The last couple of weeks have been a mix of port and sea days.  I just love it.  The ports stimulate my curiosity.  When I get back, I madly start googling to find more information and enjoy writing about it.  We’ve developed a routine of shorter days on the ground in port, seeing one or two things that peak out interest, then back to the ship where I take a swim to stretch out and cool off from the wicked South Pacific humidity and then debrief by downloading ideas and pictures into my computer. 

Sea days are a mix of reading on the deck, every so often putting down the book to stare at the sea. I’m currently re-reading Sommerset Maugham’s South Pacific stories.  We also attend lectures, play dominoes, go to afternoon chamber music concerts, and listen to jazz in the Ocean Bar, the band has three Brizilians and one Colombian and alternates between Latin Jazz and standards like ‘Trane’s “Giant Steps.”  Some evenings we enjoy the production show or go to a movie.

I treasure my walks around the promenade deck each day.  Today the bow wave stretched to the horizon.  Watching it was hypnotizing. 

These videos don’t play on the email version. Please bring it up in a browser.

Later in the afternoon we decided to skip the formal dinner and eat outside on deck watching, first dolphins play in the bow wake…

and then sunset.  Sunset has become a regular feature with a group of people who gather most nights.

And there are the special nights.  Crates with decorations for those nights are stowed forward on the promenade deck giving some hint of what’s to come. 

We had Orange Night recently, celebrating the Dutch House of Orange.  That is a bit of a stretch for me.  I fear that if I wear too much orange ghosts of generations past will rise from the grave with shillelaghs to give me a whack.  But I do have an orange aloha shirt which I think packs enough whimsey to give me a specterly pass.  I like to dance but am not too well balanced these days so I take a walker to the party to hold on to while I move.  Who knew that a walker would be a chick magnet.  I stand up, hold on, and start dancing (Suzi is not interested) and soon have TWO women dancing with me!