7 Days at Sea

Saturday – Day 1 of 7 at sea

Bloody clocks have gone forward again, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going and we have another 5 or 6 to gain in the space of a week before we get to Australia.

We went to see a Neil Diamond tribute chap last night in the theatre, he was utterly brilliant!  He was informative about the songs he was singing and amusing between songs but he’d got the voice absolutely perfect … he made us laugh because he said he was an Irish man now living in Australia impersonating a Canadian whose family originated from Poland; I didn’t know whether that was all true but it was funny 😊  When he said that he’d written a couple of songs himself my heart sank thinking he was then going to launch into his own show, but he said they’d never done any good … his first was “Mary cut your toenails, you’re ripping the bed sheets.” 😊😊

There was a magnificent lightning storm last night.  The hot weather had created a brilliant spectacle, but I couldn’t get any of it on camera, my phone didn’t know whether to focus on the balcony rail, the moving sea beyond or a split second of activity miles away!

We’ve had trouble with our cabin air conditions since we came aboard … it wasn’t a problem in northern Europe but by Africa we realised something was wrong.  We’d reported it and they finally sorted it out yesterday, it was our coolest night in 5 weeks.

Every day we’re at sea, the captain gives a riddle (that he solves the next day), I’ve forgotten most of them but here are a few:

(Answers below)

Monday – Day 3 of 7 at sea

Apparently, we’re slap bang in the middle of the Indian Ocean, equidistant from everywhere and we haven’t seen another ship for days.  It’s easy to see why, if a plane goes down, there is negligible chance of finding it, we can see nothing but sea.  Literally, thousand and thousands of miles in each direction.

Beautiful sunsets though.

Tuesday – Day 4 of 7 at sea

Gutted, I can’t remember if I mentioned that the cruise ‘wardrobe’ that I spent days sewing has been accidentally left at home.  Stored in a spare wardrobe I forgot to pack them … four evening dinner dresses now won’t get worn and I’m rotating the ‘spare’ four that I did bring!  Annoyed.

Also annoyed because the two sewing projects I did bring weren’t what I thought they were and weren’t sewing at all!  I’m trying to salvage my mental health (I’m missing my sewing room badly!) and am currently hand sewing 6 large strips of gingham fabric into two pieces big enough to sew together and make a T-shaped top … how desperate am I?? … watch this space!

I’m going to have to find something to bring back on board when we get to Australia; I’ve even finished the little embroidering project I brought with me.

Wednesday – Day 5 of 7 at sea

Done bugger all today, clocks forward another hour again, I think we’re 7 hours ahead now.

We went down to the restaurant for dinner today and asked for a seat on a sharing table near the front of the restaurant … the back, where understandably they like to fill up first, is right over the engines and not only vibrates but bounces abut too much for me.  So tonight we were the first to arrive on a table of six and my heart sinks when I see a couple we have shared with before – he looks like an ageing rocker with long white hair that he ties in a pony tail when he eats but carries a bloody great camera off the ship and thinks he’s David Bailey but will actually make conversation; she has a skinhead (not kidding) and a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp and will barely entertain a “good evening.”  If you’re not going to chat, why share a table?  My heart sank even further when the third couple appeared … it was the lovely Jane who can never get a word in edgewise.  To add insult to injury the other lady (who’d left her husband at home to move house) had picked up what has become known as the Arcadia Cough – after hacking up a gold watch she gleefully said ,“so many people have had it, has anyone NOT actually had it yet?”  I’m afraid I initiated a glare that could have cut steel and said ‘yes, me!’ and held her gaze until she cut away. 

Chris and I leant away from them, inhaled our food, forwent our pudding and legged it whilst one of them was still finishing a main course.  How bloody rude and inconsiderate to go into a restaurant and deliberately share a table with others know you have a new cough!

Chris said we’ll give the dining room a miss for a few nights and just use the buffet because even after explaining to the waiter that there wasn’t anything I really fancied and that I was going ‘off menu’ and “would like a Caesar salad with a little chicken” I knew he hadn’t understood what I wanted when a Caesar salad arrived together with a full chicken and mash dinner!

When we got back to our room the usual Horizon double page spread magazine was in our pigeonhole … tickling my funny bone I saw that the film on show tomorrow after is The Poseidon Adventure 😊  It’s only a matter of time before they play Titanic!

Thursday – Day 6 of 7 at sea

Terrible night’s sleep last night, it often happens but could easily be as a result of the time shifts.  The benefit of being awake at 3am was seeing a flotilla of what we assumed were brightly little fishing vessels.

Most of them were too far away to see clearly but one was close enough to see, via binoculars, that it had a bright white light at each end and soft yellowish lights in the middle, you could just abut make out the hull in the water.

Despite being thousands of miles southeast, I’ve heard horror stories of Somalia pirates so waited until we were well past them before I could relax a little … they could have been sneaking up round the port side, who knows?!  However, we’ve woken up not dead, so all is well 😊

Friday – Day 7 of 7 at sea

Chris has had a lightbulb moment.  About 14 years ago some idiot pulled out immediately in front of me on a motor (so was tanking on), he was unavoidable and so I rear-ended him.  All the airbags went off in the car with immense pressurisation of the ‘cockpit’ and it took three months to repair the (brand new) car.  However, as a result of that accident the crystals in my ears were shot and I’ve had varying degrees of vertigo ever since, sometimes a couple of days fully off my feet, sometimes not for ages, sometimes just the odd swoon.

It occurred to Chris yesterday that that may be why I’m suffering motion sickness; because my ears aren’t good at the best of times, he thinks I’m super-sensitive to the movement … I think he could be o n to something!  It doesn’t make the daily light-headedness and disorientation any easier to deal with, but it would explain why I am so susceptible.

There have been some brilliant shows in the theatre, we’ve seen maybe four or five already but I’m afraid I had to give last night’s a miss.  All the time my stomach is empty, the fuzzy head is there but the nausea isn’t, but having dinner is purgatory because there is then something to slosh about!

Clocks forward again – GMT +8 hours now.

It’s not all bad though … we get to do this quite often.

Fremantle

We love Australia anyway but we’ve never been to Fremantle … we can say that we love Fremantle too … it’s a very small town, quite laid back, a little bit of a surfer vibe and only 30 minutes away from Perth.

There are awesome markets here, Chris and I shared a smoked salmon and avocado sushi roll for lunch because it was the size of a spectacle case!

Apparently, Fremantle is quite well known for it’s independent and micro-breweries and we found one called Gage Road Brewery which we found right around lunchtime! A pint of cold beer and red snapper tacos … man, this is the way to live.

We came back to the ship for a cool down and a swim because it was 32 degrees today.

After we’d cooled down, and had a lazy afternoon with on-board-friends Mark and Julie, we got back off the ship because we have a late departure. Dammit if we didn’t end up back at Gage Road with another couple of beers and the best pepperoni pizza I’ve had this side of Rome.

Back on board fully satisfied after a lovely day out. Not looking forward to another three days at sea having had such a long recent stretch but needs must … Adelaide next 🙂