Thursday to Sunday – Heading West
It’s been an easy run; the sea has behaved itself, and the sun has dutifully shone.
Class attendances have remained consistent, and everyone seems happy. One hour per session isn’t a huge amount of time to get things done, but with fast turnarounds between classes, I’m able to squeeze about an hour and a quarter out of each one. Sometimes it can seem seem quite intensive, but folks seem to enjoy that, and the results are speaking for themeslves.
Each day, then, has been following more or less the same pattern; we’re up at around 8-8:30am, for breakfast. After breakfast, we sit out on deck, enjoying the sun while we drink our tea and coffee. This is followed by a walk to the front of the ship to watch the sea go by and enjoy the spectacle of the flying fish.
The rest of the morning is spent in the cabin; Tracey performs her admin duties; keeping track of attendees, shifting places around and filling gaps where required. I’ve starting producing paintings, with two new pieces from Mindelo (one of which was sold immediately); now I’m really looking forward to getting to the River for fresh source material….
Yesterday (Saturday), Louise Bonner gave the second of her Amazon lectures in the Marco Polo Lounge. Tallk about popular! The lounge was packed to the rafters, with standing room only. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a problem with the cooling system at the front end of the ship, which can’t be fixed until we get to Santarem. The room was like a sauna… people still stuck it out, though, such is their thirst for knowledge of where we’re heading.
The number of mysteriously disappearing card decks currently stands at 30. A note has been posted in the daily blurb asking for packs to be returned to the card room, but certain undisclosed evidence is pointing to sabotage… it would seem that some folks’ strategy is; if I can’t play – then no-one can… you have to laugh!…
Today’s classes will be the last for a few days. Tomorrow, we’ll be anchoring off Macapa, where we’ll be boarded by a bunch of Brazilian Immigration Officials who will be using the Conference/Craft room for their activities. They will remain on board until we get to Manaus, after which we will get the craft room back and classes will then be able to resume.
Brazil is really close now. We’ll be crossing the equator at around 6am tomorrow morning, and expect to see a change in the sea colour later today. Fresh water from the river flows almost 200 miles out into the Atlantic ocean, in such vast quantities, and at such a rate that it’s difficult to get one’s head around it all. One day’s amount of fresh water that flows from the Amazon into the sea would supply New York for 9 years. Fresh water is lighter than salt water, and floats across the top, turning the sea a light greeny-brown colour.
Almost there…..
