at sea....

This is rambling while heading across the mighty Atlantic on the Astonishing Borealis... I cant post anything until I hit wifi so I'm just writing and adding as we speed along.

5 days at sea... seems like a long time but so far I've been busy. I sleep like an hibernating bear on board ship - the rocking - even when vigorous - and gentle hum white noise have an incredible sophorific effect on me... the beds are very comfy and as I said before its almost my default position once in the cabin... although outside is quite nice when they don't take the cushions away

So I was worried that these five days may be - sleep, eat, sit, lay, sleep, eat, paint, sit, lay, sleep, eat, repeat....

But day 1/5 saw us go to an interesting talk on photography and then suddenly I find myself part of a team to build a boat - a competition to build pool faring flotation vessel made from recycled materials suufuciently stable while holding10 beers to not capsize in turbulent waters - then it was book club and then it was art class.... followed by afternoon tea and then we are on the eat sleep repeat pattern for a few hours. The weather has really come good and we have spent a wee while on deck in glorious sunshine. 

Maybe 5 days will fly past....

Weather contines to be great. Day2/5 was lazy... sat on deck quilting ... drew some parrots... read 'An Elephant in my Kitchen' and starting designing my scrap heap boat.... based on the 4 empty beer 'barrels' I managed to scrounge from the bar last night. In our heads we have amazing ideas 🤣🤣🤣🤣 will they come to fruition......

We did the second (overbooked) star gazing session... clear skies warm but very windy - quite an adventure...... top deck in strong winds.... 

Dr Fred is doing 8 stargazing session and every one of them is booked out. We are at that stage where lots of people chat to us - now they know who Dr Fred is...being the stargazers moll is quite a good ice breaker... We are geting very positive feedback about Dr Freds lectures and star sessions - although I dont suppose people would tell you if they didn't like it 🤣🥴 but then again...I've noticed some people - not many - are very quick to complain..... 

Day 3/5 We were now in the middle of the Atlantic ocean the nearest land is striaght down... more sitting on the deck in glorious sunshine... but very blustery... I had to hold onto my sewing and weight my bag and crocs down... no way was I giving up on winter sunshine though🤣 todays drawing exercises revolve around designing a boat - now we have cardboard and duct tape - ideas still forming.... we think we have the design ... as we are part of the 'enrichment' team we are not really allowed to enter so two of the guest who have become friends of ours are actually entering and we are just being technical and creative advisors🤣🤣🤣.

We filled the evening by having drinks with the other speakers and their glamorous assistants and it was quite lively... so lively we missed dinner🤣 - this meant we hit supper club ravenous so ate too many chicken wings🐓🐔🐓 never good eating that late!!!

Day 4/5 was a rocky day... cloudy with rain but still very warm. Dr Fred did another lecture... I have to say I feel very insignificent in the scale of the universe bobbing up and down in a metal box (mainly beige)as the captain informed us we had just passed over the atlantic ridge... part of the longest mountain range in the world... some of which emerges from the sea at Iceland.... 

Another lazy day - its hard to be anything else on a ship - I drew iguanas in art class and did the laundry🤣. I met a kindred spirit in the laundry room she admitting to yearning for a pyjama day.... I'm thinking about suggesting it as an activity - we could do towel origami as well. 

As it was formal night I donned my glad rags and Dr Fred put a shirt on and we went to the speciality restaurant 'Colours and Tastes' for dinner and as always it was excellent. I've got to work out how to make coconut and sambal soup....

Dr Fred suggested a romantic walk to the look out deck... it was windy and cloudy so no romantic moonlight - but at least this time I knew he wasn't trying to feed me to the crocodiles (moonlight beach walk in Oz with loads of croc warnings... ) Sharks maybe? 

Day5/5 passed much the same.... everyone was excited about dry land looming. We went to a talk on Bob Marley and generally faffed around. We taped our bouyancy barrels together an while Dr Fred was doing a star gazing session we wrapped this giant ship base in the swimming towels and sneaked up to the jacuzzis to see if it worked... it was a complete triumph - next stage the body... 

The star gazing was great - out on the top deck fabulous full moon making the sky almost blue. The moon slightly impeded the stars but there were still plenty to be seen - there was a light warm breeze and it was really very warm - a joy to be out in. After Dr Fred had finished we sat outside on the back deck with a glass of wine just enjoying the glorious balmy evening. I do wish they had comfy outside seating - theres plenty of room and it would be soooo nice. 

And now we have got to the Carribean...watch this space