At Sea

It seems incredible that we’re in our fourth of six straight days at sea! We’ll have more interesting things to write about once we get to the ports, but we wanted to update you on what’s happening. So many people have asked us, “How will you stand being at sea so much?” Rest assured that we have not been bored in the least!

I’ve been working on recovering from a sinus infection, which I first noticed in Long Beach (L.A.) and thought at the time that it was allergies. By Friday I decided I’d better visit the shipboard doctor and get it taken care of before it went into bronchitis. This was my first (and hopefully last) experience with visiting the medical center. They were very efficient, and I’ve been on medication now for three days. Friday I hibernated and only came out for meals and the evening entertainment. Hopefully the worst is over – still have the sinus headache and congestion, but I’m feeling much better and have felt like doing things the past two days. I’m just glad it hit when it did: I’ve had several sea days to recover, and I can do as much or as little as I want!

We’ve both enjoyed attending some of the lectures they’ve provided. The astronomer is extremely interesting, and we’re looking forward to more of his lectures. We’re also going to have a wonderful chance to see the Leonid meteor shower (in mid-November) from the middle of the ocean – with none of the normal distraction of Chicago lights on the horizon! We’ve also enjoyed the historian, who’s given us insight on the explorers of the Pacific Ocean, among other things. Neither of us had heard the fascinating story of the Pig & Potato War, which played a role in helping determine the border between Canada and the United States! This morning we went to the interdenominational church service and had communion, though no mention of World Communion Sunday. This afternoon I’m planning to go and participate in the HAL (Holland America Line) Chorale, a choral group they’re organizing.

It’s truly amazing to experience the enormity of the Pacific Ocean. We haven’t seen a single sign of life outside our ship since setting sail from Long Beach on Wednesday, with the exception of sighting a whale soon after sailing. We’ve watched the ocean pass by and haven’t seen so much as a bird or a ship! The only thing that helps us know what direction we’re going is that we’re on the port side of the ship, which gets the morning sun – meaning we’re headed south. As of noon on our fourth day at sea, the captain announced that we were at 9°N, so we still haven’t even crossed the Equator! As this is written, we are due west of Panama. Even though the Pacific is supposed to be “peaceful”, we’ve done our share of rolling and pitching, but amazingly, I haven’t had any symptoms of seasickness, thank goodness! The ms Amsterdam is like a little floating city – so many things to do that we’ve found the time passing by very quickly!

We’ll be in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas in three days, just as a stopover, probably for supplies and fueling is my guess. There’s little to do there, but we’ve heard it’s a beautiful little island. Then we’ll have another day at sea before we get to Papeete, Tahiti. All of this is in the Hawaiian time zone, so at this point we’re four hours behind Chicago. We’re still trying to figure out how it all works with the International Date Line as well as daylight saving time in the Northern Hemisphere and standard time in the Southern Hemisphere!

The crew of the Amsterdam had a benefit show that helped raise funds for the Filipino and Indonesian crew members whose families suffered damage from the natural disasters that hit in those areas. It brings it much closer to home when we know some of the people affected.

Barb