28 September 2005:

The Scottish weather has stayed with us in Northern Ireland. We took a private tour to the Antrim Coast and up the scenic route to the Giant’s Causeway. The only problem was that it was raining the whole way and raining harder and very windy when we got to the Giant’s Causeway. So, we just saw things from a distance and couldn’t really get down to the best views. As a result of the inclement weather the tour guide kept changing itineraries trying to find something interesting for us to do inside. He and I wanted to skip the trip down to the Giant’s Causeway viewing area and instead take a tour of the Old Bushmills Whiskey distillery and their sampling room…..but we were out-voted by anti-drinking crowd and we had to stay huddled in the cold and the rain while some of the others went down to the viewing area. And, of course, all of them came by soaked and chilled and complaining about how miserable they felt. But their complaints generated no sympathy from me or the tour guide, who told me: “It serves the buggers right for not going to the still!”   However, on return to Belfast we had a brief period of sunshine while we were driving through the neighborhoods that were ‘most affected by the Troubles’. As a result the only good views we had were of the graffiti murals painted on the walls of the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods in Belfast.

I should also mention that we’ve been given a “rough weather warning” for tonight and all day tomorrow. We’ll be sailing through the remnants of Hurricane Rita. The CNN weather said we’d be getting winds of over 100 kph (around 70 mph, I think). So, we’ve been warned to stay off the open decks tonight and tomorrow. The good news for me is that most of the bars are located on enclosed decks. The seas were pretty calm as we went to dinner this evening, but now, 10pm, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, the seas are a bit rougher….12 foot waves at the moment… and should be worse by tomorrow…..I’m having some trouble typing at the moment because the laptop, which is on my lap is jumping around quite a lot….. If I don’t write for a day or two you’ll understand why. The only reason I’m concerned is that I noticed that the ship’s crew has recently (in the last couple of hours) stocked the public bathrooms and trash cans with stacks of barf bags. This seems to me to indicate that they have decided that things will be getting worse in the next few hours. I am preparing myself for battle with the raging sea….I am consuming large amounts of chocolate and Jack Daniels….not because they have any medicinal properties, but just because they make me feel good.  If something unfortunate happens to us then it will be the curse of the Titanic….which was built and launched from Belfast.

Well, the rough seas seem to be getting a little rougher now and I’m having trouble hitting the keys on the keyboard, so I think I’ll call it a day and end for now.

29 September 2005:

Location: At sea somewhere in the North Atlantic between Ireland and Iceland. The seas are rough…..actually they are officially classified on the ship’s status board as ‘Very Rough’, with waves at 18 feet as we continue to sail through what is left of Hurricane Rita. The rough weather makes it a bit of a challenge to walk down the hallways or go through the buffet line, but so far I’ve had no other problems thanks to liberal doses of Bonine and Jack Daniels. I had planned for this day to be spent walking on the Promenade and Sky Decks with maybe a little time in the gym, but the high winds have caused them to close the open decks to passengers and the high waves make using the treadmills in the gym a tough job. So, I guess that today I’ll try to catch up on email and maybe do a little reading and napping.

Dinner is formal again tonight, but unless the seas calm down a bit there will be some soiled tuxedos before the dessert is served….. 

As I was typing the last line, the Cruise Director came on the PA system and told us that the weather was further deteriorating and that as a result our arrival in Iceland would be delayed by 7 or 8 hours. So, I’m not sure yet what the situation will be once we get there. We had scheduled a full day tour, but that was based on arriving in Reykjavik at 9am. I guess we’ll know tomorrow morning whether the tours have been rescheduled or canceled.

…based on the Cruise Director’s comments I don’t think the weather will be any better later today, so I think I’ll try to send this message now before it gets any more difficult to stagger through the hallways down to the internet area.