Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2008, after Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. As Mattie grew older, he loved his time in the bathtub. He loved water so much that he literally wanted to take a bath every evening before bed. Often Mattie would put soap suds up on his face like this because he knew it would get a reaction out of me. Every time he would do this, I would call him "Santa Mattie!" Mattie got a huge kick out of this, as did I.
Fact of the Day: The Bay of Biscay is a gulf in the northeast Atlantic Ocean which lies on France’s western coast as well as sharing a border with Spain. The Bay of Biscay garners its name from a province in Spain. France claims part of the coast of the Bay of Biscay and many residents enjoy fishing or other outings on the Bay. The Bay has an average depth of 5,723 feet. The geography of this French water body creates weather that is unique to the region. Under the waters of the Bay of Biscay the continental shelf extends far into the Atlantic Ocean. This feature creates shallow waters and occasionally rough seas in the Bay. As a result of this geography, the Bay of Biscay has some of the Atlantic’s Ocean fiercest weather and large storms, particularly in the winter months.
Greetings from the Bay of Biscay! Last night we had our first dinner in the traditional dining room called the Botticelli. We choose to eat in the traditional setting where we have both a waiter and an assistant waiter to serve us (which is a nice change from having to cook, serve and clean-up after meals for ourselves). The menu items offered in the traditional dining room cannot be found elsewhere on the ship, and it is nice to sit, talk and eat. We have a table next to a window that provides a beautiful view of the passing water, and our wait staff John and Jenny, who are both from the Philippines, are top notch and will help to make the cruise special when it comes to the dining experience. Last night we also had to move the clocks forward one hour as Barcelona and the rest of our stops are all one hour ahead of London GMT.
As I write this we are still traversing the Bay of Biscay, which is off the coast of France and Spain, and is known as being a rough stretch of water prone to frequent changes in weather. We saw this reputation in action firsthand this morning when around 6am we awoke to the ship starting to bob a little more than normal. As you can see in the pictures, the weather changed from overcast to stormy literally right in front of my eyes. I had gone out on the balcony to take some pictures, and over the course of less than five minutes I captured the action as the clouds moved in and the wind started to build. As any sailor knows, where there is wind there will be waves!
I took the following shots along deck 7 of the ship. The scale of the picture cannot be truly appreciated, but Deck 7 is approximately 60 feet above the waterline, and if you look closely you can see a wave crashing into the bow of the ship and spraying upwards, almost level to where I am taking the picture, which should give you some idea about the strength of both the sea and mother nature.
In the afternoon, between bouts of rain and high winds (40+ mph), the sun started winning the battle of the weather and now the sun is out and shining trying its best to hold off the inclement weather. I am always amazed by how different the water looks in different types of weather and sunlight. Sailors, fisherman, painters and poets have always said that the ocean has a personality all of its own, and after today’s experience, I could not agree more! I feel like we’ve been subjected to someone who was first sleepy, then agitated, then angry and feisty, then settled and happy, and now appears to be indecisive regarding whether to get angry again or to remain settled. So who knows what lies ahead for us!
Vicki and her mother got up this morning to do a zumba class at 9:15am. Vicki is always joking that even though the Princess Cruise line’s motto is “Escape Completely”, one never has any time to escape because of the crazy schedule of events on the ship. Many activities are scheduled back to back or overlap with each other, and many run into normal meal times, which demands constant decision-making about what to do next. Vicki went to zumba this morning at 9:15am, and was enjoying herself. The instructor ran the class more like an aerobics class, which got everybody moving, but given my causal visual inspection of our fellow passengers, I am unsure how many will make it to more than a few zumba classes before retiring from exhaustion!
I got up early this morning and went to the gym to work out as I am the type of person that unless I do regular, strenuous exercise and limit my caloric intake, I can gain pounds in just a few days. It is a lifelong battle that I know will not get any easier as I get older, so I am trying to change both my diet and my exercise patterns in the hope of getting a leg up on the inevitable aging process of slowing metabolisms, weight gain and slowing physical activity.
Our cabin Steward Art has been very efficient and helpful. It is a real treat to have someone else cleaning up after you and worrying about making your room and accommodations as comfortable as possible. Art even secured a pillow top cover for our mattress, which softens the sometimes hard mattress and allows us to sleep comfortably at night. I captured two shots of the room, which by cruise standards is quite large, and most importantly has a private balcony so that we can open up the door and get fresh air or see the latest action on the water. The other view is what we see all the time, which is a beautiful view of the water. I try not to take looking at the ocean for granted as at home we are a good 100 miles from the nearest ocean, but when on the cruise ship the ocean is omnipresent and can be seen no matter where you look. When I returned to the room later in the afternoon I also spied a ship paralleling our course, which was the same ship I saw early this morning when working out. This is the same ship that left Southampton just ahead of us (the Independence of the Sea) yesterday. I am not sure where they are headed, but given that they are now on a course heading more south than our present southwesterly heading, my assumption is their next stop is Portugal.
I do find that on vacations and holidays, I can easily get into a funk as my mind inevitably drifts to reflecting on the fact that I used to have a buddy to do things with during these times, to experience new things with and to enjoy the moment with. When Mattie was alive I always looked forward to vacations as it was such a joy to spend time with Mattie and Vicki, and it was especially wonderful to see and experience the world through the eyes of a child. Children tend to see and focus on things that adults either ignore or have forgotten to remember, like living in the present and appreciating something for what it is versus focusing on what it is not. Mattie would have loved the ship, exploring each deck, feature, nook and cranny that the ship had to offer as well as understanding the technology behind all of it and how it all worked. I could easily see Mattie and me going deck by deck, bow to stern, searching for those often not visited places, features of the ship and beautiful views of the water. So now, when I go on vacation, I am reminded of what I no longer have nor will ever have, and who I am missing, which is what starts the slide into my funk.
Tomorrow (Monday) brings another day at sea, and we’re hopeful we can find time to rest some in addition to taking in some of the activities. Both Monday and Tuesday will be at sea days, followed by our arrival at Barcelona on Wednesday, so wish us luck on clearing the Bay of Biscay, paralleling the coast of Portugal and then turning east to head into the Mediterranean.
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