DAY 12 ANZAC DAY

This morning the day started with a service held for the Australian and New Zealanders on board to commemorate Anzac day.

The weather is cloudy and misty today and quite cool outside. We’re travelling at 18 knots and there’s is a swell of 2 metres but in a ship as large as this you wouldn’t know it’s there. The ‘floor’ of the ocean is 15,000 feet below us, so we must be back in the deep end again. J So far we have travelled 5057 nautical miles since leaving New Orleans.

Everyone is still talking about Ponta Delgada, such a charming place, so happy we got to go there.  We enjoyed walking around yesterday and our Pedometers told us we had walked just over 8 kilometres.  It really didn’t feel like that far. The Army Fort was very interesting and Army Personal still live there and guard the fort. The local Prison has to have one of the best views in the world as all the cells look out toward the ocean.  We could see this wonderful old stone building as we sailed in thinking it could be all sorts of things but never thought for a minute it was a Prison.  As we got a little closer we could see the barbed wire above the great wall that surrounded it and later we were told what it was. It was built in the 17^th Century, so maybe it’s only the view that it’s got anything going for it. 

They grow a lot of Pineapples in Green Houses which rather surprised us and export to Europe and the UK. The British Royal family only eat Pineapples from the Azores. As we left the port the tug boat escorted us out of the harbour with a wonderful water canon display.  Many of the locals turned out to wave goodbye. They are very welcoming and friendly people.

Trivia was back this morning, one more day to go to before we find out who are the grand prize winners…..we know it won’t be us, the ‘42 Dayers’ we had a terrible score of only 10 out of 20 this morning.  Here’s one of the questions:  “The Easter Bunny brings us Easter Eggs, but in Switzerland who brings their Easter Eggs?” We had no idea….. nor did anyone else in the room… so at least we were all the same as we all got it wrong….lol.

On the next leg from Barcelona to Dubai I will put up some pictures of the wonderful food we are all enjoying on board.  We will be on a serious diet when we get home…. J

Wow, wow, wow just got back from the Ice Odyssey show and what an amazing show it is.  I’ll share some photos with you when we arrive in Malaga. You cannot imagine how they can skate with such skill on ice on a moving ship. This ship is going to ‘wow’ Australia and New Zealand in a big way.

 

Tonight is our last Formal night on this leg of the cruise.  There are three Formal nights altogether.

Quite often we sit and enjoy a drink mid-afternoon in one of the bars. People watching is one of the most interesting past times…..we think.  We have the Mrs Bucket look alike who gets pushed around in a wheelchair on board the ship, then low and behold there she is as large as life walking around the centre of Ponta Delgada yesterday.  We also have the two gentlemen who love to go to every show but also love to chat to each other the whole time during the performance ignoring everyone’s ‘shhhhhh’.  Then if there’s ever a queue for anything the same two gentlemen will waltz by and walk right up to the front of the queue as if they are the only ones there.  Oh well it takes all sorts to make this world and we’re sure we’ll find a few more ‘individuals’ along the way. Watch this space. J

It’s now midnight and we’ve just come back to the cabin from watching the  show tonight in the theatre.  The guy Jonathon King does Elton John.  He looks like Elton John, he sounds like Elton John and he had everyone in the whole theatre up dancing in the aisles and up dancing on the stage like Elton John used to do. An excellent show.

We put our clocks forward yet another hour at midday today.  We’ve all lost track of the time in any other part of the world and only know the time in our floating city…. J

Today’s quote from Captains Frank Martinsen’s midday report is: “Daddy how much does it cost to get married?” “I don’t know son, I’m still paying.” J