sea day on our way to Maderia

The gentle roll of the ship lulls me into a state of relaxation. It’s been a steady motion since we left Lisbon yesterday - if this is the Atlantic it will be okay!

I feel totally detached on sea days… no dogs to let out… no Grace singing… just quiet in our room or a hubbub when we set foot into the public areas of the ship. It’s strange to walk up some stairs (or take an elevator) to a plethora of food options, all prepared by someone else. I am starting to feel over-fed so just had a bowl of oatmeal with dried apricots for breakfast.

We wandered around, taking in all the activity until we were sure that Alfredo had the time to clean our room and make our bed (isn’t that crazy to have someone else do those things!). Then we lounged about in our cabin for a bit before heading back into the frey for a coffee, followed by lunch (yes, more eating).

We ate at the little Italian restaurant call Alfredos (no, not the room steward), at a group table. I’d seen the guy that was sitting next to us around the ship: middle aged guy with backwards baseball cap and muscle shirt… 😨 he is hard to miss as he stands out like a sore thumb. He and his Italian wife were interesting lunch company.

Carm ran off to play bridge while I chilled in the room for a while. Then I wandered around enjoying the sights. I was seated in the piazza when they started a cha cha class and was slightly annoyed that Carm wasn’t with me!

Early afternoon blurred into late afternoon when it was time to get ready for supper. We get a bit dressed up and then go down to the piazza for a beer. Supper was a bit of a bust though - we sat next to an older couple that were rabid trump supporters. He was an old retired submariner mumbling unpleasant things under his breath.

The show was ½ the MacDonald brothers, and ½ Katei, the marvelous violinist. I was sad to hear that he’s off the ship tomorrow.

Madira is almost on the horizon, I believe we arrive at 8am tomorrow. I’m excited to see this exotic locale.