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| May just as well face it, it's almost over...only 650 nautical miles to sail to Fort Lauderdale |
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| We are definitely heading West right into the nightly sunset, although the weather did not always clear the sky sufficiently to observe the colours. One passenger actually complained, that he would never sail the route from Azores to Fort Lauderdale again, as there are 'no sunsets' to speak of. For his next transatlantic cruise he will make sure, that he sails via the Canary Islands, (I quote) as the course angle is better and it's further south, ergo the sunsets are 'much better' on that route. Well, I like them all.... |
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| The seas still rolled by in pretty high swells, and the wake of the ship formed snaky foam trails over and through the watery hills. |
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| Quite a few squalls, quite a bit of wind, but almost always a few rays of sun bursting through the clouds. Almost everyday we were faithfully accompanied by a couple of double rainbows. |
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| This sailboat under full sail crossed our stern with just a few yards to spare. Almost like a dwarf playing chicken with a Goliath... She was under perfect control, navigation lights shining in the dusk, and heading - I guess - for Bermuda. |
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| Even the 'colourless' sunsets are magical to me, with small fans of light floating from the clouds and softly brushing the sea; a few rain showers drawing dusky grey curtains across the horizon. |
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| The Sargasso Sea, a body of water with no borders and filled with grape shaped sea weed, which floats in brown streaks on the water surface. Finally we glimpse a few flying fish... |
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| The pool side bar has packed up, but here is a hopeful waiting for the last Happy Hour beer special.... |
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The Casino tables packed up early as well, no one there to play anyway. All covered in cloth, the slot machines looks like mute ghosts. |
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| As Prinsendam is heading for Dry Dock for a much needed overhaul. after the end of this journey. Crew are preparing the ship for the work to be done. As one of the preparations, all the lacquered wooden handrails are covered with carpet cut offs. Good Carpet, as our table mate, the carpet specialist assures us, it retails at 250 dollars a square meter....just remember on a ship one walks on a carpet worth its weight in gold. |
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| My beloved 'beakfast room', an open air canvas covered area at the stern of the ship, where one could listen to the rushing waves and take in the surroundings without any glass windows separating man from nature. However, it was only useful during reasonably warm weather. And - the canvas kept ripping off in storms, sometimes so badly, that the heavy duty aluminum stanchions tore out of the teak decking as well. It will be converted into a 'winter garden', housing an Italian restaurant (Canaletto) for dinner guests, and used as well as extra space for hard to come by breakfast tables. It will have a glass roof, which will adjust colour in tune with the brightness of sunlight, the floor to ceiling glass windows may be opened to 'almost' make the room 'al fresco'. |
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| Watching the contract workers climbing the standing rigging or balancing on regular stepladders (stanchions and cross beams) whilst cruising full speed ahead in the rain, one foot away from the edge, and donning their safety harnesses, but not attaching them to anything solid on the ship, was somewhat scary and incomprehensible. Holland America is extremely safety conscious, and would never allow the crews to ignore safety rules. However, these workers wore a different uniform from the khaki coloured jumpsuits of our Crew, and we guessed that the newcomers followed their own inclinations. I was having visions of one of them slithering off over the side and disappearing in the churning wake of the ship. The aft deck was closed, of course, to passengers. |
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| Pool is drained, deck chairs stored...definitely docked and ready to herd the passenger off as quickly as possible, in order to leave port again in a couple of hours time to head to Freeport and dry dock. |
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| That means .....all is packed and ready to roll. Had to leave my towel animal behind, though. |
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| One last stroll out to the future 'cristal palace', now stripped bare. |
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| And home again, to dream of the next adventure.... |
