Across the Caribbean

 

Borealis Monday 1st May 2023

Somehow, sometime in the night the air conditioning must have been restored. No announcement was made, but suddenly it began to cool down sufficiently for us to automatically drag a sheet over ourselves. When I woke at 5am I was both cold and clammy and struggled to take off my pyjama top which was wet through, and to replace it with a light t-shirt. The door to the cabin was closed now, presumably by Albina. When I stepped outside I was enveloped by a gentle warmth.

I went back to bed and 9am was ready for a good hearty breakfast. Albina stayed back and I brought her some watermelon slices. We were sailing across a smooth sea, and the only thing plaguing us now were the flies that had come onto the vessel in Santa Marta, another victim of the rainstorm. Our daily broadsheet, Daily News, was very useful for swatting flies. I had noticed streaks of orange vegetation sweeping past the vessel at regular intervals which seemed a bit of a mystery. Otherwise no sign of life on the sea, not even seabirds. Again we are alone at sea, without a ship in sight, just as we were in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. It is making how large the seas are in this world. It must have been very unnerving commanding the Spanish galleons across these seas knowinh that English and French pirates were ready to leap upon them across any of the Windward Islands facing them. 

At 11am I went to a lecture on the royal regalia in preparation for the Coronation. Very well prepared lecture with a slide show of coronations from Edward the Confessor to Elizabeth II to the soaring music of Handel's Zadok the priest. As an apology for the problems with the air conditioning the captain offered all of us a rum based cocktail at the poolside bar. In the early afternoon we had a session of meeting the captain, Victor Stoica, a Romanian, along with the new hotel manager. Both of them answered questions about the boat and about themselves. For instance, they discussed their cooperation with pilots at the various ports and more personal questions such as what they did in their cabins in their free time (rephrased by Sammee as, what were their hobbies?). I asked about the streaks of orange vegetation. Captain Stoica assured that this was not pollution by the vessel, but clumps of vegetation which found its way to the sea following yesterday's storm, which are simply being rechurned by the vessel. Another asked about predictions for weather in the Atlantic, to which Captain Stoica sounded quite optimistic. Then a curious question from a frail old gentleman who could hardly stand up. "As this is no longer an American ship, but a British ship, why are the restaurant staff still greeting us with American phrases, such a how are you." Of course the vessel was never American, but Dutch, when it part of the Holland-America Line. However, leaving that aside, this question raised an angry outcry from other listeners, and Sammee hastily reinterpreted the question as "Why do so many of the staff, especially the East Asian ones, have American accents." She explained how many of the catering staff, in particular, would have been educated and trained in schools using American English, and that what was important was that the staff be polite and friendly. to which everyone applauded. I felt sorry for the old gentleman, as I know where he is coming from. When I first came I was embarassed, even offended, by the sheer obsequiousness of many of the satt in both restaurants. Most English tourists find that embarassing, but perhaps it is required for American passengers. With time most of the staff get to know us, and we get to know them, often by name, and they can allow themselves a little cheekiness to make their job more fun. No problem with that.

I had arranged with Tony to meet at 7pm to follow up on his offer to let me make use of his professional photos from the tour for my book. We met in the Library by the map rack. Tony laid out our his folder for literary thousands of brilliant professional pictures of the cruise so far. Ever the professional, his pictures showed the master photogapher at work as each photo was a composition with an emotional touch. The emotions vary of course, as they include humour, pathos, simple joy, and occasionlly something more sombre, especially with pictures that show poverty and pollution. Yet, despite his professionalism, he has generously offered to let me use as many photos as I can choose to illustrate my blog, and any publication that could arise from it. He promised it earlier in the cruise and now he has been as good as his word. We got down to the selection. After two hours we had only gone through his pictures from Lisbon to Tokyo. I took a raincheck for those covering Honolulu to St Kitts and Nevis. We will probably look at them again on Thursday. But I am eternally grateful to Tony for his generosity.

I attended a concert in the Neptune Theatre by the Borealis String Trio. I had watched them make their often lonely performances in the Ocean Bar and elesewhere, and I am glad that they have been given a proper venue to show off their talent. It was enchanting to listen to their version of "Out of Africa", a beautiful peace of music which reminds me of the Kenyan savannah and the Great Rift Valley, with giraffes gliding across the horizon, and millions of wildebeest and zebras trekking  for miles from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara. They also played an Elgar piece followed by a chardash, half decadent, half violent. I enjoyed the performance and enjoyed they were able to appear. 

We had an anarchic quiz night. It was advertised in The Daily Times as a Reverse General Quiz. What did it mean? Annie, one of the staff, explained the rules. She will be giving an answer first and then we had to write down what the question should be to which this was an answer. Example: Answer, London. The question was What is the capital of the United Kingdom. We had to think outside the box, with inverse logic, but finding the simplest, not the most completed answer. So we muddled thtough. Some questions were easily. Some stumped us. What is Nuuk, for instance? The capital of Greenland, apparently. When we got through to the end she asked us what our groups had scored. The lowest team gotonly 8 answers right. So Annie declared them the winners. As we heard this in stunned silence, she said, "Well, I told you, this is a quiz in reverse." We left the room, stratching our heads. 

I went for a quick dance in the Observatory on Deck 9, and then I slipped over for a late supper of a couple of fajitas. After all, I had missed dinner slouching over Tony's photo. I also brought down a couple of chicken drumsticks and a coffee for Albina. In bed by 2am.