DAY-27: Cruise Bonus Day #1
DAY-27: Cruise Bonus Day #1
Day – 27: Sunday, March 15, 2020
Starting Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
Ending Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
This was intended to be our disembark day in Lima, Peru but that was not to be. After turning back to the north last night the ship reached yesterday's turnaround point at about 7 AM this morning; that equals 24 hours of getting no where, 240 miles to the south and then 240 miles to the north. Around 8 AM, once it was assumed that everyone was awake for the morning the Captain advised that we are now headed for Balboa, Panama. Balboa is the port city on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal.
After early morning walks we had breakfast at 9 AM. From breakfast Sheila continued her bridge playing and I attended another enrichment lecture by Dr. Kus, this time about little known Inca sites in Peru.
Sheila and I met up in the main auditorium around 11:15 for another cooking demo by two of the ship's senior chefs. Again it's the French guy versus the Italian guy.
The executive chef (French guy) assured everyone that the ship had plenty of food for the extended cruise including 10,000 emergency rations in storage and in the life boats, "simply add water". For today's menu they would prepare Peruvian pork & chicken stew and lentil cakes; we probably won't be making these dishes too often.
In a more somber and serious tone, the executive chef mentioned that in fact we did have two cases of Corona on board, less the two bottles he had just opened to share with his fellow chef. Not sure the Oceania public relations folks would have approved of that dark humor but it got a laugh.
For his 12 o'clock report, the Captain advised that we were still en-route to Balboa and that we should arrive there Wednesday morning followed by a transit into the Caribbean via the canal.
He indicated that Oceania had as yet not confirmed a destination but logical speculation would lead one to think somewhere in Florida, most likely the Miami area, where the Oceania home office is located. If the schedule holds we would be in port by next Sunday morning, Mar 22nd, more "free" days.
The rumor mill is operating in an overload condition. This morning we heard from friends and acquaintances that they had heard from the ________ (fill in ship's crew member's job) that we were going to __________ (fill in location); for example "the butler said we're going to San Diego" or the "fitness director said we're going to Houston", etc., my favorite possible destinations are Omaha, Nebraska and Calgary. Alberta.
I did a lot of walking today, but it's walking to no where, simply deck laps where you end up just where you started.
Here's a question: If you walk at 4 mph for an hour while the ship is cruising at 20 mph does your phone or GPS watch record 4, 20 or 24 miles?
Before dinner we headed down to Happy Hour (2 for 1 drinks) which was followed by free drinks between 6 and 8 PM. I don't generally mention names of acquaintances but it's difficult to resist when they introduce themselves as "Captain Ricko & Sugar Babe of the sailing vessel SV Tiki Notion". We had a bit of common ground, having lived in California, sailed in the BVI and, well that's about it.
Tonight's dinner was in the Red Ginger restaurant. Dinner was good but after the extended Happy Hour we were destined for an early night.
I capped out the evening before returning to write this log with a trip topside for another Southern Cross (Crux) sighting and a few more laps around the deck while listening to CS&N from almost 40 years ago.
Given that of the five major stars of the Southern Cross, Gacrux or Gamma Crucis (top of the cross) is only 27 parsecs from our sun, one can assume that the first radio waves of CS&N singing Southern Cross will arrive in the Gacrux system sometime in 2068.
Ending Location: At Sea Aboard the M.S. Marina
This was intended to be our disembark day in Lima, Peru but that was not to be. After turning back to the north last night the ship reached yesterday's turnaround point at about 7 AM this morning; that equals 24 hours of getting no where, 240 miles to the south and then 240 miles to the north. Around 8 AM, once it was assumed that everyone was awake for the morning the Captain advised that we are now headed for Balboa, Panama. Balboa is the port city on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal.
After early morning walks we had breakfast at 9 AM. From breakfast Sheila continued her bridge playing and I attended another enrichment lecture by Dr. Kus, this time about little known Inca sites in Peru.
Sheila and I met up in the main auditorium around 11:15 for another cooking demo by two of the ship's senior chefs. Again it's the French guy versus the Italian guy.
The executive chef (French guy) assured everyone that the ship had plenty of food for the extended cruise including 10,000 emergency rations in storage and in the life boats, "simply add water". For today's menu they would prepare Peruvian pork & chicken stew and lentil cakes; we probably won't be making these dishes too often.
In a more somber and serious tone, the executive chef mentioned that in fact we did have two cases of Corona on board, less the two bottles he had just opened to share with his fellow chef. Not sure the Oceania public relations folks would have approved of that dark humor but it got a laugh.For his 12 o'clock report, the Captain advised that we were still en-route to Balboa and that we should arrive there Wednesday morning followed by a transit into the Caribbean via the canal.
The rumor mill is operating in an overload condition. This morning we heard from friends and acquaintances that they had heard from the ________ (fill in ship's crew member's job) that we were going to __________ (fill in location); for example "the butler said we're going to San Diego" or the "fitness director said we're going to Houston", etc., my favorite possible destinations are Omaha, Nebraska and Calgary. Alberta.
I did a lot of walking today, but it's walking to no where, simply deck laps where you end up just where you started.
Here's a question: If you walk at 4 mph for an hour while the ship is cruising at 20 mph does your phone or GPS watch record 4, 20 or 24 miles?
Before dinner we headed down to Happy Hour (2 for 1 drinks) which was followed by free drinks between 6 and 8 PM. I don't generally mention names of acquaintances but it's difficult to resist when they introduce themselves as "Captain Ricko & Sugar Babe of the sailing vessel SV Tiki Notion". We had a bit of common ground, having lived in California, sailed in the BVI and, well that's about it.
Tonight's dinner was in the Red Ginger restaurant. Dinner was good but after the extended Happy Hour we were destined for an early night.
I capped out the evening before returning to write this log with a trip topside for another Southern Cross (Crux) sighting and a few more laps around the deck while listening to CS&N from almost 40 years ago.
Given that of the five major stars of the Southern Cross, Gacrux or Gamma Crucis (top of the cross) is only 27 parsecs from our sun, one can assume that the first radio waves of CS&N singing Southern Cross will arrive in the Gacrux system sometime in 2068.
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