Day 4: Sometime in the very early morning we felt the ship slow, there was less rocking. We were drawing close to Bermuda our first and only stop before we really addressed “the pond”. Around 7 Mike pulled aside our black-out curtains and there was Bermuda in all its blue splendor. A tug boat called “Powerful” slipped alongside in case we needed a poke here or there. “Powerful” never touched us as our captain initiated our side thrusters and we sidled perfectly up to the dock. This captain is a pro. This ship is his small city. Mike and I hit the gym; with one other guy; we barely generated enough power to charge a flash light.
Bermuda – A Banner declares “Home of the 35th America’s Cup”
Around an hour later Mike and I hit the bricks of the Royal Navy Dock Yard in Bermuda. The Dock Yard not only welcomes most seagoing vessels to Bermuda; it also served England as a well-built fortress securing safe anchorage for the British Navy after the independence of the USA in 1783. At that point in history England got a little skittish and figured they needed some kind of mid-Atlantic cubby hole. The actual dockyard wasn’t built until 1809, prior to that the naval base was at St George (east end). They started out using slave labor until Emancipation in 1834. Then they changed over to convict labor which they describe in a little more in debt. Those poor guys lived a miserable life in a shipwreck (literally) quarters and chopped up tons and tons of Bermuda lime stone to make this amazing fort. They managed to build fortifications, casement barracks, storehouses and workshops to supply British Ships in the 1800’s. They built the Commissioner’s House starting in 1823 on the very tip of the Dock Yard, it’s the first thing you see when pulling into port.
The Dockyard closed in 1953 and was left to the willies of weather, ocean and storm. Finally in the 1960’s the local folks recognized it as a potential gem in the rough and possible cultural tourism destination. They soon opened a Maritime Museum, and started to restore from then on. They have done a beautiful job. For those cruise boat strollers there is everything in walking distance.
Mike and I ventured a bit outside the walls and across the bridge, where we saw the America’s Cup Village. Workers had erected large white tent structures to house the various teams and equipment; Britain, France, USA, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan. It is all quite exciting and a great boost to Bermuda.
The actual race was in 53 days, and activity was high.
I felt pretty lucky to see the French boat “Groupama” in full sail but then almost fell off our balcony when USA’s boat the “Oracle” came right behind them also in full sail. They are funny looking things. Knife like, catamaran, big tall skinny sales with a wing sail in the front. They go very fast. There is a crew 7 or 8, and the whole shebang only costs around 100 million. Yikes!
Day 6
Mike and I are watching a lot of water go by our balcony. “Not much going on out there” I comment. Mike says “I think we are a few days from the porpoise show.” It’s a very mild day, the sun is out with a few clouds softening the horizon.
We are in the middle of the Sargasso Sea and I don’t see a single blade of grass. Sargasso Grass is the bane of existence to the fancy resorts of Cancun, Mexico. It mounts up by the foot to be laboriously raked up and drug off somewhere so all the brides who have spent a fortune have a pretty beach wedding. Meanwhile all the local crab, bugs, birds and other beach dwellers are looking for a place to roost and spend the night. I understand the Sargasso Grass forms in very large boggy islands out in the sea and washes up (many miles away) to shore. I think I may need to look up the actual facts, I don’t see any grass out here.
The Captain came on a short while ago; clear sailing ahead, we’re sailing over several miles of deep blue ocean. Mike has his compass and maps out again “just checking the route”.
We as passengers are allowed into the “bridge viewing room” which naturally Mike and I have visited. There is a thick plexi-glass window that protects the actual navigational crew and captain, There is a posted warning “Do not tap on the window” You are not at the zoo. On our side of the plexi-glass there are non- touchable instruments that show wind speed, direction, longitude, latitude, and where we are in the world. On this trip we will cross the Prime Meridian, aka: Meridian of Greenwich (London), if falls slightly to the east of Barcelona. On the windshield of the bridge there are giant windshield wipers.
Day 6 also presented the opportunity of a Magellan documentary which we attended. It was extremely accurate and parallels the book I just finished “The Ends of the Earth, Magellan’s Fateful Journey around the globe. (not so much around the world as he gets hacked up along the way). Anyway after that I forced Mike to attend the “fancy fruit cutting” demonstration. Really very entertaining.
For dinner we went back to the Manhattan Room, very nice; Corn fritters with salmon mouse and jalapeno cream sauce, grilled Teriyaki steak and roasted fingerling potatoes, steamed broccoli and asparagus, desert: warm chocolate lava cake with strawberry compote and hand churned chocolate chip ice cream. As a special treat after the jazz band retired, the dance group: “Burn the Floor” came charging out onto the dance floor. No chance for Mike to escape. Talented dancers, 4 couples, (dancing with the stars type thins), amazing. Even Mike liked it.
Day 7
The sea is calm, dark blue, with light wind. There are some clouds but also sunshine and blue sky. We have coffee and read for a while. The gym is full and I have to change up my routine; cardio at the end.
When we return to our cabin Ricky our steward is bustling about the hallway, cleaning cabins, filling ice buckets, changing out towels and linens. Ricky is a nice kid from Indonesia. He looks young but I put him somewhere in his early 20’s. He talks about his mom a lot. She is a batik artist. Ricky loves my pillow case which my sister Jackie made me; it’s a beautiful cotton; printed in a fish batik pattern. Ricky’s work day seems long. He’s pretty much in our hallway all day and evening. I suppose this is his spot except while eating and sleeping. When he’s not here I picture him sitting in one of the side rooms marked “crew only” making piles and piles of the “cute” towel animals. Ricky leaves a new animal each night on our bed. So far we’ve got a frog, elephant, some kind of walrus and last night my favorite; a penguin wrapped in a blanket. He has little tiny eyes which are the pointed ends of a washcloth and a funny little beak. OK, it sounds like I’ve been at sea a few too many days so I’m going to drop the towel animal subject. Ricky gets to go home in August. There are many Indonesia workers on the ship so I’m sure Ricky has plenty of friends.
In the afternoon Mike and I retire to the top deck to sit in the sun, read books, and have a salad. There is quite the mini world up on deck 16. Adults only, quiet, small swimming pool, hot tubs, lounge chairs, small restaurant and bar, it’s at the ass end of the ship so we have a great view. In the evenings they show movies on a giant screen under the stars.
In the latter part of the afternoon Mike goes to the cigar lounge and I decide to stroll the shopping promenade. I’m horrified at a couple googling over a watch “and it’s only $ 299” he says, “Oh honey, you should get it!” she says. I’m thinking it looks like it weighs 30 lbs. and if he ever fell in the swimming pool he would drown, god forbid he topple overboard while waving it over the rail.
As I stroll up the promenade I come to a balcony overlooking one of the large dining rooms. There is passenger I recognize from the gym seated at the grand piano in the center of the dining room. I quickly realize this is not your average chopsticks concert. This woman has command of the piano and is giving a performance like no other. She plays for a full hour, all classical, I only vaguely recognize a few pieces, but the beauty in that one hour is astounding and I am struck silent, listening. A small crowd gathers and applauds when she comes to the end of a piece. Her work out in the gym (which makes total sense now) is a series of unusual hand exercises, body strengthening through floor exercises and stretching. She is an oriental woman of average size, good shape, around mid- 40’s. I believe I am occasionally fortunate to cross paths with extraordinary people in my life and I believe this is one of those people.
Mike meanwhile has made a new friend in the cigar lounge named John. He is an older Syrian fellow, he and his wife travel frequently. They live in Redondo Beach, CA. He is a retired dental lab owner. John has great travel stories.
There are a lot of elderly folks on this boat. Some of them are wandering aimlessly around the world, but others have stories to tell and I feel so very fortunate to hear them.
Day 8
The captain just came on the horn:
1,700 miles since departure from Bermuda, 700 miles to reach land, the ocean is 1,300 feet deep, the wind at 50 knots, our speed; 20 miles per hour. Water temp 61 F, air temp 60 F sunset at 20:17. We have left the Sargasso Sea (I still did not see a blade of Sargasso Grass.)
The sun is out and as the day slides from am to pm we entertain ourselves reading, writing, walking around, and sitting up top. Some of the more unusual events listed in the “What’s Happening Today” are; Botox party with Dr. Amanda, Free Foot Analysis, Teppanyaki Demonstration, 50% off Diamond Event, Bachata Dance Class # 2 (not sure when # 1 was, not sure what Bachata is), Splashtacular Extravaganza Tricks, Spot the Tanzanite, Sit and go Poker Tournament, and Liquid Facelift with Dr. Amanda, the list goes on and on. These events are sandwiched around more normal things, music, dancing, cards, magic shows, comedy shows, Broadway shows, and lectures. We have dinner at a Chinese restaurant, it is again excellent.
We are moving our clocks forward again. It’s been happening every other day. We are now 7 hours ahead of Colorado and 5 hours ahead of Florida. (Where our 2 kids live.) It’s getting a little confusing and our sleep pattern is a bit off.
It’s Cloudy today and actually rains in the latter part of the day. We spend most of the day inside, we go to the gym, read, write, text our kids, listen to music. Some people are getting a little itchy and lots of folks are spending time in the Casino. Mike and I both lost 2 dollars playing one of the poker machines, and went stomping out. (we didn’t really stomp) Ha ha, I can think of lots of other ways to spend money. We did attend a lecture: “Funchal, Madeira; Wine, Women and Song”, it was so bad I felt sorry for the woman giving it. Poor Mike almost had a major melt down when she identified a picture of Henry the Navigator as Vasco De Gama. Mike left along with a few other rats deserting the ship; I stayed for the remainder, it was bad.
Day 9 (Sunday): The highlight of this day was the “Deck and Engine Q + A” which was hosted by our Captain; Frank Juliussen, Chief Engineer Bibin Hardi and Hotel Director Richard Janicki. I left the lecture having no doubt that Captain Juliussen would indeed go down with the ship and do everything in his power to save us, that this; the Epic ship in the Norwegian fleet was by far biggest and baddest cruise ship in the world. I believed the Chief Engineer when he described our osmoses water purification system, as producing far better H2O than bottled water, that the water we discharged into the sea is of drinking quality although we do NOT drink that water, that our diesel engines, props, thrusters, equalizers, and everything else that pushes us thru the sea takes every advantage of the advanced technology available to date, and that we function far above the eco regulations afforded by international maritime law. It was a good talk. In the evening Mike and I attended the Broadway Show: Priscilla Queen of the Desert.” I have to admit this was a great show. Talented dancers, singers and if you’ve ever seen it; amazing costumes. The show was a full blown production.
Day 10: Funchal, Madeira (Portugal). We wake up at port in Funchal, we set foot in Europe for the first time. Madeira is a beautiful, fairly small mountainous island. Funchal is the capital and manages to have built itself up the side of a steep mountain. I had read a little about the island and wanted to take a cable car above the city then take a wicker sleigh down. I neglected to tell Mike about the sleigh ride and he baulked in a major way sighting one of our last adventures; a fairly difficult kayak trip in the South Pacific. He’s such a sissy.
Anyway we had a nice hike into town along the waterfront. The line for the cable car ride was long so we headed down the first little cobblestone street we came to. Fascinating city, shops, markets, little restaurants, great local traffic on foot. Restaurants and delicious pastries all over the place. We stop for a snack and wander around a bit more. We go to an ATM and manage to extract some Euros. The exchange rate is quite good. Later in the day we return to the cable car and the line is smaller, we compromise and I give up the sleigh ride down and buy round trip tickets. The cable car ride is fascinating as it hauls us up the mountain. We sail over residential white homes with red tile roofs, small gardens, lots of flowers, everyone has a vegetable plot. There are tiny little paths to access many of the houses. These folks must be very fit. There are a few roads and cars are parked in the closest spots to the homes, some a bit difficult to get to. Riding over these homes gave us a birds eye look into their lives, probably very different than ours. There is laundry hanging everywhere, dogs, cats, sheep and goats. Many of the houses have a cistern for water collection, one had a little waterwheel to water the different levels of vegetables. The gardens are terraced and everything is bright green. Also very noticeable is recovery from a devastating fire in 2013. Quite a few houses totally destroyed and abandoned, red tile roofs caved in, families unable or not wanting to rebuild.
At the top of the hill where the cable car left us off is additional hiking up and up for fantastic views of the harbor, city and sea.
Day 11; Navigational information by the Captain, on the horn: May 11, 2017, 11:23 am, 34 D long, 10D lat., we are 345 miles from Malaga, Spain (our next port call). We are traveling 067 D NE at 19 knots (22 mph), over deep waters 4,000 meters (13,000 feet.) There are light winds N at 10 knots, sea conditions light, 1 meter, waves air temp 67 F. Sea temp 68 F Sunset at 21:00, Sunrise tomorrow 7:50. Passing Straight of Gibraltar narrows at 2:30 am tonight, at which point we will be 5 nautical miles away, at 3:30 am we will be 5-10 nautical miles from monkey mountain (Africa) depending on traffic. Peaceful day today.