Returning Home

Day 4 at Sea

Posted on August 12, 2013

Monday, August12 – Day 4 at Sea

We are now in the fourth say of the seven day crossing. The sea has not been the glassy reflective lake as it was on the eastbound crossing in July. Today is the poorest so far with rain and 30 to 40 (Force 8) mph wind since last evening. The ocean is rated as moderate with five to seven foot wave action. The sea and wind can be felt and heard but the ship’s motion is quite gentle, almost reassuring.

Late last evening we passed the midway point of the voyage. When you view our position on the map we are just entering the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and much of the remaining distance will take us southwest along the east coast of North America. Still, land will not be visible until we approach our destination. Our position as of 12 August 2013 at 0721 EDT was 47° 45.86′ N 45° 54.64′ W and the Queen Mary 2 is making over 21 kts on a heading of 247° with 1323 nm yet to travel.

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405 nautical miles east of New York

Posted on August 14, 2013

Wednesday, August 14 – at sea 405 NM east of New York and 2736 nm from Southampton.

Tomorrow morning we begin the return from New York to Burlington by automobile, assuming of course that the car we left in the cruise terminal parking lot six weeks ago is still where we parked it. We expect to disembark at 0730 but in order to get off that early we had to agree to walk off with all our luggage. That may mean a bit of reorganization but it is doable. The earliest we could otherwise disembark was 1030. By that time we would like to be well on our way home.

Our weather this morning is breezy, cool, foggy and wet. The Atlantic has been more typical than during our July crossing and the motion of the ship while quite mild still seems a bit unsettling for some. It is the coffee more than the motion that bothers my stomach. Upon returning I shall have to see if Timmy’s will let me run the cruise ship division. Of course I’d have to establish each store personally.

We have a new planetarium show today so I shall be in the ticket line well before 9 AM. Tonight we have a return appearance of a comedian we rather enjoyed the first time. We have met some very nice people on the dance floor this trip but we have not been using the floor as much. The Queens Room orchestra is really quite pathetic so I choose to dance to the recorded music which is at least close to a correct and danceable tempo. Apparently we were fortunate on the July crossing to have a “replacement” band and a band leader who actually played for dancers.

The agenda for this morning is breakfast then packing. We shall be parking differently to make the walk-off as easy as possible.

See everyone soon!

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© Edward Thorpe, 2012, 2013