Whales and dolphins

Saturday, May 8, 2010 – In the rough seas of the Atlantic
Rocking and rolling all night, we have 10 feet seas and swells so we are moving even as we stand still; we are facing a strong headwind. Green apples and crackers are available in all public areas of the ship.

Had an informative private galley tour of the crew area, where they dine and relax in their break room with several play stations and a tour of the refrigerated lockers, food preparation for bread, salads, meat locker – all on level four. We dine on level seven and eleven and they transport the food up in elevators to be plated on those respective floors.

I took a nap!!! 2-1/2 hours in the middle of the day. It was absolutely wonderful. Had a quick lunch with almost the entire ship in the buffet; the doors to the walking deck are closed since the waves and wind are high. Off to another dollar event (which was to be played outside but since we could not go out we were given a dollar for showing up!), to a lecture on Olive Oil and the characteristics of good/bad and uses, made a key chain in “arts and crafts” (crafts for all ages) and then worked in the stateroom. Laundry and buffet dinner and then a show by Thien Fu, who juggled and did levitation with a tennis racket.

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.” – John Steinbeck

Sunday, May 9, 2010 - At Sea – Whales and dolphins! Happy Mother’s Day!
Morning church service with a guest clarinet player performing AMAZING GRACE and communion; pentathlon teams created for games over the next few days; breakfast in the dining room and I saw a whale spouting! Country Fair by the courtyard pool was a lot of fun – we had a limbo dancing booth, bouncing ping pong balls on the ping pong table into a plate of water, ball throwing to get the empty juice containers toppled, jewelry monte so you had to guess where the ring was, pin the tail on the shore excursion map, create a paper airplane out of brochure pages, guess the dice as the fall onto a board…each department had created a game and it was creative and fun.

Saw more dolphins and whales spouting as I walked two miles. Called home for Mother’s Day. Enjoyed relaxing in the wooden deck chairs and gazing out to sea; trying to take advantage of each moment left!!

Dinner with Norman, the Security Office. Melan, a group of young English opera singers performed. The consensus was they had good voices but their dresses were miniscule and out of place with the opera songs performed; gowns would have been more appropriate. Chocolate Dessert Extravanganza with lots of creative chocolate cakes and marcipan figurines! Yum!! Crew church service as at 11PM.

“Some journeys take us away from it all, to places no one knows us; some take us to where it seems we’ve always been. But whether we venture to a new part of town or to an entirely new culture, travel forever changes the boundaries of the world we once knew.” - Unknown

Monday, May 10, 2010 – At Sea – Cruising the still waters of the Atlantic
Grand Voyage Mariner’s Day (a celebration for all past passengers)

Calm and sunny day at sea playing games and reading in the deck chair.
Walked a mile. Had a nice brunch in the restaurant for all Mariners and received our Holland America ceramic tile; voted on landscape, people or architecture photos for the onboard contest; dinner with friends in the buffet; Larry Linkin, clarinet player, was superb and we bought one of his CDs. Lost electricity for a few minutes on the entire ship. Filipino Crew show at 11PM which was spectacular!

“A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.” - William Arthur Ward