World Cruise - Day 28 - Feb 9 - At Sea

Breaking with my daily at sea tradition, my first photo this morning is of the moon just before sunrise:

I cropped the photo, but didn’t compress the resolution (like I would normally do) so that you can see the details, especially the craters on the lower part of the moon that are clearly visible in the pic.  Thanks to Sergio who helped me get a better photo (changing my ISO to 1600, 1/1250 second shutter speed).

A little later, I got some good photos of the sunrise:

I like how the rays spread across the sky just before the sun hits the horizon...

…and how the clouds start lighting up at the edge as the sun approaches…

…and the sun shrouded by the clouds as it comes up over the horizon.  Krissie is already gone for Zumba and I couldn’t decide which of the three photos to keep, so you get all three.

Sonia, thanks for the info on the Samoan language.  That explains why Pago Pago is pronounced Pango Pango.

We were respectable at trivia this morning, got 15½ out of 20, 16 won it.  Here are some of the questions:  What brass instrument has an alto, tenor base and contra base version?  Trombone (we put saxophone).  Who played the Scarecrow in The Wiz?  Michael Jackson.  Which fruit contains the most calories?  Avocado.  What mineral crystal is the best conductor of heat?  Diamond (we put quartz).  What is linnophobia?  Fear of lakes (we put fear of writing).  What country lies between Romania and Turkey?  Bulgaria (we put Macedonia).

We did laundry again today.  So that’s four times in 28 days, we’re averaging about once a week.  I heard again today at lunch that two ladies got put off the ship for fighting in the laundry, but I’m pretty sure that was from last year (when it really did happen).  This year they have top-bottom units, so 8 washers and 8 dryers (instead of 4 of each last year).  I tried using Dryel (a/k/a the frugal person’s way to not pay for dry cleaning) on some dry clean-only pants today.  Maybe I didn’t do it right (although I followed all of the directions), it didn’t seem to work very well.  There were water stains that I pre-treated with the Dryel Cleaning Booster Spray, didn’t come out at all.  Yes, I did put them into the Dryel bag with the Dryel sheet, 30 minutes on medium.  All I ended up with was the same stain and wrinkled pants.  Oh well, I guess I need to pop for some dry cleaning.  Elite (150 days or more on Princess) passengers get free laundry and free dry cleaning.  One day, just not on this trip (even with the 107 days, we will only have 121 with Princess by the end of the cruise).

I was out on the deck today when the Cookies & Milk guy (Eric from Ukraine) came by.  I guess he comes by every afternoon, I’ve just never been there when he comes by.  Here’s a pic of him with Lorraine:

For the record, I ate the cookie.  Lorraine was just my photo model to make the shot look more realistic.  She didn’t really want the cookie, so I ate it.

Trivia was tough this afternoon, we got 14 out of 20, winning team got 18.  What is the Brett Easton book that was made into a movie with Christian Bale?  American Psycho (we put Batman Returns).  What is epistaxis more commonly known as?  Nose bleed (we put full moon—I know, not even close).  Which of the following is not a ruminant: camel, deer, horse, sheep?  Horse (got that one).  What do swifts use to secure their nest to vertical surfaces?  Saliva (got that one).  What Canadian city celebrated its 400 year anniversary in 2008?  Quebec City (we put Halifax).  What body chart is tested by a Snellen chart?  Eyes (got that one).  What Leonardo di Vinci masterpiece was restored from 1979-1999?  The Last Supper (we got that one, most put Mona Lisa).

They put out a trivia sheet each morning at the Library (as if 2 or 3 trivia sessions a day isn’t enough?).  Yesterday it was famous pairs (they give you one, you have to name the other).  Today it was food trivia.  I quizzed Krissie on them while we were getting ready for dinner.  What is the most expensive spice in the world?  Saffron.  What is the more common name of the filbert nut?  Hazelnut.  What is the main vegetable in borscht?  Beet.  What do mace and nutmeg have in common?  They come from the same fruit.  What is the only food that doesn’t spoil?  Honey (finally one she didn’t get).

Sunsets are happening later each day as we move further south, but starting tomorrow, we turn back the clocks another hour, so they will be back before 7p again.  But we go to one of the specialty restaurants tomorrow night with Rosemary and Bernie at 7:30p, so maybe I’ll be able to catch the sunrise tomorrow as well.  I decided that sunrise photos are harder to take, since you can’t really get setup for the pics in advance, like you can with sunrise photos.  The sun is still glaring until just before sunset, so I can’t start taking pics until after the sun is already partly down over the horizon.  Even then, I have to keep the camera on the LCD viewfinder and keep my eyes shielded from looking directly into the sun.  It isn’t until the last glint of the sun that I can actually look through the viewfinder.  Here is my best photo from the sunrise tonight.

I took 43 photos, yet Krissie chose the very first one, while the sun was still up and I was viewing the setting through the LCD display.  So the pics went downhill from there.  Perhaps I didn’t start early enough.  No green flash today, either, since the clouds were too close to the horizon.  I am taking my sunrise and sunset photos with my DSLR, but most of the other photos around the ship are with my PowerShot.  So I’m still using both cameras.  The DSLR is the better camera, but it’s also large and bulky, not something I want to be generally carrying around with me.

The show tonight was an encore performance by Lavena Fox, who also performed a few nights ago.

We watched Flipped at Movies Under The Stars tonight while sitting in the hot tub up the pool deck for the first part of the movie, then we moved to the loungers.  This was the second time we had seen Flipped and enjoyed it again.  There aren’t many movies I would watch twice and enjoy both times.  This is one of them.

Tomorrow we arrive in Pago Pago.  We are going to do a taxi tour with Brenda and Dave Martin in the morning, then end up at Tisa’s Barefoot Bar in the afternoon.  At least that’s the plan.