August 20, 2024 – At Sea – Cloudy – 40s

Seas were pretty smooth last night and I slept longer than usual according to my watch.  I went up to the Oceanview Café for the Early Risers Breakfast and the whole buffet was open so I got my waffle combo including sour cream and scrambled eggs with cheddar on top.  From my window seat, all I could see was a hazy, but calm, sea.

The breakfast was good – I brought Ellen her breakfast and got ready for my first talk at 9 AM.  I got there at 8:30 AM to set up and greet passengers.  This group of passengers is a friendly lot and my pre-talk chat was nice. 

The first lecture on this cruise is going to be a "Death in Iceland: The Birna Brjansdottir Murder".  I did not get a chance - due to all of the craziness and switching of schedules, to do this presentation on Cruise #1.  I got a brief intro from Kristine and got started just a few minutes late. My pace was good and I finished at 9:47 AM.  The turnout was good – 70 plus full – for a first talk at the early time slot. I also included some new slides of locations in Reykjavik that I took, while we wandered the city, that related to the case.  And since we had left Reykjavik just a few days ago, people could relate to the story better.  

Samantha Olson, the Naturalist, hurried me off the stage even though the Captain had not yet come on with his update. 

I changed clothes and came back to hear the end of Samantha’s talk on “Wild Whales”.

I stayed for J. Kelly Beatty, the Astronomer, who talked about life on other planets in “Are We Alone?”  Kelly had introduced himself to me (along with his wife) before my talk.  He seems like a very nice guy – he’s from Caltech.  The talk was interesting even though I was familiar with almost all of the material.. 

Ellen is not feeling well and staying in the room – I went to get some lunch and the Café was slammed.   Every seat was taken – I walked across the chilly deck to get to the Spa Café to eat my tuna sandwich and pick up something for Ellen.  The Solarium and Spa Café were also full.  I wound up having my lunch sitting on the deck of the Solarium.  I brought Ellen a few dishes from the Spa Café.

We both spent the afternoon in our cabin.

For dinner, I tried to bring up some food – some tuna, some bread, some veggie pizza.  None of it really hit the spot but at least we ate something.

Of course, we did not go see the show – fortunately, it was “Rock City” and we wouldn’t have gone anyway.  There was nothing on TV but sports and news so it was a long evening.

Ellen has started on Augmentin to deal with what looks to be a sinus infection.