Wash Tales

(Monday-Tuesday)

On a cruise this long, it is obviously necessary to do a few loads of laundry. We do get free laundry services from the ship, but some delicates or things you need quickly are best done yourself in the sink or the self service machines onboard.

Today was wash day, so I was first into the self service room down the hall, but certainly not last. As I waited the last few minutes of the spin cycle, half a dozen or so others came and went. A woman in a robe ironing the shorts in order to dry them to be worn that day. A couple from England doing several loads who were very chatty and told me ALL about their adventures across the USA seeing 35 of our 50 states and doing the remaining 15 next year. (Look out all you Midwest states). A Chinese couple who put in a load for four minutes, then stopped the cycle, grabbed everything out of the washer (yes wet) and left. Ohhhhkay.

The other wash to speak of is the wadi. Apparently Arabic for ‘low valley where the rains gather’, aka dry wash to us from the southwest US. Upon returning to the ship yesterday, we heard many comments about how this area is one giant sand bucket. And many of the people were very dismissive of the landscape. I figure the Australians on this trip have just never seen the interior of their own country. Tom and I have seen a very little bit of it, and it is not much different from southern New Mexico, inland California, or Las Vegas, Nevada.

These are pretty lazy sea days for everyone onboard. Lazing by the pool, reading books, meeting up with friends for meals or games or just visiting. Although there are many active folks, too. This is the first time I have seen the shuffleboard courts in use on ship! It seems all the venues have enthusiasts; golf, basketball, the gym, spin classes, lap pools, ping pong tournaments, in addition to the movies, games and lectures. The ship still does not seem crowded except in Horizon Court.

For those of you keeping track of our westerly progress, yesterday at noon we were 406 nautical miles from Salalah, Oman and had entered the Gulf of Aden. Last night we made a slight right turn off the coast by Djibouti, and right at midnight we crossed the narrow passage into the Red Sea. We still have all of Tuesday and Wednesday in the Red Sea on our way up to Aqaba, Jordan where we should arrive on Thursday. Still no pirates, and this morning they removed the guard watches, took down the defensive measures and opened up the aft promenade once again.