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Published: July 18th 2019
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It’s crazy that we got up early (7.15 am) whilst on holiday to go to the gym, but it was the best way to avoid the Pilates and yoga classes. They also cost extra. I wanted to get in as much whale watching as possible, so actually it makes sense. And let’s be honest, Glyn and I will doze off intermittently throughout the day what with all the sea air and food.
After breakfast we headed up to the front of deck 10 where we’d met the whale watching gang yesterday. They work for an organisation called Orca and one lady was giving up teaching so that she could do Whale Cruise Conservation full time instead. Who knew that was a thing? The sun was shining and the sea very calm, so ideal for spotting marine wildlife should any put in an appearance.
My new mate (teacher/conservation woman) had seen a huge spurt in the distance just as we arrived, so we all got excited.... for nothing, as whatever it was, it had taken one look at us and fled. We all decided to go down to the Whale and Dolphin talk at 11am. It was interesting, but in
the hot room, Glyn and I both struggled to stay awake. We headed back to our whale spotting spot where a few more people joined us. We made another new friend, a very sprightly 79 year old who was a retired teacher and her husband used to lecture on cruise ships. She was berating the Whale Speaker for not being on deck and talking to the passengers as he only does 45 minutes of work per day! We had quite a long and interesting chat with her about wildlife and the loss of it due to stupid humans. The majority of whales are more intelligent than most passengers on the ship, she claimed, present company excluded of course!
After a buffet lunch, we dragged sunloungers to our favourite spot as there’s no seating there. We met another couple, the lady of which has cruised all over the world and had a lot of tales to tell. The weather remained sunny and calm but we needed big coats to keep warm from the wind. If we were on an oil rig spotting mission, we would have felt very accomplished. We also spotted distant boats but no marine wildlife apart from
a few birds.
79 year old woman returned and she’s really good fun to shoot the shit with, including her anecdotes about Saga and how she’s the youngest on their cruises. She said if the Saga ship sunk, the passengers could make rafts with their walking sticks and that the double portholes are bifocal. She also gave Glyn hints and tips for the day trips; how to ensure you get the best place as some of those seemingly slow on their feet can suddenly pick up the pace when there’s window seats involved. To my surprise I didn’t doze off all afternoon.
At 5.30pm I was just suggesting to Glyn that we give up for the day. We’d still only seen a variety of oil rigs, ships and a helicopter, but no whales. However, I’d still had an enjoyable day in the fresh air chatting with interesting people and having a laugh. Suddenly one of the Orca people shouted - she’d seen something! I got a brief glimpse of a Minke Whale making a quick leap before disappearing for good. So at least I know they exist! Glyn missed it though.
We decided to go to the
Secret Garden (not actually a garden but a buffet) for dinner so that we could eat early and chill for the evening as I have plans for stupid o’clock in the morning. I ate mostly mushrooms as mushrooms are awesome as I watched the distant mountains (around 30-40 miles away) of Norway pass by.
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