It’s Tuesday and we’re more or less at the western end of the English Channel now. The challenge now is to try to find a new routine after leaving the one from the hotel behind. The seas are a bit rougher today – Still calm by any standard, but I’ve been feeling anxious about the voyage for a few days. I know what it’s like to out in real seas with 6m+ waves. Right now it’s probably only half of that, but in my experience no amount of medication is going to stop me from calling for Hughie if we get seas like that.
Not that I think I’ll be the first to suffer. But this isn’t a coastal cruise – It’s an Atlantic crossing, and we’re about to go through the Bay of Biscay in December.
The crew set up our makeshift gym today. We’ve got a ru0+nning machine (not sure how well that’s going to work), a spinning machine (probably more my style) and a rowing machine (I tried it, but it’s a cheap one and doesn’t feel very natural to use). I also fund yet more BAS cargo stored in the lower cabins.
Speaking of which, I should tell you a bit about those. Deck 2 cabins aren’t being used on this trip, as there are only 40 of us “guests” on board and there are some 50+ cabins available. A few of them are stuffed with BAS boxes, one is our gym and (I discovered after randomly trying all the doors) two are being used by officer cadets on board. Normally the ship isn’t able to carry cadets as cabin space is at a premium, but on this voyage there are plenty of spares so there are two trainees.
I am on Deck 3, which means I get two large square windows to look out of, instead of the smaller portholes that Deck 2 gets. Deck 4 cabins have a pair of sliding patio door onto the promenade deck, which runs all around deck 4 from bow to stern. Deck 5 cabins get their own little balconies and there are a couple of staterooms on Deck 6 with their own separate lounges on top of that.
Time to see how the Bay of Biscay works out.