No alarm today. It
is a sea day as the ship returns to Barcelona.
By 9, as we enjoyed our second cappuccino of the morning, the ship was
travelling about 23 km south of the Italian island of Sardinia.
The temperature was 22 C with a wind while we were walking
on the deck. The sun was fighting a thin
cloud layer above and a distant haze around the horizon. There was about a one meter swell with a few
white caps, which disappeared to a few whitecaps later in the morning. We had a good start on the day’s walking
having circled Deck 14 for 3.25 miles between our first and second caffeine
fixes. We stopped to check-in with our hosts on their
second hospitality desk shift. Frank
and Pat were already there and Flo and Carol also popped by before and after
us. When the captain made his morning
announcement, he advised the passengers that there might be a light rain in the
late afternoon or evening.
The first morning lecture, on the Middle East conflict, we
skipped. But we went to the mid morning lecture about the ship’s navigation
that was followed by a 65 minute question period of the ship’s captain and
hotel manager by passengers. We could
feel the swaying of the ship as it continued on the way to Barcelona at about
19 nautical miles (35 kilometer) per hour.
Early afternoon, the sea swells were two meters high, the
sky was partly sunny temperature 22C and the wind was much stronger. A quick stop for another cappuccino then, we
attended the Chris West lecture, “So You Wanna Be A Spy”
At 2:30, there was a matinee performance of music from
hit musical theatre shows that featured the Equinox orchestra and the
production singers. The foot placement
could have been awkward for any dancers due to the swaying of the ship. Mid afternoon we strolled to Café al Bacio
for frappes. Just two decks up, we
noticed more of a roll to the ship than in our stateroom. Our waitress even said that she was feeling a
bit queasy with the motion.
Above the Grand Foyer floor, the space rises up to Deck
14. In this space, which is surrounded
on two sides by two banks of four glass elevators and a set of staircases, is a
gigantic sparkling pot about two decks high in which is planted a four meter
high live tree. Today as we climbed the stairs
we noticed at Deck 9 that the branches were bending from side to side as the
ship swayed traveling through the waves. Climbing the stairs you could hear
some creaking.
Dinner was starters of chilled seafood salad, French
onion soup and Cobb Salad. Entrée chosen
was prime rib of beef with mashed potatoes, carrots and beans. Dessert was Biscuit Croustillant and Crème
Brulé. Then it was back to the stateroom to pack our clothes. Luggage had to be packed and placed in the
hall outside the stateroom door by 10 p.m.
Housekeeping picked them up and in the morning transferred the luggage
to the departure area of the terminal to be taken through Customs and
Immigration before taking the bus transfer to the Barcelona airport.
Tonight’s show includes the vocal quartet, “Tenors of
Rock”, singer, Portia Emare, Taty, from the production singers and the Equinox
orchestra in the Equinox Theater tonight.
The ship was still rocking and rolling during the show. Passengers and staff found walking a bit of a
challenge to walk in a straight line.
We finished the evening with our usual nightcaps – cold
coffee frappés. The ship was still rocking.
We checked the Deck 7 view of the tree and it still looked like a breeze was
blowing through its branches.
Total distance walked today was 5.86
miles.
Tomorrow we head for home.
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