Sailing the Ocean Blue: The Ship's Log: Day 2

2nd May, 2014 - Day 2

 

29º22.05' N by 074º48.19' W at 16:33 hrs. ship's time. Partly cloudy. Warm. Sea remains calm. 81ºF at noon.

 

Speed: 17.7 knots. Seems to have slowed slightly since yesterday evening (purely subjective - I didn't check yesterday evening).

 

Course: 063º ENE (eyeballing it off the graphical display)

 

Wind from the south (pretty much directly on our starboard side).

 

Moon: Waxing crescent. It's definitely a little bigger tonight than last night; I got it wrong yesterday. Sorry.

 

Breakfasted in dining room today. Went on deck. Walked and watched Int'l Belly Flop Competition in pool. Had lunch in cafeteria. Today was our first day when we had to turn all our timekeeping devices forward an hour at noon. We will do this every day during the crossing, since we are traveling fast enough to cross a time zone every 24 hours. [Editorial note: That's actually not quite true. At the beginning, I thought we were going to turn our clocks forward every day, but we actually did it every other day.]

 

Learned from Guest Relations that all nautical info is available in real time 24/7 on channel 40 on your in-room TV. We do carry GMT with us. It's in the upper right corner of the screen on that channel.

 

Went shopping. Got a pendant necklace and a bracelet that match my blue dress.

 

Got some deck-chair time in. Finally finished The Surgeon's Mate (M&C book 7). Was thoroughly delighted and surprised by the ending.

 

1st formal night tonight. Everyone looked lovely, esp. LM. Wore black dress (no belt) with amethyst jewelry & white wrap. K is alert & walking on his own.

 

Captain's Reception from 1930-2030 on the Promenade. Got to see him make a speech & introduce the senior officers. He is from Norway. Our Exec. Chef is a lady named Donna from the UK. Most of our passengers are Americans, but a lot are Canadian, followed by German, British, and Mexican. The jazz/swing band played (they were really good), and I learned that there's a descending stage built into the ceiling in the center of the Promenade. I liked seeing everyone all dressed up.

 

Went to acrobatics show, “In the Air,” in main theater. It was really cool. Theater fills up fast.

 

Checked out karaoke stage. The system doesn't have “Let It Go.” Nuts.

 

Walked more before bed. Got all alarms set up for the rest of the cruise.

 

W4W: Walked 2 laps on the walking track in the morning, then 3 in the afternoon, all with Mom. 4 in the evening by myself. Total for today: 5 for Mom, 9 for me. [Editorial note: Royal Caribbean sometimes conducts a Walk For Wishes, a walking challenge to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, at sea. On my cruise, participants donated $10 when they signed up, got an event T-shirt, and were challenged to walk a marathon during the course of the cruise. 117 laps of the walking track aboard ship was equal to a marathon.]

 

Steps today: 10,708. Total so far: 28,112.