Day 21 March 27 – At Sea

Day 21 Friday March 27th (99 days to go) — A scheduled sea day which was busier than we had anticipated. After breakfast we attended a meeting in the Vista Lounge to learn about the new excursions associated with the itinerary change of going around Africa. Last night we had received a brochure showing the excursions for the new ports. After reviewing the excursions, we were disappointed as no overland excursion was offered for Africa and I started contacting tour operators at 11pm to find a safari excursion and a visit to Victoria Falls.

This morning while at breakfast David Chen sent me a text telling me a new set of excursions were out which included the overland tours for Africa. He said to hurry and get a copy as there was an overland to Chobe Game Lodge and Victoria Falls. So, we hurried back to the cabin just as the housekeeper was placing the information in our cabin. The notification was only given to passengers who had booked overland excursions that had been cancelled with the itinerary change. We had booked an overland excursion to the Taj Mahal so we were received this early notification.

After doing a quick review of the excursion we ran to the Destinations Desk and booked this excursion. Now, we have to wait a few days to see if we will be awarded one of the spots for this overland excursion. David and Marta turned in their reservation request right after us, so we were #2 and #3. John and Joan (the couple from Slidell) were the 4th couple to submit a reservation request. So, now we sit and wait and hope that all six of us are given this overland tour.

The excursions meeting was informative with a number of good questions asked. After the meeting we met with David and Marta and selected excursions for the other eastern and southern Africa ports to match the ones they had selected.

At noon Jackie went to a lesson on iMovie being provided by LeAnne Bock. This afternoon LeAnne allowed me to use her multiport hub to see if I could I pull my photos and videos from my GoPro sim card. And, it worked so THANK YOU LeAnne Bock as I was able to place all my files onto the laptop. Of course, cannot post the videos of us snorkeling because the ship’s WiFi inhibits video uploads. So, now that my SIM card was okay, and the batteries are charging so it must be the GoPro that is damaged. I saw a GoPro store in an upcoming port so I will try and run into the store to see if they can fix my GoPro.

David Chen and I connected at 2:30pm for a cigar as we were both relaxed with the good news about the overland tour from earlier in the morning. At 3:30, Jackie and I attended our 2nd culinary class on The Vista. This class was called “Rice if Life:” Some photos of the event are below.

After the class we returned to the cabin and got the laundry prepared to send out. And, then I made a decision which was difficult for me. 🙂 In Tahiti we visited that temple area and if you look at the photo with Jackie and I with the tiki, you will see two dogs. One of the dogs is rolling on his back (bad sign). Anyway, since that tour to the temple we had to walk through wet grass and now I have had these small bites on my legs and arms (I was wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt). Last night was miserable as 100mg Benadryl along with coating my arms and legs in Benadryl Gel and Hydrocortisone Cream was not relieving the terrible itching. So, I made the decision to head down to the medical center. The physician could not determine what were the small red raised areas, but he agreed it might be fleas. He wanted to do blood work to see if anything was out of whack. NEEDLE!!! Just shoot me already. Bloodwork was fine and he sent me on my way with Bactroban and wanted to give me Doxycycline. I had heard the HIGH prices they charge for drugs on the ship. But no problem right as you remember my suitcase of medications. I have enough Doxy probably for the entire ship…. laughing. Told the physician I was going to start Medrol Dospak as I need to dry these things out. He told me that I probably knew what I needed to do. Fingers crossed this works or I will do like the dog in the photo and start rolling all over the place to get rid of this itching.

Some photos from our culinary class today

Chef Daniele Roberto was our instructor for this class

Spicy Tuna Temaki

You can see who the cooks are in this class. Everyone is still preparing and we are already eating 🙂

The bites on my arms and legs is the least of my problems. I ate raw tuna and now feel the worms growing in my stomach 🙂

Jeweled Persian Pilaf — this was good, but for the Down the Bayou people, you know we like our rice cooked all the way. This had a little crunch, but was still outstanding

In between preparing the dishes we fixed a drink called Sumo in a Sidecar Spritz

Singapore Rice Noodles —- this was fun to cook as we used a wok, which I use to cook with at home probably 95% of the time I prepare a meal. I learned something today about how to warm the wok and move it on and off the flame when cooking.

The three dishes we prepared killed our desire to eat dinner as we were full.

We enjoyed our culinary class with Chef Daniele Roberto

Tomorrow we are in Pago Pago, American Samoa. I have to be honest and admit that I am freaked we are this far away from home in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It should be a fun day as I do something I have not done in three weeks.