We experienced another smooth sailing night on the Mediterranean Sea last night as we head toward Gibraltar and passage from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean. According to the Captain’s daily report, we are scheduled to pass by Gibraltar tonight between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM. This will be our third time passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, and the third time it has been at night. Maybe one day we will actually see Gibraltar during the daytime.
We were both a little slow getting going this morning after last night, we had stayed up well past our normal bed time visiting with our new friends and taking the photos in the Atrium. I also think we are both still adjusting to the time difference, although we did get back one hour last night, our first time change back towards Eastern Time as we cross the Ocean. Apparently, Madeira, our next port of call, must be on a different time zone, so we are adjusting to that time zone as we head there.
We ate breakfast in the buffet once again, but tried to eat a little more healthy today, cereal, fruits and yogurt. No eggs, sausage and pastries. After breakfast, we headed to the Purser’s Desk to see if they could have someone fix Stephanie’s shoe, it was her turn for shoe problems on a formal night, like I had experienced on our last cruise. The toe strap on one of her shoes had pulled out, an easy fix at home with some white glue or epoxy, but without supplies here on the ship, it was impossible to fix ourselves. They were going to send the shoe to the “upholstery shop” for repair, and were not sure how long it might take. If need be, Stephanie has another pair of shoes that can be worn for casual nights in a pinch, but they are not really dress shoes for the next formal night on Saturday.
With the shoe issue taken care of, we spent some time walking around before going back to the room to put on our exercise clothes and head to the gym for some elliptical time for me, and treadmill time for Stephanie. This is our first visit to the gym for this cruise, but only the second day we have not been on the go, and getting our exercise walking around in ports. None the less, it was not the funnest thing we have done so far on the cruise.
After cooling down, it was time for showers, and then heading out for some lunch. Today is “fish & chips” day for lunch in one of the lounges, but we decided against going. After having just exercised, it was hard to give it all up for fried fish and french fries, so we opted for slightly healthier food from the buffet.
Sunset At Sea
It started out as a sunny day, but soon turned cloudy, then partly cloudy. Overall, it was not a bad day, but not as nice outside as yesterday had been. The winds are still from our stern, so at least it was not windy out on deck, just cooler when the sun was not out. We did spend a little time on the balcony later in the day, the sun was out a little more in the late afternoon. However, with the sunset being around 5:00 PM, it cools off quickly once the sun starts heading below the horizon. Of course, with us being as close to the Straits of Gibraltar, there were a lot of cargo ships entering the Mediterranean Sea, passing by us heading in the opposite direction to ports unknown.
Sunset At Sea
We did get a fairly nice sunset from the balcony, but there was a layer of low clouds on the horizon blocking the last portion of the sun as it set below the horizon. It is nice to be able to see both the sunrise and sunset from our balcony without having to leave the room and head to the upper decks. With the sun being more southerly this time of year, and with our heading, we get both the sunrise and sunset on our side of the ship.
We did go to the dining room for dinner tonight, opting to get a table for two, and enjoy a quiet dinner together. However, since the small two person tables are only about 18 inches apart on either side, it is almost like eating with your neighbors since they are just about as close to you physically as when you were sharing one large table with other passengers. Our server Marco was very good, and Stephanie enjoyed a fajita entree and I had the prime rib. Both were excellent.
We decided to attend the show in the Princess Theater, the entertainment was a ventriloquist, based on information from Barb and Mike, who had attended the earlier show, and told us about it when we ran into them earlier heading to dinner tonight They were with two other couples that we had also met last night, one of the men was a dentist from Miami Beach. Both of those couples had been very nice to chat with the previous evening, and once again heartily greeted us and invited us to sit with them for dinner, not knowing we had already eaten. Once they realized we had already eaten, they invited us just to visit and have dessert. We were full, so we declined, but it was nice for them to offer. Instead, we headed to the show, which thy had attended before dinner.
The show was one of the best we have seen on a cruise. It was really funny, and they actually got two passengers up on stage, and they wore masks that basically consisted of moving mouths, similar to what a ventriloquist dummy mouth would look like. The performer used a squeeze bulb to activate their mouths and he spoke the part of their voices. They were left to be embarrassed by whatever he said, but being good sports, they also did attempt to provide some additional animation to go along with their “dummy” roles. It was hilarious, and both passengers did a great job playing along.
After the show, we went back to the room and made a couple of “to go” adult beverages, and headed to the Explorer’s lounge to catch the last half of a show by a lady from Ireland, who was sort of a comedian, but a better singer, mixing some comedy with songs. This was her last show, she was scheduled to get off of the ship in Madeira on Friday. She was good, but the volume was too high for the size of the room, we both agreed she was probably better the night before when she performed in the larger Princess Theater venue.
We looked in a couple of the bars to see if we could find the group from last night and earlier in the dining room, but could not. By this time it was around 10:30 PM, and it seemed that as the entertainment ended for the evening, so did about everything else on the ship, many of the lounges were empty, so we called it a night. Back at the room, we headed out to the balcony to look at the stars. It was a really clear night, and we actually even saw a couple of shooting stars. Unfortunately, a lot of people leave their balcony lights on, and with that and the added general ship’s lighting, it is not as dark as one would like for star gazing out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We have tried, on past cruises, to find some really dark area on the ship to be able to reduce the ambient lighting and give us better night vision, but there is just too much lighting out on the decks, surely there for safety and security.
I will be getting up early tomorrow morning before sunrise to try and see the Comet ISON. We are not sure it survived its passing around the sun on Thanksgiving Day since I could not get onto the internet tonight to do a search for that information. Stephanie told me to “have fun”, I guess she will be sleeping in.