AT SEA – MORE CLASSES

Today, we were at sea yet again, and with my next class scheduled for 9:30am, it meant an early start (7:30am… not used to that at all!…); plenty of time for breakfast and for setting up the room ready for the ravening hordes.

Today wasn’t quite so chaotic (it never is after the first session), and both the 9:30 and 11am classes went smoothly, and without any major incidents. More importantly, everyone seemed to to enjoy painting the monochromatic tonal study that I’d given them.

Right in the middle of my classes, the captain came over the PA system to announce that we would be taking a small detour from our course, to check on a rowing team (I think there are 24 of them, but I may be wrong about that) that are currently attempting an Atlantic crossing. Passengers out on deck were encouraged to wave and show our support of them; they expect the crossing to take about 46 days in all. After two weeks in, we are the first signs life they’ve been in contact with… by all accounts, all is well, although I can’t imagine what a mind-numbing exercise that must be.

All of which took us neatly up until lunchtime.

As we head towards warmer climes, Marco’s Bistro is becoming slightly less busy at lunchtime, with folks actually sitting out on the back deck to eat their lunch, while being entertained by a cocktail waiter throwing bottles around and occasionally catching them.

After lunch we spent some time out on deck, wave-watching. The sea hasn’t been quite so smooth today, making it less likely to spot any wildlife activity amongst the ‘white horses’.

We were pleased to bump into Davy McCauley, the magician who we saw on the Magellan back in September (and really enjoyed). This evening, he performed his first act in the Show Lounge, which was great as always. It was made all the more impressive by the fact that his luggage has been lost by the airline that flew him in (DELTA stands for Don’t Expect Luggage To Arrive, apparently), which contained many of his stage props, meaning that much of his act had to be improvised using whatever he could get his hands on… you wouldn’t have thought it to see the act, which was simply brilliant.

Finally; clocks go back tonight – so we’ll be one hour behind the UK.