The day after leaving Brazil, we had supper with our adopted shipboard kids Mallory and Porter, and exchanged Brazilian adventures. Porter hopped a flight to Rio de Janeiro, and spent his week relaxing on the beach at Ipanema, and Mallory joined a group that independently booked a trip to the Iguacu Falls (unbelievably beautiful, and much bigger than Niagra Falls). However, while still in Salvador, both kids got mugged, so they did not have glowing memories of their days in Bahia. The pervading smell of urine was also mentioned…
Now we are at sea for nine days, as we cross the Atlantic, headed for Capetown, South Africa. Our South American focus has now turned to African focus in Global Studies, and today we learned to sing the South African national anthem (which I already knew, courtesy of Paul Simon's Graceland DVD…) This gives me a chance to catch up on my reading, journaling, and sorting of pictures while Jim holds classes. I'm afraid if I don't keep up daily, I will forget where I've been and what I've seen…
The Atlantic Ocean is even bigger than you think, and a lovely bright blue now that we are away from civilization. I look daily for dolphins, whales, or any form of life from the deep, but have yet to spy anything in all this blue water.
2/14/08
Happy Valentine's Day! On ship today is Neptune Day, where the kids celebrate having a day off from class, and honor King Neptune by shaving their heads bald. Yes, this means girls as well as guys… This is an SAS tradition that takes place after we have crossed the Equator – the kids have been looking forward to it for weeks!
We sailed into an impressive storm last night, where the clouds touched down and met the sea, and the rain came down in buckets. Everything on board is rocking and rolling today as the whitecaps hit the ship and the horizon moves up and down impressively. Jim's got his sealegs, but I stayed in bed all morning. The Captain informed us that on our 1 – 10 Rough Sailing scale, today is about a 6. I don't mind the swaying when I'm horizontal – sort of like sleeping in a hammock – but when I try to walk and careen into walls like a billiard ball, I get discouraged.
We did our best to hold onto our plates and glassware at supper, while the silverware flew off the table with every swell. Just like at Busch Gardens, the kids would raise both arms above their heads when an impressive wave dipped the ship to one side and we could see only ocean on one side and only sky on the other, like they were riding the roller coaster with no hands… We had to hold onto the mattress to avoid being tumbled out of bed, and it took a long time to get to sleep. When I awoke, my internal soundtrack was playing, "Rock-a my soul in the bosom of Abraham, O rock-a my soul!"
2/16/08
Happy to say that the sea is now back to normal. Today is the day we are invited to dine with the Captain, who is from Yugoslavia and has an unpronounceable name. We got duded up in our finest (yes, I even wore a skirt!) and met the crew for cocktails, then proceeded to the dining hall, which was empty of kids at 8pm. The tables were set with real linens and there were waiters everywhere.
Guess who got to sit next to the Captain – me! We talked about fuel prices ($32,000.00 per day to propel the ship) and environmental regulations (we dump our "grey water" from showers and sinks in the ocean once we are 12 miles out, but the sewage and sludge is carried to port, where it costs upwards of $80,000.00 per port to have it pumped and processed. We are a "very green" ship, exceeding all environmental regulations.
2/18/08
We have been setting our clocks ahead by one hour almost every other day while at sea, and are feeling sleep deprived at losing that one hour over and over again. We are now 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Today we had a pre-port meeting to learn what to expect in Capetown, including some basic words in Afrikaans, how to tell a leopard from a cheetah from the shape of their spots (do you think I'm going to get that close?) and the admonition that the crime rate in Capetown is even higher than that of Salvador, and to never trust a Nigerian (their highjinks are not limited to internet scams – evidently ripping folks off is part of their national pride…) - my apologies to anyone of Nigerian extraction... Well, back to grading papers for me…
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