Day at Sea, Thanksgiving Day off the Coast of French Guiana

Well it’s thanksgiving Day at sea, Lisa seems well rested since she hasn’t had to prepare a meal for the family. We had breakfast in the Compass Rose and I had my Eggs Benedict for breakfast. 

 Had a great talk this morning where the speaker dispelled all the normal rumors of the Amazon. She mentioned the average distance across the Amazon is 20 miles wide and that we won’t be seeing Amazon Indians as they are hundreds of miles from the river. She mentioned we will pickup 2 Ship pilots at the head of the Amazon and they will help navigate up to Manus and then we will get 2 new ones for our return trip. They said the flow of the Amazon changes the shipping channels on a weekly basis so a pilot is a requirement. They also filled us in a bit more on why we skipped our last port. The urgency was getting into the Amazon at high tide as there is a shelf formed from sediment from the Amazon to the Atlantic and may not be passable for a ship of our size during low tide.

 

We had dinner in the Compass Rose and they had the traditional American Turkey dinner (Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans) and Pumpkin Pie as a choice. We sat down with a British couple at our table, we asked to be seated with others as it wouldn’t seem like Thanksgiving without other people at the table. They of course didn’t think much of our traditional meal and ordered something else. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of my meal so that’s why the picture looks like my meal was half eaten. I’m not much of a mashed potatoes person so I asked for extra stuffing. Lisa got her Pumpkin Pie fix and as usual I opted for the Cheese Cake.

They have a new comedian/magician onboard and he did a show tonight, was OK hopefully gets better as we cruise up the Amazon.

They also mentioned we would be cruising across the Equator tomorrow afternoon and King Neptune would be aboard to initiate those who have not crossed the Equator in the past. They are doing this at 6 PM and we have dinner reservations at 7, will not be able to participate but will get some pictures to share. Well it was a pretty relaxing day as the seas are still a bit rough for a ship of this size, hopefully things will calm down a bit as we head into the Amazon tomorrow night. They asked that we conserve water as we get into Brazil as they are not able to collect water while on the Amazon. They also mentioned that anything purchased aboard while in Brazil was subject to a 25%, they also said anything purchased on shore may be required to be quarantined until the end of the cruise.