DAY 26 Feb 7 - Sea Day Pacific Ocean

Another sleep-in morning for me. It was 7.45 before I glanced at the time. A look through the balcony windows showed that it was partly cloudy but with quite strong sunshine. The ship was undoubtedly rock 'n'rolling and maybe this had kept Maria off her sleep last night as she was still fast asleep.

The Lido restaurant was quiet with not nearly as many passengers up there having breakfast as I imagined there would be.

Our Crow's Nest pianist Buddy was on duty handing out breakfast bits and pieces from behind the roped off area. His good keen sense of humour was keeping us all entertained although this must have been an unearthly hour of the day for him bearing in mind he plays through to midnight most nights. Well done Buddy.

So we've now had pretty young dancers, the ship's orchestra leader, the Captain's wife Leslie and now Buddy all doing their bit. Incidentally the Captain's wife wears a little HAL identity badge just saying “Captain's Secretary” on it.

Today was a sea day as we headed in a south easterly direction back towards the Continent of South America. It was forecast that the sea state would be moderate giving a slightly uneven ride. We were of course in that big Pacific Ocean well out to sea still.

Interestingly the Captain had not mention the virus in his nautical update from the bridge before sail away yesterday. We are therefore no clearer on whether there is a decline in passenger sickness numbers or not. Strange that he should say that there was a welcome change in the numbers of new notifications a few days ago then nothing about it yesterday. Oh well maybe more information today with his mid-day announcement from the bridge.

Our table for ten had now been at full occupancy for dinner for the last few night which is good news considering its depleted numbers earlier last week. Everyone seemed to have a had a good day on Robinson Crusoe's Island yesterday and all had tales to tell.

A couple who had recently joined the ship, Dutch I think and sit next to our table, have come down to dinner in blue jeans on two consecutive Smart Casual nights. This is normally considered a no no for dress attire in the main dining room and there was some discussion at our table as to why they were not politely advised to use the Lido restaurant where more causal wear is welcome. It's the old story about opening the flood gates unless an eye is kept on these matters. Call me old fashion if you like but HAL is considered a line that does uphold tradition a little bit more than some of the other lines that ply their trade on the high seas.

After a quick word earlier today with the Assistant Dinning Room Manager Aaron, on this thorny subject, we understand that the issue may now be addressed.

Lovely wine stewardess Maureen, ever attentive and always there with a smile, informed us last night that we were now on the last bottle of our initial wine package. That investment had lasted a good time as we were now into day 26. Mind you we had a few nights when the wine was free and those night when we didn't appear at the dining table.

With new wines brought on board at Valparaiso it may be worth while looking again at the packages on offer. As a Three Star Mariner with HAL we do qualify for a 25% discount. One more star and it will be a 50% off deal. Just shows how they inflate the prices to allow such discounting!!

Poor Maureen, was married in the Philippines just before this cruise and her young husband Arjim, a bar tender, is also on board. They still do not have a cabin to themselves but somehow do manage to perform their duties with smiles on their faces.

Maria was awake shortly after 9 and suggested that the ship's motion could result in a 'day in bed' day for her. We'll see how she gets on.

A little later she ventured onto the balcony and was pleased to sit out there for a few hours. It was reasonably warm with not much of a breeze.

I too joined her and caught up with the news from the ship's papers that we have delivered to our cabin each morning.

Rollers were very much in evidence as we looked out across the wide expanse of sea. This made for it being not too steady under foot.

Maria later decided that it might be more comfortable for her lying on the bed with her book.

I was pleasewd that she decided to venture up to the Lido restaurant with me for some lunch. She had some clear beef broth and me some tomato soup. We both followed this up with some helpings from the extensive salad bar. On offer today were fresh orange segments and pineapple which we thoroughly enjoyed.

The Captains wife Leslie was also helping out behind the 'ropes' again today and we stuck-up a conver-sation about new boilers. She informed us that on her return to her home in Norfolk England, at the end of the cruise, she needed to have a new heating boiler installed. We compared notes because we had also just had a new boiler installed before leaving the UK in November.

The things you talk about, with the Captain's wife, when stuck out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!!

In his mid-day announcements the Captain again made no mention of the ship's virus and how it was progressing. Maybe a good sign. He did say that at about 1.00 am the ship would enter the calmer waters of the Inland Chilean waters as it left the Pacific proper and continued down to our next port of call Puerto Montt. This was indeed good news for Maria in particular.