Thursday, February 9, 2012

Cruisin' Pacific to Honolulu February 7 & 8

On Tuesday, the seas settled down a bit but, alas, today they are roaring again.  The Daily Text Reading from the Moravian Church was Psalm 93:4 – More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord!
Safely we travel knowing we are watched over by God.  The wind speed is 58 knots; Ship’s speed 20 knots; Seas are 12 feet, very large swells; Temperatures are in the 70’s with stormy weather.

The Café Carinthia is a quiet little nook on the ship, similar to a Starbucks.  They serve espresso, lattes, cappuccinos and small pastries.  A light breakfast or lunch can be taken there as well.  A table beside a large porthole-shaped window permits us to watch the roaring waves as the ship rises, falls and glides forward.  The awesome and majestic power of the sea and the frothy, foamy waves crashing against the ship are mesmerizing.

The Tuesday lecture by Professor Urbanowicz was on the Explorers of the Pacific.  He talks about Balboa, Magellan (who ironically named the Pacific Ocean Mar Pacifico – peaceful sea), Sir Francis Drake, Abel Tasman, Dampier and finally Captain Cook, the latter being given credit as the cartographer of the Pacific and “discoverer” of Hawaii (the local Polynesians knew about already!).  It’s been a long time since we learned this history.  Captain Cook’s HMB Endeavor was 109 feet long while the Queen Elizabeth is 965 feet long.  These were brave men traveling the Pacific during in those days.  Did you know that a piece of Captain Cook’s ship was taken into space on the Space Shuttle Endeavor?  Another interesting fact was that during the 1700’s France, Britain, Spain and Holland were all fighting over the islands in the Pacific to claim them for their countries.  A British government document stated that during the year 1763, 184,899 men went to see with the navy, 133,708 died from disease (a lot of scurvy, typhoid and malaria) and 1,512 were killed in action.  Definitely a rough life!

Today’s lecture was on Hawaiian culture and World War II.  It turned in to a bit of a ramble about how the Europeans influenced Hawaiian culture negatively, causing the population to decline during the 1800’s from around one million people to 40,000 at the turn of the century.  The US took control of Hawaii in 1898 and Hawaii became a state in 1959.  As for the WWII discussion, the Japanese were taking control of many of the islands in the Pacific region building up their power back in the 1930’s. The lecturer flashed up several titles of books, each of which boldly predicted the Pearl Harbor attack well in advance of its occurrence.

We altered our routine for Tuesday’s formal night and, in lieu of our normal dining arrangement in the Britannica dining room, we dined at The Verandah.  The Verandah is a separate restaurant on the ship at which you pay a nominal amount to enjoy a more intimate dining experience.  It really is a beautiful room with cozy booths and tables, and interesting art brought over from the Queen Elizabeth 2.  The service is very European posh and impeccable.  Everything is delivered to each person at the same time with the silver covers removed simultaneously.  The French cuisine was prepared and presented perfectly.  It was a nice treat.  Reminded us of the movie “Ratatouille” :-D

Today’s rough seas make it difficult to work out at the gym, which is near the top front of the ship and accordingly subject to much pitch and roll, and the promenade deck is closed for exercise for the same reason.  So we set off on a new adventure:  We take an inside walk, circling every deck, starting at deck 1 and finishing with deck 8.  With seven flights of stairs and approximately two miles of walking, it’s enough to get the heart pumping.  We hopeful we can get back in the gym tomorrow afternoon for a good cardio workout or some weights work!

Nautical Term of the Day:  Stabilizers are the devices which keep the steadier in rough waters.  They are incorporated in the construction of a ship to dampen rolling and therefore provide a more comfortable passage. Nothing has yet been invented that can afford similar damping for pitch; as we amble near the front of the ship on this rough-sea day and feel we are taking flight, we can vouch for this.

We have gained two hours as we’ve steamed southwesterly during this time at sea.  We still are early risers so it is difficult for us to take advantage of the potential extra hours of sleep.  It is easy to be lulled to sleep while the ship rolls with the waves and beautiful classical music concerts play in the afternoon romantic piano selections.

(Internet really bad yesterday.....it is early on Thursday morning and we are docking - more later!)

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