How can two people gain so much weight in such a short time? It’s a mystery every cruise and one Dan and I decided to tackle starting today. Our plan: skip one meal a day. Updates to follow.

Because these two sea days are a response to Fiona and not part of the original itinerary, Celebrity did not have any special activities planned to help flush out the days. Beautiful weather yesterday drew a large crowd to the al fresco movie theater, but the cool wind and dampness made it less attractive today. There was a flash sale we ladies took advantage of, a track to walk, indoor and outdoor pools, the spa, beds for napping, a casino to tempt our luck, and afternoon tea. It was each to his own both days and all in all quite pleasant, low key, and relaxing.

We stayed with our routine of meeting for cocktails at 5:00. Each evening Dan, Rick, and I took turns presenting challenges to the group with Dan promising prizes at the end of the cruise. With Boston in our rear view mirror, Rick kicked things off the second evening by giving us each a card with the names of the first eight presidents. Our task was to put them in order. Hettie, the little showoff, won with five correct. The next night I passed out a multiple choice quiz about the Coast Guard, apropos I thought considering we are cruising along the coast. Its multiple choice questions ranged from a Hollywood family that served in the Coast Guard (Lloyd, Beau, and Jeff The Dude Bridges) to the Coast Guard’s first chief journalist (Alex Haley) to the founder of the Guard (Alexander Hamilton). Dan and Ronnie got 10 out of 12 correct. Last night Dan took a turn with a current events quiz from the Wall Street Journal with nine questions ranging from the Obama’s official portraits to unblended cloth to Queen Elizabeth’s first prime minister. Dan, Walter and I tied with six correct answers. Tonight Dan lightened things up with a Disney quiz which proved harder than we guessed. Walter, Ronnie and I tied with three out of six answers right.

From cocktails we went to another four course dinner and then entertainment.

As we were settling into a relaxing two days, our attention turned from Fiona to Hurricane Ian. We monitored the spaghetti models on the news and were alarmed by its probable path toward Tampa where Cyd’s daughter, Jen, and her family live. As we relaxed on deck with our books, napped, and dropped quarters into the slots, evacuation orders were issued, airports were closed, and Jen and her family headed north once evacuation was mandatory.