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Dr Fred and Ruby Starrs get shipshape....

So this is day one of ''Dr Fred and RubyStarrs go cruising la la land'' style on our way to Morocco.... I have to say its a potentially surreal experience but before I go further I also need to explain we are here because Dr Fred is working for Go Stargazing And for this cruise he is the ships astronomer and I'm his incredibly glamorous assisant.
Any way back to reality... our cabin is great - I personally am very thrilled we have actual port holes for windows - very authentic but the best thing is we are so so near the sea line...its right outside out window... scudding by at a huge rate of knots - we just need a friendly sea creature or two to pop up and it would be perfect. 
The rest of the ship is a glorified floating hotel with lots of bars and places to eat - we look forward to trying them all.

Dr Fred as the stargazer is part of the 'enrichment' team and we went to a welcome meeting - its a friendly crowd and I think everyone is out to enjoy this outing. There are a number of 'return' acts so it cant be too bad an experience. We sailed off into the sunset and now have 3 full days at sea - and internet is scarce (expensive) so I probably wont post this until we pitch up in a wifi coffee shop in Fungal which is our first port.... sunshine here we come.

The on board entertainment is very varied and some of it looks quite interesting - others bits I'm going embrace fully as I'm unlikely ever to come across a similar experience!!! 
Meanwhile. I'm loving this cosy in bed slight ship motion - lets see what day 2 brings.....

.....A glorious sunny day with a definte swell in the sea. But we have our sea legs so its not a problem .. we slept incredibly well lulled and rocked by neptune... 
Dr Fred had his speaker introduction and then we sat through a rather disjointed talk about the atlantic ocean - it didn't mesmorise me but I didnt fall asleep (others did)... we spent most of the day orientating around the ship - I've got it sussed... Dr Fred less so.. no hills or crags for landmarks! We did the obligatory 4 laps = 1mile - laps on the deck - although Dr Fred got told off for going the wrong way🤣🤣... but really we have do some exercise to justify eating breakfast everyday!! I tried to go to the art class but it was full so we just hung out checked out an interesting talk on Morocco and after watching the ISS go right over our heads across the ship we sat in the bar with a glass of wine.

It was a very lazy day but in between all this we have been working the room... loads of really friendly people wanting to talk stars - it feels very positive and welcoming. And in between that we have been eating!!! 
We are currently having full days at sea and while there are a lot of activities most of them centre around playing bridge or board games? Pub quizzes or possibly fitness things in the spa and the gym So if you're not into that kind of thing other than the speakers theres not a lot to do apart from eat. Most bits of this trip are just as I imagined it would be- while there are seemingly loads of activities most of them are - not really our thing -especially with these long days at sea... one thing though - the general age demographic has left us feeling quite young and fit... There are moments when I feel positively thin!!!! we have fantasised about making adventures to pass the time .you know like stalking the piano player... stealing pieces ofthe jigsaws... trapping a rich husband... we've played chess - a first (and I suspect last). However it is an interesting experience and not to be sniffed at... looking foward to being in Port for some variation.




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