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At Sea - June 16, 2015

6/16/2015

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Today was a sea day. However, it was not like the sea days on the cruise to Cozumel a couple of years ago. Then, we were truly at sea and could not see land at all. Today, we could almost always see land. At times, we could see land on both sides, because we were taking the inside passage.

We had breakfast in the Parrot Cay dining room. After breakfast, we went to a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) member party. We played some games and sat through a sales pitch for the newest DVC property at the Polynesian at Disney World. It looks pretty cool. We are not going to buy more points right now, but it would be nice to stay there sometime. At the end of the sales pitch, they drew out a name to win $200 of shipboard credit, and I won!! I was really surprised when they called my name. We decided we would put the credit to good use.

Sarah went to the Vibe to hang out with her friends for the day. Kate and I had lunch at Palo. The food was wonderful. It was a buffet, but you could still order from the galley. We started with the buffet. They had the best sea scallops I have ever eaten. Kate ordered a chicken parmesan dish. I had Oysters Rockefeller and a pasta dish. We both ate entirely too much. After lunch, we went back to the room and collapsed into a food coma.
Sarah and Pluto
Sarah and Minnie
Sarah and Harry
Kate
Sarah and Goofy
Kate and Goofy (me)
At 2:00, we were scheduled for a martini tasting. Kate and I headed for the Cadillac lounge where we sampled a variety of martinis. We had the traditional gin and vodka martinis along with some sweeter tasting drinks. My favorite was the gin martini, plain and simple.
Martinis
I didn't drink all of these. Only the first row was mine.
The head bartender at Cadillac led the tasting. His name is Miroslav, and he is from Serbia. He was a lot of fun. He had a couple of people helping him out. Jose is from somewhere in South America. There was another gentleman from India, but I can’t remember his name. We also met a couple there named Mark and Margaret. They live in California, but they lived in Bay City, MI for awhile working for Dow Chemical.

Dinner was in the Parrot Cay dining room. Once again, the food was good. Yusuf and Harry provided great service, and we had fun.

After dinner, I went for a walk. Deck 4 is the only deck where you can walk around the entire ship outside. In the bow, you can see the anchors, chains and huge ropes they use to moor the ship. It is pretty amazing. The aft just has some hallways. 

During my walk, a boat came along side to drop off a pilot. This is someone who is very familiar with the waters you are navigating. Pilots are not needed in the open sea, but when you get close to shore, there are many hazards the ship needs to avoid. The pilot comes on board to steer the ship through the hazards. I first learned about pilots when we lived in Louisiana. There were pilots who would navigate the big ships through different parts of the Mississippi River up to New Orleans. It was pretty cool watching the pilot boat come along side and see them transfer someone on board while the ship was moving. 
The pilot boat racing to catch up.
This is how I knew for sure it was a pilot.
Transferring the pilot while the ship is moving.
Heading home
Lighthouse being restored
Fishing trawler
Container ship. I'm sure they had a pilot too.
Anchor chain
Sunset from the veranda.
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    Robin ROberts

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