A Total Eclipse of the Sun

On Wednesday morning March 9, we witnessed one of nature’s great spectacles. A total solar eclipse from the Sea Princess. We were fortunate to have an astronomer on board who gave an interesting lecture yesterday on what to expect and was on the bridge today to give a commentary as the event occurred.

Having set ourselves up on the top deck at around 8.30am we saw the sun rising higher as the moon progressively covered the sun. We were provided with special viewing glasses, and even then, were warned to only look through them for 10-15 seconds at a time to avoid permanent eye damage. We were also advised to avoid using our cameras to as not to damage them, so we are relying on the ship’s photographers this time, as they had the correct filters.

Unfortunately, we had some cloud cover so we were not able to see the moon when it covered the sun, however we were able to observe other things that occurred during totality. Where it had been humid, suddenly it felt very cool. The light began to disappear like a fast forward sunset, and the ship’s emergency lighting came on. We were opposite a small vessel and her lights came on also. At that point, had we not had the cloud cover, for a few minutes it would have been safe to look up without our safety glasses to see the moon fully obscuring the sun.

After exactly 2 minutes 16 seconds, the sea changed colour as the sky became brighter, it suddenly felt quite humid again and things returned to normal. The whole process took two hours from when the eclipse began. The captain did a great job, doing his best moving the ship to get us into the best position and stopping for the duration of the eclipse. However, he could not control the cloud cover!

Even though we did not get to see totality, it was still quite eerie and a once in a lifetime experience. We were told that, on average, there is a total solar eclipse somewhere in the world around every 16 months. If you simply stayed at home, on average you would wait between 360 and 410 years. So we think ourselves very fortunate to be here, and being in the middle of the ocean was a great place to be part of the experience.

Eclipse viewing glasses

Around the World – and back again!

A week has quickly passed since we arrived back home and we have been forced to go back to cold, hard reality. So with some housework, shopping and cooking behind me now, I think back to our wonderful vacation which we were so lucky to have and I can’t help but daydream of the days we spent with nothing on our minds except relaxing and looking at the vast expanse of ocean all around, whilst we waited to arrive in another exciting port.

So if you haven’t cruised before, or maybe not done a long one like we just did, what are the pros and cons of cruising?

The pros:
• Unpack once
• Comfortable accommodation
• Excellent staff
• New and exciting ports
• Great food – 24/7
• Choice of restaurants
• Varied activities
• Do nothing
• Choice of exercise activities including great gym

The cons:
• Can’t avoid the sea days – some people do get bored (we love them)
• Stays in port are usually only for one day

Okay, so trying to see a place like New York in a day is obviously not going to happen, but the good thing is that you get an idea of places you want to visit again and knowing the layout makes it easier to get around with a plan next time. So the only real con that I could think of can be turned into a positive!

We had a wonderful time and here are some of the things that will stay in our memories:

Our home away from home – very comfortable and lots of storage.

and the man responsible for keeping our cabin looking that way for 104 nights. He came twice a day, every day...

and the man responsible for keeping our cabin looking that way for 104 nights. He came three times a day, every day…

The beautiful Sea Princess

Lots to see and do. We liked the martini demos

Food, glorious food…

Our waiters in the dining room. No matter what asked for, the word "no"was not in his vocabulary

Our waiters in the dining room. No matter what we asked for, the word “no” was not in their vocabulary

Meeting new friends…and lots of laughs

These are the couples we dined with each night

Two of the three pools on the ship

What’s not to love about waiters in white gloves serving afternoon tea

Just imagine – a warm, balmy night, movies under the stars on the big screen with a soda and fresh popcorn!

Such exciting destinations

Excellent local guides - so proud to share knowledge

Excellent local guides – so proud of their country and to share their culture

Exotic drinks in exotic locations

Who could fail to be impressed when a whole town comes to say goodbye! Fond memories of Cobh, Ireland....

Who could fail to be impressed when a whole town comes out to say goodbye! Fond memories of Cobh, Ireland….

So what does the future hold? Obviously more cruises in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. We would definitely do another world cruise even if some of the ports were the same, but maybe the next vacation will be to Canada, Alaska and North America. However with a daughter getting married next year, we will need to work around that, as well as some vague plans (at this stage) to move house.

We have also realised that our world trip did not go exactly as planned. We thought that by going to so many countries, we would be able to narrow down the ones we wanted to visit again. Unfortunately not – with only a couple of exceptions we would gladly go back to most of them so it does make it hard to decide where to go next.

As I scrapbook some of our photos and find a place for our souvenirs (not easy!), I would like to say thank you to everyone who stopped by and took the time to read about our trip. These posts were really only started so that friends and family would know where we were and the fact that so many others followed along and actually liked what I wrote is quite humbling.

So I hope you will continue to drop by from time to time and see what we do next. In between crafting and caring for animal welfare, weddings and house plans, we will also be researching the next trip. I’m excited already just thinking about where in the world it will be!

The Day That Never Was!

Sunday, August 25, 2013 was a day we will not remember; this was the day that was completely omitted when we crossed the International Date Line. So we went straight from Saturday to Monday and although it was a pity to lose a day, no one really noticed as one day seems just like another on board ship.

Seas are calm and the weather has been wonderful – we have hardly seen any rain at all. Our vacation is coming to an end …. and we don’t want to go home!