Four sea days log

FOUR SEA DAYS FEB 2 – 5, 2013

As I stated in my last post I figured my 4 days at sea in a row would pose some challenges for me and that would be a fairly accurate description of how events unfolded for me.

While I expected to be lazy and do little the first sea day it was the two succeeding days that posed the challenge.

As some of you are aware I have for a number of years suffered from occasional mild bouts of depression and fatigue generally brought on by trying to do too much too fast etc. I also suffer from SAD but that shouldn't be a problem as there is lots of sunshine and fresh sea air to breathe.

These outbreaks can occur at any time and I just have to suffer through them – they usually last from 24 – 48 hours. While meds help they aren't the cure all.

Saturday was the first sea day – I spent most of the day resting, reading, took in a couple of shows – will cover the entertainment in a separate post when I do a review of the ship.

I also used the steam and hot tub for the first time – they are located up on Deck 15 as part of the Lotus Spa – there is no charge to use them – there are separate Men's and Ladies but you must where shorts as the entrance door is clear so one can see in there. There was one other person using the steam – it was then into the hot tub and here I got talking to a couple who are on cruise critic and who had signed up for some of our activities but hadn't had any replies – generally you need to read the posts on a regular basis to know what is going on – after we were finished hot tubing since they were on the same deck as me I stopped by the cabin and gave them some contact info.

Sunday and Monday – the 24 hours in each of these days seems to take forever to pass – bouts of fatigue had me in bed for many hours – in between I managed to attend a series of talks given by Julio Delgado on our upcoming Brazilian ports – he is from the area and I found his lectures to be excellent and informative – afterwards he made himself available by the excursions desk.

On some of the sea days they have been offering a British pub lunch in the Crown Grill which is normally a pay restaurant – the first couple of times there were long line ups but today it was much shorter and there was one seat by the bar – most people were having fish and chips – the other popular item was steak and kidney pie. I chose the first one – there were two pieces of cod and a good portion of fries and topped it off with a traditional bread and butter pudding for dessert. Yum Yum!

Monday was also our second formal night and once again I dress in dress shirt, pants and a tie and had no trouble getting into the dining rooms – I ordered a roast duck dish – it was excellent but I wish they would serve more than just a scoop of mash potatoes with their main entree.

Tuesday – we crossed the equator around 5 AM this morning – we are now officially in the southern hemisphere.

I slept to almost 8AM – okay a couple of overnight bathroom breaks – and seem to be over my fatigue as I am much more alive and it is supper time as I am writing this and I feel lively.

At 11:15AM we had the official crossing the Equator ceremony on the aft decks – the place was packed for this event – debauchery would be a good term to use to describe the going on – I have put together a 6 minute video which I will post online to either Facebook or You Tube when I get faster internet connections.

One of the things that I wasn't able to get done before I left for this cruise was to register for my annual Skyline Hikers camp in the Canadian Rockies the first week of August.

They are behind in the process this year because it is a new site and some of the logistics took longer than normal – as both a returning camper and life member I get priority enrolment but it must be completed by March 1, 2013 – I will still be on the ship and the week I want often fills up first – how to register looked to be a problem but through some emails they were able to send me the registration form in PDF form and I was able to save it and then get it printed out in the internet cafe – It only cost fifty cents to print – apparently that is per job not per page.

I will be able to leave it a the purser's desk and they will see that it gets mailed – I brought along a couple of cheques so was able to pay for it that way and not have to use pay pal.

Tomorrow it will be Fortaleza – I have an early private tour – a 6:30AM meet and a 7 AM departure – it's a four hour tour of the city – we hope to beat the heat – it has become much more humid since we approached the Equator – and also the Carnival set up has resulted in some places not being accessible by tour bus – whether I will wander the town after the tour remains to be seen.

Cheers!