Day 38. 7 December. At Sea. Sunday.

Choppy night again. Every now and the the ship will shudder and rumble, as if we just drove a car over some 2x4's. Think of it as hitting several speed bumps. Then  up and down motion and a corkscrewing left-right-up-down and then stillness. Repeat. Love it.

Rain showers overnight and continuing in the morning. Nice rinse. More packing this morning.

Today's schedule has the usual Stretch at 7, Sudoko cards at 8. Sit and Stitch, a smile seminar, a hair show, a “Burn Fat” seminar and fruit and vegetable carving. Busy morning. Then the Frequent Floaters awards Part II. The afternoon offerings include High Seas Ballroom Dancing for newbies, lecture “inside a telescope”, high tea, nap time for beginners and Sip 'N Savor.

In an earlier posting I mentioned the snake in our cabin. With nothing else to keep readers returning to this rolling account and time running out, it is time to release the information. This happened about port beam 8 days into the voyage. I had just returned to the cabin that morning after a snack in the Neptune and Julie was in the dressing room. She asked in her “something-is-wrong”voice if I was back in the room. If so,would I please come to the dressing room slowly. Doing so, she directed my attention to an open closet and said “snake!” She backed out of the dressing room as I stared at the thing as it was weaving back and forth and up and down. It appeared from the life-jacket shelf on the top of the closet. Just before my sweetheart was about to flee the scene and run down the hall shouting “SNAKE!!!!!” I defused the crisis.

Snaaaake!

The SNAKE! Turned out to be felt door trim that had worked it's way up the channel due to ship motion and had curled up on the life jacket shelf atop the closet. When she opened the closet door the SNAKE! uncoiled and sprung out in front of her, weaving and bobbing from the ship motion. I am glad to have been present when the SNAKE! was discovered as having someone running down the hall, early in a voyage, hollering SNAKE! may have upset some other passengers and caused mayhem.

our general position at noon

Mid day report: 27º 15'N and 49º 53'W. Heading 247º. Speed 18 knots. Wind ESE 35 knots (8). Depth 4,060 meters. Temperature 24C/75F. Sunrise 0640, sunset 1706. Distance noon-noon 425 nm. Total distance 9,626 nm. Low pressure from SW. Seas should diminish tomorrow.

We sat in on the Frequent Floaters awards today. It was well attended for there is little else to do and the drinks are free. Lunch followed which packed the dining room.

That was followed by a walk through the ship and a good visit with friends followed by much needed nap. Then another walk about the ship and a deck walk.

Dinner tonight in the Pinnacle again.

We have passed mid-Atlantic now.