Day 523 - At Sea

Hmm. A fairly uneventful day. Did laundry. Packed a little. Tanned a little. Uncooked a little. That about sums it up!

I packed up the seeds & spices. I’m not sure how on Earth we’ll get them to SA just yet. It’s a fairly hefty weight! We’ll see! I washed the scuba gear for the last time & it’s drying out as I type.

I washed three loads of laundry, so there will only be a few things left to wash come Sunday.

Up on deck for one hour today, I found it quite windy. After I settled onto the only free lounger at the back of the ship, I tried to read. It was too windy & blew the pages all over. I tried to write postcards, but they were bent out of shape by the wind. I then resorted to playing solitaire on my iPod. When I finished, I looked up at the sky & my eyes were playing tricks on me. The moving clouds in the sky made the railing of the ship look like the back end of the ship was moving up, up, up into the sky! Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty weird!

Lastly, I made walnut tacos tonight for dinner. Jaco likes the taco ‘meat’, so we both enjoyed a nice meal. I used the raw sundried olives & they gave a nice ‘cheese’ texture to the tacos. Shredded purple cabbage, sliced red peppers & sunflower sprouts all rolled up in a butter lettuce leaf. They were delicious! I was quite pleased with the flavor of the taco meat that I took it to the Medical Centre & Rebecca & Becky both tried it & gave it thumbs up! Becky is quite picky, so I was impressed that she actually liked it! Rebecca even had a second spoonful!

Tomorrow is Tortola & I’ll attempt to travel over to Virgin Gorda again to see the Baths. Here’s hoping I can find the ferry in time!

xxxxMaria

Day 505 - At Sea

Lunch today was spent with the most traveled passengers. The loyalty program onboard arranges a luncheon for the 30 passengers who have sailed with Princess the highest number of days. At each table, one of the senior officers working onboard will dine with the passengers. Jaco invited me to go along, so I obliged.

I’ve been a few times previously & it’s always hit & miss as to whether or not you’ll find passengers who are easy to get along with. Or not. Thankfully the ones I sat next to were pleasant. There was one other lady at our table who actually works for Princess as a vendor in the shops. She was pretty excited.

Now, there is a VAST difference between British passengers & American passengers. British passengers are very polite & reserved. American passengers TEND to be a little louder & a little less reserved. This woman, being an employee, was NOT reserved at all. Oh my. It was a little awkward at times. I won’t go into too much detail, but needless to say, I think several of us were relieved when the luncheon was finished!

I visited with Jaco for a while in the cabin until he went to the office, at which point, I wandered up on deck to catch a little sun. It was quite breezy and a little cloudy. Several birds were flying around the ship. It was fantastic to lay back & read, watching the clouds roll by & birds soar overhead. When it started to cool off, I got up to come inside. I noticed a large mass of land off the port side. Apparently we were sailing between Dominican Republic & Puerto Rico. Cool.

Popping by the Medical Centre to see Jaco, I visited a bit with him before I headed to the cabin & got changed for the gym. Yes, today is day 3! I’m on a roll now! Another 18 days & I’ll have a new habit! Just in time to fly to South Africa & fall apart again! Argh! Here’s hoping I can stick with something when I get there!

I’ve thrown out the quinoa sprouts. My chart said they should be ready tonight, but compared to all the other sprouts, they reek. Yuck. I had to pitch them. I think next time, I’ll only sprout them one day and then eat them. If anyone has any insight, let me know! The rest of the sprouts are doing well!

For the evening’s entertainment, I phoned home & visited with Dad & Grandma B, as well as Jenn in Texas. I’ve been pretty ‘detached’ from home thus far. I typed a few blog posts & put some more tunes on the iPod, seeing as I’m a regular at the gym now… ha!

Tomorrow is Grand Turk. Another pin on the map!

Sleep well…xxxx Maria

 What a great day!

Love the clouds!

 Life at sea.

Streaks of light & land in the distance (I think it's Dominican Republic)