Day 114 - At Sea in the North Atlantic. The temperature is a comfortable 75, cloudy skies, with a breeze out of the South East. The seas are calm, and we are cruising at just under 21 knots to reach Ft Lauderdale at our scheduled time on Saturday morning.
My suitcases are out, and they seem to fill my entire cabin. As my daughter said to me a few days ago my home will seem like a mansion after living in this small cabin for the past four months.
Cruise Critic has its last get together this morning at 10:30 in the Crow's Nest, followed by a lecture on the history and future of computers at 11:00 in the Queen's Lounge and a Mariner Society luncheon at 11:00 in the dining room. Like every other day, it is impossible to do everything, I'll skip the luncheon.
At 4:30 there is a champagne farewell reception with words from the Captain Jonathan Mercer, Barbara the location guide, and Gene Young our cruise director. Since it is the captain's birthday, I'm sure he will have to endure a rendition of "Happy Birthday" from the passengers.
The gap between the number of passengers boarding at the beginning of our voyage and the number actually finishing it is not trivial, but expected. As always happens on voyages like this there were a number of passengers that unexpectedly passed. A larger number had to terminate their travels prematurely because of illness or other medical emergency. Others left because they couldn't handle cruise travel for one reason or another. My condolences.
Late this morning I see the first signs of other humans since we left Portugal 6 days ago. A very rusty fishing boat just drifting in the ocean. It looked to be no more than 30 feet in length, and there were no signs of people on board. Being over 350 miles from the nearest land, the passengers were skeptical that it really wanted to be here fishing. Since we made no course deviation we can only assume the bridge sensed nothing abnormal and we continue our Westerly course to Ft Lauderdale.
Batman is removed from his spot above the thermostat. My pitch and roll measuring device is dismantled, and the magnets are removed from the outside door frame. I pack one and a half suit cases, attach claim tags, and complete my customs form. Probably in less than a hour I can complete packing, but that can wait until tomorrow night.
Our entertainment tonight is another show by the group ABBA Fab, this time playing tribute to Elton John and Billy Joel.
My suitcases are out, and they seem to fill my entire cabin. As my daughter said to me a few days ago my home will seem like a mansion after living in this small cabin for the past four months.
Cruise Critic has its last get together this morning at 10:30 in the Crow's Nest, followed by a lecture on the history and future of computers at 11:00 in the Queen's Lounge and a Mariner Society luncheon at 11:00 in the dining room. Like every other day, it is impossible to do everything, I'll skip the luncheon.
At 4:30 there is a champagne farewell reception with words from the Captain Jonathan Mercer, Barbara the location guide, and Gene Young our cruise director. Since it is the captain's birthday, I'm sure he will have to endure a rendition of "Happy Birthday" from the passengers.
The gap between the number of passengers boarding at the beginning of our voyage and the number actually finishing it is not trivial, but expected. As always happens on voyages like this there were a number of passengers that unexpectedly passed. A larger number had to terminate their travels prematurely because of illness or other medical emergency. Others left because they couldn't handle cruise travel for one reason or another. My condolences.
Late this morning I see the first signs of other humans since we left Portugal 6 days ago. A very rusty fishing boat just drifting in the ocean. It looked to be no more than 30 feet in length, and there were no signs of people on board. Being over 350 miles from the nearest land, the passengers were skeptical that it really wanted to be here fishing. Since we made no course deviation we can only assume the bridge sensed nothing abnormal and we continue our Westerly course to Ft Lauderdale.
Batman is removed from his spot above the thermostat. My pitch and roll measuring device is dismantled, and the magnets are removed from the outside door frame. I pack one and a half suit cases, attach claim tags, and complete my customs form. Probably in less than a hour I can complete packing, but that can wait until tomorrow night.
Our entertainment tonight is another show by the group ABBA Fab, this time playing tribute to Elton John and Billy Joel.