On the Way to Greenland

Today is a normal sea day. Nothing much going on out of the ordinary. We are crossing the North Atlantic Ocean. The captain announced this morning that we are in for heavy seas tonight through tomorrow midday. The crew is putting up storm covers on floor 5 windows, which includes some common areas and some passenger rooms. I have stocked up on some munchies in case things turn bad and it would be too uncomfortable to go to breakfast. So far, we have had very pleasant seas, so let’s hope the captain screwed up again on the weather forecast (written at 2:30pm).

Again, I have escaped playing bridge. There were 10 tables for lessons and nine for the game. Everyone has complemented Michael on his teaching style. I am taking it easy this afternoon because I sorta overdid it yesterday. I was up and down the bus steps like a gazelle (picture it – graceful and light as a feather – NOT [snarky laugh]), but rather like a hippo, plodding up one step at a time. In all fairness, the bus steps were awfully steep, unlike any I have ever had to negotiate.

What else can I tell you about life on board ship? We get the news channels and at dinner we have discussed world events. However, it is nice to turn it all off and not have to have everyday reality stare you in the face; it is just too darn depressing. So at dinner, we tell stories about our adventures and tell jokes. Most of the people we have met are world travelers and cruisers so we have one upmanship when telling stories. So far, I think Dr. John wins with his story as an escort. He was missing one person on his bus. When he went looking for him, he found the missing passenger sitting on the toilet – dead!

You can’t tell where a person is from by their accent. Aussies live in Phoenix, Brits live in Canada, Germans live in South Africa, and so on. We actually have one person on board who is Icelandic! We are sailing with a 2/3 full complement of passengers, so things are pretty relaxed and there are no crowds (well, there really aren’t any to speak of on Crystal). It is too cold to go outside and I am not willing to brave the elements to get in the hot tub. That is one thing I really miss about home – just shuck off your clothes and jump in, no worries about the weather (or people seeing you buck naked which you can’t do in public anyway). Besides, I think it is sacrilegious to hot tub in a bathing suit.

Did you know that the Atlantic Ocean is slightly more than half the area of the Pacific Ocean? The average depth is an amazing 18,900 feet with the deepest point, known as the “Milwaukee Depth,” measuring at more than 30,240 feet. The average width of the Atlantic is 2,500 miles wide and narrows to a few hundred miles in the north where Greenland and Iceland serve as stepping stones between Europe and North America. It measures more than 8,000 miles north to south. The currents in the North Atlantic circulate clockwise, while the currents in the South circulate counterclockwise. Although the Atlantic is about half the size of the Pacific, it receives over half the world’s drainage from sources such as the Amazon, Mississippi, and Congo rivers.

My blog, I hope, is not only entertaining but educational. A lot of the facts I report fascinate me so you get them too. We are having a great time, but I am actually learning so this is a good way to stave off Alzheimer’s and keep the old noodle working.

Update at 10 pm: the windows on the 5th floor have not been covered. The heavy seas warning has been downgraded to 45 mph winds and only 18 foot seas! Current air temperature outside is 48*. So far so good. I hope to post this in a timely manner, but the internet is out and has been most of the day. We have been on the eastern side of Greenland in the Labrador Sea, so maybe this is the problem. This blog might be old news by the time I get it posted!