See the Sea!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The day has been as quiet as the Mediterranean Sea.  The Captain’s log describes the sea as “calm, rippled, 0 feet.”  At times it was so flat that you could see the reflection of the sky.  As we sail Northeast from Minorca and get about 250 miles out we have been able to see snow-capped mountains off the starboard side.  Could that be Corsica?  We have had to bundle up to enjoy the verandah today, but it was worth the extra layer.

    

Holland America has staffed the ship with a computer expert who gives lectures every day.  I finally attended my first lecture today and found it very helpful because we recently purchased a new laptop with Windows 7 for this trip.  Doug and Chris gave me the “quick start” version and it has worked out fine.  However, this young man who speaks as quickly as an auctioneer really covers all aspects of Windows 7.  He has lectures on photo editing, live messaging, computer safety, and he is available for questions…did I mention that he is a marketing person for Microsoft.  By the time I get home, our sons will be so excited that I have been “dragged and dropped” into the computer age.  Barney has decided that he would rather read (and not on an e-reader) than attend the lectures.

Choices – that is what cruising is all about.

Every evening when we return from dinner, it is fun to wonder if a gift will be presented on our bed.  So far we have received two each: calling card cases, passport holders, leather journals, stuffed camels, waterproof tote bags, canvas bags, emergency travel kits and tonight a world map to mark our travels.  Of course, this is all in addition to two gold wrapped chocolate coins on our pillows. 

                             

We’ve skipped the show again tonight because we want to catch up on all those lost hours.  Tomorrow is the first of four ports in a row, including Rome so they will be busy days.   The blog might become more of a photo essay with us uploading the day’s photos and you making up your own story. We’ll at least try to caption the photo so you can tell what it is when you hover over it, but I bet you have already discovered that feature.  Each day as we sit at the computer to prepare the blog, we tell each other that we need to cut back on the number of photos we include…you see how well that has worked.  

As we watched the sunset this evening (no green flash) we saw a range of mountains far off the port beam. Moon, mountains, and sunset…how much more can we take?

                                     

We are only 90 miles from La Spezia, our next port.  We are not due in port until 8am so we will have a slow, gentle ride and a good night’s sleep.