as a rock. I won’t have one of those again. However, the rest of the desserts were great.

Nick had asked our friend to run a book group, so today was the day! Our friend had asked us to suggest an African themed book, and Brian and I immediately thought about Andre Brink’s A Dry White Season. There is so much to discuss about this book on so many different levels. Although the subject matter is rather grim, I love the way it is written and how all of the characters are so real. The book was written in 1979, but it is still very relevant today.

Brian felt that a non-Southern African reading the book may be unfamiliar with some of the phrases and events in the book, so he put together a presentation on this, and then our friend led the discussion.

It was disappointing that the book discussion was not well attended, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe for future shipboard book groups we should suggest something with a lighter subject matter. But I am glad we were able to discuss this one, reading it again gave me more insight into how anyone can make a difference, no matter how small they feel their role is.

After book group we had to dash to get ready for dinner at Solis. A friend ordered a Marcello Mastroianni. It is a truly beautiful drink, and when the bubble bursts it exudes a wonderful aroma of passion fruit. Apparently it tastes good as well.

From our table in Solis we could watch the sunset. The conditions looked good for a green flash, and sure enough maybe we did see one. It wasn’t one of those mind blowing amazingly spectacular green flashes, but Brian was sure it was there.

I was initially disappointed that there was no show scheduled for tonight, just another edition of The Liars’ Club. This is where the 4 participants are asked to give their definition of an obscure word. Three of them are inventing the definition, but one is correct. Spotting the correct person is always a challenge.

The 4 participants tonight were Harry, the hotel manager, Rhys, assistant cruise director, the captain and supposedly a guest called Roxy Von Muffin who bore a striking resemblance to one of the singers, Ronni.

Last time we attended Liars’ Club we were wrong for all 4 words, so we didn’t have much optimism about how we would do tonight, but we were on a roll. 3 out of 4 of our choices were correct, so with the scoring system, that put us in a tie for first place. Then came the tie breaker. Wow, the pressure was on. And it was a tough one too. Rubaboo. Was it a soup, the South African term for a tall person, soothing of an injury (I think not), or a duel? Well after much discussion we came up with soup and the other team said a tall South African. And guess what? We were correct! Go team!!!! Not that we are competitive or anything, but we were very pleased with ourselves.

So, it really was a good day. The right amount of ship’s motion, all correct answers in trivia, winning at the Liars’ Club, a great discussion at book Club, an excellent meal at Solis, maybe a green flash, but best of all spending the day with the friends we have met on board.

80 days ago, we were in Barcelona and planning to meet the couple with whom I had been in contact through Cruise Critic, we knew no one else who would be joining us on our journey around Africa.

Now it feels like the friends we have made have been part of our lives for a very long time. We have shared experiences, we have had ups and downs, but most of all I really value the time spent together. It will be hard to say goodbye.