Goodbye NY

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When we sailed out of New York last night the temperature had plummeted and even though we were well wrapped up, it felt unbelievably cold. It was one of those lazy winds that just couldn't be bothered to go round you; it just blew straight through you instead. But no matter how cold we felt, the view we got of Manhatten lit up like a magical wonderland was way too good to miss. Richard took some fantastic photos of what has become our favourite visit so far on this trip. But really, it didn't have to try too hard to beat Southampton! It was quite a sad moment to leave such an amazing place but we had been to as much of it as we possibly could and have some really wonderful memories to bring away with us. We took some time today to start creating a scrapbook for this trip and we've just had to give extra space to New York because it really was so good.

And now we would have to say, what a difference a day makes. As soon as we left New York we headed directly south and are following the eastern seaboard on our way down to Fort Lauderdale. The sea is finally blue, calm and beneath bright sunshine and blue skies. And just before lunch today we saw the most incredible sight: dolphins. And not just a few dolphins but hundreds of them. Lots were swimming alongside the ship, others were darting for the ship's sides and then diving down. And these were right in front of our balcony. But about 100 yards away, the water looked like it was boiling as hundreds and hundreds of dolphins were breaking the surface with many jumping right out of the water. Sadly, the camera was on a night setting so we didn't manage to get any photos but we still have 12 more weeks to go so may yet see more. But even if we don't, today's sight was really wondrous.

About 400 Americans joined the ship yesterday and the restaurant did a Flavours of America theme tonight in their honour. We've eaten the best ribs ever for dinner tonight ... along with a hunk of fillet steak. Thankfully we're back in the gym now so feel able to indulge. So far so good - everything I brought with me still fits!

The ship picked up some brilliant guest lecturers this week - a fantastic ex US Army Colonel who worked at the White House for 5 Presidents and he took us through the organisation required for a formal state banquet. All illustrated with great photos of bits you never normally get to see. Then we got treated by an Historian to a great talk about the Battle of the River Plate which is a story we both know but he still taught us lots of new stuff.

The celebrity guest speaker tomorrow is the cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe. His talk is titled "Uncensored - 50 Years of Being Rude" and we're both really looking forward to that. The forecast for the day is even better than today and today we managed tee shirts outside. Might get really brave and put our legs on display in public! After pounding pavements in New York for 2 days (we walked about 40 blocks yesterday alone!), it's really good to be back at sea and doing diddly squat.

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Comments

[soocoventry]

brilliant blogs.....
relly enjoyig them keep them coming xx