Insignia in port in Tobago
After five days on five different islands, we honestly look forward to a day at sea. During the night, we set the clocks ahead another hour, so now we are two hours earlier than at home. We have set our clocks ahead as we have been advised to do, but not everyone has done that. Steve gets up at 5:30 to attend a class with Sho the personal trainer, but he is a no-show. Cathy suspects correctly that he missed the memo about the time change. Steve is actually happy, because Sho is ramping up the exercise program, and Steve is still recovering from Friday’s workout.
And the ship is rocking. This is the first real encounter we have had with significant movement. Cathy is having no issues whatsoever, which is great, but Steve has to break out one of the anti-nausea meds. This one is called Sea-Band, and it’s a elastic wristband with a plastic button in the middle. You position the button over a part of your wrist where an acupuncturist would position his/her needle, and the nausea or discomfort goes away in a few minutes. It takes more than a few minutes, but breakfast at Waves Grill also helps. Fatigue and ship movement combine to render the start of my day less than stellar. Trust me, this is not a complaint, just a quick note about something we had not yet encountered on our voyage.
There is always plenty to do on this ship, and Cathy has planned it all out (Does that surprise anyone who knows her?). Needlepoint at 9:30 for Cathy. Enrichment Lecture on the Amazon Region at 10:00 for both. Photography lecture at 11:00 for Steve. The movie “Papillon,” which is about the infamous French prison Devil’s Island, which we will visit tomorrow, at 1:30. The Smile String Quartet at 7:15. And that’s just the stuff we do go to.
My goal is to catch up on the blogging. And to get accustomed to the rolling of the ship. The seas are only five feet high, but they are coming at a right angle to the direction of the ship, so she is affected. She is pitching some too, and we are grateful that we have chosen a stateroom amidships where the pitching is the least. To veteran cruisers, it must sound like I am whining, but I’m not, I swear. There are barf bags next to the elevators.
The Amazing Amazon is the lecture about the Amazon River and the vast rainforest that surrounds it. Angela Schneider is the presenter, and it is accompanied by an excellent Powerpoint presentation. She starts out with about five minutes of incredible statistics, such as: the river is 4,000 miles in length and begins in Peru. 20% of the world’s fresh water comes from the river (or better said, empties into the sea from the river). 54% of the entire planet’s rainforest is on its banks. 10% of the entire world’s animal species come from here, and they are discovering dozens of new species that exist there every month. The 390 billion trees there provide 20% of the world’s oxygen.
The rest of her lecture deals with the history, the efforts that the Brazilian government is making to control the deforestation and other ecological damage, the amazing diversity of animal life, the economy of the Amazon basin, the indigenous peoples of the region and other related subjects. The hour passes very quickly and we look forward to hearing more about this area of the world.
The photography lesson is for beginners, or people like me who really need to learn more about how to operate the camera they have. Lecturer David Smith is very encouraging, and we all leave there forty-five minutes later with much more confidence and enthusiasm that we can do better.
Lunch at the Waves Grill, where the special of the days is BLTs. Perfect. Quick and delicious. Cathy heads for the movie and Steve opts for a nap instead. After she returns, more needlepoint and blogging. We are getting lazy, so we opt for dinner at the Terrace Cafe on Deck 9. Today is a day for light eating, and the buffet that they serve there suits a small meal better than the Grand Dining Room. After dinner we listen to the Smile String Quartet in the Upper Hall. They are four lovely young ladies from Ukraine who have an amazing repertoire. This evening they played a few pieces by Scott Joplin, “That’s All I Ask of You” from Phantom and the theme from “A Man And A Woman.” French movie from the 60’s.
Of course, we are asleep by 9:30. I wonder if they’re putting something in the air conditioning vent?
