Wednesday, December 6, 2023
At Sea/Atlantic Ocean
Aboard the Enchanted
Princess
Room
Aloha 212
Sunny, cloudy,
some rain, some choppiness, 80F
This
certainly has been a lively adventure, from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale and
all points in between.
La Sagrada
Familia, stolen purse, sfogliatella, markets, churches, vineyards, fresh pizza,
medieval villages, a mini suite with 2 TVs, fabulous weather, hometown Aix en Provence,
Baroque-Romanesque-Gothic architecture, cobblestone streets, extra virgin olive
oil, buffalo mozzarella, gelato, Thanksgiving, St. Peter’s Square, Tuscan farm,
truffle smelling dog, Napoleon, fish n chips, The Sanctuary, a litany of just some
of the highlights of this cruise! We are so blessed to have the resources and
health to take such a grand trip!
For the past
few days, the transatlantic crossing has been fairly uneventful We have only
seen two other ships, headed east. For three days the captain, providing his
daily report over the PA system, said we were in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean, whatever that means! I doubt we dropped anchor anywhere. I wish he would
tell us how deep the ocean is at the point we are when he speaks, as others
have done. Let me guess. It’s deep!
We have seen
a bird or two, and I learned that some birds can fly for thousands of miles
without landing—the albatross (which we have not seen) is one example. It has been much warmer every day, and today
we were told air temperature was in the 80s Fahrenheit. We may have passed Bermuda this morning, but
TK and I missed that. Some days have
been quite windy, and there have been rain showers that we pass through.
The Enchanted
Princess is huge, with a length of 1083 feet and a breadth of 126 feet,
and we feel very very small standing next to it in port. But, on the ocean where
the sea is endless, we realize how small we are and how small the ship is in
comparison. I always think of my Mayflower ancestors and how it must have felt
to be surrounded by the vast ocean with no clear picture of what lay
ahead. The Atlantic Ocean makes up about
20% of the earth’s surface. Explorers
and pioneers, moving civilization along!
Today we had
lunch with our Vancouver now Nova Scotia friends, Vickie and Bernie. We met
them in 2009 on the Grand Princess, the same time we met Donna
and Lawrence (WI), Brian and Nancy (CA), and Colin and Gwenda (GB). That was such a fun cruise and we have
cruised multiple times with these friends.
Vickie and Bernie are now retired and enjoying their new home in Nova
Scotia, and they cruise A LOT. To my recollection they have over 800 days on
Princess cruise ships. In addition, after retirement Vickie also was the “Destination
Expert” on various cruises. They are
devoted cruisers and we enjoyed catching up with them today—and I wish I had
taken a photo! Her blog is at https://vickieandbernietravel.blogspot.com/
I only have
3 books left from the original 13 that I brought. I need one to read in the
airport and the plane and will probably finish the other two tomorrow. I take the books to the cruise ship book
exchange when I am done. I’m grateful
for the gift certificate to Barnes and Noble for my birthday from our Jamestown
family!
For years I
have intended to describe my “purse” in the blog too. I admit I won’t win any fashion contest with
it, but the bag is very serviceable. In
2008 I was looking for a bag that would safely carry everything I needed on a
trip to France and Italy with my two friends Judy and Cindy (friends from our
year in Aix). It had to be lightweight and strong. My first one was black, and
I had it for at least 10 years. Five years ago, I decided I wanted a different
color and purchased the green one. It
has multiple zippered compartments, but not too many that I can’t find things. https://toughtraveler.com/
Tomorrow I
hope that we can enjoy the Sanctuary one last day, but part of the day has to
be reserved for PACKING. This is a very
dreaded chore and remember the olive oil, soaps, creams, olives, “immortal oil,”
and argan oil I bought. Oh boy.
