Sunday
Dear Elsie
Today was the day I chatted to your Mom for an hour. It was good to catch up and to hear all about you and all the things you all have been doing. 
This is our location..we are headed for the Canary Islands, which is the smaller archipelago just above Western Sahara. While we look quite close to the coast, it is not visible and it’s very misty.
For us it was a very quiet day at sea. I have a short list of things I wanted to do.
- Go to the 4-D theatre.
- Go to the Aurea (free) spa session and
- Get breakfast delivered to the cabin. We have never done this before on any of our cruises. I was curious to see how it worked and how it arrived, so we planned to have breakfast in our cabin this morning. They have a menu card which I filled in with whatever I wanted delivered (they offer coffee, cereal, fruit juice, yoghurt, jams and pastries). The instructions said to leave it on the outside doorhandle of our cabin which I did. I ordered it for 8.45am and it arrived promptly. We got stuck in and then I remembered I needed to take a photo!
So that’s one of the three done.
The most significant factor about today has been the wind! It’s a very strong head wind and we are ploughing through the waves seeing big swells. Every part of the ship is affected. In our cabin, we can feel the squeaking of the joints as it slightly moves from side to side. I went for a walk early this morning before breakfast arrived. I did 10 laps of the big deck which turned out to be just under 4.5km. When I first got up there, it was windy but the longer I stayed, the stronger it got. Eventually, I was walking into the wind one side of the ship and being blown at jogging speed down the other. This was the scene this morning, but from this deck, the sea looks far calmer and there’s not sign of how windy it was.
The deckhands started putting the sunbeds up but soon realised it was going to be way too windy, so stacked them back up again.
After breakfast, we hung out on our balcony for a while and watched the big sea go by.
Later we went up to the buffet for a lunchtime cappuccino. It was jam packed with passengers enthusiastically tucking into lobster! I would be hesitant to have lobster at home in Cape Town. I’m certainly not trying it on a ship. Mike had a bit of lunch. I had my cappuccino. Back in the cabin, we had turned the heat up a little and it made us both very sleepy. I had a little nap and then, while Mike slept on, I took myself up to Top 16 and sat in the whirlpool for a while. I got out, washed the chlorine off and then went to find a sunbed that was slightly sheltered to dry off on. As I walked across the deck, one of the stewards approached me. Very humbly and apologetically, he asked to see my cruise card to see if I was legitimately suppose to be in this very sacredly reserved part of the ship. I said, no problem and dug in my bag for my card and confidently handed it over. He squirmed and apologised and I explained that we had got on at Cape Town, which was why he didn’t recognise me and, furthermore, we had hardly come up here. I think it was the second time. He offered me as much as he could in regards to the comforts of Top 16 and scuttled away. I dried myself off with this windy view.
The sun was shining brightly and I was in fear of sunburn, so didn’t stay too long. I did walk around Top 16 and found one slightly more protected spot. It overlooks the whole main deck.
You can see how few people are down there. That’s how windy it is!
Meanwhile, back in Cape Town, a massive fire has crossed from Elephant’s Eye, across to Silvermine and is now affecting Kalk Bay. One of our neighbours posted these photos.
We are 2 hours behind Cape Town now, so I’m not sure how it’s going to be overnight. I know that there are major traffic issues getting in and out of the valley. I’m so glad David is home from Betty’s Bay. He missed the closures just in time. Hoping the fire department will get it under control.
Nehemiah 9:6
“You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂