A Day at Sea & Gibraltar

Wednesday, 14 Dec 2011 – Today our ship docked at the Rock of Gibraltar, a British Territory.  The “Rock” is less than 3 square miles in area but because Europe is only eight miles from Africa at this point, military powers have fought over it.  We rode the cable car to the top with Jesse holding onto Sally for dear life, and then we toured the Great Siege Tunnel.  The tunnel, built by the British during a Spanish siege in the late 18th century, was enlarged during World War II.  Wild apes are allowed to run free in the area.  When Jesse was sitting on a stone bench resting, one decided to rest right beside him.  Jesse hardly dared to move until after the ape jumped off the bench.

After dinner, we danced first to a DJ and then to the Grooveline.  There were only four or five couples dancing this time, but there were more Cha Chas, Rumbas, and Waltzes.

Gibraltar was our last stop in Europe before heading out into the Atlantic.  Then we have six “at sea” days before reaching Brazil on 21 December.

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Tuesday, 13 Dec 2011 – This was an “at sea” day, and it was great to just eat, relax, eat, relax, eat, and relax! After dinner, we did go dancing for the first time at one of the ship’s nightclubs. There was a 4-person band called Grooveline that consisted of the main vocalist, a guitarist, a keyboard player, and a drummer. When we arrived, they were playing songs from the ‘50’s, then the ‘60’s, and then got stuck mostly in the ‘70’s. It was mostly swing except for two Cha-Chas and a Rumba. Several other couples on the floor actually did ballroom dancing (i.e. they didn’t just wiggle back & forth), which we didn’t see on our last year’s cruise. After about 20 minutes there, the band took a 15-minute break so we returned to our cabin. When Jesse happened to walk by there a half hour later, the band was playing but no one was dancing.

Last night (Monday), another couple came to our dinner table for the first time, Bill and Joan. It turned out that we already had met them on a small-group excursion, and then had discovered that they were in the cabin next to us. Both Bill and Joan are native to the US, but have lived in Australia for many years and have dual citizenship. It was great having them join our table!