Sunday 22nd May - Lazy Day into the Bay of Biscay

Unusually, Peter has not been thrown into classes immediately.  Apparently the Art and Craft classes have been at the centre of Covid outbreaks in the past, and as I’ve already pointed out, Saga are very Covid conscious. This means that classes won’t start until we’ve all had another negative covid test.  Every person on board ship is being tested daily for the first five days of the cruise.

Because of the stringent covid measures, we’ve decided to spend our time away from the bars etc. and keep to ourselves for now.  The infamous Bay of Biscay has been quite smooth so I've not had any seasickness issues. We’ve watched one of the lecturers talks from our cabin, sat on the balcony a lot, and walked 8 times around the promenade deck (2 miles).  We came across a resting migrant, (or perhaps a stowaway), which I thought was a little Cetti’s Warbler, I've been corrected and it turns out that it is a Chiff Chaff.

I’ve found the launderette, we’ve written out blogs, sat on the balcony some more and watched Gannets and passing ships.  So generally we’ve taken it very easy.  At 2.50pm we went for our daily covid test and got the all clear again. Phew!  (I’m beginning to feel a little less worried about it) and Peter can run his first two art classes tomorrow.

The evening meal was in the Grill again, and once again we sat with Terena and Gerry.  They seem a nice couple. During the meal, the Captain announced that all the passengers had tested negatively for Covid, unfortunately one of the staff had tested positive.  That person, plus 3 associates would now go into isolation for 5 days.  Tough eh?

We have to be ready at 8.30 am for everyone to be able to register for tomorrow’s classes, although the classes themselves will not be until 11 am and 3.30 pm.  We’ve never had to be ready so early before, (except for tours), so this is all new.  But we are treating this cruise like being on probation in a new job, so we are naturally on best behaviour and going with whatever instruction we are given.

So early to bed and see what tomorrow brings.