[Worldtrippers home] [Crystal home]
We are in the midst of six consecutive sea days. Russell has so far delivered four of his nine scheduled lectures between Cape Town and Angola. Gail is doing her usual PR and socializing magic. We continue to receive positive feedback. One of our favorite comments was from a guest who liked how much we support each other. This is probably the most pro-enrichment group of guests we have ever cruised with, period.
Gail is not formally teaching needle felting on this itinerary, but she is hosting informal sessions with interested guests. (One guest, who has sailed with us before, even brought all her needle felting materials in hopes of working with Gail.)
Gail hosted her first genealogy workshop yesterday (April 13). How successful was it? Because it was a workshop (instead of a lecture), Gail was scheduled in the Torshavn lounge (instead of the Star Theatre.) But guests kept coming in, until the room filled completely to overflowing. At the last minute, Viking decided to move Gail into the Star Theatre, which was fortunately available. The guests were patient and supportive. (Gail called it “The Great Migration.”) And Gail’s workshop was enormously successful.
But that was yesterday. Today (April 14) was a very special day: Captain Frederik sailed the ship to the intersection of 0° longitude and 0° latitude. This location is colloquially referred to as “Null Island,” though there is no island here. This is only the fourth time a Viking ship has visited Null Island (we were here on last year’s world cruise), and for most guests it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Russell provided 45 minutes of “scenic” commentary, tag-teaming with the onboard geologist and onboard naturalist.
As if on cue, we suddenly spotted a sperm whale spouting in the distance, ahead of the ship. (This is the first whale guests have seen in two weeks.) The crew served doughnuts and Bloody Marys. Overall, we were able to turn a non-event into one of the highlights of the entire world cruise!
