November 3, 2026

Tuesday – An Election Day in the US

Other than that, another day at sea, actually the fourth of five days at sea, on the SS Mariner and still heading to Bermuda.

It is a beautiful morning from the aft deck near the Horizon lounge. The sea is calm and there is just enough wind to keep it cool. You do have to ponder what the mariners in the age of sail though about all of this. Sitting out here looking out at the ocean and all you can see and have seen for four days is water. And you are reliant solely on the wind for movement. To much wind, and you are tossed around like a cork. To little wind and you don’t move at all. They were very brave, or stupid.

Sunrise off the foraft of the ship.

We went to breakfast in the La Veranda. After breakfast we went downstairs to the card room and played canasta while they refreshed our room. AT 10:00 we were in the Epicurean Enrichment Studio watching a cooking demonstration called Passport to the Caribbean.

He spent a lot of time talking about the Columbian Exchange. The massive, widespread movement of plants, animals, culture, human populations and diseases between the New World (The Americas) and the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia) after Columbus’s 1492 voyage. Being a cooking demonstration he focused on the food exchange. Corn (maize), potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, tobacco, cacao (chocolate), cassava, peanuts, chili peppers, and turkeys making their way to Europe. And things like wheat, rice, sugar cane, coffee, bananas, citrus fruits, horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and bees making their way to the new world.

It is almost incomprehensible that Europeans didn’t have corn for polenta, potatoes for everything Irish, cacao for the Spanish chocolate, or tomatoes for everyone’s sauces until the beginning of the 17th century. Think about it for a second. Leonardo da Vinci never saw or ate a tomato! Tomatoes weren’t introduced to Italians until 1548, 29 years after Leonardo’s death.

The Spanish conquistadors brought tomatoes from the Americas to Europe in the 1500s. Herbalists and writers initially labeled them poisonous because the plant belongs to the nightshade family. In addition, wealthy Europeans eating off pewter plates suffered lead poisoning because the fruit's acidity leached the metal into their food, though the plate—not the tomato—was the real toxin. Southern Europe—particularly Italy—began embracing the fruit for cooking by the early 18th century. The first documented tomato sauce recipe appeared in Naples in 1692 by Antonio Latini. Tomatoes shed their dangerous reputation across the wider continent as science cleared up the lead-plate myth. The invention of the modern pizza in Naples in the late 1800s, alongside mass-produced products like canned and condensed tomato soups, cemented the tomato as an everyday dietary staple throughout Europe.

The chef demonstrated how to make Caribbean cole slaw. He encouraged us to throw out spices over three months old. Yes, even in glass jars and sealed packages they go bad very quickly. We got to taste some jerked shrimp and chicken. There was a salted cod fish cake, which other people chose to taste. It was all actually very good.

Mary remained frustrated pretty much all day because it is Election Day and she couldn’t find out what was happening. We went to La Veranda for a salad for lunch. We wanted to keep it light because we have reservations at the other speciality restaurant Chartreuse at 19:30 to night.

We played some cards, took a nap, then got dressed for dinner. There was a pre-dinner show tonight called Smooth Sailing featuring Dani Barratt, a singer from the UK. It was a nice show, but nothing spectacular. After the show Mary went to the Horizon lounge.

Then we had dinner at Chartreuse. The menu here is very limited and very French. Mary chose the butternut soup and salmon; and the salmon was over cooked and very dry. She was offered a glass of French white wine, it was so bad we can’t even remember the name. I chose escargot as my appetizer. They were very good, but having to skip the bread meant there was nothing to soak up the butter and garlic. The main course for me was a steak and French fries. Both were very good. We chose to skip dinner.

I went for a cigar after dinner. Then we called it an early night.

Another quite day, just sailing along.

Buonanotte e Caio

Enrico e Maria