Finally a Sea Day

---

Today was not the first day that we enjoyed an extra hour thanks to the time zones that we are zipping across. And it’s not as in the Mediterranean where you both gain and lose the time as you go and then come back again. Here we are going west. The Captain had informed us that now that we’ve left the sanctuary of the Mediterranean that we would be exposed to the more robust seas of the Atlantic. We could expect the waves and swells to be increasing over the next 48 hours where we should anticipate seas reaching 20 feet… not quite the 45 foot seas that Sharon experienced off of the Falklands.



Sharon went to mass and I worked some on the blog. When she returned we decided to start this sea day with breakfast in the Dining Room. I had the Eggs Benedict and Sharon her American breakfast. We headed up to the Exploration Lounge afterwards and we’d brought pens and Sharon’s glasses with us so there wouldn’t be any excuses. As it turned out, Sharon didn’t need any excuses for the first, albeit Easy Puzzle; but, she did finish ever so slightly ahead of me. Eager for revenge on the one that really counts, I completed the “much, much more difficult” puzzle first. Sharon thinks the difference in our times was about the same; but, I’m not so sure.



I brought burgers back to the room for us to eat for lunch along with a French Fries to share. I could only manage a plate of cookies on the somewhat rolling walk back to the cabin. Afterwards, we headed to the Crow’s Nest for Team Trivia. We were able to get one of the choice areas with perimeter couch, chairs and table in our own private enclave. Vanne suggested that the body part that is the axilla has something to do with the ear; and, I couldn’t come up with anything better. I hope she wasn’t saying this thinking it’s one of the bones in the ear; because, I knew it wasn’t that. If Sharon had seen Lucia’s answer, she would have endorsed “armpit”, and then perhaps we’d have gotten this one right! Our British teammates made up for it on the next question, recalling the name of the Beatles first album. The paper we graded suggested “The Beatles”… but they didn’t have any British teammates to help them out. This is one reason why it’s important to have a real cosmopolitan demographics on your team. They were sure “Please Please Me”; and, they were right! We didn’t come up with the obvious answer as to the first golfer to win back to back Masters Tournaments. We went with Sam Snead. It was indeed “The Bear” Jack Nicklaus. And, “How many toes does an ostrich have on each foot?” We went with three, and we missed by one! If you still need help… it wasn’t four! “What can dogs do, that wolves can’t do!” Well, I can’t say that I’ve ever heard a wolf bark… and the answer was as simple as that! “What is the world’s smallest mammal?” Lucia suggested bat; but, I wasn’t too happy with that answer. Vanne suggested the pygmy shrew and I said that I could be talked into that… and it was a good thing too! My favorite question was “What instrument did Dolly Parton play in her high school marching band?” Someone suggested out loud, “The Symbols!” And that got a chuckle throughout the Crow’s Nest. The paper we graded actually used that as their answer. Pathetic. I glared at Sharon to come up with this Country Western answer, right in her wheelhouse especially after having visited Dollywood last year and watched a brief video/movie on her life. Feeling the pressure, she suggested “The Drums”; and that was good enough a match to “Snare Drums” to get us a point. The bonus question was to name the island 250 miles to the east of Africa… one that we’d had before. “We Don’t Need Google” is finally victorious on this leg of the cruise with 18 out of 23 points, so we’ve fulfilled our goal. Jim and Lucia urged us to play Pub Trivia this evening at 7 PM, and because we could, we agreed to try. We have reservations for the Pinnacle at 7:30 PM so we wouldn’t be doing the early dinner tonight.



We chose to play the $10,000 Jackpot Bingo at 4 PM. It was my turn to buy the bingo cards. We sat up high so that we could easily see all of the numbers on the big screen. It didn’t do us any good, being able to see the numbers; because, we never even got to stand up with just one number left.



We got dressed up for the Pinnacle. We met Vanne and Stewart back up in the Crow’s Nest, but Jim and Lucia were nowhere to be found. We all knew the answer to “Which movie ends with the words, “…tomorrow is another day.” Of course, “Gone With the Wind.” Then came, “What sense are you likely to lose, at least for a little while, if you are struck by lightning?” I wrote down “Hearing”. Then Sharon disagreed and said, “We’ve had this one before, it’s (and she silently mouthed ‘taste’ pointing at her tongue)” I said, “I think it’s hearing.” But she looked at me as if I was crazy, insisting on “taste”. So I relied on my Husbanding 101 training and reverted to the ever useful, “Yes dear.” And we were all agreed on “Taste” and Vanne and Stewart were trying to figure out what just happened. “What was the tallest building in the world in 1930?” I knew the Empire State Building wasn’t opened until 1931, the year my mother was born. Vanne suggested Eiffel Tower. Sharon suggested Chrysler Building because it was often quoted as the headquarters of Daddy Warbucks in Little Orphan Annie; although, I’m not sure what that has to do with anything. We went with Sharon’s answer. The final bonus question was, “What is the busiest cruise ship port?” We zeroed in on Miami. We only had a few minutes to get down to the Pinnacle for dinner, so we were forced to rush off without hearing the answers. Sorry!



We went to the Pinnacle and they seated us promptly in a corner booth. I’m supposing that they must have asked if I wanted one of the few booths, which is why 7:30 PM was the only available time, since there did seem to be some free tables. Our complimentary appetizer from the chef was a seared scallop over pureed pumpkin, and this was surprisingly tasty, et dux (thank-you Sharon). I went with the lobster bisque again, skipping the shrimp cocktail and getting the crab cakes. My entrée was the 10 ounce filet mignon served with sides of Brussel sprouts, mushrooms and French fries with aioli Sharon had the smaller filet with mashed potatoes with baby carrots. These baby carrots were served without the greens atop, unlike this dish on the Nieuw Amsterdam. In fact, the first time Sharon ordered the baby carrots the waitress had to apologize claiming that tonight we only have adult carrots (but they had been cut down to size). The sides were appropriately sized for individual consumption. On the Nieuw Amsterdam the sides seemed to be served in community serve sizes (for two). I had the chocolate lava cake with the Grand Marnier Cream; and, Sharon ordered her Baked Alaska with the Very Berry Cherry Jerry Garcia Ice Cream (or something like that). It wasn’t the monster sized serving on the Nieuw Amsterdam; but, it was plenty for Sharon.





The show featured a multi-instrumentalist who started with the flute. He played a number of lively tunes with the Pan Flute, accompanied by the HAL band. One duet featuring him on the Pan Flute and the pianist trailing on the piano was quite good; and, he appeared to be thoroughly enjoy performing.

---