Day 56 ~ The Red Sea

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~ Seneca

 

My friend Vicki discovered that all the ladies at Table 60 had bought a new scarf thingy—actually a pair of long scarves attached to each other with 6 buttons that can be worn a number of ways. So last night, we all wore our scarf thingies to supper.

It was all we could do not to break into a chorus line! As you can see, Shirley and Emily decided to wear theirs with a boat neck, while Vicki and I opted for v-necks. Vicki has the most fun ideas! I’m going to miss her so much when she and Craig leave us in Venice.

Tonight is the Captain’s Circle Cocktail Party and the dress code is formal. Vicki’s coming over to our cabin at 6:15 so I can help her with her hair. (If she’ll let me, I’ll take a picture of the final product to share with you.)

This morning the ship’s crew removed the security measures on the Promenade deck and opened it to passengers again. We are officially out of the “high risk” area and the Pacific Princess is piddling along at only 16 knots. To starboard (the side of the ship our cabin is on), far in the distance is Saudi Arabia. At 1 AM tonight, we’ll pass by Mecca, though it is quite a bit inland. On the port side, we’re passing by Sudan, abeam the Nubian Desert which is the easternmost bit of the Sahara. We’re too far away to see either of them, but I’m fascinated by the idea that they are right there.

Oh! After a little time spent communing with the world atlas in the library, I discovered that narrow straight we passed through between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula is called Bab el Mandeb. (If anyone can give me a translation for that, I’d be grateful!)

Sunrise on the Red Sea. As you can see, the water is as calm as a pond.

According to our bridge crew, some ancient seafaring people referred to the cardinal directions by colors—black for north and red for south. Hence the name Red Sea for this relatively narrow body of water that is part of the tectonic Rift that stretches from Kenya to the Dead Sea. And Black Sea for the water north of Turkey. (A rubber cookie with cement frosting to anyone who can tell me what colors delineate east and west. Seriously, I don’t know and I’d like to.)

It occurs to me that I’ve been remiss in my descriptions of what goes on here on the PP on sea days. I’ve only been telling you what we do, and there’s so much more. For active folks, there are Zumba and ballroom and line dancing classes every day. Creative types can sign up for watercolor painting, Knitters and Knatters, or daily arts & crafts. (I’d have given the painting a try, but it was “free” painting. Read: no instructor. I’m fair to middling when it comes to drawing, but I know nothing about painting.)

There are bridge classes and daily play. (One evening, we listened to a bunch of duplicate bridge players discussing how past hands were bid upon and played. It was like another language!) You can learn how to play a ukulele, a mandolin, or a penny whistle. Up top on the Deck 11, you can work on your golf swing.

A movie is shown in the Cabaret Lounge every afternoon. Today it was “Wonder” with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. (We’d like to see this movie, but we figured it would be a good one to rent when we get home and watch with my parents and #2 Daughter. Instead, we did some walking. My goal is 5000 steps a day by 2 pm I passed that marker.)

Then for competitive types, there are organized contests, most of them bordering on silly, but if you can’t be silly on a cruise ship, when can you? The “Build a Tug Boat” contest was big favorite. The vessel had to stay afloat and carry 6 full cans of Coke.

The winners of the Tug Boat competition were the comedians from Table 22. They perform for each passenger talent show. Today one of the guys asked if we'd sing "Dropkick Me, Jesus, over the Goal Post of Life" for the next show. I told him the best we could do was "Jesus Loves Me" and he was okay with that!

In short, there really is something for everyone. If you’re bored on a sea day, it’s your own fault.