After our three interesting days in Iceland, we began a four-day, 1,430 nautical mile sail on a southwesterly course toward Newfoundland at a speed of 13 knots. A nautical mile, by the way, is equal to one minute. What? Better yet, multiply nautical miles by 1.15 for the kinda miles we’re used to [statute miles]. Wild and crazy stuff these sailors deal with. Don’t get me started on the definition of a knot. Temperatures ranged in the mid 40s to low 50s. Seas were calm. Skies overcast.

We all slowly settled into a relaxing routine of too much food crammed into too short a period of time. Between episodes of strapping on the ole feed bag we amused ourselves with afternoon movies [The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Far from the Maddening Crown], lectures [that tackled the light and fluffy topics of anger management, forgiveness, worry/fear/stress], the casino, snacks, and reading. Cocktails, a delicious dinner, and live entertainment flushed out the mellow evenings. Conjure up in your imagination a) a juggling comedian whose piece de resistance was somehow managing to lob a bowling ball from the top of his foot to the top of his head. Really. b) A soprano with a breathtaking voice who did Broadway standards, light opera, and French cabaret classics. c) a young, handsome dude with a powerful voice. All of them were terrific.

One afternoon as we were all inventorying the clothes we could still get into, the captain came on the loud speaker and explained that heavy seas and high winds would accompany a storm heading in the direction of St. John’s, Newfoundland, our first stop in Canada. He explained that the winds anticipated would be too strong for us to approach the city by sea and for that reason he decided we would skirt as much of the storm as possible and bypass the stop altogether. As quick as that, four days at sea turned into five. We were all ready to put our feet on terra firma in spite of the relaxing time we had enjoyed on board, so it was a small disappointment but a wise decision on the captain’s part for sure. We simply spent one extra day in much the same fashion as we had the previous four. The food was great and the entertainment terrific.

Here’s the fly in the ointment: the day after St. John’s was a sea day, so we soon realized our four days at sea had turned into six consecutive days. We placated ourselves with more food and relaxation. I flushed out the final day at sea with napkin folding class, an ice carving demo, two scoops of vanilla with sprinkles, and some book time on deck in the sun (A Walk in the Woods).

At bedtime on day four Dan and I reinstated our Dramamine maintenance program. Seems we were not able to skirt all of the storm. The ship started heaving back and forth due to what were referred to as moderate seas which made for a bit of rock and rolling that lasted through the night.

At the end of day five we set our watches back another hour.

Cleone is nursing a bad cold and a low fever and Dan is crossing his fingers that his mild sore throat does not turn into anything.

More galley trivia…

• Thirteen members of the galley crew focus on soups, pastas, and vegetables cranking out, on average, 500 pounds of pasta, 2,700 pounds of potatoes, 2,500 pounds of vegetables, and 550 gallons of soup each and every day.
• Ten bakers use 1,500 pounds of flour daily when they make and bake from scratch all the sweet rolls, croissants, bread sticks, pizza dough, rolls, puff pastry, and biscuits we enjoyed.