Island Princess Day at Sea Two May 3, 2014
The wind and waves have picked up considerably. I now understand how people get seasick, although I am fine. I tried walking down the hallway in a straight line as if I was taking a balance test to no avail -well, physics speaking I suppose I was walking in a straight line, but the walls came closer to me, first on the right, then on the left. On the Lido deck the swimming pool was sloshing water on one end and sloshing back in on the other – – back and forth it sloshed. Net water loss in the pool = 0. Taking a shower was interesting. You know how when you use the bathroom on the airplane it’s a bit difficult if there is any turbulence at all? Taking a shower was like taking a shower in an enlarged airplane bathroom. Lifting my foot up to wash between the toes was when I first remembered I was not standing on terra firma. When we were on the aforementioned Lido deck I had grabbed a slice of thin crust pizza and held it on to my plate as I was concerned that it would fly off and become attached to my face as in some kind of Three Stooges skit. I tried taking a movie of the waves but of course my little camera is insufficient to the task of capturing the grandeur.

What I find interesting is that the same motions, the same “creaking” sounds of the vessel that would have me saying Hail Marys and grabbing the hands of complete strangers on an airplane are no big deal out here on the sea, despite the fact that a catastrophic occurrence would have much the same result. As I write, the “earthquakes” are nonstop below me.
Lest you think I am not enjoying myself, let me assure you I am loving every minute of it. The waves are huge and appear as if you could surf on them…well, at least a novice like me could surf on them. My neighbors would want something considerably higher, I’m sure.
Spray is flying off the crests of the waves and it’s all quite beautiful. Walking outside in the wind is cleansing to my soul. Last night after “formal” night and an evening of shows we went out on the balcony for the real show – stars. It is quite sad what light pollution has deprived us of in our daily lives. I could imagine the use of the sextant and the stars instead of GPS for crossing the seas. As a matter of fact, as we sailed past islands around Cuba yesterday my imagination went off at it tends to do and I imagined sailors of yore seeing land in the distance, of perhaps a pirate treasure over there, and of course my favorite scare-myself-to-death fantasy, seeing that piece of land after being on a life raft for three weeks. Such a crazy girl. Blame it on reading Kon Tiki so many years ago.
This morning I made the grave error of crawling back into bed for a few more minutes and the rocking of the boat…well, let’s just say I got a little later start this morning. Tomorrow we awaken in Aruba and have to get off the boat. We plan to head to a beach and maybe walk through Orenjastad (sp?) for a bit – only have 5 hours but that should be enough. Our on-ship tour guide tells us it’s VERY windy and VERY hot – we are 12o north of the equator. Very cool. Or hot. Or whatever.
Sunscreen. Check. Hat. Check. Water. Check. Camera. Check.