Day 5: Friday April 20 2007, At Sea
Position at 11:00 a.m.: 31 degrees 17.043' N latitude, 046 degrees 21.650' W longitude. Course 070 degrees true, speed 27.4 mph
Bob: We elected to have breakfast on the deck at the rear of the Windjammer Cafe, where we had a great view of the white, frothy wake boiling up behind the ship into the deep blue of the Atlantic. Now I know where the sailors get the term "blue water sailing" because the ocean really has an uncanny shade of blue, much deeper than the sky itself. We walked a couple of miles at nine o'clock and also reprised the Fun Fitness session directly afterwards, which this time consisted of a nice set of stretching and low impact aerobics, or, in my case, sub-aerobics. After that I read a book in a deck chair while Monika tried out the pool. She reported it was salt water, warm but very wavy. She was tossed both from side to side and back and forth in the pool, which sounded like enough fun to almost tempt me to join her. |
Monika: Well today we weren't up in time for Aerobics at 8 a.m., so we started our mile walk right after breakfast and penalized ourselves with an extra 1/2 mile (3 laps). After that it was fun fitness--this morning light aerobics. I was getting hot and sweaty and started eyeing the pool. So after our exercising I changed into bathing suit and we went back up. The pool is salt water and with the rocking of the ship has its own wave actions. In addition it has 4 strong jets that re-circulate the water, so although the pool is not big you can do a lot of swimming. |
Bob: Rick, Brigitte, Dave and we gathered for a lunch in the Mistral restaurant (rather than the Windjammer buffet) so that we could watch Sueda, the waitress at our dinner table, try her hand at being a cook. She was preparing all the pasta dishes being offered that day for the formal lunch seating, so we went down, grabbed a table, and cheered her on. I had Sueda's fuselli pasta with marinara sauce and it was cooked perfectly in an al dente fashion. After lunch we continued our dance lessons by tangling with the tango from 1-2, which was a real challenge! Monika survived the dance lesson relatively unscathed, after which we listened to a lecture on the Spanish province of Asturia from 2-3. I took my usual napp from 3-5, after which we reconvened with Rick and Brigitte for dinner. They had traveled extensively and were more than happy to share their experiences with us, and that made the time pass quickly. After diner we walked some circuits on Deck 5, kind of a promenade deck, just to get in some exercise before the evening show (too much pasta and dinner!). We finished up the night at a magic show in the Pacifica Theatre, the main theater carved out of the bow area of the ship. "Fallon", the magician performed the usual assortment of sleight of hand and magic box tricks, and his wife, Mystique, added an unusual touch by performing a Cirque de Soliel type of routine using two silk streamers attached to the ceiling of the theater. Although not as muscular as Lance Ringnald (of course!), she was very gracefully acrobatic in her routine. And so to bed. |
Monika: For lunch we met with our tablemates to eat in the formal dining room and watch our waitress (Sueda) make pasta. You could order it with red or white sauce and all the ingredients you wanted; Yummy! We had to hurry for Tango lessons and then a destination lecture on Andalusia. After that we headed for our stateroom where Bob took a nap and I read a book. The after dinner show was a magic show done by a husband and wife team with the husband being the magician and the wife a contortionist and aerial artist. It was OK. |
| Prolog | Map of Cruise | Map of Spain | Epilog |
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