Sea Days

When Rick and I were offered the opportunity to take a dream trip through the Panama Canal, we jumped at it.  Now, on board the Island Princess ship sailing south from Los Angeles, we’ve settled into our room, unpacked our bags and stowed them under the bed, and are enjoying the warm, salt sea air. 

With four sea days before we reach Guatemala, I expected to get a lot of writing done.  Alas, the constant rocking and the sound of the waves against the hull, relaxed me so much, I’ve spent much of my time sleeping like a baby in a cradle.  We’ve enjoyed the luxury of breakfast and coffee delivered to our room before heading to the Wedding Chapel for a morning Bible study.  We’re a mixed bunch of Catholic-Protestant-Baptist-Charismatic and thoroughly enjoy sharing a time in scripture together.   

By 10:30 a.m., Rick and I have returned to our state room to read.  Rick gets up earlier (3:15 a.m) and reads faster reader than I do.  He’s has already finished reading the pile of books he packed for the trip.  We found the ship’s library so he could replenish his stock, but it won’t be long before he’ll be on the hunt again.  I’ve read four books so far, one called Good to Go (by Jo Myers) about preparing for death.  The book is packed with valuable information written with high good humor that had me laughing through chunks of it.

After a week of sleeping like a hibernating bear, and spending our waking hours reading and eating scrumptious meals, we decided it was high time to walk the deck.  Using the stairs instead of the elevator to get to the dining room, library (and ice cream bar) just wasn’t giving us enough exercise.  Three times around the ship makes a smidgen over a mile — a nice stroll on the flat at a brisk enough pace to have a shiny, moist glow in the increasingly warm humidity.

Each time around, the deck chairs looked more inviting.  

We finished our mile-plus, went back to our state room for showers.  Rick went out on the small private veranda to play lizard on a chaise lounge while I sprawled on the bed and snored loudly enough to make mermaids rise from the depths of the deep blue sea to investigate the racket.