All Hail the Sick-Bag Fairy
Today, we turned left into the Bay of Biscay… and it hasn’t been kind to us…
Because there are three tutors sharing one craft space, today was my turn to have a day off. In some ways, I’m rather pleased about that. Overnight, the sea turned quite rough, and by morning, the Sick-bag fairy had been doing her rounds, lining up her wares along the handrails down every corridor, and Tracey took to her bed reminiscing about all the times she’s had to miss the first part of the trip due to work commitments and fly out to join the ship in Lisbon or Madeira, conveniently missing the Bay of Biscay…
Maybe it’s because the Magellan is much bigger than the Marco Polo, which we’re more used to, but it didn’t really seem that rough at first. When the entire contents of the shelf in our cabin came crashing to the floor, however, and when I went up to the Bistro for breakfast only to find it closed, we knew that we were in for a rough ride.
At some point in the day, the captain announced that, due to the high seas and prevailing winds impeding our progress towards Lisbon, a decision had been taken to head for Vigo in Northern Spain, instead.
The rocking and rolling carried on throughout the day. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that Tracey finally emerged, heading for fresh air in the hopes of shaking off a headache. She still wasn’t up to food, so I ended up eating lunch by myself in the Waldorf Restaurant, and making up a couple of rolls for her to eat in the cabin. Because the the porthole covers have been closed, the cabin feels slightly claustrophobic (despite its size), so we ended up spending the remainder of the afternoon in the Taverners Pub, reading.
As evening came around, the rough weather continued (although it did start to ease up a little as the evening progressed). Consequently, the bistro remained closed, meaning that all meals had to be taken in the restaurants. Generally speaking we tend to avoid eating in the restaurant, preferring the more informal surroundings of the bistro, but on this occasion, there wasn’t any other option.
As it turns out, dinner in the Waldorf Restaurant wasn’t too bad at all, since we were sharing a table with Peter Crush, the Ukelele instructor and his wife, Christine the Creative Writing Instructor and Jan’s husband (Jan wasn’t present because she’s had a serious fall – so serious in fact that she will have to go to hospital in Vigo tomorrow for an assessment). Dinner was light-hearted and fun, and afterwards, we all retired to the pub where a Karaoke session was in full swing. I say ‘full swing’, but actually, it was struggling to take off; Tony, the Cruise Director was doing his bit, along with the member of the enetrtainments team who was running it, and one other person finally got up to sing a song… which prompted Peter and myself to get up and do a couple of duets… ‘Bad Moon Rising’ and ‘Streets of London’ will never be the same again.
So; despite the poor sailing conditions, it turned out to not be a bad day at all, with some fun into the bargain. Tomorrow, we are due to arrive in Vigo, where Tracey and myself have been asked to do some tour escorting… bring it on…
