Sunday 22 May.
The wind had dropped this morning and the Mediterranean was looking calm. It wasn't quite a clear blue sky, a cloudy haze was blocking out the sun as we headed up for breakfast to the buffet.
We sat again in our little sheltered corner after breakfast and read the paper and our books. It wasn't quite warm enough yet to sit outside. The ship was now clear of the Straits of Gibraltar and was sailing northwards up the east coast of Spain. According to the GPS we were opposite Malaga in the morning and the ship's newsletter said we would be passing the Gapo de Gata mid-aftertoon, that was the semi-desert area of Spain where we had spent a holiday in the motorhome a few years ago. This information was really only of academic interest as there was no sign of land in any direction all day.
At 11:00 am we went to the theatre for a talk by the doctor chappy, this was about the 'Ageing Brain'. He wasn't very good again, his format was disjointed and was a bit too technically involved. The theatre was crowded and we were stuck at the end of a row against the wall, otherwise I think I would have left early. I looked at the audience and I think most had a similar opinion. He is giving another lecture tomorrow about the protein diet recommended by Tim Noakes, the SA sports scientist, and the eating regime that Margaret and Justin swear by. We will go to that talk and hope it is more understandable.
When we got up on deck again the haze had cleared from the sky and it was now very warm. We sat up on the deck chairs by the running track deck for an hour then it was time for lunch. After the meal it was back up top to the chairs overlooking the pool. It was now so warm that I had my t-shirt off and lying back to get some sun on my body. An hour was about enough, it was getting too hot, we went down to the pool area and sat in the shade of the overhang. The cruise staff had organised silly games, hitting a tennis ball with a golf club hoping to get through a ring floating in the pool or throwing a ballon full of water trying to get it into a bucket. Moira said they have these sorts of games every day but this is the first time we had sat at the poolside in the afternoon.
The weather stayed good and warm allowing us to sit there reading until nearly 6:00 pm when we went to our cabin for a glass of wine before dinner. Tonight there was roast pork on the menu and we had it with chips, it was delicious. For a change I splashed out and bought beer to go with the meal. It was called a bucket of beer, a box of ice with four bottles of beer - Castle from SA. It was a bit expensive at $8:20, that's R30 a bottle, I was paying only R10 at the bowling club in Southport. The other objection I have to the price is that it is listed as $7:20 on the menu but the small print indicates a 15% service charge. I don't understand why there should be a service charge when we have to pay a non-negotiable gratuity of $12:50 each per day. Another thing is that being off-shore everything should be duty free! We just drank two of the beers and later Moira put the other two in the cabin fridge for tomorrow.
Up until 9:00 pm we spent the time in the bars. First off it was the Sinfonia lounge with the country duo. When they finished and the dance instruction class began we moved to Shelagh's Irish pub. The woman we like wasn't on, it was the young lad with his guitar who usually plays later in the Sinfonia lounge. It was a pleasant evening and when we retired to our cabin we read for an hour before getting to sleep.
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