Thursday 10th January
FUNCHAL, MADEIRA

After our two delays totalling about 18 hours on our journey here we ended up just 1 1/2 hours late docking in Madeira after going like the clappers all night! The morning weather was beautiful as we sailed in to join the Fred Olsen ship Balmoral which was already in. With clear blue skies and temperatures about 16 degrees we set off after breakfast for a nice walk right along the front to the old town, then climbed up the steep cobbled streets to have a lovely view back across the bay towards the ship. We then walked through the back streets to the large market which had fruit, vegetables, flowers, fish and meat. Very colourful with exotic flowers and fruits but also smelly in the fish part!
We stopped for ice cream on the way back which we ate in a pavement cafe and watched the world go by. We arrived back at the ship about 3pm so sat out on the balcony catching up on family and friends as I could use my own WiFi there. We set sail at 6pm with all the lights of the town twinkling down the hillside as we started the second part of our journey across the Atlantic.
After dinner we went to see the show which was two men called DNA. They were on Britain’s Got Talent and are claimed to be mind readers. I must admit they’re a very polished act and I came out thinking Wow, how did they do that? Very entertaining and looking forward to their next show.

11th - 15th January
AT SEA

Sea days seem to blend all together when you have a few on the trot. This episode is 5 days long, and slowly but surely you can tell we’re heading towards better weather. The air is warmer and you can feel the heat in the sun. People started to sit out with their faces turned upwards but with jumpers on which slowly turned to T-shirt’s, then to swimwear.
I started my deck walking again as I get bored in the gym walking on a treadmill. David Attenborough could definitely do a wildlife program on deck walking on a cruise ship!

The Untamed Ritual of Cruise Humans.
There is an unusual and weird variety of humans that are a rare race unto themselves. Every day they come out of their burrows as the sun comes up to parade round with some of their fellow humans. They hunt in herds but it’s easy to decipher the male dominant ones by what they wear. They are spotted by wearing Lycra knee length shorts, Lycra t-shirts and pound the decks barging past any other lesser mortal that might be in their way. You then get the under males, not so prominent in the herd and these can be spotted wearing old running shorts, off white vest tops and black socks with sandals. These tend to plod round taking up the whole width of the deck making puffing noises. The females of the species are different also. The dominate females can be seen wearing multi coloured leggings, cropped tops, a sweat band and holding a water bottle while the older females wear orthopaedic sandals, polyester trousers and a floral blouse.
Round and round they go, ducking and diving between the sleeping, grazing and reading humans. If you look closely some of the humans loose their teeth whilst sleeping sitting up, sucking noisily on them when awaking. This ritual occurs daily but more so in the mornings when the humans arise from an excess of food and drink the night before. After, they all scuttle back to their burrows to repeat it all the following day.

Anyway, back to the 5 days at sea.

We really noticed we had crossed into tropical weather on the 3rd sea day ( Sunday) when we had calm seas and blue skies all day with temperature up to 23 degrees. Flying fish were spotted as were large silver fish ( tarpon, Tuna?) jumping and splashing back into the water. The decks were full with white pasty bodies giving worship to the sun which meant that at dinner in the evening a lot of them resembled lobsters. We also won the quiz in the evening but you don’t get a bottle of wine anymore when you win, just a sticker that you can save up and claim a prise at the end of the cruise.
The 4th sea day wasn’t quite so good with cloud and an occasional tropical shower in the morning but after lunch it was beautiful again.
Out 5th day made us realise we were definitely nearing the Caribbean. Sun blazed down all day and temperatures were up to 28 degrees. The Captain informed us this morning that we were just passing a rowing boat and sounded the ships horn. He had been in touch by radio and evidently it was being rowed across the Atlantic by two men and it would take them 2 months to do it. They row for 2 hours then rest for 2 hours the whole time even through the night! I felt exhausted for them so decided to have another cocktail