En Route to Reunion

Sunday Mornings at Sea

On British ships it is tradition that the captain conducts a Christian service. Since there wasn’t a Catholic priest onboard to conduct mass, I attended the Traditional Maritime Church Service, conducted by Captain Thorhauge. People of any Christian denomination would have found things in the service familiar to their own worship service. We sang some very traditional British hymns, but the one that always tugs at my heart was “Eternal Father,” or in the U.S., “The Navy Hymn.”

The captain announced that contributions to the collection box outside the Royal Court Theater would benefit maritime charities and that any country’s currency would be welcomed. It’s a good way for passengers to put to good work the odd bits of money they have left over from their last port, which would only clutter up drawers at home.

Later that afternoon, an Anglican priest, one of the passengers, conducted a communion service. A Jewish Sabbath Eve worship service is scheduled for Friday evenings. However, the schedule asked for a guest to lead the service. So other than the captain’s service, any other religious group is dependent on a clergymen being among the passengers.

On my way to the service, I came across a tiny, elderly woman holding a schedule in her hand, looking as though she needed some help finding her way. When I asked her if she was looking for the church service, she replied, “Oh, no, I’m looking for the pub.”

Golden Lion Pub

Leaving the theater at 11:00 a.m., I passed the large clock that sits at the top of a grand staircase and heard it sound Westminster chimes (the familiar chimes sounded by Big Ben). Nearby the Golden Lion pub and a British phone box. No matter where you go on this ship, you never feel you are far from Britain.

Clock Staircase

One of the best features of being onboard a Cunard vessel is the Insights Lecture programs, where experts in a variety of fields give lectures on sea days. Today, Gloria Barnett, an experienced sea diver and teacher, gave the first of several lectures about the ocean world.

www.worldbeneaththewaves.com

Being on the ocean, and having just spent hours at the Cape Town Two Oceans Aquarium, I was thrilled to see this program announced. Ms. Barnett’s presentation, which more than likely was based on her teaching course material, was excellent. This series may be as good as taking Oceanography 101 (without any of the exams). Ms. Barnett had a great sense of humor, was understandable, and provided excellent slides.  

She talked about the origins of water on earth (ice comets hitting the earth 3.8 billion years ago), how much of the earth’s surface is covered by water (70 percent), how the oceans control our weather systems, and how plankton supplies 50-80 percent of the Earth’s oxygen—all things that point to how important the oceans are to life on this planet. She pointed out the marine life that lives at the various depths in the ocean, and that only three explores have ever reached the lowest levels. She also noted that the Indian Ocean has some of the deepest levels, which I didn’t find comforting as we are now crossing that ocean. I’m looking forward to the next lecture in her series.

The other speaker for this segment will be a former Concorde pilot. We have had speakers who talked about military history; famous popular composers and performers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Ella Fitzgerald; famous criminal cases in Britain presented by a retired policeman; and a popular British woman sports commentator.

Speaking of oceans, when we left Cape Town about midnight, we rounded the Cape of Good Hope and later Cape Agulhas, the most southerly tip of Africa and the dividing line between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. The currents created by the meeting of the two oceans gave us quite a bumpy ride during the night. If we had sailed during dinner as we usually do, the dishes would have been flying off the tables.

We are currently traveling northeast along the coast of Africa, no longer traveling south. We’ve also begun to lose an hour of time about every second night as we travel east. According to the captain, the current flowing between nearby Mozambique and Madagascar creates rough waters.  

We’re in for another rocky ride tonight.

Note: There is a lag of time between when we actually visit a place and when I get the blog entry written and posted. So if you are following our route by the date on our itinerary, don’t get confused.