Seven Days at Sea

From Grand Canary, it will take us seven days at sea before we reach our next port, Walvis Bay, Namibia. So far, we’ve sailed through the Cape Verde Basin, and although we haven’t been able to see land, our ship has passed along the coastlines of Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The list of places that we’ve come close to but not seen continues to grow.

Our route took us within 15 nautical miles of Cap Vert, a peninsula in Senegal and the most western point of the continent of Africa. Along this route, we’ve spotted a number of commercial vessels in the distance, so this appears to be a frequently traveled course or shipping lane. Sadly, given our location, it is likely the course followed by slave traders in earlier centuries. If we were to sail directly east into the Gulf of Guinea, we would run into what is identified on the map as the Slave Coast.

A webcam at the bow (front) of the ship shows where the ship is, day and night. If you are interested in seeing what the webcam is showing, enter the URL for the Cunard site. From there you can search for the Queen Elizabeth web cam. I haven’t been able to get the exact URL for the web cam. www.cunard.co.uk/cruise-ships/queen-elizabeth/.

During our days at sea, we’ve seen lots of seabirds but not much marine life. That is until today when we finally saw several large groups (or what the bridge announcer called “pods”) of dolphins swimming along side the ship. Nearby, schools of flying fish were popping out of the water. We’ve mostly seeing seagulls. It’s always a surprise to see birds so far from land.

Crossing the Equator

At 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 19, we crossed the equator, the imaginary line that separates the northern and southern hemispheres. For sailors, this has always been a big occasion. People who haven’t crossed the equator are called Pollywogs. If you’ve crossed the equator and been initiated, you become a Shellback. The crew holds a ceremony for those who wish to become Shellbacks and they initiate you by dumping all kinds of disgusting things over you and then dunking you in the pool. (I think it’s the crew’s way of exacting revenge on passengers). John became a Shellback on our last long voyage. I’m content to remain an uninitiated Pollywog.

Crossing the equator also means that we are now in the South Atlantic and the southern hemisphere. We also crossed the line just above the equator called the Tropic of Cancer and later will cross the Tropic of Capricorn. It’s your position relative to these lines that denotes whether you are in the tropics or subtropics. The region between the two lines is the tropics or what is also called the “torrid zone.”

Later we also crossed the Greenwich or Prime Meridian, a line of longitude that runs through Greenwich, England, which means that we officially crossed from west to east.

At one point, we passed the volcanic island of Ascension, which is situated roughly midway between South America and Africa. We heard that the U.S. Air Force operates a telescope there to track orbital debris. It’s comforting to know that someone is keeping track of all the trash we’ve left in outer space.

Since leaving the turbulent waters of the Bay of Biscay, the seas have become a beautiful shade of cobalt blue and, thankfully, remarkably smooth. I’m sorry to report to readers dealing with heavy snow that the further south we travel, the hotter the days are becoming. It’s the moist air from this area that makes its way to the North American continent and affects the weather patterns there (hurricanes, etc.).

The sunbathers have been out on the top decks in full force. We’ve noticed that there are three categories of passengers: those who are determined to get every ray of sunshine they can get and are on the sun decks all day (to the point the captain keeps making announcements about the need for sunblock and lots of water). Then there are those passengers who find a quiet spot in the various lounges and never see the light of day. The rest prefer the promenade deck, which provides an outside covered area to walk around the ship or to relax on deck chairs and watch the water go by.

We’ll let you guess which area we’re heading for.