WHALESPOTTING AND THE CHOIR
Today, we were at sea again, and once again, we’ve spent most of it upstairs on the front deck with our cameras and binoculars.
The front deck is home, most days, to a mixed group of enthusiasts. There’s Dave the Dolphin and Whale Man, who is always at the helm, gazing far out to sea, and is often the first to spot a whale blow, long before anyone else. John and Barry are birders; they are interested in the dolphins and whales, of course, but their primary passion are those that take to the wing. On port days, they are often away on long, pre-planned excursions of their own, along with their wives, in search of rare birds. John is a spotter, while Barry has an uncanny knack of taking the most amazing, and occasionally unbelievable photographs. He, along with a small army of keen photographers, wield cameras with lenses that look like they could prop up a dining table.
There are others, too; all gathered on the front deck for long hours, often with nothing happening, and only the anticipation to maintain their focus. Some have walkie-talkies, to enable them to communicate with each other from opposite ends of the ship; enabling them to put the word out quickly when a huge pod of dolphins are approaching, or when whale blows have been spotted on the horizon.
Lunchtime today was a magnificent open-air barbeque on the back deck. We didn’t dash there the minute it was announced that lunch was being served, on the basis that the queues would be long and tables at a premium. Instead, we waited a while; about forty-five minutes later, we headed on down to lunch, to find that all the chicken had been devoured; the ribs that were left were very nice, though.
One sea-day activity that has been engaging a large group of passengers on a regular basis has been the choir. They’ve been practising in Scott’s Bar most sea-days. Today, however, they performed a short 20-minute concert in the Show Lounge. Mostly to show off what they’d achieved so far, but also because Josh, the Assistant Cruise Director, who has been tutoring them, will be leaving the ship tomorrow. He, along with several other crew members will be transferring to other ships in the fleet – most notably, The Astoria, which currently awaits them in Amsterdam.
Tonight, the clocks go back yet another hour, which will put us five hours behind the UK. Tommorrow, we are due to arrive at our only Peruvean port, Callao, the port city of Lima, the Capital of Peru.
