Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them

Live your dream and share your passion

When you eat, appreciate every last bite

Some opportunities only come only once-seize them

Laugh everyday

Believe in magic

Love with all your heart

Be true to who you are

Smile often and be grateful

…and finally make every moment count

Follow my new adventures: http://berniesafricanodyssey.blogspot.com

Friday, January 11, 2013

FIRST DAY AT SEA-IBIZA CHANNEL AND THE STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR


So I have 2 days at sea before we get to the first port of call which is Funchal (pronounced Fun-chal)-Madeira which is a territory of Portugal.  I LOVE cruises that have days at sea.  Firstly it gives you a chance to explore the ship without urgency, you get to sleep in and it just feels so much more relaxed.  In fact out of the 9 nights we are on the ship there are only 4 stops and 5 days at sea.  PERFECT.  Especially for me as this is a time filler for me till I could arrive into Africa and more days at sea means less money spent and more down time.  Maybe I am getting too old for this travel gig?  The sunrise in this part of the world was at 8.18am this morning.  Hmmmm maybe I will be able to see a sunrise here before I leave?  I told you it rises late here but according to the programme it is due to set at 6.17pm, which is a little later to what I am used to but then we are winding our clocks back an hour tonight.  I wonder how many oldies will get confused with that?

So Day 2 at sea and what’s on the entertainment programme?
Balls of Fury-ping pong tournament
Salsa dance class
Awesome Abs
Body sculpt boot camp
Acupuncture for back pain
General trivia
Look 10 years younger seminar
Detox for health and weight loss
Who am I competition
Dodgeball tournament-love to see oldies play that
Crazy golf challenge
70’s line dance class
Informal cards and bridge game
Non-surgical facelift seminar
Walking in comfort presentation
Pathway to yoga
The art of art collecting
2-for-1 HAPPY HOUR-okay now we are talking-but not fun on your own

There were probably a few seminar/presentations I should go to, but do any of them appeal-not really and you know what? I am glad.  It meant I could find a corner of the ship, or the bow as it worked out, and catch up on my blogging with a marvellous sunny sky shining through the floor to ceiling glass windows without guilt that I was missing out on doing something fun.  Guilt free blogging-love it and where I am sitting is a fantastic view.  It is an enclave that juts out over the side of the ship and is full glass.  I got a marvellous view of the entire length of the ship and I could also see the proceedings in the Galaxy of the Stars lounge.  I watched the salsa dance class and the bingo in the morning.  There was no one here when I got here at 9am and then at 11am there was a mad rush for all the seats-it pays to be early but we got asked to leave at 12.15pm as there was a private function in the lounge at 1pm.  It was probably a blessing in disguise as I had written and loaded 4 blogs and was working on another and I think I needed a break. 

So after having breakfast at 8.30am it was time for lunch at 12.30pm.  I am really watching what I am eating, as it would be so easy to put on so much weight on a cruise.  I’m lucky, looking at the food it all doesn’t appeal to me, not saying there is anything wrong with it, it just isn’t my style, so it makes it easier for me to keep to my plan.  Trying to fill my plate more with salads than anything else…yeah well we will see how that goes over the next 8 days.  I saw my Danish friends again at they are always so nice to me-lovely actually and they are a breath of fresh air every time I see them.
The weather has been colder than what I expected.  The sun is out and shining, there is just a small nip in the air, especially at night and in the windy parts of the ship.  I was on deck this afternoon and wind was blowing at 48mph-it was WINDY!!!!!  Looking at the weather forecasts they have displayed on TV around the ship, it looks like it is going to warm up the further west we move, so that is great news as I didn’t bring a lot of warm clothes with me, I left them in the hotel in Barcelona!  After lunch I took a walk around the ship and I noticed that we were following a Costa Cruise ship.  I tried to use my camera to read which one it was and my immediate thoughts were of the poor people that were on the Costa Concordia, which is the ship that capsized and 20 people died.  I asked myself how could people die in a ship that just turned on its side.  But after now being in an inside cabin where there is no window and when you switch the lights off you can’t see a thing.  To imagine people in there with no lights, no idea on what is happening and disorientated I can easily see how confusing it would be and scary.  Touchwood that we have no trouble on this cruise and it wasn’t until yesterday when I Google’d this ship that I saw what an accident prone history this ship has had that I am glad I asked myself the question about Costa as I am now on a ship with a bad track record.  

Points of interest for today included passing through the Ibizia Channel at 4.50am at 2.30pm we passed Cabo de Gata TSS which is the Traffic Separation Scheme and at 9.30pm we will enter the Strait of Gibraltar where Spain will be on our right and Morocco will be on our left and at 11pm we will pass the Europe Point and Gibraltar Rock.  Another interesting fact is that I have decided to not buy the ship photos like I ALWAYS do when I do a cruise.  I am one of those people that buy the welcome photo, the port photos and if I’m with people we will do pose photos.  Ideally I would love to just get them saved to a USB stick, I don’t need a hard copy, but ships just won’t do it and at 20 USD a pop, I don’t need them and I should be saving my money and not wasting on cruise photos-right?  This is a BIG deal for me and people who know me know that it is.  I looked at my arrival photo this afternoon and I looked and then walked away-yes I walked away…..  High five me!!!!!

I was back to my room at 3pm where I had some down time, read my book, watched a little TV and then continued my blogging.  Tonight was ‘Dress Up or Not Night’ and you could have your photo taken with the Captain and all those cheesy photo stations were up around the ship to get your portrait pictures taken.  I decided to don the make-up and wear one of the dresses I bought with me, but not the wedding one, as I wasn’t going to be eating in the fancy restaurant, but I also didn’t want to look like a dag and it was a happy medium as there were about 50-50 that got dressed to the 9’s and those who didn’t.  I would have felt super uncomfortable if I had of worn the dress I wore to the wedding.  As promised I got ready for the show tonight.  I got to the Stardust Theatre at 7pm and they had just opened the doors, so I was early as the show didn’t start till 7.30pm but I wanted to get a seat and not look like a loser coming in on my own and looking for a single seat.  An old couple from the UK sat next to me and we got chatting till the show started and they were really nice, so I am glad that I did make the effort to get out.  The show was Soul Rockin’ Nights with major rock songs sung over the ages it was good.  It wasn’t an amazing show, but it was entertaining and I found it funny that one of the staff I had seen strutting his stuff around the ship, like he was King Pin, was actually one of the dancers and he wasn’t that great.  Dufus.

After the show I headed to the buffet, ate my dinner and then I was on my way back to my cabin at 9.30pm.  I had my blog to complete getting me to Barcelona and I am now officially only 2 days behind.  I will have this all up to date by the time we get to our first port and then I can write each day as we go.  Yee ha……..   

  

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