Day 4 Tuesday 17th September 2019: North Atlantic Ocean
After another night of bumps and bangs and yet another late breakfast this time in the Buffet on Deck 14. We shared a breakfast table with a well travelled couple and we listened fascinated to their stories about cruising on various other cruise lines.
A special offer had taken them on a Seabourne ship.They recounted their experiences of eating each evening with officers or the singers/presenters. In their room they chose to have a selection of bottles of spirits which were changed periodically for full ones. The best day was when the ship’s company set up a BBQ on a deserted beach and served up lots of champagne as they all sat on the beach!
As a guest walked past our table I noticed his top was labelled ‘Seaside Heights’ (in New Jersey.) I asked if he had just been there. He told us about his time as an 18-year-old arriving in the USA and hitchhiking down to the Jersey Shore and then working on the stalls on the boardwalk there. We shared memories as we been there a few weeks earlier with our grandsons.
Out on the Promenade Deck
Out on Deck 7 we did our circuits. The steps to the bow on Deck 8 were now closed due to the high winds.
There was quite a swell and Sapphire was gently rising and falling as we passed through.
Afternoon
After an hour we went back to our cabin to warm up before going back down to the Atrium to have a pizza and a salad.
Looking out we can see the rain from yet another passing squall. At the trivia quiz we managed one extra point – not a great result!
We did enjoy the occasional typo though in the quiz’s questions.
Early evening
The snack today was sushi in the 5 o’clock club. The venue are changed to the nightclub, Skywalkers, on Deck 16. Once on Deck 15 after riding the lift up we had to go around the bulkheads and look for the escalator that took us up to the venue.
From Skywalkers we could see the stern of Sapphire rising and falling with the swell. All the swimming pools were netted over that we could see. We watched as fog gathered around the ship. We could hear mutterings about how inconvenient this venue was for the 5 ‘o’ clock and how Club Fusion was much more preferred.
The member of staff who stood at the top of the escalators sometimes asked to see cruise cards but always tried to help find seats for new arrivals. We watched a couple arrive and he directed them to a table by the panoramic windows and receive this retort for his efforts –
We are here for the food not the view . . .
The sushi was excellent and I’m afraid I probably had more than I should especially being so close to our evening meal.
We tried again to be earlier for the meal as we very much wanted to see the evening show ‘Born to be wild’ in the theatre.
After only a short wait we were in the restaurant sharing a table. The table conversation did stray into Brexit and other related issues before we all agreed to talk about cruising and the ports that we visited!
I had prawn cocktail, lamb chops and then ice cream. We headed off immediately after dessert to the theatre to get a seat for the show.
Born to be Wild
We had to sit in the small boxes that overlooked the stage from the left hand side.
The show was excellent and I used my EOS M-50 for these images.
Our clocks went back again an hour.
From the Cruise Log
At Sea — Tuesday 17th September 2019 in Overnight and into the early hours of the morning Sapphire Princess continued along her charted westerly Great Circle track across the North Atlantic Ocean, crossing the infamous Mid-Adantic Ridge.
The mid-ocean ridge is a constructive or divergent tectonic plate boundary, separating the Eurasian and North American plates in the North Atlantic, north of the Romanche Trench, and the African and South American plates in the South Adantic. As a result, the submerged ridge forms part of the longest mountain range in the world, extending from the northeast of Greenland to the Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic, surfacing as various mountainous islands such as Jan Mayen Island and the Azores in the North and Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha in the South, as well as forming the Reykjanes Ridge across much of central and southwest Iceland.
Sapphire Princess passed over a portion of the Ridge known as the Faraday Fracture Zone, which is 506km in length and 350 metres, rising up from the surrounding seabed which lies as deep as 3,700 metres.
Throughout the day, she steered an average course of 260°at a speed ranging between 17-18 knots, which is 19.5-20.7 mph. A thick blanket of fog caused restricted visibility around the vessel for much of the day, meaning even sea water in the immediate vicinity of the ship was hidden from view.
Noon Position: Latitude: 49° 48.6′ N • Longitude: 034° 46.1 W
Wind: Strong SE’ly Gale, Force 8
Sky: Overcast + Thickening Fog (3/8 cloud cover)
Seas: Moderate Seas + Short Moderate WSW’ly swell
Pressure: 1002 hPa
Air Temperature: 18°C/64°F