Night breezes, Steevan and flying fish

From noon yesterday to noon today we have travelled 338 nautical miles at an average speed of 14 knots. It’s a little bit waggy right now with a 2 to 3-metre swell, but thankfully we’re going slowly and there’s no need for my wristbands. We’ve got 268 nautical miles to go to our next stop, Mindelo, Cape Verde. It’s a bank holiday in Cape Verde tomorrow so I have no idea if this means it’ll be deathly quiet or buzzing. We’ll see. What I do know is that we get an extra hour in bed, which is just as well as our trip sets off at 8.30 tomorrow. 

My legs are finally out as we start seeing temperatures gently increase. 22 degrees today. We’ve done our 2-mile stride which involved a bit of an obstacle course. When an area of the prom deck is closed, due to maintenance, it means you have to find an alternative route at that bit only to then rejoin a few metres later. However, our detour today involved a much longer walk, just to get past 3 metres of roped-off deck. Still, looking on the bright side it meant that each time we walked past the shops I was checking out what might be on my purchase list. Every cloud…

As the weather has been improving it’s absolutely delightful to have the balcony door open at night and be lulled off to sleep with the gentle sound of the sea sloshing past us. However, I still have memories of sleepwalking in the past and although I’ve not done it for years, I have a certain amount of nervousness that I may do something random again. So, I’ve put myself an obstacle in the way of the open door which hopefully will cause sufficient confusion and wake me up, should I venture back to those sleep-waking antics of yester-year.

We have the most delightful room steward Steevan from Mangalore in India. We asked Steevan about the spelling of his name and he quite matter-of-factly said that his parents were illiterate and didn’t know how Steven or Stephen was actually spelt. So although he knows it’s incorrect, he has kept the spelling as his parents wrote it. Nothing is too much trouble for Steeven, he’s laid back, always happy for a chat and constantly cheerful with his day. Our room is kept in constant tip-top condition even with our efforts at ruffling it up.

In general, we’ve noticed a big difference with the average type of person on this cruise V other cruises we’ve done before. For one, the average age is considerably lower and the average fitness is higher. Let’s face it, we know how much it cost us for our insurance, but there must come a point when the cost of the insurance is prohibitively expensive and precludes the usual cruise fraternity. 

We have got into something of a routine now and know where the cereals and fruit are for breakfast, know where the salads are for lunch and so now, instead of stumbling around inanely, we can speed past the cooked breakfast and cooked lunches. Let’s face it, we’re not exactly doing anything to warrant 3 full meals a day.

Today we’ve been spotting flying fish. They are very small, fluttery, excitable and almost skim the water. When watching them fly in shoals, it feels as though they’re being chased and we keep watching out for something bigger and more sinister below the waterline. Alas, nothing as yet. 

We’ve been to the final lecture from Andy Hunting, the photographer. His lectures have been hugely informative and enjoyable. Also, we’ve had another meeting with Tracy, the Wedding Planner, to finalise our arrangements. What uniform would we like them to wear? That was a no-brainer for me, the whites, obviously.

As I write this, it’s approaching 6pm and we’re still on our balcony in the full sun. The days are definitely longer now as we head further south.