Back at Sea

For the next two days, we’ll be sailing northeast along the east coast of Africa. As the day progressed we crossed the Tropic of Cancer and the temperature started to drop. It was interesting that the air temperature was only 20 degrees due to a nice northerly wind, but the ocean temperature, despite its depth of over 4000 metres, was still 30 degrees. In an effort to keep the passengers occupied, the crew ran something they called Neptune’s Carnival, which apparently is a tradition on a “Crossing” cruise. The pool deck was transformed into a carnival with activities ranging from “Tie the knot” –easy if you’re a sailor or a Boy Scout; to “Break the other guy’s egg” which involved gyration of the hips with an egg suspended between the legs;

to “Sommelier Race” where people raced from Sommelier to Sommelier, each time getting their tastevin filled with water which they then had to use to fill a glass to a winning level; to “Fish Pond” where the hot tub was transformed into a fish tank;

to “Sponge Toss” where you tried to nail the General Manager on the bullseye with a wet sponge;

to “Get the Pen in the bottle” with a pen suspended behind you which you have to drop into a bottle and this isn’t easy on this moving ship;

to - and this was an easy one so I did it – “Name that Destination” and I won.

This evening there was an Oceania Club cocktail party in the lounge, that was intended as a small thank you to those having sailed with Oceania before. We know now, however, that with only 3 cruises to our credit that we are very low on the seniority list in this club.