August 13, 2023 Sea Day #10

   Looking out the window this morning on Sea Day #10, there was fog. The ship’s fog horn was sounding every two minutes. The ship’s weather information said it was overcast, temperature 12° C with a northeast wind at 27 km/hr. There was hardly any temperature or wind speed change during the day. Around noon, Zuiderdam passed about 80 nautical miles to the west of the Faroe Islands en route to Djupivogur, Iceland (which is east of Höfn on the map).


Again last night, the clocks were set back one hour. We had breakfast in the dining room. Today was the day to pick up our passports which we had to surrender on August 8th or 9th for the ship to facilitate the Ireland immigration. Claire went at the beginning of the pickup time slot, there was only a very short line and it took only a couple of minutes. At 10 a.m. the World Stage seats were almost completely occupied for Tjalling’s presentation about the next ports of Djúpivogur, Iceland and Reykjavik, Iceland. 

   Djúpivogur is pronounce Joop - iv - grr. Nearby is a mountain naturally shaped like a pyramid. It is very small settlement. The village’s population is half the size of the ship’s crew.

    Reykjavik is a large metropolitan city. It’s old harbour was built between 1913 and 1917. Things to see are the museum, the concert hall, the Leif Erikson Memorial. If you feel brave, taste some Drakharpróf which is fermented shark meat, but don’t touch it because the pungent smell of shark meat will be strong on your fingers for the rest of the day. The tender ride will be about 15 minutes. There will be four other cruise ships in port.

   Today being Sunday, the dining room does not have lunch, but has a 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. brunch. Today’s theme was Scandinavian food. 

   Zuiderdam passed through several fog banks during the day. At noon the captain advised that the ship is about halfway to Djúpivogur from Stornoway. The seas are moderate with a two meter swell and the 1.5 meter waves are white capped. The captain mentioned that there are some influenza type illnesses on board and that some of the crew will be wearing face masks, but he stressed that it is nothing to worry about. Last year with stricter COVID health regulations, passengers would be encouraged to wear face masks especially in the World Stage and smaller entertainment venues. We usually just wear our face masks on bus tours this year.

   We did not walk outside today, since we walked a lot yesterday.

   Mid-afternoon, we climbed up to Deck 10 for coffee in the Crow’s Nest

   We caught up with Cee Kay and Brad over dinner tonight. In Stornoway they had a good R.I.B. excursion and saw some seals. The outfitter provided them and the other excursion participants with waterproof clothing that also kept them warm. 

   Tonight’s show was the third in the Lincoln Center Quintet’s presentation called Seasons.

      Steps 6,450

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