We woke in the middle of the night to a lot of knocking and creaking within the ship. I got up and went outside. The sky was cloudy and it was starting to rain. I took the washing off our line and bought it inside. We were cruising through a storm. I thought we would soon get through it, but when we woke this morning, while the rain had stopped, the wind was howling and the waves were huge. They buffeted the ship from side to side.
I went to the 11th deck to get coffee. There were very few people around (it was 6am), but a couple of ladies sat at tables watching the waves. After making coffee, taking two cups back to the cabin was a trick. I got the deck door open and carefully swayed down the flight of steps. I thought how relevant it was that I participated in the egg and spoon race when I was six years old. The importance of being able to balance a moving object would benefit me 47 years later when I carefully zig-zagged down the long passage of a rocking ship with a cup of coffee in each hand and didn’t spill a drop!
We enjoyed our coffee on the balcony admiring the massive waves below…
I had actually wondered what it would be like to be on-board during a storm. The ship is incredibly stable considering the strength of the waves. The wind is chilly. This is like a storm in Cape Town and I’m loving it! This is the satellite photo from 6am this morning….
There was this weird drone sound coming through the cabin. Turned out to be the air conditioner. Once that was fixed, all that was left was the whistling of the wind. The air conditioner on ship in our cabin is brilliant. It is so efficient and has kept us comfortable throughout the cruise.
The wind was 65km an hour from the south. The temperature outside today was 20 and the sea temperature 23C. So overall, a cool day!
We turned our clocks back at midnight and will do so again tonight, so by tomorrow we will be back at South African time.
This morning, I went to the gym and spent 37 minutes dancing on the treadmill. I say dancing because of the movement of the ship. You could do nothing without holding on. In the end I got into a kind of rhythm running holding on with one hand, but even then there was quite a lot of running to the right and running to the left as the ship bobbed up and down. I am returning home fitter, although I am sure to have gained some weight!
We went to a talk about the disembarkation procedure in Durban on Monday. We also booked our spot on the bus that will take us to the airport. What’s good about that, is that the buses have been booked to leave at 9am, so everyone who has to be on a bus, has to be off the ship by then. It means there should be no stress about catching our 12 noon flight back to Cape Town.
Aaah, our holiday is coming to an end. The real world awaits! Last blog from the ship will be tomorrow.
#460 of my 1000 thanks is for this stormy, windy weather – that we get to experience more than calm seas.
Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you..
And He has!
These are the days!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂