Day 13 - At Sea

 

Date:  Jan. 21, 2007

 

Location:  Cruising the Coast of Brazil

 

Next Port:  Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 22

 

Quick Summary:  A quiet sea day…finished off with a Bears victory…we’re going to the Super Bowl!

 

Report:  It was a fairly quiet Sunday…and the Voyager made good time with the winds now behind us and the currents being favorable. It was bit hazy, but we enjoyed watching the sea birds that followed us dive for fish.

 

After our workouts, we had breakfast in La Veranda. Larry attended Daniel Silke’s fifth and last Globalization lecture: “Ranking the World – Who’s Hot (and Who’s Not) in the Global Political Game.”  Karen went to a Bridge lesson. We played cards together in the Game Room (for the first time) before enjoying another seafood lunch. Then we played social bridge with Nancy and Jerry in the Observation Lounge. It is fun to get back into this game (as long as it remains “social,” says Larry).

 

Our Cruise Director Jamie led a good 5:00 pm Protestant church service. He does a great job and it’s definitely from the heart.

 

Then it was time for football!!!...sort of. This time it was held in a conference room….meaning we had to go out for refreshments or call in a waiter. Disappointingly, the Internet connection was very intermittent. We had to keep switching between the graphical feeds from Yahoo.com or CBSSports.com…or hit the refresh button. So we stalled on or missed many plays. BUT...the Bears won and we’re going to the Super Bowl. Karen wants me to start a petition to have Regent fork over the cash for live coverage. It will be played very early (2-3 a.m.) on Monday morning after we depart Cape Town.

 

It has been an unbelievable season. We definitely won a couple games we really shouldn’t have, Grossman has been very erratic, and even the vaunted defense has not been as good as its press clippings…but, we are going to the Super Bowl…and only one other team can say that (as this is being written, we don’t know who that will be.)  GO BEARS!

 

At 2 pm we advanced our clocks one additonal hour...so we are now 4 hrs ahead of Chicago time.

 

Tomorrow it’s Rio for an overnight visit. Because of favorable sea conditions, we should arrive a bit earlier than scheduled…sail-in about 8:00 am and docking by 9:00 am. We understand that it’s an arrival not to be missed. We are really looking forward to visiting Corcovado…the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue…and Sugar Loaf.

 

Karen and Larry