Friday 20th October 2017
Overnight we left the protection of the Gulf of Aden and turned full south down the east coast of Africa. And with it the real rest came. This morning, the internet was lost and without any digital distraction, I was forced to read, exercise, rest and eat. The thing is that I don’t feel as if I am missing out on something. When we look out at the ocean, it’s far and flat. Nothing to be seem anywhere on the horizon. Millions of square kilometres of water all around. We are like a dot in the middle of the sea.
Psalm 33:7
He gathered the oceans into a single place; he put the deep water into storehouses.
Tonight we turn the clocks forward an hour. I can see why. We woke at 5am, in time to see the sun rise in the east – a magnificent golden ball coming up over a hazy horizon.
By 7, it felt like 9am and by 9am, it felt like 12.
We walked/ran around the deck 7 times (Mike did 10) and then had a shower before going for breakfast. On our return, I picked up my book, but my eyes could not stay open. The gentle movement of the ship is completely soporific. I drifted to sleep, dreaming of Swellendam! When I woke, I thought we may be late for our lecture at 11am. It was 9-15!
I sat on our balcony with my legs in the warmth of the morning. The sun caught the peaks of each small swell causing a million lights to dance across the surface of the water. It was quite enchanting.
At about 10am, there was a knock at the door and the cabin steward asked to clean the cabin. We went downstairs and sat in one of the lounges and I finished the first of the two yachting blogs! We then went to a talk by the cruise entertainment director Stephen Cloete who gave us an hour-long (entertaining) lecture of Memory and various techniques to enhance it. He got us to memorize 12 items, which I can still remember in order: Water, chocolate, deck chair, banana, mermaid, coffee, golf bag, ribbons, piano, Jack Russel, ship, computer. Clearly what he said was very effective!
Then we went and had lunch and returned to the cabin for coffee. I started reading my book and decided to check to see if the internet had returned. It had, so I quickly decided to try get the blog up before it goes down again.
I expect we cross the equator tomorrow and there will be a big shin-dig as we do. This is where we are…
#452 of my 1000 thanks is for my clever husband who had me back a 2-cup kettle. No need to walk anywhere – tea is always available in our cabin!
If there is no blog, there is no internet! I will put it up as soon as it reappears. So far we’ve had it daily, amazingly!
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂