HANGING OUT TO DRY

Day nine and one of us has her laundry strung through the cabin, using every surface in an effort to get her things dry before mildew sets in. This includes the chair back, the loveseat, the towel bars, the top of mini fridge and a clothesline across the tub. I, on the other hand, packed enough under wear to last till Thursday. I went to the crow’s nest late yesterday afternoon, leaving Linda to fill the tub with shampoo and her unmentionables. I have a vision of her taking off her shoes and stomping the laundry in a style reminiscent of Lucy Ricardo stomping grapes. But, I can’t make too much fun of her, as my turn for laundry will be next.

Sailing out of Stockholm was beautiful. We sailed an hour late because a busload of the Philippine staff had not returned to the ship. Had it been tourists they would have run the risk of ‘missing the boat’ but since it was staff, the ship waited. We set sail around 5:30 with the harbor pilot at the wheel. Linda and I sat on our veranda as we sailed through the archipelagos. At 9:45, we cleared the last island and the pilot boat pulled alongside the ship to retrieve the harbor pilot. Our cabin is on the starboard side of the ship so we could hang over the side as the tug pulled up and the pilot jumped from the ship to the waiting tug. Many other passengers were watching and as the pilot jumped, the passengers all cheered and clapped. The pilot turned and took a bow. All very civilized I think!

Today has been a much-needed day of nothing. We slept late, skipped breakfast and picked at the luncheon buffet. I spent the afternoon in the crow’s nest knitting while Linda remained below rearranging her damp laundry. I am sitting on the veranda as I type this and it is rather strange to see nothing but water and the slight slope of the horizon in every direction. I am superstitious enough not to write that our weather has been truly spectacular how spectacular. We had a bit of mist as we left St. PB, and totally flat seas and mostly sunshine the rest of the voyage. Yes, that means about twenty hours of sun a day.

Tomorrow we will be in Kiel. This is a seaport from which one can take the train to Hamburg. Our plan is to put our laptops in our backpacks and try to find an Internet café so we can get pictures posted and emails answered. As I have been reporting, the Internet it very frustrating. I had to go to the Russian computer guru this afternoon for help. So, I hope Rob Horgan is reading this…The Russian guru told me that Firefox was costing me $$$ out the wazoo because it was not an efficient way to access satellite connections to the internet. ROB! If anyone else is going on a Baltic cruise, don’t set Firefox as his or her default. Duh.