No pictures on this sea day.
We are just below the equator now and should cross it about 4pm. Then we will recross it about 7am in the Amazon. We are about 60 miles off the coast of Brazil and land is not visible. The seas appear very calm but we are in some big rolling swells which has people staggering around like a shipful of drunks. Debbie woke without a fever today, but still felt awful. She showered and was ready for a big late Compass Rose weekend breakfast. She went into Margie's cabin to find her still in bed and warning not to get too cocky, because this thing will come back on you. Already it is feeling to Debbie like the awful bug on Voyager's WC and she knows all about the relapses.
Clay and Debbie went to breakfast alone and then Debbie went to the Doctor. He told her she has the "same as everyone else, a cold." He'll be pleased to know the woman behind Debbie in line was there for diarrhea, which she asked how to spell. We saw a lot of teams out sanitizing all the surfaces in the public spaces this morning and that at least is a good sign, whether it will do any good or not. We never saw it being done on Voyager when everyone was getting sick and it was worrisome. Debbie and Clay went to Terry Breen's 9:45am lecture on the Amazon River. Pretty amazing stuff. The mouth is over 200 miles across and the brown sedimented fresh water extends some 200 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean during rainy season, or now. The current coming downstream is about 5km/hr. The sediment does not clog up the mouth of the river because of the tides which can create 10-15 foot waves and keep it flushed out. Terry warned us about the giant bugs that will be attracted to the ship. Not looking forward to that. She asked us not to kill them, but to take photos. OK. Also, she mentioned that we should be conserving water because we cannot take on and treat water because of all the sediment, so we have to make do with what is onboard until Manaus. Which reminds me, Debbie ordered a bowl of raspberries at breakfast since Clay and Margie had watched truckloads of produce being loaded yesterday and she was told there are none onboard. Oh, well. Chocolate croissants though were available today. While we were out we received new hosted table invitations. We are dining on the next Formal night, Tuesday, Feb. 19 with HR Manager Deborah Bennett and Ast. F&B Manager Leser Woodfall. \
They were having a Best of Brazil BBQ on the Pool Deck for lunch. We went. Clay ate it and he said the fish was good but the shrimp bobo was nasty. He only ate half of the sausage that he picked up. Margie had gone up and bolted back to her cabin before getting anything. The coughing/gagging reflex of this sore throat thing combined with the heavy rolling of the ship up on the top deck was just too much. Debbie managed a half-cup of bouillon with a roll, a coke and a small bowl of ice cream. Clay plans to go to the Popcorn Movie, "The Brave One." Debbie and Margie are napping again. The Compass Rose menu this evening is not too appealing. LaVeranda is Churrasco again. Ludovic told Clay and Margie not to go to this one the first night because he was afraid it would be overwhelmed, but it started out slow according to him. No idea what happened later, Not sure what we will do for dinner tonight either. Tonight is Informal.
Late in the afternoon, we saw large squadrons of flying fish off our balcony. They were the little ones that take off is large numbers. Even though the ship is moving around a lot, the sea looks glassy making it easy to spot the flying fish.
This evening, Margie and Debbie were still feeling sick, so we stayed in our room and watched a movie. Margie skipped dinner altogether, Debbie had a ham and cheese sandwich and Clay had a hamburger. Here's hoping that everyone will feel better tomorrow.
