Day 22 Saturday 5th October 2019: Atlantic Ocean
This morning I was awake early and awake enough to switch on the TV to watch England play in the Rugby World Cup. We had decided to make this a lazy day and after the rugby was over we watched a movie. As I’ve mentioned earlier the ship’s A/V system had one or two new films every day.
After a late breakfast in the buffet we went out on the Promenade deck for a brief walk. Sapphire was now running at about 17 knots and we enjoyed the breeze and the sunshine.
After the Captain’s daily update, Sapphire sped up and then began to gently roll with the swell.
We had a light lunch at the International Café. I had a green salad followed by a bowl of melon.
In the early afternoon the sky clouded over and then we ran into mist and the cold front. We were outside reading our books and I had to give up and come back inside.
At 4:30 the ship had drills which didn’t really affect us as we were in our cabin watching yet another movie.
Evening and the show in the Theatre
Our evening started with a visit to the Crooners bar for a drink and then onto the Savoy restaurant for dinner. I started with potato skins soup followed by veal and spaghetti and one of my favourite ice creams, zabaglione. This was rather spoilt by being full of ice crystals.
To make sure of seats we went straight from dinner to the theatre and we were sat down at 9:30 pm. The show started at 10:15 pm. This evening it was a joint performance by Dominic Ferris and Diane Cousins.
The clocks were going forward again another hour overnight and we had to put our order in for the canapes for the next evening.
Before we turn the lights out we checked the ship’s position and speed and Sapphire was now running at 22 knots.
From the Cruise Log
At Sea – Saturday 5th October 2019
On Day 4 of her Trans-Atlantic crossing, Sapphire Princess continued along her eastbound Great Circle route towards Southampton at an average speed of 17.5 knts or 20.1 mph. Overnight and during the morning, Sapphire Princess sailed back over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, passing around 290 NM further south than on her westbound crossing. Hence, at approximately 10:00, she passed over a section of the Ridge known as the Olympus Knoll, where depths rise from over 2,000 metres on the surrounding seabed to around 700 metres, or 2,300 feet. At the same time, she passed approximately 380 NM due north of the Azores archipelago, which was the closest point of land.Sapphire Princess continued to pitch gently and roll moderately to a westerly swell throughout the day, as the remnant sea and weather conditions from Hurricane Lorenzo’s northeasterly passage across the North Atlantic combining with conditions generated by a new large low pressure system building in the western North Atlantic, 700 NM astern of Sapphire Princess’ position.
Noon Position: Latitude: 45° 50.2′ N • Longitude: 025° 44.2′ W
Wind: Fresh/Strong WSW’ly breeze. Force 5/6
Sky: Cloudy skies (6/8 cloud cover)
Seas: Moderate Seas + Average Moderate W’ly swell
Pressure: 1019 hPa
Air Temperature: 20°C / 68°F