Day 105 - At Sea (Meeting the Navigator) (Day 1 of 7)

 

Date:  April 23

 

Location:  Day 105 – At Sea (Meeting the Navigator) (Day 1 of 7)

 

Next Port:  Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, April 30

 

Report:  We both have recommitted to ensuring that we would workout during each of our seven sea days. (Larry hasn’t been able to convince Karen that it’s the ship’s air conditioning that is shrinking the clothes!) We were both up early and completed our workouts before the 8:45 meeting of our devotional group. 

 

Karen continued her bridge lessons and after-class game with Barbara, Neil and Kirk.  She was high on the fact she and Kirk made a slam…something that doesn’t happen too often.

 

Capt. Dag and Jamie have promised that there will be a few surprises during our crossing…so we knew that today probably wouldn’t be just another “sea day” – particularly since we were sailing northwest and Ft. Lauderdale was to the southwest.

 

Unlike most cruise lines we have been on before, Capt. Dag opens his bridge to passengers. It is normally open from 10:00-11:30 and 1:00 to 3:00 on sea days or by special invitation.

 

A couple of weeks ago, Larry noted that the crew had been plotting a rendezvous with the Regent’s Navigator which would be enroute to Europe during our crossing. Today, suspecting something was up, he visited the bridge and received confirmation that we would be rendezvousing with the Navigator at about 3:00. Shortly thereafter, Capt. Dag announced the surprise meeting to the rest of the ship.

 

Then during lunch, Capt. Dag asked Larry if he’d like to photograph the rendezvous from a catbird location high up on the smokestacks. Of course the answer was, “YES!” (Karen was able to take a few pictures of Larry taking pictures of the event…very memorable all around.)

 

Capt. Dag said to come to the bridge at 2:00. At that time he outlined his plan: Laurens and Jamie would join him in the Zodiac. They would meet the Navigator with Jamie on water skis with a Regent flag and inflatable Orca. They planned to zoom between the two ships as we blared music across the waters. Capt. Dag would rendezvous with the Navigator’s captain in his Zodiac and exchange gifts…after which he would return to the Voyager and pick up Jean-Michel Cousteau and exchange him for Kenny Smiles, the comedian on the Navigator. Jean-Michel would use the Navigator’s public address system to tell its passengers about his Ocean Futures Society, while Kenny used ours to tell some jokes (and make fun of Capt. Dag).

 

Amazingly, during lunch the skies cleared and the sea turned almost glassy. What had been a somewhat drab day turned brilliantly sunny. The bright blue color of the water and the approaching white ship made for some great photos. Jamie fell as he zipped between the ships – Dag admitted later that he started too far away and could understand how Jamie could have been somewhat tired! We sailed slowly together for awhile before getting everyone back on board.  We then sounded our respective horns as the ships again turned east and west. There is never a dull moment on board!

 

This evening’s event was an “Underwater” cocktail party in the Constellation Theater. The venue was decorated with fluorescent fish, underwater scenes and sea ice sculptures.  Laurens and a couple others in full SCUBA gear passed out cocktail shrimp and the waiters passed caviar canapés. Elisa sang some “nautical” songs, and Capt. Dag and Jean-Michel spoke.

 

We had dinner with Ditta and Ellen in Compass Rose and then enjoyed the first performance of the Huber Marionettes.

 

So the first of our 7 sea days was anything but lazy! We apologize for the somewhat delayed publication of these last three journal entries.

 

 

Karen and Larry

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Pictures of our meeting Regent’s Navigator have been added.