Late 1/7/26

Well we have been at sea for a day and it’s a lake out here.  I passed on lunch, Kim went to lunch. She met a wonderful lady named Carol. Kim told me all about her when she returned to the room from lunch.   

After that, I went up to the pool deck and took my usual table, usual seat.  A couple sat down next to me and as usual, I started listening. She asked the guy at the table on the other side of her if he knew what the 3rd flag from the left was, the pool deck was rimmed with flags, he didn’t know.  I volunteered that it was the Philippines, she thanked me and continued to ask what the significance of all the flags ringing the pool deck were to which I replied they represented all the countries we would visit on the World Cruise.

Side bar for educational purposes. The World cruise this year is called “The Ring of Fire”. The ring of fire is a volcanic reference to a ring of techtonic plates that loosely rim this part of the Pacific Ocean. The plates are moving on top of each other ever so slowley. This causes friction, which in turn causes heat. The heat cuuses the rock to heat up to the point of melting and the pressure caused from that pushes up and breaks through the earth’s crust and we have what we commonly call Volcanos. When Volcanos erupt, the molton lava creats mountains, like Mt Hood or Mt St Helens, for example. Most volcanos are under water and we almost never hear about them. They don’t cause any damage, so it is not news worthy. This eventully creats new Islands. Mountains in Alaska, Western Canada, Western America, Hawall, French Polynesia…Check our cruise itenery for more locations, we are loosely following the ring all the way around.

Meanwhile, back at the pool, we continued chatting and several crew and a few passengers came to me with hugs, hand shakes and greetings and welcome backs.  The lady at the table next to me finally asked me if I knew everyone on board,  it’s great to see people I knew from before.  This is another great example of why we sail with one small company exclusively now.  My friend Sheila and her late husband sail and sailed exclusively on Holland America, for the same reasons. 

So, a lady came along looking kinda lost obviously wanting to sit down and I offered her a seat at my table.  We were having a nice conversation when she asked me where I lived. Well, Kim and I decided a couple years ago that we would answer that we live on the Oregon Washington border on the Columbia River, Before that we said that we lived in Washington, even when we said Washington State, most people thought we lived where the White house is. When I said that, she asked “ is your wife Kim?”  Oh, you must be Carol, I replied.  Yes, I had lunch with her, she said, more proof of how small the community is here.  Another couple walked by and commented that they were having a Déjà vu moment.  I heard him say, That guy was sitting at that table, in that chair every day last time we cruised and that couple on the other side are still sitting there drinking champagne.  Familiar territory I said.  They laughed and moved on.  

Well, now it was time to pick where we were having dinner tonight. The choices are the dining room, the buffet, the specialty restraunt, room service or Sushi. Kim was busy unpacking and was not hungry, that’s makes my choice an automatic sushi bar trip.

I headed up to the club and took my regular seat at the bar. You know, the one closest to the Sushi Chefs.  They of course recognized me for before. The bartender also knew me and what I wanted to drink, I’m telling you, these servers are amazing. 

I sat next to a guy named Mark. He is from Michigan, nice guy, nice conversation.  New to Seabourn.  

While I was eating, Sean, the bar manager walked up behind me and asked, “ why am I having a déjà vu moment?  I laughed and replied because we’ve been here before.  I asked him if he ordered enough IPA and he laughed.  Two years ago when we left LA , the ship ran out of IPA in the first 3 days.  He said he had never scene so many IPA drinkers in all of his years of sailing on cruise ships.  

When we restocked in Auckland, he had a case sent to my room and told me not to drink it yet, keep ordering from the bar, so that when we ran out again, I would be in high cotton.  It’s good to befriend the crew.  

That said, becoming a crew member on Seabourn is a goal that all crew members try to achieve.  That’s another reason I love sailing with Seabourn.  They treat the crew like first class sailors and family.   They pay them well.  Don’t get me wrong, they work long hours, 7 days a week, but every crew member I’ve ever asked says that they are very blessed to have a job with Seabourn.  

Right now I’m sitting on our veranda. Most of you would be cold.   It’s 10:15 PM and I am loving the sound of the waves, the seagulls flying around, the moon peaking around the clouds.  Life is beautiful.  When I climbed into bed about midnight, I could not wipe the silly smile off my face.  This truly is my happy place.  

Good night, more soon.