We were, ironically, sitting in 3rd officer Dennis' navigational bridge lecture, learning about the GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System), and hearing that, already this morning there had been a couple of boats in distress off the coast of Florida but the Emerald Princess was too far away to respond, when Captain Nick interrupted with an announcement that a passenger had possibly spotted a grey lifeboat on the horizon at about 10:30am and that the Emerald Princess would be returning to its 10:30am position. He invited everyone to go out on the port side decks to help in the identification of the possibly adrift boat (which was like sounding a bugle at the hunt). He also warned that the 180 degree turn that we would be experiencing accompanied by the strong easterly wind would cause the Emerald Princess to list to about 2%, simply because the ballast would need to be shifted from starboard to port.
Such excitement! Chief Engineer Roddy sent word that his technical lecture, scheduled to begin immediately following Dennis' presentation, would have to be cancelled as he was busily involved in all this.
We ventured up to Deck 8 at the very front of the ship. There were several people up there looking out (as if we could see more with the naked eye than they could see with high-powered binoculars from the bridge). With my poor vision, I focused instead on the impressive sprays of water over the bow as the Emerald Princess raced back to where the life raft had been spotted. In the end, there was no life raft and no rescue. I think what the passenger may have seen was a small Venezuelan fishing boat that the bridge had had contact with and that was not in distress. Captain Nick kept everyone informed with frequent announcements and by noon we were back on our way again.
What it looked like to the naked eye (see the fishing boat?)
Zoomed in
I couldn't help but think that the passenger had been placed in an untenable situation...he would not have been able to live with himself if he hadn't reported seeing something, but now had to live with the fact that he had reversed the course of the ship and delayed it by two hours, costing who knows how much in extra fuel costs. Makes me glad to know my vision will preclude me from ever being in that position.
Following lunch in the dining room, I took care of some personal grooming details (nails) before we headed back downstairs for this cruise's wine tasting. Afterwards, we checked out the passenger laundry on our deck, but it was busy, busy, and so we put off doing laundry until another day. Instead, we took some time getting ready for formal night. We were in the cabin when our four chocolate covered strawberries were delivered and so made short order of those. We had a bottle of Korbel with tonight's lobster and chocolate dessert, and I've decided that champagne and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations.
I couldn't initially talk G into the production show What a Swell Party early this evening; instead we went to the Explorers Lounge to listen to dance music and (more importantly) occupy two seats leading up to comedian AJ Jamal's second show on the ship. His first was last night, and though we missed that one, we took the fact that the Explorers Lounge was full a half hour before the 8pm show to be a good sign. It was. He was fantastic, and you know that, coming from me, that's saying something. I hope we get to see his other show later this winter.
Then- lucky G- the second performance of What a Swell Party was about to begin, so we raced to the Princess Theater and there were a few seats left in our favorite front row. Now, this will probably be our only attendance at What a Swell Party this winter, as Cole Porter's music is not our favorite, but, regardless of that, the costumes and set from this show are really spectacular, as is the choreography, and I really enjoyed seeing it tonight.
Finally, it's popcorn, fuzzy water, blogging, bed, in that order. Captain Nick said we'd get a bit of a reprieve from the bounciness as we sailed on the west side of Haiti and he was right. I want to try to fall sleep during this brief lull in the action.