We went to church today, our first since leaving home. It was led by a black female pastor from America. There were about 50 in the lounge when we got there a bit before eight. They had started singing and I thought, "Oh my gosh it sound like a funeral dirge!" Too late, we were committed. The service was to set and without and personality. A soloist had volunteered when in good voice but now had laryngitis. It was terrible, but a good message. So much for church at sea, maybe we will try the Jewish service next time.
There is an important football game on tonight between Seattle and San Francisco, I think, so they cancelled the formal night and it will be tomorrow instead. The next day we arrive in Easter Island and there is no deep-sea pier there so we will get ashore in tenders, or large covered lifeboats. There is also a large 'swell' that has been with us since we left Peru, that swell will determine if we do indeed get onto Easter Island.
Last night we were invited to a Captain's party for the 'suites' as we are called due to our cabin being a suite. We do not really feel comfortable at this type of thing but we went because we missed the last one. It was held in the Officer's Mess which is in the form of an Irish Pub, located one deck below the lowest passenger deck. Solid as a rock down there, almost no motion at and almost at water level.
The wine and champagne were flowing like water for the 40 or so guests and the humungous oysters on the half shell were almost nauseous to me having just eaten. We endured and were amongst the first to go. While there we struck up a conversation with a middle aged tall striking looking woman. She turned out to be a Newfie, travelling alone. I noticed a small pin on her lapel and it turned out to be the Order of Canada. She got it for philanthropy of all things. Her and her now deceased husband started a business and later decided to offer all the profits for charity after she was well taken care of. Nice. We met again in the lounge this morning and continued our conversation.
Believe it or not, I hurt myself doing Tai Chi yesterday!!! [Is that possible?] While doing one movement, it was beyond my range of motion on my gibbled shoulders and I pushed it too far. Lesson learned. We have a pretty devoted 60 or so attendees at that class, as awkward as we are it appears that nobody is too concerned about how bad we are or what we look like because everybody is in the same boat.
The captain announced yesterday that he has altered course slightly for better satellite reception. Out here we have only one satellite serving this part of the world and we are on the edge of its effective range. We will be coming under another satellite soon but there is not an 'overlap' so it is spotty. He altered course because the funnels were blocking the reception because it is so low on the horizon. Maybe we are zig-zagging?
Fellette and I went for a black and white photo sitting this afternoon. What a gas! We dressed appropriately and took our Panama hats along for laughs. My gosh she must have taken over 200 shots. Lots of laughs and we will see how they turn out after Easter Island. By the way, Easter Island was named that because it was 'discovered' on Easter Sunday 1722 by a Dutch Explorer whose name is forgotten. Too bad he didn't name it after himself and we would all remember his name!
Love the hat Fellette. It goes with your hairstyle. Perhaps you should start wearing it to church.
ReplyDeleteGreat shot of the two of you in panama hats!
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