Two Days at Sea

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Two Days at Sea

After spending such a wonderful day cruising the Sounds, we headed for Sydney across the Tasman Sea, also known as the Roaring Forties because its location is 40 degrees longitude and it kicks up quite some surf. Well, it certainly lived up to its name the last two days! Spray from the waves reached up to the ninth deck last night, according to one person I talked to. There were many empty seats at dinner last night, four at our table alone. We had an officer at our table last night, Mark, the security officer from India. We enjoyed talking with him again and learned that his wife and two children will join him aboard when we reach Chennai, India. Graham, who wasn’t there, will be sorry he missed the free wine Mark provided.

Today was laundry day for us. There are self-service laundry rooms on three floors for passengers to use, and days at sea finds them often crowded. This is one way to meet our fellow passengers as we watch the clothes spin round and round and wait for the dryers to stop. Two ironing areas are available in each place - one board and one table. The washers and soap cost $2 each, but the dryers are free. What a bargain! Actually, what a few pinch- pennies do is wash by hand in their rooms and stick their dripping wet stuff in the free dryers. It takes all kinds, I guess. Anyway, I was lucky today and found both washers and dryers available. We don’t have to wait there the whole time, so we can come and go between times.

After that, we went to a port talk on Melbourne, and later, a talk or lecture about the Aboriginies that was very interesting. We did have time to read and not think about the rough seas. Each day there is some sort of informative talk, and of course lots of activities to choose from depending on ones interest and energy level. There’s always a bridge game going on it seems. I usually spend time writing the blog and reading e-mails. I love hearing from you so please do write and I will try to reply individually.

The library has a wide selection of books and DVD’s available to check out. We have DVD players in the room so if we don’t like the entertainment or the movies on the TV, we can play those. There is a well equipped gym, a spa, and a beauty shop as well as two pools with lots of lounge chairs there and on the promenade deck. Three and one half laps around the deck equals one mile, so when it isn’t rough, that’s a good thing to do every day at sea.

I hope that gives you an idea of what we do when we’re at sea. So far we’ve both been lucky and haven’t gotten sea sick. Let’s hope that keeps up!

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Comments

[Joni and Lew Marler]

G'Day Mates !
Sounds like you are having a great cruise! We love reading your blogs. What a great way to stay in touch and keep everyone posted. You have stopped at so many of the places we hit with you in Jan 2006--GCT Tour Australia/New Zealand/Fiji-- so this has been fun to hear about them again. Sure it is a little different on a cruise ship. We are also looking into a Society Island cruise for next year so loved the reports on islands you hit. Keep your blogs coming!! Enjoy the trip; stay safe and healthy!