Sailing the Caribbean Sea - January 24



Caribbean Sea

The weather this morning is partly cloudy and a brief downpour lets you know you are in the Caribbean.  Warm water, 80 degrees and air temperatures in the 80’s make for some nice humidity.  We have hit the trade winds and the sea’s waves are at 8 feet all day.  A nice rocking motion makes for good sleeping tonight!

On board there are various lecture series called Insights.  Today there are three lectures in a row.  All were very interesting.  



1)     Sir Alan Collins, a British diplomat, spoke about the history and abolition of the slave trade from a British perspective.  There is a movie being released in February called “Amazing Grace” about William Wilberforce and his fight to abolish slavery.  He reminds us that we are sailing in the same waters that many slave ships sailed to provide labor to the expansion of trade by the early colonizers – Spanish, British, Dutch and French in this region.

2)     Richard Cowley returned with a lecture on why Cartagena (founded in 1533)was important to the Spanish and how they fought to keep it

3)     John Laverick finished his lecture on the expansion of the Panama Canal, the why, how they are doing it, what we will see and how much it all will cost.

A classical concert in the afternoon featured music creature names in their titles.  For example, Ibert’s The Little White Donkey (!) and Busser’s The Squirrel.  Actually, quite entertaining music.

Tonight was another formal evening.  Dinner included grouper as a menu choice, which was prepared perfectly.  Back in our room, the seas are getting a bit rougher, the wind speed is 44.3 knots and we are still 170 miles from Cartagena, Colombia.  The ship will dock in the morning  at 7:30 am and we will be taking our tour of the city.

Nautical Term of the Day:  Son of a gun.  A description given to a male baby born onboard a British Navy ship when wives were allowed to live onboard ship when in the harbor.  The only place women could give birth was in the space between the guns on the gun deck.  Thus, the name of a male baby – son of a gun.