Sea Day on way to Italy

The sea gods have been kind to us. We have gone 8,000 miles with nary a ripple. There has been no rain, plenty of heat and humidity. We are looking forward to cooler temperatures at our next few ports of call.

Nothing much happens on sea days. We had a respectable turnout for bridge lessons and the afternoon game. I had to play today and I came in second east/west. Tonight was formal night and we were dressed in our finery. There was a French menu in the dining room. No way was my stomach going to handle that tonight, so my waiter, who gets frustrated with me because I don’t order very much to eat, just about dropped his eyeballs out when I ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He thought I was kidding, but I wasn’t. This is Crystal and they do whatever they can to make you happy. I don’t know if because he is from India, but he did not know what a P&J sandwich was. I explained to him that you put peanut butter on one piece of bread, jelly on the other, then slap the two pieces together. My sandwich arrived cut in two, crust removed, and fancy toothpicks sticking out of a sandwich that was short on P&J and long on bread. They even included potato chips. Meanwhile, my dinner companions were dining on lamb chops and Alaska king crab legs. It was a funny sight!

After dinner, we decided to go in the hot tub. We were the only people on the pool deck because the wind was blowing so hard, we had to lay a chaise lounge over our towels and robes to keep them from blowing away. We actually got in the water and waves were breaking over the side of the pool. My hair was wet from the spray that was whipped up by the wind. That was fun as we had the whole deck 11 to ourselves. What idiots! We could have been blown overboard.

We sailed through the Messina Straits, with mainland Italy on one side and Sicily on the other. We were told we would pass by an active volcano, Stomboli, at 10 pm. Well, let me tell you what a sight. Bright red rivers of molten lava flowing to the sea and red rockets firing into the air. The smell was acrid and you could hear the hissing as the hot lava hit the cold sea water. I think I just dreamed that, because we sat out on the deck and waited and waited and waited – I finally gave up and came in to write this. As of this writing, no volcano has been sighted. It’s out there in the dark somewhere, we just can’t see it. Drat.

Early night tonight as I have to escort a tour to Pompeii at 7:30am. Michael goes wine tasting in the afternoon.