September 30th, 2008: At Sea between Newfoundland and New York
Bob: After breakfast we attended another of Captain Wells' lectures, this one on "Maritime London". Having been a pilot in maritime London for over 30 years, Captain Wells really was an expert on the ins and outs of the port and its recent history. He clearly deplored the conversion of some of the old dockyards to a city airport, whereas I, coming at it more from an aeronautical point of view, thought that it looked like a very nice little airport convenient to downtown London. He graphically described the decline of shipping through the port due, in no small part, to union troubles in the 1970s and 80s, but also reported a recent resurgence in the materials shipped in or out of the port, which is a good sign for the future.
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Monika: This was the first of two sea days that would get us to New York. It was still foggy in the morning, so we enjoyed the lectures that were offered. Captain Wells, the marine pilot talked about maritime London giving a very interesting history of London from a maritime point of view with may slides to illustrate his points. At 10:00 the naturalist talked about ocean winds and currents. His topic was interesting, his slides were interesting, but his presentation almost put me to sleep. |
Bob: Monika went off to make a nautical anchor while I rested in the cabin, but after lunch we got back together for Marlene and Chet's presentation of the music of Jule Styne, a composer of whom I knew nothing. Jule Styne turned out to be the composer and lyricist for such broadway musicals as "Gypsy", "Funny Girl" and "Peter Pan", among others, so I had certainly heard his music before, and Marlene and Chet had picked out a nice selection of his music for their 45-minute performance.
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Monika: So I went off to the arts and crafts session. The arts and crafts people had been asked to prepare material for 70 people. That seems hardly adequate for a ship with 3000 people and plenty of sea days. So coming early was essential to getting a seat and a kit. I got there 45 minutes early and it was none too soon. By 30 minutes before the start most of the seats were taken, and when they handed out the new kits about 10 minutes early they had barely enough. I finished my luggage tag and then started in on the new project, a plastic canvas coaster with an anchor motif. |
Over dinner with Susan, Richard, Len, and Mary Ellen, we all talked about what we had done in St. John's. Len and Mary Ellen had visited the Roman Catholic cathedral that was at the top of the hill, and they reported that it was very nice and well worth a visit. Richard and Susan had rented a car and driven out to the farthest eastward point of the north American continent, a short drive of only about 13 miles. They reported better visibility out there than what we had experienced in town, so clearly the fog is heavily influenced by local factors.
After dinner we just relaxed in our stateroom. I started reading "For Better or Hearse" by Laura Durham, which concerned a wedding planner in Washington, D.C. who becomes involved in a murder mystery. Light reading for sure, but the characters were entertaining and it was fun being able to recognize the background details of D.C. that the author put into the story. And so to bed.
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Baltic Cruise | Map of Transatlantic Cruise | Epilog |
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