Second Day at Sea!

Today was easily the most laid-back, simple day we’ve had on vacation so far. I don’t think Mal cried about anything, and James and I both got a few minutes to ourselves. And we saw a couple of albatrosses escorting our ship for more than an hour, as well as a larger bird that was likely a juvenile brown pelican. That thing was HUGE. I took a picture zoomed in and showed James. He said, “That doesn’t look real!” I told him, “You were standing RIGHT HERE when I took it.” He said, “I think it’s Photoshopped.” It WAS pretty cool.

This morning, we took our time. Mal wasn’t in a hurry to get out, so I ran and got him some doughnuts, then James went out to breakfast. We slowly got ready, then decided around 10 to go to the arcade. We left James a note and walked over. About half an hour later, James joined us.

We walked through the “library,” which, on this ship, is just a couple of rows of old paperbacks and some magazines in one of the between-elevator-bay sitting areas on deck 10. It’s its own room on other ships I’ve been on; guess it wasn’t a hugely popular option for this particular class?

I forgot to mention it yesterday, but Mal and I DID go to the game room, so today we took James in and showed him, as he’d not been there yet. James set up checkers and chess to show Mal, who wants to play chess, not checkers, but doesn’t want there to be rules about where the parts go or how they move.

At this point, Mal asked for French fries, and we headed to the Windjammer buffet. On the way, he changed his mind and said he wanted waffles, but I told him that since it was 11:30, it was probably too late for waffles. But we hit the jackpot because they were still serving breakfast when we got there, then they opened up the lunch section a few minutes later. Mal got waffles AND fries! And I had some yummy sweet corn and onion soup, and a ginger chicken noodle bowl. James got a cheeseburger, and we also had the added benefit of seeing the tip of Mexico 9 nautical miles off of the starboard side as we cruised by.

Mal was ready to swim, so we went to the pool while James took a shower and rested a little. After we’d been there about an hour, James joined us. Then we tagged me out to come shower and get ready for dinner.

When James and Mal got back, we had some down time before going to the MDR for our supper. That’s when we saw the birds putting on a show outside. There were smaller white birds, too, but every time I reached for my camera, they disappeared. It was a fascinating bird show, for sure.

At dinner, Mal opened up a mini Etch-a-Sketch, which really kept him occupied for most of the hour. He actually ate all of the chicken he got, even after having had two slices of pizza an hour earlier. He did spend 2 hours in the sun and water, and in addition to being ravenous also has his first pink cheeks from sun. His arms just turned chestnut, and because of the rashguard, he now has a nice farmer’s tan.

James got the poblano soup, which he told me I’d hate but he loved. I had the seafood cake. Then for our main dishes, he got lasagna and I had an exquisite mushroom risotto. Dessert was warm dark chocolate cooke with ice cream for him and a lemon panna cotta for me (I know, who am I?). 

As we were finishing up our main dish, the photographer came by to snap a picture of James and me. Unfortunately, when James scooted his extra-heavy fancy chair over to be closer, he came down on my sandaled little toe. So instead of saying “cheese,” I cried a lot, and the dinner staff brought me an ice pack. The photographer came back, and if I’d thought of it, I’d have tried to talk my way into a free print, but hindsight…

It’s a little before 9 but I. AM. BEAT. 

Tomorrow’s Roatan! Can’t wait.