After the unavoidable delays we finally boarded our ship, the Boudicca, just before noon on Friday 7th February, duly setting sail for points north at about 3pm. Despite the delays the atmosphere on board was generally relaxed and jolly, with the exception of the usual professional complainers who seem to take their only pleasure in finding fault. I tend to steer clear of these misery mongers.
The day was set fair as we sailed into the North Sea. Settled in a comfortable cabin, we set off to explore the extensive facilities of our home for the next two weeks. There was a good programme of activities to amuse us, from classical music to light entertainment, wonderful talks, dance classes and other physical pursuits, craft, quizzes and many more too numerous to mention.
In the early evening we met our four dining companions, who proved, over the course of the next few days to be very agreeable and good fun to be with. We found we had innumerable areas of common interest. We retired around 10.30 pm and were soon fast asleep in our comfortable berths.
Nearly ten hours later we awoke refreshed and hurried to dress to avoid missing breakfast. Strict vital hygiene measures were the order of the day for the first 72 hours as the Captain was determined that none of his passengers were going to be inconvenienced by ill health brought on board.
Captain Sten Ronny Jensen's broadcast of his Master's Report amuses us each day at noon, prefaced with a cheery "It's me again!" He regaled us with details of where we were, our speed, bearings, etc, liberally sprinkled with anecdotes. From time to time he would point out landmarks and places of interest as we passed them.
So here we are steaming north through the Arctic Circle having already achieved our objective. After several false calls of "the lights are showing" we finally were rewarded at around 10.30 pm by a dazzling display above us as we sailed under a clear star-lit sky. The Aurora was visible for a full 25 minutes! Success! Anything more will be a massive bonus. Still lots to enjoy on this journey.
HI Terri Glad you saw the Northern Lights.Must have been wonderful. Can you not get rid of the 'robot' thing, it is so annoying and you would certainly get more viewers and commentors if you stopped it. You can change it to you seeing the comments first and then if you wish, only then publish them. the other thing that you might like to consider is either changing your font text (which I like but cannot read) or keeping the same one but making it bigger. I had to put it up to 150! to read the poem you have posted 21 February, which I liked incidentally. I am only making these suggestions so that more people will read and see you blog, however this may not be your goal.
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