The Northern Isles Day 10
The Northern Isles
Day 10 - Saturday, July 19, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea
Another day without CNN, New York Times, and INTERNET. There have been grumbles about the aspects of the cruise that are not professional.
When I went to the Front Desk to inquire about some maps for Iceland, people were being rude to the staff for their inability to provide this service, now for 3 days. They also reflected that in our last port of call, Qaqortoq, two of the 4 tenders were broken and people had to wait for over 90 minutes to get to shore.
Our first alarm went off at 7 AM and then at 7:30. A very gray and foggy day at sea. We got up, showered and just before we went up for breakfast at 8:15, Gennie saw a whale very close to the ship. She heard it snort at first, then saw the arch of its back, then several blows as it passed our ship.
There were not many people up and about when we left our cabin. Maybe the late night, gray day, and the fact it would be a day at sea makes people get comfortable and stay in. By the time we left the Lido at 8:45 it was beginning to fill up.
We are crossing the Irminger Basin, over 9,000 feet of water under our keel, on our way to Reykjavik, Iceland where the ship will dock at 7 AM tomorrow morning. Last night the sun did not set until 10:56 but it was after 12:30 AM that it was still light.
It was not completely dark at any time during the night. By 4 AM it was already light even though the sun would not rise until 5:20. We are truly entering the land of the midnight sun. Tonight’s sunset will be at 11:36 PM and will be light well past midnight. We are at the 62 degrees north and will end up at the 64th when we get to Iceland.
We took seven laps around the Deck 3 Promenade (2 miles) and then returned to our room. We had a phone call from Susan and Bob about meeting at 10:30 to talk about our shore excursions in Iceland.
We met at the Explorers Room and discussed the possibilities. We agreed to get a taxi and go to the Blue Lagoon, southeast of Reykjavik to use their thermal facilities and then return to the capital to see the sights and do shopping if we wished.
At noon we had a small lunch and then went to the Wajang movie theater to see “A Guy Thing”. It was an OK movie, funny at times, but not much was required of the thought process.
We returned to our room and worked on panorama shots, and tried to modify (play with) some of the other pictures I have taken. Gennie read some and then we napped a bit. I also worked on this journal and transferred the other journals to a disk so I could send them out from an internet café in Reykjavik to let everyone know we are fine.
We again met Bob and Susan at the Crow’s Nest - it is like family - every time we arrive the Indonesian wait staff come and welcome us by name, get us too many appetizers and then get our drinks - even Gennie’s glass of water with a piece of lemon.
We went from the 9th Deck to the 5th for dinner at La Fontaine. What more can I say that I have not said before. It was great, specially Gennie’s piece of salmon - light honey and teriyaki sauce and perfect size. As is was still so bright at ten we stayed at the table and talked.
The staff started to give us looks - they work 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week so they like their little time off to be available. We returned to our room and the sun, that had been out for the last four hours, gave us a dazzling display as it went down behind the clouds to the west.
The pictures included were taken late in the day. The ones in the Crow’s Nest - Vic, Gennie and Wine show us before the informal dinner (not casual). You can see the ocean off the front of the ship in the background.
As we were sitting at dinner we commented about the sea - unbelievably smooth. Like glass - and this is the North Atlantic, 300 miles from Iceland and Greenland. I shot it through the window by our table and there are some streaks on the glass. The last is the sunset at 11:00 PM. Spectacular for a few brief moments.
ms Rotterdam
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