Day 11 - At Sea

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Geo: 35.5447, -31.9268

The morning air is definitely much cooler now we are farther north. There is a fresh breeze off the ocean but the sea is much calmer than previous days. It looks almost like glass. There is some mist on the horizon that seems to surround the boat like a cocoon. We have seen no other ship, boat, or aeroplane for days. We are all that exists. A floating microcosm of life.

We are late risers today, must have been that 2nd bottle of wine. We shower and breakfast before heading to the final day of the Progressive Trivia Quiz. As before some of the questions are pretty tricky. One question is which hair on the human body is the very last to turn grey due to age. We put pubic but turns out it is eyelashes. At the end our team comes 7th out of 26 teams which we think is very respectable. Very good fun.

The ship is moving in an out of mist patches throughout the day. As we lie out on the pool deck we can see the mist snake in over the decks and partly obscure the Viking crown. Down on the pool deck however it is still very warm even though the sun is partly occluded by the mist. We underestimate the suns power and don't put on any sunscreen...mistake. We are a little lobstery by evening.

We have to wait to get back into our cabin is Fermin is cleaning it at the time and so we head down to the Concierge Lounge for some coffee. He is soon finished and I sit out on the balcony. Peter heads off to the gym early. He misses our first sign of life for a while as a pod of porpoises sweep past us heading south. They appear to be in a mighty hurry as they leap spectacularly out of the water as they go. They seem so joyous and carefree. Then shortly after another ship appears on the horizon (we were told when visiting the bridge it's about 27 to 30 miles to the horizon depending on visibility). I grab my binoculars so that I can see it more clearly. It's a large cargo ship heading south. Another sign we are nearing civilisation again. We spot a few other ships throughout the day also.

Late afternoon we head down to the Studio B Ice Rink for today's ice show called Cool Art, Hot Ice. I always think it very cool (pun intended) that you can watch a ice show at sea. It's very good with some very talented ice-skaters. Am sure I have seen a similar if not the same show on another Royal Caribbean ship though.

On returning to the cabin we start the usual routine of deciding what to wear. We are very careful not to pick anything that looks remotely similar as people will think we are twins. After showering I sit on the balcony for a while and relax. As evening approaches I spot a flock of Fulmars (might be Petrels) skimming very low over the ocean. They expertly navigate the small waves before they disappear across the bow of the ship to the port side.

We meet with Sue and Malcolm in the Imperial Lounge. they have already eaten as they a re going to see a show in the theatre at 9pm. We don't fancy it as it's two sopranos from Birmingham covering various other artists songs. We are joined by Bloody Mary and Dougie, her husband, who are from Glasgow. Bloody Mary is a larger than life lady with a great sense of humour. Am not sure how she got the nickname, I assume it's from the drink although she is drinking brandies when she is with us.

We dine in the main dining room. Arvel is our waiter tonight. He clearly likes to turn things around as we are in and out in just over an hour. Food was good though. I had Jalepeno and Potato soup (much nicer than it sounds) followed by Sea Bass with Tiger Prawns and then Rainbow Sorbet.

We have a flutter in the casino as usual. We have better luck tonight although we don't win a fortune. Still time for it to happen. The rest of the evening in spent up in the Viking Crown nudge Diamond Lounge. We retire to the cabin earlier then usual as we have a tour in the Azores that starts fairly early. We need to be down in the theatre to collect our tour stickers by 8am. We order breakfast for the room at 7am so that we don't have to dash out to the main dining room or the Windjammer.

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