Tuesday, January 14, 2020

January 14th - At Sea


It was a beautiful day today with temps in the mid-60’s and mostly sunny skies.  Folks were out on the loungers…but only on the sunny side of the ship.

We have two days at sea before pulling into Messina Sicily on Thursday, the 16th.  Today we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and got a nice look at the rock as we went by. 






There are only a few miles between Gibraltar and Africa and we were on the Africa side today.  In this busy shipping area, we were assigned our ‘lane’ through to the Mediterranean Sea.  It was nice to see so many ships throughout the day both in the Strait and in the Med.  Other passengers spotted whales and dolphins but we weren’t so lucky.

While leaving Lisbon yesterday we sailed by the Henry the Navigator statue.  We saw this up close and personal when we were here the last time.  It’s an impressive looking thing and it commemorates Henry, King of Portugal, and the many expeditions he sent out to conquer both the new and old world.  Before the UK came along and supplanted them, Portugal ruled the waves.


We had a happy surprise while eating lunch in the dining room the other day.  Friends we had met on the 2018 South America Voyage are on this one too!  What a shock and it was so great to see them.  They got on in Southampton and are only on to Dubai but it will be great to catch up with them at dinner this week.

Last picture is an up-close look at a life raft carried on many tankers and other ocean-going vessels we have seen over the years.  These huge ships have small crews and these vehicles are propelled into the water in an emergency.  I can’t imagine how much they must bob around in the ocean!


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