May 6, 2007:

Early Afternoon:

The early start to the past two mornings, coupled with travel and now two time zone changes are starting to take their toll. As we sail into a tropical thunderstorm, the dark skies and rain arouse no fear; instead my thoughts are turning toward the idea of an afternoon siesta. Just one little glass of wine and I know that I could sleep through until time for dinner.....but I’m trying to keep my wardrobe from shrinking too much on this trip, so I guess I’ll hold off on the wine and try to walk a few more laps around the Promenade deck.

Tonight is our first formal night and the Captain’s Welcome Party. Based on previous experience, I don’t think I can fight my way through the gaggle of blue-hair old ladies to actually get a drink or meet the captain, so I think I will skip the party, but I might try to lurk on the fringes of it to take a few pictures.

Speaking of pictures, that brings me to the first tragedy of this voyage. My brand-new, just-purchased-2-days-before-leaving-home memory card for my camera died. And along with it, all the pictures I had from the Fort Lauderdale Air and Sea Show and from our Sail-Away, died also. This is not a catastrophe, I have other memory cards for future use....but it is a disappointment because I really wanted to post a few photos to prove my point from the earlier email about the attributes of women who inhabit 70 foot yachts.

.....we are currently 424 nautical miles from Fort Lauderdale with 2412 miles until our first landfall at Ponta Delgada, Azores.......a light rain is falling and that nap I mentioned is beckoning, so I think I’ll return to writing boring prose a little later.

Late Evening:

Well, our dinner companion situation has changed a bit. The “reserved” couple that I mentioned yesterday apparently found that one session with Mr SuperGlue was enough....they have permanently vacated the table.....I just wish that I had thought of that strategy first. Also, another couple, originally from Ohio, but now living in Houston, who didn’t come to dinner the first night have joined us....they seem pretty normal.....but time will tell. Since our dinner seating is very much in demand, the loss of the “reserved” couple means that they were immediately replaced with another couple on the waitlist. Initially, they seem harmless. They are a bit older...the man is telling me about his Army service which includes service in the Korean War. Then he also mentions that he had an uncle in World War II who was involved in the defense of Corregidor and the Bataan Death March and who was finally murdered in a Japanese War Crime incident that was told in the book “Ghost Soldiers”.  As dinner unfolds, he is telling me (or perhaps I should say not telling me) about his service during the Korean War.....it was in the Signal Corps....he was stationed in Turkey....he can’t say exactly where (“classified, you know”)....he can’t say who he worked for (“classified”), but “you’d recognize the name” (if he could tell me).  He also mentions (or doesn’t mention) that after the Army he worked as an electrical engineer as a civilian contractor to a government agency (he can’t say which one, “classified”), but it was located near the CIA.  He also can’t tell me what he did...”classified”. A bit later in the meal Mr. SuperGlue mentions his patent again and the new guy....let’s call him James Bond, mentions that he also has a patent.....he can’t tell us about it....”the specific applications are classified”, but it involves undersea acoustic waves and sensors.

I must be soooo lucky....what are the odds that at a random table of 8 people I would be blessed with the company of both the Inventor of SuperGlue and James Bond?

.......so that’s my social circle at the moment: the Ohioans, Mr. & Mrs. SuperGlue and Mr. & Mrs. Secret Agent.  I may have to flee my assigned dining area if things don’t improve.

Since there are no ports for the first 5 days of the voyage.....nearly 3000 miles to cover without being in sight of land....these little social imperfections are the only fodder for my slightly twisted imagination to dwell on. With a little luck, the situation (and the narrative) will improve when we begin to explore our ports.

May 7, 2007:

That little tropical thunderstorm that we were sailing into turned out to be a major tropical depression. In the middle of the night I awoke to the sound of things going ‘bump’ in the night and wind whistling through the cabin.....the balcony door had come unlatched and the Gale Force wind was whipping the curtains. During breakfast the Captain came on the Public Address system and apologized for the rough weather and said that we had passed the center of the storm and should reach calmer waters after lunch. But, on a more positive note....the rough water does tend to thin the herd in the dining areas, so there was no problem getting seated for breakfast.

I took a walk up to the Skywalker’s Nightclub, where we will be having a “Cruise Critic” social meeting later this morning. (Note: the Cruise Critics are a group of about 40-50 people who are on this voyage and who have been corresponding via message boards and email for the last year concerning this cruise.) Skywalker’s is at the far aft end of the ship on deck 17, which is the highest part of the ship. It is normally a fine place to be....you have a great view of the ship and the sea. However, the combination of up-high and end-of-the-boat means that it gets a lot of sea motion.....in today’s instance it is getting a whole lot of sea motion.  It could be a short social event. More on that later..   

....but for now I need to see if I can post this email and get on with shipboard activities.