Sailing the South China Sea – February 10

30 degrees, humid, lots of breeze while sailing

I love sea days when there is no schedule and we can do whatever we please – usually little to nothing. We take full advantage of the beautiful room and balcony on the boat. 

This morning I went to the gym followed by a made to order pineapple, carrot, spinach, ginger juice. After a shower I decided not to make a coffee in the room and went out for a couple. We have an espresso maker in the room which is espresso only - good for that, but I wanted something else.

late morning beverages

The ship’s coffee bar will make any kind of boozy, ‘fancy’ coffee your heart desires…the menu is quite extensive. However, when all I ended up wanting was a Bailey’s coffee…that’s when things went haywire. It was like no one had ever ordered that ‘obscure’ drink before. There were 3 guys trying to tackle it. I think the problem was that they don’t have good ol’ coffee here, it’s all about espresso. Ok…how about an Americano with Bailey’s I asked? Nope, they couldn’t understand why I didn’t want milk in it. Finally after much negotiation, I was on my way with what was quite delicious. They were very nice about it and super interested in making what I wanted, but just didn't get it.

The rest of the morning was spent reading and with technology. The wifi on the boat is really quite good. It’s certainly not as fast as on-land wifi, and has the occasional moment of non-existence, but let’s me post all kinds of full-sized photos, play games, download the Calgary Herald and we have even been able to look at a few Youtube videos.

After lunch Chris got a haircut and I got a pedicure. We have a bunch of ship credits that with booze, tours, laundry and dry cleaning included make it quite a challenge to spend. So far we’ve bought some dental floss, I got a dress repaired and then the haircut and pedicure.

More napping was called for in the late afternoon followed by in-room, balcony pre-dinner snacks and wine. We get spoiled every day around 5:00 when Mark our butler serves us a snack – as if we are starving. When he first started bringing them they were enormous and with him bringing Chris chopped up red and yellow peppers I was tasked with eating way too much food – delicious, but seriously!! We eventually asked for only half an order and it’s still a ton. Last night as it was Ash Wednesday, we asked for no meat and got cheese. It was delicious, with the amount we got I’m shocked we still had room for dinner – we did. 

For dinner Chris and I both ordered a Filipino king fish escabeche – delicious! It was a white piece of fish topped with sweet and sour sauce served with garlic rice. This is 2 nights in a row that the fish I have for dinner is awesome.

Sheryl – I thought you might like the giant beer shot, I didn’t mention that by the time I  got it I had about 15 minutes to get it down before we had to leave for dinner. I worked hard, but accomplished the task!