Six days at sea is a long time. Every effort is made by the entertainment to keep the passengers occupied - but we are all confined to the space of the ship - and everyone is well and truly ready to get off.
The first of the six days started out a little rough. A 3-4 metre high swell had the ship pitching forward and back, and the passengers not quite sure whether they felt ill or not, me included. Not a nice day. Peter resumed his classes and his trainee artists were all coming out of the class with smiles on their faces.
On the second sea day, the Captain's voice came over the tannoy system. (Uh Oh!) He announced that the bad weather and current were slowing the ship down, and he didn't think it was going to improve any. As a result he and the powers that be had decided to cut Horta, and we'd have an extra sea day before getting to Ponta Delgada. Groans all around. I'm just thinking that I don't like the rough sea, and and extra day on it does not sound appealing. As it happened the sea started to smooth out. Not so bad after all.
The next four days were more or less smooth sailing and good weather. Robin the Whale Man spotted a few sperm whales and dolphins leaped around our bows occasionally. Quizzes and Bingo, exercise and dance classes, demonstrations and lectures, bean bag bowls and shuffleboard have filled the days for many. Peter ran his art classes in the morning and worked on paintings and online students in the afternoon. I've managed to sort out loads old photographs, deleting hundreds, spent time on deck and we've both done a lot of reading. And as always, I've been listening to gossip and conversations going on around the ship.
There have been loads of theories as to why we are not going to Horta. Naturally, not one of them matches the Captain's explaination of bad weather and sea currents. Peter and I have been pointing out the chart that is printed out daily and pinned up in the reception area. It's been showing that the ship is following some really nasty sea conditions, which have been moving ahead of us for the last four days. I'm glad that the Captain hasn't caught up with it, and if that means missing out Horta, then I'm very happy to do so.
One of the passengers complained because Nureyev (the statue on the back deck) is naked. Another passenger complained that the Cruise Directors trousers were too tight.... to the Cruise Director. I heard a passenger complaining that all the lecturers were rubbish, apart from the photography lecturer, and then someone else complained that the photography lecturer was rubbish and the only good one was the Whale Man. Yesterday, a gentleman on the table next to me complained that all the other passengers were boring and that he was very disappointed that he'd not met someone he wanted to chat to a second time! I suppose it wouln't have been too bad if it wasn't for the fact that he was saying it to a woman he'd not spoken to before.
There's been a cold going around, which fortunately, neither Peter or I have caught. People have almost been in competition with each other over who has the worst symptons. Then there was the guy in the Bistro who was full of it, runny nose, hoarse voice, the lot. He was complaining loudly about passengers who brought coughs and colds on board with them. He said that everyone should have their temperature taken as they boarded, and anyone that appeared to be ill should be refused entry. As he sat at the table bemoaning his lot to anyone who would listen, I was tempted to suggest that people who catch these things should stay in their cabins until they were well again. Unfortunately it could reflect on Peter, so I stayed shtum.
Reading that, you might think everyone on this ship moaned. But that's not true, most people are well mannered and good natured. The only thing they complain about is people complaining.
But the long stretch of sea days is now done, and tomorrow we'll be in Ponta Delgada. The captain has promised us bad weather after that and that chart in reception agrees with him. I'm keeping me fingers crossed that the good luck fairy that's been sitting on me shoulder since we started this cruise doesn't let me down, and that the weather will be fine. But first, terra firma tomorrow. Yesssssssss.
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