August 5, 2023 Sea Day #7

August 06, 2023

The overnight fog lasted until after sunrise, before 5 a.m., but the mostly cloudy sky before breakfast changed to mostly sunny for the rest of the day. Clocks were advanced another hour overnight. The morning temperature was 8° C. When we met Ellen and David for breakfast, there were fewer people in the dining room than usual.

In the World Stage theatre, at 10 a.m., it was Ask the Captain. It was about 95% full. One of the questions was: “Why is lifeboat #9 missing?” The answer was that it needed structural maintenance in Rotterdam and was left there before going to Boston where we got on. With one less lifeboat the capacity of the ship is reduced by the lifeboat capacity which is about 130 passengers since Marine Law requires that each passage has a life boat spot for them if needed. In the afternoon, when we walked on Deck 3, below where the lifeboats are stored, we did notice the sunny spot was actually where lifeboat #9 is usually hanging.

Following that was Tim and Daphne Terrell talking about Lerwick, Scotland, and the Shetland Islands in general. Lerwick mean “muddy bay”. It was first settled by Norse farmers and fishermen. They would sometimes “go-a-viking” which meant they were sailing to carry out raids in Ireland and Scotland. From 850 to 1460 the Shetland Islands were part of Denmark. Then in 1460 Danish Princess Margaret married the Scottish king and the Shetland Islands became part of Scotland. In the 16^th century, Dutch fishermen used the Lerwick area as a base to sometimes process their fish.

The Northern Lights are known as Mirrie Dancers in the Shetland Islands. Lerwick is now the capital but until 1838, Scalloway was the original capital. It is located on the west coast which is only a 15 minute drive from Lerwick, on the east coast.

There was a brunch in the Deck 2 dining room from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. rather than the usual lunch time of noon to 1 p.m. The fruit plate was artfully presented along with the banana and fig vanilla Greek yogurt parfait.

In the afternoon Mike West had two presentations. The first was “Shipwrecks and Time” and the other was about Aircraft carriers and their crews. We walked many circuits on Decks 3 and 10 this afternoon and squeezed in coffee in the Crow’s Nest. We spotted a whale during the walk.

Just before 4 p.m., people gathered on Deck 9 by the Seaview Pool for the “Polar Bear Plunge”. Three or four dozen brave souls registered. As we were walking around Deck 10, we watched as crew members emptied several dozen 40 litre bins of huge ice blocks along the pool’s shallow edge about 30 minutes before the event. There was also several 50 litre bins of ice cubes dumped in the water. On cue, the “plungers” lined the edge of the pool as jacketed spectators watched. It was a quick jump in after an official ceremony speech. Then once out of the water, the participants took a Polar Bear Society oath and will receive a certificate later today.

Before dinner we both finished our second book and have started our third book from the Zuiderdam library. We are averaging a 350 page book each week. Larry started “The Cartographers” by Peng Shepherd and Claire started “Moonflower Murders” by Anthony Horowitz, who as a screenwriter created the British TV series Midsomer Murders and Foyles War.

At dinner time Zuiderdam was passing the northeast coast of the Faroe Islands on he way to Lerwick, Scotland. After dinner with Cee Kaye and Brad we went to the World Stage show of British comedian Stevie Jo. It was quite entertaining. Total steps 12,365

Hopefully the next postings will be when we get to Rotterdam on August 8th.