Sunday, March 25, 2018

Sunday – March 25, 2018

We are still cruising in the Indian Ocean heading toward Reunion. This island stop replaces our scheduled visit to Madagascar. That was cancelled because of the plague still present there.

Our seas continue to be calm. The wind is just 5 miles per hour. This marks the beginning of our seventh week onboard. We have just 5 weeks to go.

During brunch we noticed some roiling water not far astern to starboard. It was inconsistent with the calm we have been experiencing. It turned out to be a very large school of flying fish breaking the surface. This voyage is full of firsts for us.

This was our fourth Sunday brunch. This only happens on Sunday sea days. About a week ago we received a notice that Easter, April 1, is a sea day, and we should make reservations for brunch to establish our preferred time between 11:00 and 1:00. The next day we made our reservation for noon. It was a good thing that we did not wait. Yesterday we received a notice that the dining room was fully booked for Easter brunch. We will receive a confirmation of our reservation, which must be presented at the dining room in order to be seated.

Euros will be the generally accepted currency in our upcoming ports, so I purchased some this afternoon.

The entertainment this evening does not appeal to us. We will check out a DVD to view in our room instead.

Saturday, March24, 2018

Saturday – March 24, 2018

Today we arrive at Victoria on Mahe Island in The Seychelles. This is the capital of Seychelles. Because we have never visited here before we are taking an all day ship’s tour. We will visit the botanical gardens, the town center and a craft village. Then we will stop for lunch at a resort where we can also use the beach. We will continue on to complete the road around the island.

We left the ship with our tour group at 10:00. Our transportation was a 20 passenger bus for 18 passengers, a ship’s escort and our guide. We would later learn why there were 4 of these rather than larger coaches with more passengers.

Our first stop was the botanical garden. English is compulsory in school as is French. Our guide’s English was excellent with very little accent. She did a fine job of explaining the significant plants to us.

We joined the Saturday traffic for the drive into the city center. The place was jumping. It was almost noon. The market would close around 1:00 because it was Saturday. We were given 30 minutes to tour it, and told the souvenirs were upstairs at the back of the building. Alice and I spent most of our time walking the aisles of the food and fish portion of the market. Everything was fresh. The fish looked beautiful with clear eyes. Some varieties were very large. If we had more time we would have liked to engage a fishmonger to learn more about what these creatures were and how they got to market.

We boarded our bus and started toward the cathedral only to learn that we were missing some people. After 30 minutes of searching and some anxious moments, all were found. We headed south on the main road. We would end our day passing through the city again. The ride was beautiful. This island is formed from granite not volcanic rock. The cliffs are shear and the roads are steep and narrow. This is why the buses are so small.

After visiting a craft village that is being renovated, we drove to the stop. This was a Doubletree resort by Hilton. The building and grounds were very nice. The dining room was open air and comfortable. We wish the food had been as good. After eating we used the free internet for a while. Then we walked down to the beach. Alice shed her shoes and waded in. I am still protective of my feet. Infection is something I must avoid. I am just grateful that I can walk the many miles a day that we have been going.

At 4:00 we left the resort to resume our circumnavigation. The road got steeper and we often had to stop to let approaching traffic get past us. Our guide was excellent at explaining the history of Seychelles, its economy and its culture. The principal religion is Catholicism. Everything closes on Sunday. She was also very good at getting our driver to stop at prime locations for photo opportunities. As the sun was going down we reached the highest point on our drive. This offered beautiful views of the city as the lights started to come on.

We made our way down the “mountain” and passed through the city center again. Soon we were back at Amsterdam. It was 7:00 and almost dark. We bid our guide and driver farewell, and headed toward the last open kiosks along the pier. We were hoping to purchase some local soap, but could not negotiate a fair price even though it was late in the day. Not all of the booths had electricity. One man used his iPhone light to show his wares.

We soon boarded Amsterdam empty-handed. After cleaning up we proceeded to the dining room for dinner. It was great to sit in comfortable chairs and let our dedicated servers fawn over us. They all strive so hard to anticipate our needs and satisfy us. They succeed quite nicely.

At 9:30 we attended entertainment provided by a local song and dance troop. Their indigenous rhythms and their enthusiasm were great fun. We have not seen the audience get so much into clapping the rhythm as they did tonight. The spirit of this group was contagious. We were sorry to see them go, but happy to get to bed. Sail Away was about 11:00.

We could not find anything to dislike about Seychelles. We hope to return some day.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Friday – March 23, 2018

This is a rarity. It is our third sea day in a row. We are cruising the Indian Ocean on our way toward Seychelles. This is an island nation that I have read about many times in Cruising World. It is a favorite stopping place for many sailors who are circumnavigating the world. Their tales of the welcoming people and beautiful scenery make it especially alluring. We cannot wait to get there

Check out yesterday’s post. Today is almost as busy. We continue to marvel at how fast these sea days speed by.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Wednesday – March 21, 2018

This is a welcome sea day. It is the first of three sea days on our way to Seychelles. We spent it relaxing somewhat as we again attended lectures and rafts. The highlight for me was attending the Sari wrapping demonstration in the afternoon. The lesson the shopkeeper gave us yesterday was quick. I did not retain a lot of it. Now Barbara, our port lecturer, was demonstrating the process for us. Because Alice was attending a computer class, it was up to me to attend the sari class. I filmed the whole thing with my phone. The 9-minute film would be watched many times. I went home to wait for Alice.

When she arrived, we started to practice dressing her. It was 4:00. We watched the video together. Alice donned the necessary slacks with elastic waist and we tucked the end of the sari into the waist. The fabric is rather shear so we wrapped it around twice before creating the pleats in the front. These are to allow ease of walking while maintaining modesty. Then we brought the fabric around and over the shoulder. Wow! This looked pretty good. This had gone so well that we decided that starting to dress at 5:15 would allow enough time to meet Roger and Sandy for dinner at 5:45.

Hah! We did start at 5:15, but for some reason we were not as successful as earlier. After several tries, we were satisfied. Alice looked beautiful. We proceeded to the dining room. It was almost 6:00. We apologized profusely to Sandy and Roger. They are so gracious they immediately put us at ease. They were afraid we had forgotten our date. Dinner was delicious. The conversation was delightful. It was fun to catch up on what we all had done in the past two weeks.

The only disappointment of the evening was how few of the ladies had worn saris for the occasion. We do not think we saw more than 10 saris aside from those worn by staff. After leaving Sandy and Roger we went to our regular table on deck 4. We wanted to get pictures of our stewards, Eben and Made and the dining room hostess, Intan. They were very surprised and pleased to see us, and highly complimented Alice on her sari. Next we attended the entertainment. Again, Alice was the exception. We had a grand evening.

Monday, March 19, 2018

Monday – March 19, 2018

This is our second sea day on the way to Sri Lanka. We started the day out with a tour of the ship’s laundry. First stop was at the 450 lb. washers. These are used to launder sheets, tablecloths and napkins. As we watched, one of the washers entered the spin cycle. Since there is no attempt to balance the load, the machine vibrated like crazy. This was totally absorbed by the large shock absorbers on which the machine was mounted.

Now we moved to a large mango-ironing device. This is wide enough to press king sized sheets. The operator feeds the objects onto a conveyor that transports it through two hot rollers. An employee on the output side then removes it, folds it and stacks it.

Now we got to the place where passenger laundry is processed. The first thing we saw was a large rolling cart loaded with our blue laundry bags. An employee removes the items from the bag and verifies that the number of objects matches the laundry list prepared by the passenger. Then each item is tagged with the number for its batch. Socks and underwear are paced in a mesh bag with the same number. Whites are separated from darker garments to minimize the effects of any fading. We looked into the cart of items that had just been tagged. There on top, were three of my shirts and two of Alice’s tops. Her third top was on the white pie. We had sent them to the laundry yesterday. What are the odds that we would arrive at this time.

The finished laundry is folded or pressed and hung on hangers. Collars, sleeves and shirtfronts are all pressed separately. Items are collected, and folded things are placed in a shallow basket. Hangers for tops and slacks are tied together. The laundry list is attached and the load is returned to the passenger’s cabin.

All of this takes place in a windowless workspace three decks below Main Deck that is heated by the irons and dryers. It is almost as warm as outdoors.

More lectures and a 4-mile walk around the deck finished the day.