After four concentrated days in New Zealand, it’s nice go get three sea days to rest, sort out memories, do a little writing, download pictures, play some dominos and just plain chill out. 

Suzi and I are trying to get back into the rhythm of the cruise after our COVID isolation.  Picking up the pace after being room bound is not easy.  The shore days showed me how much the idle days cut into my stamina.  I’m using some time on my sea days to build up strength, walking the rocking deck and beginning to pick up a few laps in a sloshy pool.

We’re sailing across “The Ditch” (if the ocean between England and the US is “The Pond” why not “The Ditch” for the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.)  “The Ditch” is notorious for rough seas and we are seeing somewhat rougher seas than anytime on this voyage, although this voyage has been unusually calm so saying these seas are rough is a relative call.  We have both seen MUCH worse.

Sailing out of Wellington the wind off a mountain kept us at a list to port.  The next night was a little rough.  Conditions both nights made dancing difficult.  For me that’s good because the dance band, an Ontario group called Beelays are, at heart, a jazz/funk fusion group.  Being too rough to dance, they did their interpretations of Monk, Miles, Trane, Chick and Tito Puete!  The pop vocalist from the mainstage, Debora Krizak, joined the band for some scat and jamming.  Perhaps we need some more nights when the boat is doing rock ‘n roll so we can do jazz! 

Our “devices” are missing their mommies.  My Windows computer with Office wants to check in constantly.  It gets upset when it can’t look for updates.  We have one (very expensive) internet package that we share, so my computer is off line more than it’s on, and while Internet on this cruise is better than on past cruises, it’s still slow.  So, my computer sometimes refuses to save the document I’ve been working on “offline” to my hard drive before saving it to the big drive in the sky.  The computer gets so tied up the only way I can untie it is to reboot, and since I have  not been able to save my work (not for want of trying, trying to save work is what started this) I temporarily lost what I was working on.  Fortunately I am familiar with the recovery routine, it just takes time.  My computer tries to save automatically to the cloud and sometimes it just stops because it can’t call home.  It does the computer equivalent of pouting. The good thing about Microsoft is that it allows me to manually set time.  So I can put UTC +11 in and the computer is set to that time.

Apple is not as flexible.  When I try to reset the time zone it asks me where I am. It does not like geographic coordinates, it does not like UTC (or GMT for that matter) +11, it does not like “In the middle of the Tasman Sea.”  It wants a place.  Fortunately I know geography and when I told my iPhone I was in Petroplavosk—Kamchstsky it believed me and reset my clock.  Other cruise mates do not know as much about geography as I do.  Yesterday from the lecture stage the lecturer told us “set your iPhones to Fiji.”  That works too.   My iPhone is also mad because it did not back up last night, it wasn’t online.  It keeps reminding me to back up while I am trying to concentrate on something else.  As bad as a 4 year old wanting to call mommy.

Several of you have told me you’re following my blog, traveling vicariously.  I am honored but everyone has their own cruise style and there are several other bloggers with different perspectives.  My perspective is that of a storyteller.  My blog is somewhat inward looking outlining my own interior journey.  It probably includes too many pictures.  If you want to get a comprehensive picture of what it is like to take a long cruise you may want to follow a few other blogs as well as following me.

Jo Johnston’s “Writer on Deck” gives you the dual perspective of a journalist and  a watercolorist.  Jo often graces her blogs with her watercolor impressions of the ports.  Her observations are not only through her eyes but also through the eyes of the two sisters she is traveling with.  You can check out Jo at https://www.writerondeck.com.

Lindavesadventures features the photography of Linda Rickerson.  I have been reading this blog for 4 years.  Linda has been places that I intend to visit so I have used her advice in planning some of my own adventures.  Linda also is a wonderful bird photographer and her shots have shown me things I have missed.  http://lindavesadventures.com

The most comprehensive blog for anyone looking to take a long cruise is “The Inside Cabin” written by Pete Laszcz. This is the most comprehensive of the blogs.  It gives good detail on daily life on board and on shore excursions.  Pete takes time to interview the lecturers and some of the staff.  He has pages on how to prepare for a cruise, what to take, what the menus look like.  This blog tells you everything you need to know when planning a long cruise.  We find it invaluable when we plan our cruises.  Pete also has links to zoom meetings he organized before the cruise with presentations on each port and practical information exchange.  This is the must read blog for people contemplating a long cruise https://theinsidecabin.com.

Happy reading!