Shaken and stirred in Antigua

The view that lasted only about 2 minutes this morning

As we set sail from St Lucia yesterday evening there started a little playful banter between the two P&O ships in port. The mighty Arvia versus the mini Aurora. As we were leaving port, tradition is that we sound our horn (sorry, whistle…though it sounds like a horn). Then, not wishing to be left out, Arvia joined in, only it was 10 octaves deeper and certainly resonated throughout Castries. I reckon Arvia’s captain then got everyone worked up because the whole ship turned out to watch our departure. Pretty much the whole capacity of passengers and crew. It started getting a bit rowdy with Oggi, Oggi, Oggi being shouted on Arvia, with the responding Oi, Oi, Oi. Perleasssssseeeee! We’re not in Benidorm guys. When we spoke to Steevan later in the evening, he informed us Arvia was at 94% capacity. It looked like a medium-sized town on the water. I wouldn’t go on it, literally if you paid me. It looked absolutely chocker and certainly not my idea of a fun holiday.

An active sea day … and a mystery

Sunset over Cartagena as Aurora pivots for takeoff

It never ceases to amaze me how the ship is wielded in and out of port. Yesterday’s manoeuvre was not the most complex but still involved reversing the bulk of Aurora from its berth in Cartagena port, out into the open harbour, turning it sharply to the right as it backed up under the watchful eye of a large tug. Once clear of the jetty, the ship then pivoted around its centre using its side thrusters until it was aligned with the marker buoys that showed the way out to the open sea. At the same time as all this was going on we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset where the sun dropped rapidly behind the skyscrapers and lit the sky with fire. Magical!

Recovering from all the excitement

A lively sea

Like so many other evenings in recent weeks, we were fairly tired even though we had not strayed far from our cabin. The view sailing by all day was just so exciting and I think we were both overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the Panama Canal transit. We showered and went to Anderson’s for a glass of something nice and then on to the restaurant for another fairly mediocre dinner. Neither of us wanted what was on the menu and we felt we were getting dining room fatigue! It’s hard to raise enthusiasm for the food when it’s either overcooked or poorly presented … or both. However, we look to the positives: the plates are always hot (even when you have salad) and the portions are not huge. So, we headed back to our lovely cabin and stargazed on the balcony for some time and then had a read before turning in.