Wednesday 6 April 2016

The Tropics and Two Saturdays.

The Pacific Ocean is one very, very large expanse of water. We’ve been travelling for days now – probably 6 or 7 so far and we still haven’t reached Hawaii! What we have done, which is tremendous in the “that’s a first” department, is to cross the International Date Line.

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At 1:37 in the morning on Saturday 2nd April we silently traversed the IDL and passed from one Saturday back into the same Saturday! In theory we’ve gained a complete day to our lives but, in practice, by the time we get back to Southampton all will be back to normal.

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Having not had land for a while now the best way to get some exercise is walking around deck 3 – the Promenade Deck, which runs round the whole ship. It’s the most interesting deck (well James thinks so!) with lots and lots of equipment – most of it safety related.  We walk under the ships lifeboats, all safely secured to their launching mechanisms. 

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Notices are always important but the one we’re most interested in is the one which tells us how far we’ve walked!

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The view as we walk around the stern is usually the most exciting ……..

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……… but, whichever view we have at the moment, it’s ocean as far as you can see.

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The beautifully varnished benches are filled with life jackets ……..

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…… and, on the way around, we have to avoid more safety equipment – in this case, inflatable life rafts ready for launch.

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There is always maintenance to be carried out and the hard working crew members ……….

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…….. share the same space as the relaxing passengers.

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“Arcadia” is also equipped with several high speed water-jet propelled safety boats.

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The view from the Sky Deck is tremendous and this scene right now is of a “tropical” Pacific Ocean as, In the early hours of this morning, Sunday 3rd of April, “Arcadia” passed south of the Tropic of Cancer.

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We’ve had the occasional spate of high winds (Force 8 in some cases) but the sea state has remained decidedly calm and considerate for the entire voyage so far.

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Travelling in a continual eastwards direction means the sun is always on our starboard side in the daytime and the rear deck and Aquarius Pool has full sunshine right up until sunset ………

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…….. which, on some evenings, is absolutely wonderful to watch.

Hawaii, the 50th state of the United States of America and our next port of call, is not far away now and we’re planning to do some interesting sight seeing.

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