Around the World in 128 Days - Drawing Ever Closer to Guam and Handling a Cruise Ship Isn't Easy

 

 Travel Day 43 - February 15, 2024 - 10,847 Steps

Cloudy skies this morning so so sunrise photo, but looking to the west and the bow of the ship, something just as beautiful appeared.

By the time were up in the Lido having breakfast it was raining hard, out the window came another rainbow.

Linda tried but couldn't catch any of the gold falling into the pot at the end of the rainbow.

While the seas have been rough the last few days, the fact fewer items came off the shelves and onto the floor compared to when we sailing from the Canal to Mexico would suggest these were not the worst seas we have encountered on the voyage.

The Staff Captain gave a presentation on ship handling that really opened one's eyes to just how difficult it can be at times to get a ship this size to go where you want it to.

It seems like everything affects how the ship handles include the direction and velocity of the wind striking the verandahs. He mentioned that once on a repositioning cruise they encountered winds so bad they had to open all the partitions between the verandahs to keep on course.

The wind has 10 times the impact of ship handling than the current.

There is a real art to correctly using the Azi-pods to turn the ship This the direction they need be in the cause the ship to turn to the right which seems wrong when you look at them.

With the wind forecast to be increasing the whites were beginning to increase

A bit of photo editing to produce a quadruple exposure of two White Boobys flying near each other and one peeling off to dive down towards the water. Amazing what I can do with the photos from my new camera.

Baby sea otters holding hands is not an uncommon behavior.

The colorful being on the right is a slug.

When you are on a cruise there are a number of inducements to help you decide to book future cruises.

A cruise will be taking in the future.

As fast as this 128 day cruise is sailing by, it's easy to see why people book back to back to back cruises. and even more than that.

The seas were definitely rolling this afternoon.

I tried to hold the camera steady at the bottom of the window to to give a sense of just how much the ship was rolling side to side.

The pool water mirrors the motion of the ship.

The Zuiderdam singers were back with a "pop opera". Other than a major microphone malfunction during a solo and one singer laying on the stage and spinning around in circles it wasn't too bad, plus it only lasted 30 minutes instead of the usual 45. (How's that for trying to keep a positive tone.) Kind Bob.