Aug. 16: Sea Day

Our first day was spent at sea. There was a fair bit of what the captain called moderate chop which resulted in the ship rising and falling along its long axis. Our stateroom is dead center in the ship (think of the center of a teeter-totter) so at night it was not too bad. In the morning, we both went to the gym for some exercise. The gym is at the forward end and it was a bit of a adventure. Caroline was on a treadmill and I was in a spinning class. Neither of us had any motion sickness issues, but some folks did.

DGs

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and listening to music. To the right is a picture of 2 of the 3 DiGiallonardo sisters (Daniela, Nadia, and Christine). Their name is too hard to pronounce so everyone calls them DG sisters or the DGs. The third sister is playing the piano. They sing covers in beautiful harmony and they have great personalities. For example they sang broadway songs, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and a Beatles run. The DGs are one of our favorite groups to hear. One of the problems on a PHC cruise is figuring out what you want to hear. For the popular groups, you need to arrive very early in order to get a seat. That is a small price to pay for seeing great music up close and personal.

Below are pictures of two other artists we listened to yesterday.

HilaryThavis SarahSeanWatkins

Hilary Thavis (who sings blues).                                     Sarah and Sean Watkins.

For nearly all of the cruises I have been standing line before the main show in order to get  good seats. Over the years a group of 4 of us have become "standing-in-line" friends. This year one member of our group was unable to attend. Below is a picture of the four amigos minus Richard (we miss you Richard). We were first in line, as usual.

ThreeAmigos

Caroline: It is terribly hard to resist all of the sweets that are so blatantly set out and tempts us as we pass by. Neither one of us are good at helping each other resist, but we are doing good….so far; I might add it is only day two.

Desert1 Desert2 Desert3 Desert4


You gotta love people, especially people away from home, on a cruise where no one knows you. For some reason the unique clothes come out, the strange T-shirts and combination of clothes you would not see else where. You see people wondering around in their own world oblivious of their surroundings, doing things their pastors and such would most likely frown upon. But that is part of the fun of traveling and meeting people. I guess I could put myself in that oblivious place  as well.  On the last cruise I donned a cowgirl hat and  joined a dance competition and performed in front of 500 people, twice! I did win 200, along with the rest of my country line dance group. On Wednesday my friend Mary and I danced with the Metlakatla indians (pictures on tomorrow’s post).

© Charles Eklund 2012