Friday, 6th March, at sea but due to arrive in Antigua later today

The sun rose with us this morning! It was due to be a red letter day as we have a real ukulele teacher arriving to give his first lesson today!! Not that they are used to play the ukulele, but I feel I should be sharpening my pencils and sorting out my pencil case this morning before class…..I cut my nails instead!

After a few laps of the ship – it is a sea day after all! – we had breakfast and it was time! Off I toddled and there was Peter – and a whole new world opened up! First – he played the ukulele like no-one I have ever heard before and within the hour I had learnt a number of new techniques. That was on the positive side. On the negative, another concert is mooted. I definitely think I am going to be not available for this one as I think Sir’s expectations might be very high. We shall see. (Everyone is looking forward to it…you can’t disappoint your public. Ed)

I think I should cast a delicate veil over Bridge. It was the 2NT opening bid rule – whatever that means.

It was a lovely sunny day but very windy again and, although some of the promenade deck is roped off for maintenance, we did a bit more circling after Bridge to clear our heads. In the distance we could see land – more islands, one of which was Guadeloupe. Our route to Antigua seems a bit convoluted and the decision to land there this evening sounds a bit odd too. P and O do not usually dock overnight and incur additional mooring costs just to let their customers have a late night saunter around town – which is what the Captain implied in his announcement – but may be that is what they have done.- once again we shall see.

After lunch we had the usual free time and I ascended to the upper deck for my usual ‘at sea’ crossword. Keith was off to hear a talk by Graham Gooch, the cricketer (Keith was rather amused by my calling him Mr. Stokes – being the only current cricketer I know – for whom it might be a little premature to hit the cruise ship talking circuit apparently. Well how should I know?!?).

I had not been sitting upstairs for long when the wind came up stronger and it started to spit with rain, I just removed myself and found a seat just inside the door because I felt it was going to be a swift shower. However, I was amused to see the dedicated sunbathers refusing initially to believe it was raining and then all scurrying off, a bit like rabbits down rabbit holes. Within minutes they had all totally disappeared!! Ten minutes later the sun came out again and I was back in my seat outside.

After about an hour I descended to the cabin again but as Keith was still off with Mr Gooch, I decided to go and have a Salted caramel Frappuccino which I am trying to nurture a liking for. Do you know I really do not like them any more than any other coffee. However hard I try. Note to self – why don’t you just abandon this notion of social drinking.

The full complement were at dinner this evening and it was fun hearing how everyone had spent the last few days, while we had been eating off the ship. Everyone had their own experience. As Keith says – everybody is having their own holiday but with the ship as the base. (1800 passengers, 1800 different holidays. Ed) There is our diving friend, the golfers, the beach lovers, the sun bathers, the frippery purchasers and today we have even heard of a chap who has brought his bicycle on board and takes off on that every time he gets into a port! I should add to this list the number of people who we have seen returning to the ship with new suitcases which we can only believe are to accommodate the accumulated booty purchased at every port we have passed through.

It would seem that our docking time precludes us going ashore this evening as we are not expected to reach our berth until 9.30 – past my time for sauntering, but we look forward to exploring Antigua tomorrow.