March 8, 2016 - At noon each day the Captain gives an update from the bridge on our location, time to the next destination, weather conditions, sea conditions and a little briefing. Today the briefing was about International Woman's Day. Chances are you have never heard of Woman's Day. Evidently more renown in Europe than the U.S., it's a day to honor women and bring to light the need for equality both in the work place and at home.
Our Captain Serena Melani, is an inspiration. In a private conversation she mentioned how difficult it was to be hired by any of the lines as a deck officer. During her time at sea, she spent a number of years sailing on Carnival as a junior officer before taking a respite on cargo ships. She chose to return to passenger ships, and was hired by Regent as a Staff Captain, and now recently promoted to Captain.
The ship's resident anthropologist, Terry Breen's lecture was on the Amazon, the second longest river in the world (75 miles shorter than the Nile). She dispelled more than one myth, and in most cases with 30 miles between the shores, we are no longer expecting to have to make our way, vine by vine with machete through the jungle. Some of the more amazing facts are that 10 of the world's largest 20 rivers are part of the Amazon! Well over 3,000 tributaries drain into the Amazon basin; one days discharge at the mouth of the river could supply every U.S.household with water for 5 months (over 7,100,000 cubic feet per second)!
She mentioned that Manaus is 900 miles up river and the river is still navigable beyond that! As we sail into the Amazon, we will take on board two Amazonian pilots, as the river shifts and changes so often the navigation charts aren't currently accurate.
It was a fascinating talk, and I'll fill you in with more tidbits in the next blog!
The ship is under Code Red - the GI virus has spread and now there are 11 that are confined to quarters. As scary as this sounds, it is actually quite comforting to see how they handle the sanitation aboard. Think of everything you might touch during the day, and that is now handled by a person. Most notably is service in the buffet, both in the Veranda and the Coffee Connection. No longer can you reach across and help yourself to bacon, eggs, bread, fruit etc, there is someone there that serves you, so you do not touch any serving pieces. The tables at my favorite spot along the walkway on Deck Six are constantly being wiped down; the wicker chairs throughout the ship are wiped down along the back and sides where you might pull the chair out to be seated. You can no longer help yourself to coffee from the expresso machine, there is someone there to assist. Every surface is wiped, re-wiped, and wiped yet again. EVERY surface! Our doors, the elevator buttons, they have removed the hand cloths from the bathrooms and replaced them with Kleenex...messy but cleaner. Everywhere you see the ship's crew carrying spray bottles of cleaner and disposable cleaning cloths. The ship's staff is meticulous and conscientious. We have found out that any one under quarantine has their photo distributed to the crew and if anyone is found to have broken quarantine they are put off of the ship in the next port of call...Regardless of where that might be! I am quite impressed with the diligence and thoroughness. I spoke to Captain Serena a few minutes ago, and we are holding steady - no new cases. Good news.
For now I'm off to read a bit, or maybe work on my cross stitch (same one as last time!)
No comments:
Post a Comment