Friday at Sea Sept 11

Off the North Coast of Iceland

Today we woke up to cloudy skies, cool temperatures and a rock and rolling boat. It was not as bad as it has been and so off to breakfast in Sabatini’s. After breakfast we just came back to the cabin as it is a sea day. I read and worked on my photos and also did some reading. Around 11:00 Judi decided it was time for her to go to work. (Head for the slots) I found her around 1:00PM and we had some lunch at the International café. While having lunch a Swiss couple sat down with us and we had a nice if short conversation with them.

After lunch we noticed that the sea was calming somewhat. The wind is still blowing around 30 MPH and the temperature is 54 degrees F. Around 3:00 I headed upstairs to a Rotary meeting and Judi went back to work. The Rotary meeting was a lot of fun as there were Rotarians from Britain, Canada and the US there.

We decide on supper in the cabin tonight. Our tablemates are hard to talk to and we get tired of always leading the conversation. While waiting for dinner to be delivered, we saw the coast of Iceland on our port side.

Thought I would explain starboard and port. These terms derive from the days before ships were fitted with rudders as a means of steering. In those days the ship was steered by means of a long, large bladed oar known as the ‘steer board’. As most sailors were right handed they would stand on the right hand side of the vessel, when facing forward, to steer the ship, and therefore this side became known as steerboard side, this was corrupted over the years to become the starboard side. Due to the location of the steering oar on the right hand side of the vessel, to avoid damage to the steering oar, ships would always come alongside a dock on its left side. The left side of the ship would be facing the port dock, therefore the port side. So looking forward; the right side is the starboard side and the left side is the port side.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but hey, it is a sea day and not much going on.