We don't have pictures of Las Palmas because there was so much spray in the air, but the surfers love the place. And, we got out of there just in time. Check out this video of what happened when the storm got there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRg6yJg2lKM
The Captain and the Cruise Director did something new enroute. They made really good "Weather Channel" tapes so that we could keep up via TV. That's how we knew about the storm videos.
OK. So. We spent about 35 hours rocking and rolling before it finally calmed down, but there was enough motion still for a person to feel a lot of vibration from the engine pods in the aft section. One afternoon, we were sitting in the Horizon Lounge, which suddenly stopped vibrating and went dead still. Gee, it really calmed down, we thought. After a couple of minutes we decided that something was wrong...too quiet. And we seemed to be turning, hard.
We intrepid sailors were right. Here came the announcement: we have spotted a lifeboat on the port side and we're going to investigate, maybe put a rescue team overboard. We circled the boat, which was the ejection type (think Captain Phillips) that are on cargo ships. The hatch was open, and it was floating semi submerged. We got real close and sounded the whistle. No response.
Captain Stan could read the name of the ship it belonged to, and got on the radio. The ship was in Croatia with everyone accounted for. We got straightened out and again set off for Miami. We found out later, from the Portuguese Coast Guard, that the lifeboat had been lost, last April, from a Chemical Tanker in the middle of the Atlantic, along a line roughly between northern Canada and northern France. It had been drifting for the last eight months and had wandered over 1,000 miles south of its original position. We noted the fact that it was still afloat says something good for lifeboats!
Although we went 550 miles out of our way, we were making good time...fair winds and following seas, as they say. Everyone cheered when it was announced that we'd make a stop at St. Maarten before heading into Miami. In port there, we saw the oddest ship parked next to us. Look at this. Can you figure out what's wrong with this picture? Took us a while!
When we got to Miami, all was well...in Miami. Chicago, however, was having themselves a bugger of a snowstorm. Our 3:50 p.m. arrival time got bumped four times and we finally got there around 10:00 p.m. and thought we were lucky. Our limo company couldn't get a car to us. We finally found another limo and got home around midnight. And did we need a drink.
There is good news, however.
Pati won the wiener dog contest, 5 to 1.
