The ship finally set sail around 7am, almost 15 hours late. The conditions were marginally better than the night before, although nobody would consider the weather to be "good".
I was bounding with energy, Emma less so, so I volunteered for coffee duty. Down five flights of stairs, no problem. Up five flights of stairs, and I'm puffed. It's going to take a more stairs t0 offset the last fortnight's overeating.
We're going to be spending the next six days at sea. Our adventuring is temporarily grinding to a halt. I might be forced to - gulp - relax.
Since it was too foul on the open decks we propped indoors and read, wrote, and drank coffee until 11am, when I went to see a scientist give a lecture on bad science in movies, especially disaster movies.
I love this kind of stuff. Sometimes Emma has to hit me during movies when I start complaining after seeing something egregiously stupid in a movie.
The guy giving the lecture was a seismologist (earth-quake dude), so there was quite a bit on earthquakes, although tsunamis, volcanoes, astrophysics, climate change and tornados all popped up as well.
Some of the blunders are hysterical, like trains outrunning earthquake faultlines (in the real world earthquakes "travel" at 8,000 mph), or scientists enduring thousands of atmospheres of pressure at temperatures of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit by putting on rubber suits. According to NASA scientists "2012" is the standout failure, the movie they voted "The worst science in a movie. Ever."
This was the first day I really missed not having my ukelele with me. It was the perfect day for finding a quiet nook and plinking away, trying to master Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and AC/DC's "Back in Black".
We lounged at our favourite spot on the recliners near the covered pool on Deck 14, which affords great views of the ocean, and handy access to the hot drinks and buffet. Emma finished her book (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), while I read my science fiction novel and comics on my iPad.
We had a belated birthday dinner at Sabatini's, the Italian restaurant on ship. The meal was reasonable, although I was surprised that they didn't have any Italian beers or prosecco on the wine menu. I bet Scott of the Antarctic didn't suffer deprivations like this.
After dinner we set out for a walk around deck. I was surprised to find the door was locked. It took me a moment to realise it wasn't actually locked. The 40 knot winds were simply holding it shut.
We decided to pass on the after-dinner stroll.
Tonight we'll be passing between the Alaskan Peninsula and Kodiak Island, where Kodiak bears come from. It's too dark and too far to spot from the ship, but how cool would it be to see bears with cameras?
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