Change of itinerary and stowaway on board

Since our departure from Cape Verde Islands to noon today, we’ve travelled a distance of 357 nautical miles. When we set off yesterday, we noticed we were “clogging” along. The previous couple of days’ sedate speed seemed to change quite noticeably. Our average speed now is 19.8 knots. We’ve got 1248 nautical miles before we reach our next port of call. Today is a rather humid 25 degrees.

There’s been a change of plan to the itinerary. Our stop in Salvador Brazil, (visiting a turtle sanctuary and winery) has been cancelled. It’s not due to the usual reasons, forecasted bad weather, no, it’s due to the ship’s draught being too great for the port to cope with. You’d have thought they’d have got their tape measures out before now. So now we’re going to Recife instead and a day earlier. On hindsight, this is probably good news because it would have meant 4 days at sea, whereas now it’s only 3.

Don’t get me wrong, the days at sea are great, but occasionally, when I contemplate the vastness of the ocean, it’s slightly nerve-racking not seeing any other shipping. After we left Tenerife and Cape Verde, we’ve not seen another vessel, so it really does feel as though we are the only ones out here.

This morning we woke to some rather strange substance in the water. My best description is baby poo yellow. It is apparently sargassum seaweed and has been with us for most of the day. We’ve also been informed there is a stowaway on board and have been encouraged to take a picture of him or her if we catch a glimpse. With an announcement like that I’m all for setting up the Detective Agency at Sea. Alas, it’s not a person, but apparently, it’s a rare albino gannet. There are loads of the ocean version of  ‘twitchers’ on board, so with any luck, one of those will get a sighting and shoot a great pic of it.

We’ve clocked off our first week on the high seas and can report we are now into a rhythm, particularly on sea days. I, therefore, decided today was the day to get back to my exercise. It’s been fairly sporadic over the Christmas and New Year period as my therapist (AKA my personal trainer Amy) has been yomping off doing Everest Base Camp. As you do. To be fair, I was partying quite hard while she was away also. Here we are nearly halfway through January already without me having so much as done a plank in several weeks. So this morning I huffed and puffed my way through the exercises Amy has given me. It’s quite hard doing anything while the ship is rocking and swaying, even if gently, so occasionally there were unexpected inelegant falls.

Last night we finally opened our bottle of pop which was in our room when we boarded. What!? Nick and Gabs haven’t launched into a freebie straight away? Shocker. We decided we’d open it last night and sit on our balcony watching the stars and planets. It was a warm evening and rather romantic. Action replay tonight as, in a fit of restraint, we stoppered the bottle.

Each day there is a leaflet outlining what events are going on throughout the day and evening and today there was an article, Trek the Deck, raising money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. Well, as we’re trekking the deck every day, we may as well do it for a good cause. So off we trotted, completed our form, paid our dues, got our t-shirts, put them on over the t-shirts we were already wearing and strode off.

Feeling rather smug as we swept past loads of passengers enjoying the sun and generally lazing around. I did comment to Nick that I thought it odd, given that we weren’t the only ones registering, that we hadn’t seen anyone else walking the decks for said charity. Anyway, we did our standard 2 1/2 miles and went back to registration to report we’d done our bit. Only to be told that the “official” walk is planned for the 18th. Oh dear, maybe next time read the small print?

Today’s talk, (which sounded really interesting) was from Stuart St Paul, a stuntman. His most notable claim to fame, which I did remember, was an ad for Carling Black Label and the chap who surfs into a pub on a surfboard. It was mid-80s ish. Nick’s comment after the presso was that he was rather pleased with himself. My view was he rather had every right to be if he’s constantly being phoned to do crazy daredevil stuff. However, this was evidence that even when someone has an amazing career, if they can’t present, it loses the substance. So, if I’m not washing my hair tomorrow, I might try him again to see if he improves.