Sailing in the South Pacific
Happy Valentines Day. This is such an exciting holiday the overnight time change, the loss of an hour, was completely forgotten. Downstairs in the coffee connection wondering where everyone was. The only thing is, that it is five in the morning not six. Oh, that’s ok there are blog entries to be made, maybe they can be uploaded as no one else is on the internet at this time of the day.
A couple blog entries were completed and uploaded before Rommel showed up to open the coffee connection. Two cappuccini and one brioche later it was time to go back to the suite and wake Mary so we can make the Sit & Be Fit class. Mary managed to roust herself in time to make the Sit & Bit Fit class. Afterwards we headed back to the room. I immediately climbed back into bed to catch up on the sleep lost due to the time change.
Yes, the announce the time changes. The put it in the daily announcement sheet that arrives every night. Yes, the put a little tent card on the bed reminding you of the time change. However at 4 or 4:30 in the morning you sometimes forget these things.
Mary was read for breakfast at 10 and woke me up to see if I wanted to go. I told her to go ahead and order me an omelette and I would be there shortly. I did manage to make it before the 10:30 closing time for breakfast.
The days at sea, and three days of almost continuously rough sea, I simply need to climb into bed and wait for it to pass. I know Mary said something about lunch, I told her to go ahead without me.
It had gone two before I was even close to being awake again. The sea hadn’t even started to calm down. Were we going to be able to dock in Pago Pago? Will the sea be too rough? Ugh.
We went down to the lecture on American Samoa. The lecturer was a Scottish woman who has spend a lot of time in the South Pacific and now lives in Australia. The lectures are limited to forty-five minutes, so nearly 500 years of history is a lot got cover in one period. It was a good overview, but if she had left her jokes out, we could have had a little more information.
After the lecture it was back to the suite. We continued to work on plans for the remainder of the year, and thoughts about next year. There is some concern, on my part, about the cost of the Antartica cruise in 2025. I am having trouble with the average daily cost and the dearth of information about the excursions and pre-cruise holiday. South America is a long way to go for just ten days. We will have to think about how we can combine it with something else. Maybe one of those train rides?
For dinner we went up to La Veranda. It is Ash Wednesday so the no meat rule applies. We consumed the hors d’oeuvres and then opted for just one dish. Mine was the risotto with vegetables, this time carrots and asparagus. Mary had the gnocchi with pesto. She ordered the Lemoncello cake for dessert. Because we are at sea, and the sea is rough, having alight fluffy cake is probably impossible. I took a single scoop of chocolate ice cream.
It has gone eight. The sea and winds are still moving the ship around. Reading about Pago Pago it appears it is a very natural deep harbor which is well protected. We will actually be docking, which means it is possible that we will be going ashore. Tendering is what you have to do when there isn’t a dock, and that is impossible if the seas are rough.
The Passages newsletter says we will lose not only another hour tomorrow night, but we will also lose February 16th. Does that mean it doesn’t exist? What about poor Grace Hapke? Her birthday is February 16th. Yes, a correction from the prior February 2nd. Does she stay sixteen for a whole twelve months more? Why does this happen? Because we will cross the international date line tomorrow night. Don’t ask me, I can’t figure it out. But tonight at midnight will go from February 15th to February 17th in the blink of an eye.
The more that is read on the subject the less I understand. The only way to deal with it it going to be acceptance. Have faith this is the way it works. It was February 16th everywhere in the world except on this imaginary line half way around the world. Just accept it. Have faith brother, it will be all right.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico
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