Day 2 Monday June 8, 2015
At Sea
Rocking and Rolling on big swells this morning, and then by late afternoon the wind came down a bit. The fog lifted as the sun came up, but the breeze makes the 52 degrees seem more like freezing with a 82% humidity. The sea depth out here is 9,520 feet. All this daylight seems strange with the sun rising at 5:30 am and setting at 10:15 followed by a very long twilight. As I send this we are 563 nm from Seattle with 306 nm to go during the night getting us into the “Tracy Arm” by morning.
I skipped the “Fitness Class” this morning and opted for Mass and “Spiritual Fitness.” There was a nice group of 27 at Mass from Washington State, Dallas, Ft Worth, Ocala, Florida, Iowa, and New Jersey. Not having any interest at the moment in making Ribbon Roses, I skipped the Creative Crafts Class, and opted to read up in the Crows Nest. I did attend the “Complimentary Gaming Lesson” in the Casino even though the “Ship Priest” is requested not to engage in the gaming or other events that have prizes while on the ship. What interested me most was who else was at the Lesson, and it was a lot of young people. I had a hard time staying interested because after a few minutes it began to feel like an algebra class. Not my thing. I did go to Team Trivia in the afternoon mostly to learn the answers since I will be on this ship next week, and it might come in handy. I’m thinking I could sell the answers to someone who is nice to me. I was going to go to the Alaskan Beer Tasking session, but having skipped the Fitness Class, it did not seem quite right. Maybe next week. I did walk 4 miles yesterday and managed 4 again today and I got nowhere. There is still water everywhere. Royal Dutch Tea was a lot of fun and I met a wonderful couple married 61 years. The wife is from a small town in Bavaria near Bad Tolz that I know very well, and we had a great time. “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” was today’s movie. I went to the 5:00 pm showing because I wanted to attend the live show at 8:00. It is “formal day” with casual wear confined mostly to the Lido Deck. It was fun seeing all the children dressed up. The day ended with a pleasant hour in the “Ocean Bar” where the Jazz ensemble plays. The lead singer/piano is extra ordinary. He play Gershwin as well as anyone I’ve ever heard.
As always, the art on these ships is remarkable. There is a variegated marble bust of a Roman Patrician Woman that caught my attention today, and the other picture is just a look out a window in the Ocean Bar. The water really is this blue.
There a few sightings of Orcas today, and I expect more tomorrow will bring us to the Sawyer Glacier and wildlife.