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!

Cartagena by land and sea

High speed skyline from the speedboat

Last night I noticed what an increase there was in people now going to The Glass House for drinks and meals. Earlier on in the trip, we were amazed at how few people there were, compared with the ratio of staff. I guess folks feel the need to utilise the areas they’ve already paid for in the price of the trip. However, from our point of view, if we’re frocking up and going out for a date-night Celebration meal, then we want it to be special, not just the usual restaurant where the food is mediocre at best.

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. 

Two good reasons to celebrate

Valentine's menu - click to open and read it

After Gabrielle had posted her blog yesterday evening and we had consumed the chocolate strawberries (oh, yum, by the way) we steadily prepped for our Valentine’s night out. Given that neither of us had felt that good, really since we came back from Atacama, this was the first real effort we had put in. The powers that be had ordained that, for this auspicious occasion, we would be able to buy Taittinger Rosé at a £10 discount per bottle. Guess what? We grabbed two! So once scrubbed and primped, we decided to pop a cork. We’d not had a drink for two or three days - horrors - and so it was something of a shock to the system to have alcohol again.