All at Sea

Just missed sunrise at 06.16, but caught the early morning flying fish skimming the waves avoiding the bulbous bow if this huge ship.  We were promptly into the now customary full English and shared a table with a Belfast couple that we had sat with earlier in the week.  Turns out he has been a medical photographer all his life and we enjoyed a good photographic chat over breakfast.

Today we are in transit to Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  For those of you who did not take geography at school or did not pay attention, T&C are located some 30 miles NW off the east end of Cuba.  To get there from Jamaica, you head north and turn right when you reach the coast of Cuba.  You then go through the Windward Passage, which is between Cuba and Haiti and not your legs!

We woke up this morning to clear blue skies and to quote the cruise director - today has been “Brochure Cruising”.  i.e.  The skies have been cloudless and cerulean blue and the sea has been azure all day long.  The wind has got up a little during the course of the day but the sea remains fairly calm, just a miniscule roll, which will help us to sleep.

The captain was anticipating seeing some whales during the late afternoon, but if there were any, they remained out of sight.  As we passed through the Windward Passage, we could clearly see the coasts of Cuba on the port side (left to you land lubbers) and Haiti on the starboard side.

It has been a hard day today keeping our strength up whilst continuing to worship the sun god.  I took a break from sunbathing, mid morning as I had answered an advert for a one 2 one with FiFi La Snapper the ships photographer. The ad was in the ships telephone box, so I knew she could more than cope with my 200mm..........................lens.  It turned out to be a good session and she complemented me on the fact that I was clearly no beginner at this game.   Knowing what buttons to press is half the battle, but I picked things up fast and was soon turning out photos rather than snapshots.

As we were on board today, it was only polite to enjoy silver service for lunch, Thai Green Curry followed by honeycomb ice cream.  Dinner this evening was Scottish smoked salmon on muffin with poached egg and Hollandaise sauce, followed by seared scallops then desert and cheese & biscuits, all washed down with a passable New Zealand Merlot.  (Just getting some practice in).

After dinner we retired to the Metropolis bar for a quick drink then to the Havana room for an evening’s entertainment from  Lulu and Robbie Williams tribute acts.  Not bad, but the ship could do with getting the sound levels right, so you can hear what’s being sung over the backing.

Then to bed, ready for a full day in Grand Turk.