Tuesday, February 10, 2009

our shipboard family, flying fish, crossing the equator...


A few postings ago I mentioned that John and I would have an extended family on the ship, and I am happy to say we are "parents" to four beautiful "daughters". In the photo, Victoria is on my right, Jane is on John's left, Sarah on Jane's left, and Monica on Sarah's left. We enjoyed dinner tonight with lively conversation and learned that our shipboard family is from all over the country. Victoria is from the Philadelphia area and is going to school in Florida. Jane is from Louisiana and is in school in New York. Sarah is from upstate New York and in school in Massachusetts, and Monica is from the San Francisco area, in school in Santa Clara. John and I are looking forward to getting to know each of these young women better and sharing our shipboard and shore experiences with them.
I looked out the window earlier today and saw what I thought was a small bird, and thought we were a bit far off shore to see a bird that size. Then I thought for a moment it looked like a fish. Then it disappeared and I didn't know what to think. Later today's Dean's Memo said that we would see flying fish in this area, and that they fly away from the ship when they perceive it as a huge predator. John and I saw -- what can you say? a flock? a school? -- a dozen or so anyway, later this afternoon. It was really a sight!
At 3:23pm ship time this afternoon we finally crossed the equator. Longitude was 8 degrees, 15.1W, Course was 134 degrees, and our speed at the time was 24.3 knots. The ship's horn was sounded, and the captain announced we would not be able to see the line because of the swell, but that we would probably feel a bit of a bump as the drains began swirling the opposite direction. ;-)
Current time is just after 10:00pm. We will advance clocks one hour tonight and will be on Greenwich Mean Time. Our location right now is
Latitude: 1 degree, 59.1 SOUTH
Longitude: 6 degrees, 20.1 W
Course: 136 degrees
Speed: 24.7 knots

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Theresa(and John too!),
What a beautiful looking family your are..thanks for the great photo! You look like very happy and proud parents indeed and what fun you will have helping the young ladies share in their experiences of a lifetime. It snowed this morning but not a lot. Just enough to make everything sloppy and messy. Jim walked in Fish Creek park this AM and said that the paths were treacherous. The sun is now shining but it will remain quite cold..lucky us. I suspect your climate is hot and humid and should be delightful upon your arrival in Cape Town...I believe that you will arrive there in several hours. Enjoy your SA visit.
Love, Jackie