Well, we had that great lie-in this morning, arising at 8:30. We decided to take in a breakfast in the Pinnacle dining room where we dined last night. There is an unbelievable amount of unadulterated luxury available to us in this suite and breakfast in this very private dining room is one of them. The service is superb, but not pretentious. On my second cup of coffee I was given a new cup!
Today there is not a lot to do on board except relax from the previous five days ashore and prepare for the next three ports. I took in a complimentary wine tasting this afternoon, I did not attend a previous one. I am going today merely for the experience, hopefully there will be no wine snobs there. It was interesting but once again I determined it is not my thing and merely a waste of good wine.
Tonight is the second formal night of this cruise. I brought my black tux but suits are fine. I can understand on a short cruise the lack of formality to some extent. The dress code on ships seems to be continually declining each year. It is I suppose merely keeping pace with the general trend all around the world. The introduction of Jeans seems to have beginning of the slippery slope. We try to keep the standards up and in some cases would appear to be overdressed compared to fellow passengers.
The only exciting thing that happened today was the passing close by of a rocky island called Paddy's Stepping Stone. [Ailsa Craig], It is the remains of a 100,000,000 year old extinct volcano and all that remains is the Plug. It has been and still is used as a quarry for curling stones. It is for sale currently for 1,500,000 GBP, [around $2,200,000]. It is currently home to about 75,000 gannets, so there will be no shortage of guano for your garden.
After passing the island we headed west passing by the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland and through the Minch into the North Allantic Ocean. We chanced to meet the captain this afternoon and he mentioned that a week ago there was a storm here and seven metre swells out there and we would have had to cancel that west side of Ireland and go back down the same way we came up here. Lucky. Right now, at bedtime we are feeling those Atlantic Rollers for the first time and the wind is howling through the door weatherstriping. We are on the top deck at the prow and will feel the motion more than lower and amidship for sure.
It is amazing how one can almost be taken in by the life aboard here. There is no connection between the real world and life aboard. Everyone is treated with the utmost courtesy and respect, regardless of your cabin and your cabin is serviced twice a day. No beds to make, meals to cook and absolutely no housework of any kind. Lots of people napping and nodding off in sitting areas, waiting for the next meal. Most women appreciate a cruise more than men for obvious reasons: no housekeeping.
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There is no spell-check as such on the iPad so my blog is likely littered with mistakes. Like pidgeons last night, should be pigeons.
Approaching this lump of an island.
We have had dinner with a couple a few times and the husband sketched the island and gave me it tonight when we had them up to our cabin for pre-dinner drinks.
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