First full day at sea

January 21, At Sea, en route to Dominica:

John: Today was our first full day at sea. It is a day later than expected, because a small number of passengers--a combination of students and the "life-long learners," people who are on the voyage but who are neither teaching nor receiving college credit, were delayed because of issues with their visas for Brazil, without which they cannot board the ship. But they all finally were able to reach Nassau and to board last night, to great applause. We set sail at about 8 pm last night, leaving Nassau, which, as Aidan indicates, was underwhelming. But we all did enjoy a little while at Junkaroo Beach, and cannot complain about the weather, which is pleasant.

The doctor on board urged everyone to take preventative measures against sea-sickness, and we're listening; we're all wearing Sea-Bands around our wrists, which apply accupressure to a point that is supposed to work against nausea, and we're also taking medication. So far, so good; the sea has been pretty gentle, but you are aware all the time that you're on a ship on the ocean, and there have been a couple of reports of people feeling very queasy already, so we're not going to make an experiment to see what happens when you  don't take preventative measures. We're also hungry a lot, which, one passenger who has spent more time on ships than we have says is typical because it turns out that you're burning a fair number of calories keeping yourself balanced. One of the challenges for all of us, but particularly for Aidan and Maeve, is that there really is not all that much food available outside of the set meals of breakfast, lunch, and dinner; there are a couple of places on the ship that serve snacks, but there's nothing much that is very healthy or very filling.

At least the ship's food is on the whole pretty good. Mealtimes have become social hours, particularly as other families with children arrive in the dining halls and we join them, or they join us. We're not missing the daily chore of figuring out what to eat, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up.

We are settling into some rhythms. Aidan and the other school-age children have home-schooling in the main dining room in the morning. Maeve and I usually investigate areas of the ship, perhaps go outside to the basketball court, which is the area of the ship that is most protected and safest to run in, or read in the cabin. Then in the afternoon, Maeve naps while Aidan joins the other children in activities--they're just brainstorming what they want to do now, but they'll come up with various activities for the kids in the afternoons. Then dinner, some reading, and bed--we're all sacked out pretty early, though it's been taking Maeve a long time to settle herself in to sleep. Sometimes close to three hours, which is exhausting for her parents. We're not sure how she's doing this, since she must be hours behind in her sleep on the whole, but she is frequently lively and jokey and simply resistant to sleeping at night.

Today is Vicki's first day in the classroom, and she reports that the students are game and responsive. One source of confusion and frustration are the faculty-directed practica, the "fop"s that are required of the students for all courses; the rules concerning these have changed from previous voyages, and lots of students are misunderstanding what is required of them, and faculty have to set them straight.