With 2 different shows this evening, that we wanted to watch, our sea day routine is again taking a hit. We had another first, enjoying Afternoon Tea in the Wintergarden. Since we no longer have laundry privileges, it was time to go find the laundry, dragging the bag. Check out another busy day aboard Viking Sun.

Temperature: 25C/77F, although at times over 80F

Wind/Weather: Overcast skies, intermittent heavy rain and gale force winds

Sunrise/Sunset:  05:49/17:34

Clox:  Back 1/2 hr (Z-9.5 hrs) which aligns us to Nuku Hiva

Navigation

Viking Supplied Bulkhead Map Showing Position

We maintained South x West courses throughout the day at a speed of about 16 kts. Our Latitude at Noon was just less than 9 N, so we should cross the Equator tomorrow – Friday 10th January. My best guess is about 22:00. We are now about 1,900 miles from L/A, with 1,050 still to go.

Weather

Woke up this morning and thought we had sailed North at warp speed and were back in the Pacific North West – OK, the outside temperature convinced me otherwise. It was pouring with rain, at times extremely heavy, with minimal visibility. The wind veered to just past E’ly and freshened significantly. I estimated 30 kts going up to 35kts mid morning, with much higher gusts (probably gusts of 40-45+). Wind eased off, as evening approached.

Activities

Watching Birds from Balcony

Due to the aforementioned weather, I took a “Rain-Check” on my daily morning hike, so sat at the office crafting the yesterday’s post and starting the cabin comparison. After breakfast, we decided it was a laundry day, so headed up the alleyway with bulging bag in tow. Wow! first time we have done laundry aboard for many years, since laundry was one of the perks afforded to “Elite” on our previous line. Would we go back – “No, Never”. Actually a very pleasant experience, chatted with our neighbours and a few other couples.

Judi on the Balcony

In between loads we spent some time on the balcony, watch the 2 Boobys flying and hunting. Saw them dive into the water and seconds later a large shoal of flying fish emerged from the water. Due to the rain, the camera was pointing down and behind, so no photo of the flying fish.

Unfortunately, they didn’t come very close to our cabin, so hoping for better photos in next few days.

Once complete with laundry, it was time to head to the Theatre and Daily Trivia. Really tough questions today, as we only got 8/15, with the winners getting 11/15.

For lunch, we again headed down to the MDR, then at 16:00, since we were attending 2 show we headed to Wintergarden for Afternoon Tea.

Wintergarden for Afternoon Tea

On arrival we noted both Captain & Staff Captain at a table, so this must be good. As elsewhere, the crew are amazing. No sooner than we sat down and about 3 crew members were at the table – taking tea orders, delivering scones, delivering the 3-tiered stand with finger sandwiches & cakes. Excellent tea and the scones were amazingly fresh. Even enjoyed the sandwiches.

Star Theatre

After tea, we returned to the cabin to change for the evening, then headed down to the Theatre, for a show at 18:30. One of the 4 Viking Sun vocalists – Tobias James, who also hosts Daily Trivia, was performing a solo show. What a great voice and terrific show.

Since we also wanted to attend the 21:15 show, we didn’t have time for the restaurant, so headed up to the World Cafe, with others from our Trivia Team. Judi had soup & freshly made pasta, while I enjoyed some California Roll, huge prawns and crab legs.

Back to the Theatre for the 2nd show from the comedy magician Mel Mellers. All new material and another great show. After the show, we headed up to Explorers’ for a nightcap with a couple from Trivia.

Yet again, another brilliant day aboard Viking Sun.

As another day closes, we bid you farewell, till tomorrow and hope for fair skies and following seas.