On the Atlantic, West of Cape Verdes 1/19/2020

Greetings,

Today I am on the Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles west of Cape Verdes. This is the third consecutive day at sea. We have already been to Cartagena, Columbia; Aruba; Bonaire; Bequia (a tiny island in the Grenadines); and three days ago, Barbados. In a separate posting I will post some photos. Today I thought I would offer a personal essay. I don’t know how this will work out. I am sometimes reticent to offer my personal perspective on things. I am sometimes unsuccessful at keeping that perspective to myself. Nonetheless I will try to offer a picture of life as it is for me today.

I am about 2 weeks into this adventure, and it has indeed been an adventure, undoubtedly with even more to come. Some of you, “gentle readers”, are probably seasoned cruisers and well adapted to the vagaries of ocean travels and cruise ship life, but much of it is new to me.

This ship is not very large as cruise ships go, only about 400 guests and about the same number of crew. About 25% of the passengers, like me, will be on board for the entire trip, four and a half more months. Others will come and go. We are an international bunch but not as varied as I expected. The majority are Americans. Next are citizens of the UK and associated countries. That is England, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, and two “Kiwis”. There is a sprinkling of folks of East Asian background, a couple of Germans, and one couple from the West Indies. Sometimes this results in a fairly strong British ambience. There is a fair number of solo travelers, who are like me, “unescorted ladies”. Almost everyone on the ship, like me, is a senior citizen. Some are exceedingly senior. It sort of feels like Blue Skies. I was surprised to learn that most of these travelers already know each other. They have sailed with this cruise line for years and decades. It is not uncommon to find people who have been on 30 trips, or even 100, with this cruise line. They have known each other and some of the cruise staff for decades. I am definitely the “newby”, but everyone has been open and welcoming. It seems that cruising with this line is habit forming. I believe, however, that I am financially immune to this addiction.

I believe that most cruise ships have music, dancing, comedians, and shows. There is no shortage of that here. The talent is top quality. I have been pleasantly surprised about the truly intellectual and informative lecture series. So far speakers or “conversationalists” have included an anthropologist, a photography expert, an astronaut, a oceanographic meteorologist, a marine biologist, and a Hebrew historian. Each gives a series of informative “conversations”. Former British minister of economics and business, Sir Digby Jones, is giving a series on global economics. Retire Royal Navy Commodore Rupert Wallace, is giving an historic to current overview, of how European countries came to dominate the world. Today he gave an overview of slavery and slave trade from the Hebrews (He picked up where the rabbi left off.) to current day human trafficking. This all sounds like an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. Of course many guest prefer to sit around the pool with a cocktail, but nerdy me is loving it.

There is, of course, gourmet food galore. Not surprisingly though, they are a little weak on vegetarian nutrition. I miss bicycling, but I have been too busy or too tired to think about it. I tried the stationary bikes in the fitness center, but it is just not the same as the Wheelmen and Jubilados. For one thing there are no dogs to keep me motivated. Another thing is that it is hard to ride when the floor is rocking and rolling. You have to hold on to stay on the bike. The seas were atypically rough in the Caribbean, but they have calmed considerably, so far, for the Atlantic crossing. I may get back to the stationary bikes.

So far on the Caribbean islands there have been the usual beach opportunities. I have been snorkeling and sailing. I did some individual exploration in Barbados. I will post pictures in my next photo gallery. (Coming soon, I promise.)

Regards,

Linda