Travel Diary: Amsterdam Asia Pacific Cruise 2012
Day 5, Tuesday (9/24/2012)
Today was a better day. Of course, it is always tempting at the
slightest sign of feeling well, to jump right in and overdo so I am ever
conscious of finding my balance.
Today I awoke after a good night’s sleep, dressed, tidied my cabin, and
set out for breakfast. I stuck to
my menu of the previous day except I added another apricot and a couple of
slices of turkey bacon. The Lido
stewards are trying to get to know all of us while memorizing our names and
preferences. They are a very
earnest group of young people.
They are from all over Indonesia:
Bali, Jakarta, Sulawesi, Java.
We passengers also get to know them and something about their
country. When they see me lurching
around with my walking stick, they leap right in to help. I usually don’t like hovering, but I
appreciate help after I have chosen my meal from the buffet and it’s nice to be
served water and tea when I’ve been seated at a table near a window looking out
at the ocean.
We are continuing to follow the
curve of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
Today we were fifteen miles south of Dutch Harbor. Because we aren’t out in the middle of
the ocean, we often see various kinds of sea birds from the ship. The water is a beautiful blue-green
color with spray blowing off the tops of the whitecaps. I am always surprised how different the
color of the ocean is from place to place. Here it is a dark teal.
The stitching group was glad to
see me on my return. One thing
about being in a little group that meets regularly, it is like being at home
and seeing friends in your club.
Some people have cruised together before and it is fun to see them again
and hear what has been going on with them since the last time we cruised
together. Some have moved to
another state, gained or lost family members, retired or found new work. There’s always some news to catch up
with. And with new friends just
meeting for the first time, there are the various degrees of connection to be
explored: Friends in common,
cities shared, countries traveled.
Today I finished the scarf in icy colors that I had started sailing the
Antarctic last year and started another in pink yarn purchased in Ushuaia on
the same trip.
There are two men in our
stitching group. One is an older
man who is doing needlepoint, I think.
The other is one of the dancers in the show cast: a young man from Ireland who is
knitting a potato chip scarf in a soft, multicolored yarn that looks like it
might be Noro. Tonight was the
first night the dancers performed and it was fun to go to the show and cheer
our friend and meet his partner and talk about their costumes. There were several quick changes of
costume, so they had to be easy to manage. The final ones were a Venetian carnival theme designed by
Bob Mackie. They looked heavy from
a distance, but the dancers said they were surprisingly light to dance in.
Today was a good day. I went to all my meals in person,
attended all the events I wanted to and met several new friends. After a good sleep during a night
that is predicted to be a little stormy, I will be ready for a new day
tomorrow.
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