Thursday 18 August 2016

THE FIRST OF MANY

THE FIRST OF MANY

sea days on this leg of our voyage and it looks to be jam packed. There is a lecture at 10:00 to meet the "Expedition Team", Trivia at 12:00, Art at 3:00. The seas today are quite heavy and we are really feeling the rocking motion. And, of course, it is raining again. It is too unstable for a walk on the promenade deck.
We had a delightful evening last night. We went to our favourite bar for a before dinner drink - Norma is working her way through the cocktail menu while I am sticking to the addictive apple martini. There we were joined by Jim one of our dinner mates from the previous cruise. On our way into dinner, we were met by Kurt (the birder) and another lecturer, Ed, who is also a birder. They managed to get themselves seated at our table. Unfortunately, both of them are getting off in Nome. There were two more women at our table - both from New Zealand. Didn't have a chance to talk with them as they were sitting across from us. Maybe tonight.
Boy, was I mistaken. It took me half an hour to realize that not only was Norma missing from the room but so were her poles. I hastily dressed and joined her on the promenade deck where she had been walking for almost an hour! We were buffeted by hurricane force winds as we rounded the front of the ship. Every time the prow of the ship hit a huge wave, it sounded like an explosion and there was spray everywhere.
On the way into breakfast, I met the one birder on the expedition team. He promised to be in touch so we could do some birding on deck together. Things are looking up.
Since Then:
We went to our first lecture that introduced us to some of the expedition speakers. All of the speakers were excellent, both knowledgable and humourous. At Trivia, we were in a team of three - everyone else were teams of eight. Needless to say, we did not do well and the host insisted on announcing our score. We were not amused. We have been to our art class - we are learning how to paint using acrylic paints. My polar bears turned out quite well. We are now preparing for the first of the black tie dinners. There is only one more.
Tomorrow, the island of Unalaska, port of Dutch Harbor and our private birding tour.

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