April 18, 2018
The problem with taking a quote
off the Internet is that it’s so hard to prove who actually said it.
~ President Abraham Lincoln
~ President Abraham Lincoln
Ever have that dream where you’re flying? Me, too. And I
actually experience it in waking life a bit last night while lying on our bed. Even
though we’re trying to slip around this mega-storm in the Atlantic, we’re still
sailing through five meter seas. (Read: over 15 foot swells, my dear American
friends and family.) And since stateroom 7009 is the farthest forward balcony cabin
on the starboard side, we feel the full “riding the nose of the dolphin”
effect. First we’re lifted off the mattress, buoyant and free, then we’re
suddenly brought down to earth, pressed into the bedclothes and feeling as if
we have been overeating at a buffet for the last three months. (Oh, wait! We
have!)
 |
| The angry red blob is what we're trying to avoid. |
It was hard for me to get my walking done today. I’m
wearing one of my scopolamine patches, but even with that, the motion in the
hallway makes me a little queasy. I only managed a bit over 5000 steps. That’s disappointing because my average for
April is almost 8000 a day. I’m so much more active than I was before coming on
board, and I feel better for it. It’s something I must keep up once we’re home.
But even with missing the Azores, we’re having fun on the
Pacific Princess. We enjoyed our usual trivia (and finally won again!) and
Harmony Choir practice. I love singing so often and am determined to sing more
at home than our usual 3 times a week or so.
I’ve been working on Lord
Bredon and the Bachelor’s Bible, the manuscript that’s due to my publisher
next month. I finished the first draft before we boarded the Pacific Princess
last January and haven’t looked at it again until now. It’s fun to revisit my
characters again after giving them a few months rest.
Despite the pitching sea, the sun is shining and we’re
on our way home. Life is exceedingly good.
Be sure to click to view the comments to this post. The DH put up a detailed comment on the nautical map. Guess he wasn't satisfied with my "red blob avoidance" explanation.
This is the DH with a short explanation of the map in this post. You can see our Captain’s hand as he points out the route that we planned to take, and the swells that we would have experienced.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the outline of Spain and Africa on the far right, and the Maritimes of Canada on the left. The scale at the bottom shows the red being 7-8 Meter seas (21-24 ft) that we would have experienced immediately if we had headed to the Azores.
Instead we followed the alternate route off the coast of Africa, and across where we ran into 3-4 M seas (deep blue). Look at the coast of England in the upper right where the deep green indicates 10-12 M seas (30-36 feet swells). We wanted to avoid that at all cost!
The arrows on the map indicate wind direction, and the flags on the arrows indicate wind speed (5 knots for each feather on the arrow). On the new route we will have winds behind us most of the way.
There is a timescale at the top which is not shown. As we progress across the next few days the Captain showed us how the weather will improve.
Calm seas and smooth sailing to you all!
Thanks, sweetie. I didn't explain that map very well, did I?
DeleteWishing you calmer seas as you continue across the Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteI remember you and Mui had some rough seas toward the end of your WC last year. I've been thinking of you!
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