April 14th through the 18th

Instead of doing a post for each sea day we will do the highlights of the sea days we have just finished.

Sea Day 1 April 14th.

This was a regular sea day but the ocean was very smooth and we saw tons and tons of seals from the ship. Every time we looked out we would see at least 3 or 4 and we were along way from the African coast line.

Someone tried to tell us that these were penguins but they were obviously seals

They acted a lot like dolphins and there was a lot of jumping out of the water.

The other notable thing for this day was that I started losing my voice. No other symptoms but my voice is definitely gone which makes it very hard to play Mah Jongg when you can’t call out the tiles.

Sea Day 2 April 15th

We did the same routine and I played Mah Jongg while Kathy gathered all the gossip from the Living Room while she had her coffee. I am still hoarse and have also developed a little cough.

There are a couple of people on board that play Chinese Mah Jongg and I have always been interested in learning to play. Around 3pm one of my friends texted to say that there was a foursome playing Chinese Mah Jongg in the World Cafe and they would be happy to explain it to us. The other Kathy also wanted to learn so she came up. We watched a few hands and then they asked Kathy to sub in and then a couple of games later I subbed in. It is definitely different and they don’t use a card and it is much easier but also confusing when you are used to having set hands to play. Will definitely try again.

We had dinner with 2 people from the 21/22 world cruise. Last world cruise they brought their adult children with them and this cruise they were solo. It was nice to catch up with them for a meal instead of just brief conversations in the hall.

By night time I was starting to feel bad so early to bed.

Sea Day 3 April 16th

Every day gets a little bit warmer as we head towards the equator. Today was not a good day for me. The cough was much worse and I also had some stomach issues so for the first time I missed Mah Jongg. I texted the other Kathy to let her know I would not be there and my Kathy left the room and I fell right back to sleep. Kathy also had a pedicure scheduled so she would check on me when that was done. I had no appetite so Kathy went up to lunch and I stayed in the room and read and napped.

Around dinner time I took a shower and we went upstairs to see the sunset and then to World Cafe where we sat outside and I had some mushroom soup. Then back to the room.

Sea Day 4 April 17th

I still have a cough but nothing else and the cough is mostly when laying down so I went down to Mah Jongg. I did have 1 bad coughing spell of which I left the table and then went an washed my hands before going back to play and when I cam back in the room everyone gave me cough drops. It appears that almost everyone has had this and they all got cough drops in Cape Town.

Kathy had a 110 minute massage scheduled in her attempt to use up some of our Viking credit so she was going to miss lunch anyway. I went back to the room after Mah Jongg and waited on Kathy and we went up to World Cafe about 1:30. I was still not very hungry and was also trying to save what appetite I did have for the evening event. They were doing a “Reef & Beef” event on the pool deck and they had lots of large tables so it was easy to get a table for 8.

The pool deck set up for the evening event

The other event that was happening was us going to Null Island which is where you have 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude. We have crossed the equator many times but never have we been to 0 and 0. There is no island but they do call the area Null Island but as one of our guides said you can’t get a t-shirt or a refrigerator magnet since there is nothing there. What is supposed to mark the spot is a 12 foot high white buoy. Here is the problem with the buoy, the ocean in this spot is 16,000 feet deep and the buoy is anchored by a chain that is 16,000 feet long. With ocean currents and winds the buoy is constantly moving around so the chances of seeing it were very slim. The Captain did slow down at the Null Island point and we even circled some.

Our wake as we tried to find the buoy.

One would assume there is something on this buoy like a beacon so people can find it but we were also told that the last time it was “heard” from was 24 days ago.

To capture the event the boat did send a tender out with a few officers on board and everyone went to the starboard side and they took pictures of us. Not sure if we will see the picture but it was a nice idea.

Several of the ship’s officers

Bottom line we never saw the buoy. Kathy and I did take a selfie so we could get the coordinates recorded for proof that we were here.

Not exactly 0: 0 but close enough

We also took pictures of our phones to show our location. The one on the right is cruise mapper and on the left is google maps.

The dinner event was quite nice. Even though it was warm there was a nice breeze. They served cocktails and oysters with bloody mary shooters and then the main meal was a meat slider and lobster thermador with several sides. They had a ton of different tartlets for dessert for you to choose from and a nice liqueur to accompany the desserts.

Our table for 8 minus Jeff who took the picture

I reminded everyone at dinner that 3 weeks from now we would all be frantically packing to leave the ship and fly home.

3 more days at sea before Dakar, Senegal and Kathy was reading an article this am that listed overrated places and under rated places and Dakar was listed on the underrated places to visit which we thought was pretty cool.