DON’T KNOW WHERE, DON’T KNOW WHEN…

We’re into day three of our latest adventure, cruising to the Canary Islands and Cape Verde… or at least, that’s where we hope we’re going. At this moment in time, it’s starting to feel like it might turn into something of a mystery tour.

To recap; we travelled down from West Yorkshire on a very foggy Sunday, to spend the night in a Travelodge ready to embark on Monday. I’d been notified late last week that the ship’s arrival in Portsmouth would be delayed, and that embarkation would also be a little later. The knock-on effect of that was to give us extra time to mooch around Fareham before heading to the Cruise Terminal, something that inevitably ended up with us spending money.

Despite being a little later than usual, embarkation was smooth and painless. An announcement from the Captain during dinner gave us a hint of what might be to come, though. With a massive, violent storm rumbling away in the North Atlantic, the decision was made to close all venues higher than deck 7. This just meant that, for the next few days, guests would be encouraged to make use of room service and eat in their cabins, to ease the pressure on the dining room and speciality restaurants, which would be taking up the slack with The Grill being closed.

The ship rocked and rolled through Monday night, and my first classes went ahead on Tuesday, as planned, the only difference being that we’re sharing the Art and Craft Room with the Craft tutor instead of being based in the Coast to Coast Restaurant. That has worked out fine, so far; the best bit being that the Craft Room is right next to the locker where all the art gear is stored, so no lugging of stuff from one end of the ship to the other. Because we’re sharing the space, it mean timing has to be strictly adhered to, meaning that my classes have to fit leanly into the allotted hour slot. Again, no issues there.

The only issue we are facing is a lack of watercolour paper, certainly not enough to get us through the whole cruise. The obvious solution to this will be to slot in some drawing classes since there are lots of kits in the locker, and as a precaution, we’ve split the paper into half for the first two sessions.

Tuesday night was particularly rough. So much so that I swear there were moments when my body actually, physically left the bed. We’re right at the very front of the ship, so we’re feeling every up and down motion. Our sleeping is broken as a consequence, leaving me feeling a tad groggy throughout the day, eager to grab any moment of sleep should it become available.

That said, today has been slightly different. Following the rough night, the Captain made an early announcement, telling us that we had changed course, and were now heading for Santander, in Northern Spain. It seems the rough seas have taken even the captain by surprise, and he told us that he is in talks with Saga to decide the best route forward. As I write this, who knows precisely what that will mean. It looks like we may be spending a day – or maybe more – in port tomorrow, after all. The big question is; how are we going to get around the tip of Spain, out of the Bay of Biscay, and on to Funchal and the islands beyond?… Watch this space…