Saturday – Another busy day at sea!  We have the Beef Wellington Cooking Demonstration in Prime C, which is really great.  Chef Natan taught us how to cook Beef Wellington in 30 minutes.  We haven’t had that in forever, and now I can’t wait to get home and try it!  From Prime C we have to run down to Cabaret for the Executive Committee Q&A.  The Captain, Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, HD and HR Manager are all taking questions.  A very informative session, except it gets out of hand with the complaining about the computer and website issues, that, while totally frustrating and completely understandable (we agree, we’ve had the some of the same issues), the onboard staff have nothing to do with it.  It’s a shore-side IT thing – but the bitching goes on.  There is a good question about Azamazing evenings, which for these last 2 sailings have been switched to Destination Celebrations aboard.  The Captain makes an excellent point about costs – it has to make sense for the cruise, because after all it is a business.  I was very afraid that since Sycamore bought the company, they were cutting costs and that Azamazing evenings off the ship were a thing of the past. Especially because of these last 2 cruises, but it makes perfect sense for this segment at least.  The ship is totally undersold, less than half capacity.  It would make no fiscal sense whatsoever to shell out the big bucks to an off-ship event when it wouldn’t pay for itself because of the numbers.  At least he makes it sound like there will still be evenings off the ship – we’ll see on the next leg. 

Immediately following the Q&A is the Officer’s BBQ for lunch. Actually it started at 11:30 and the Q&A wasn’t over until noon!  We didn’t think we’d do it – as on Quest it was so so – but this is great!  There is a whole suckling pig!  And sausages, hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, sauerkraut, tons of stuff!  So we partake – we’re never turning down roasted suckling pig!

During the Captain’s noon announcement we find out that Dr. Dick’s wife was taken off the ship yesterday in a medical emergency, that was why we arrived at St. Helena so early.  We hate to hear things like that.  The Captain said she was doing fine, but who knows – and let’s think about this:  She is on St. Helena island!  Dr. Dick is with her of course, but there are only 2 flights a week to the island.  How will they get home?  How long will they have to stay.  Very nerve-wracking, even just thinking about it.  We are all sending her our very best thoughts.  The Captain also tells us we are going to have to evade some rough seas.  Bummer – it’s been so good up to this point.  Oh well, I started with the pills last night anyway, just in case, so I don’t have any issues continuing on!

After lunch we have Chuck talking about Walvis Bay and Luderitz, which is very informative.  Namibia was colonized by the Germans, the only African country along with Tanzania, that was taken over by Germany. That is why there are so many German words and names here.  Sadly, though, they were brutal to the indigenous population.  So much so that factions in Luderitz want to change the city’s name to !Nami.nus.  Yep.  It is from one of the clicking languages which is native to Namibia.  Don’t think that is going over so well, but it is the idea to shed the ongoing symbols of white rule, which is obviously a big thing.

Next comes Lenny Windsor, the comedian, talking about his “Life with Benny Hill.”  I never watched Benny Hill and only have a vague idea of what it is all about, but Lenny is a wonderful speaker and tells all sorts of funny and poignant stories about Benny Hill and their relationship.  It is a fun and happy hour just listening to him.

Normal afternoon – gym, drinks, dinner, then tonight we are actually going to the show!  Yes, the show.   It is Wanderlust which we did not see last leg.  And it is absolutely fantastic. Great way to end our first of three sea days!

Sunday – A beautiful day dawns aboard the Pursuit, however the seas are definitely not as calm as they were on our trip down.  I’m all pilled up so our day can begin!  Gym – holding on to the treadmill for sure – then laundry – perfect day, we went 1 hour forward last night and nobody is up yet!  Yes, score!  10am Chuck lecture about Sea Monsters.  11am Captain presentation on the 500 year anniversary of Christopher Columbus sailing.  He participated in the replica sailing – totally cool. 

Lunch, of course! Then Dr. Jean with a talk about Ramsar Sanctuaries for birds and Walvis Bay.  The afternoon proceeds pretty much as normal.  Gym, drinks, dinner, then Living Room for Back on Traxx.  Budi is in the house, with his hysterically funny antics.  Ed is drinking Bud Light, so Budi decides to rename him Budi Light – complete with name tag/label.  I swear, we haven’t laughed this much in ages. It is too fun.

Lenny Windsor has his second show this evening, which unfortunately isn’t as good as his first.  We manage to stay through it, but, oh well, it is something to do.

Then it is the cabin, more pills and a nice long sleep (for me!).

Monday – Not the normal morning routine!  I am staying in the bed, the ship is still moving – a lot! – and I’m not chancing going up to the gym.  Ed goes for coffee, then to the gym, which isn’t open, comes back to the cabin, then to breakfast, then to the gym.  I finally drag myself out of bed around 8:30.  Such a slug! 

Today is a semi-slow day. There is the Pursuit Expo, which we love, at 10.  It is so fun to go to the Cabaret and see all the different departments displayed down there.  The security team is the best – they are so nice – but oh the “toys” they have!  It really is incredible what they do to protect this ship.  Beyond just being around and bing-bonging us in and out, they check every single item that comes aboard the ship with narcotics and bomb seeking devices, they have riot shields and weapons.  You never really think about stuff like that – but there it was all on display. And they are so proud of all of it and their training.  So sweet.

We laze around until lunch, then more reading, writing until 2:30 when Hope has a solo show in the Cabaret.  This is the first time she has ever done the show there – and let me tell you – that lady has talent!  She made both Ed and I cry she was so good.  That voice and her personality?  Just amazing.  Excellent way to spend an afternoon.

Then I finally make it to the gym, and onto our normal evening activities.  Rocking away with the ship.  The show is Oh, What a Night, which we have seen, but we are really curious as to how they will reblock it with all this motion.  I mean Hope was on stage barefoot so she wouldn’t fall – it’s that rocky!  But gotta give it to the cast, we don’t think they reblocked a thing.  Came out in their heels and did the whole show. Maybe a couple of lifts were taken out (which the way Jorge has been struggling, may be a good thing!), nothing anyone could tell.  It was fantastic and another excellent way to end our evening.