Royal Clipper Transatlantic April 2014: Going & At Sea 1 & 2

Getting there: Take 1
This is about the Transatlantic in 2014, but first I should tell you that I had originally sung the song (see at the end of this blog) & set off in April 2013 to do Barbados to Lisbon. However, waking from sleep in a chair at Gatwick Airport at 0230 ~ while I awaited the 0630 check-in, I got up to visit the Ladies; got a spot of postural hypotension; fell over; banged my head on the Gatwick granite floor; knocked myself out; & woke to find a lady at my head, a Spanish guy holding my feet up, & a rather large lump on my noggin :-/
A trip to Crawley A&E showed there was no real damage, & they discharged me back to the airport at about 0530.
Come 0630, the ladies in red at the Virgin desk refused to let me fly that day as I had been unconscious. They said I could take the flight out to Barbados the next morning, & were totally unswayed by my argument that it would be pointless me flying out then as the ship would be well out into the Atlantic :-/ 
Lugging my bags to the National Express desk, I  exchanged my bus ticket for one leaving at 0930 that morning.
With a stop of nearly an hour at Birmingham, I got back to Blackpool just before tea time.
Naturally, the peeps at work were highly surprised to see me show up on Monday morning, & the general comment was - It could only happen to Shirley!
Ah well.
Getting there: Take 2
Onward & upward as they say, & when I found out in August '13 that Tony Soper was to be guest lecturer on the Royal Clipper (RC) Transatlantic in 2014, I paid my deposit, & got ready for Take 2. It was time to sing that song again ~ see below, if you haven't already ;-)
Sadly, Tony Soper broke a bone shortly before we left, & never made the cruise. Darn it. He was an integral part of my growing-up & learning about stuff on his telly progs.

Come April 11th 2014 I went into work all day, & got the train at 2020 (the same time as the year before). 
As previously, ~ after changing 3 times (Preston, Watford Junction & Clapham Junction), I arrived at Gatwick at 5 past 1. I chose to stay awake so there were no more falling-overs ;-p, & to pass the time I wandered all over the place with an occasional sit-down with my sudoku. I checked-in at 0630 with no hassle, & bought 6 small bottles of malt at the Duty Free malt shop & considered where I'd hide them come embarkation (because no alcohol was allowed to be taken aboard the RC). We boarded the aircraft on schedule, & took-off at 1040.
Having had no sleep at Gatwick I kept kipping throughout the flight, but still managed to stay awake long enough to see some good films ~ Gravity, Enders Game, 47 Ronin & What About Dick.
At the airport a group of us were picked up by Jeffrey & taken west across the island to the ship at Bridgetown. We all introduced ourselves, & I met Christine, Big David, Little David, John & Peter. We were all single sailors.
There was a welcome area where I met crew-member, Tatania. She was there to check us in, & welcome us all aboard with fresh pineapple & melon, & various drinks. I had lots of fruit & apple juice before passing out onto the quayside & the RC. 
When she checked us in, Tatania gave us our Boarding Card.

The RC at Barbados with a fat-arsed monstrosity R of pic

After a complimentary neck massage by one of the therapists in the Tropical Bar, I went to my cabin & found some Goodies: ie chocolates, champagne & a strawberry, a nice laminated sail-plan of the RC, & a lovely gift book about the RC & sailing history. I decided to give the book to my bro who would be 70 in July, & probably sailing around the Turkish coast again.
As there was only me I didn't open the champagne. However, I did get stuck into the chocs before I remembered to take a photo. Oops :-q
That's why there are only 5 :-q
There was also the Bridgetown Schedule.

Goodies

The RC Sail-Plan

April 12th p1

April 12th p2 ~ heeling to Port ;-p
even tho we were still in port at the time

Then I went for a wander (& wonder) ashore & aboard.
Ashore was where I took the 1st pic of the RC, & I had a quick look round the little 'duty-free' building out of shot to the left where there were a few stalls selling the usual tourist traps! 
Down the quay on either side of the RC there were 2 enormous & ugly flat-arsed monstrosities ~ hereto known as FAMs. They were a Celebrity & an NCL, & you'd have to pay me to sail on one!
The massage, sauna & steam rooms were 2 decks down from my cabin, & the gym was there, too.

The gym - below sea level

The Tropical Bar with Helmut* on the left.
*See later blog about him

This pic is the atrium looking aft.
The round glass bit at the top is the bottom of the midships pool.
Behind the piano is the Piano bar.
The next level down (at the top of the curved stairwell) is where the Purser had her office & where the shop was.
The white square thing at the bottom (behind the wrought iron) is the table in the Dining Room.

Apart from cabins & the gym, the Dining Room was as far as guests went below.

There was a problem with the generator, so the expected mega-meal at dinner time didn't happen, but they fed us as best they could. I didn't write down what I ate, but it was a buffet in the Tropical Bar
I think the planned lifeboat drill didn't happen due to important peeps fiddling with the generator?
That evening, before we sailed, I sat about in the Tropical Bar & met JP & Julie - just-married, middle-aged Americans. Somehow we ended up taking ju jitsu & JD kept asking me to teach him some self-defence, as the only exercise he got was golf (handy IRO weapons though ;-p ).
I went on deck for the SailAway at 2200 & it was lovely to see how tiny & sleek she was compared to the FAMs either side. Peeps on the FAMs were on deck watching us sail out of port, as the masts were alight & most of the sails were up. It was pretty cool that the Captain (Sergey) showed the Captains of the NCL & Celebrity how it was done by sailing out of the port. 
Nice one, Captain :-D
After SailAway I spent ages on deck trying to get some decent pics of masts, sails, & the Barbadan coast, but was only marginally successful.

These are the best 2. The rest were blurred & fuzzy :-/

The lights are Barbados
Shame the white stanchion spoils the pic :-/

I do like the pics of the beautifully wound cordage, though :-)


After lying on deck a lot (to get the masts & moon in), I met a lovely guy called Damion from St Vincent who worked in the kitchen. There's a pic in a later blog.
Apparently his job was to clean the kitchen after each meal, & so he was free to chat until everyone had finished eating - including the rest of the crew.
I met him at about 2300, & we talked until gone midnight. We'd've chatted for longer, but he looked at his watch & did a Cinderella!
He did give me a hug before he disappeared below, & said I was a nice lady ~ Aww. Sweet :-)
Obviously, by that time, it was time for bed (said Zebedee ;-p ), so off I went, & overnight we sailed out of sight of land.

Sea Day 1 ~ Sunday April 13th
The previous evening someone had turned down my bed & left me the next day's schedule (& a Star Clippers Chocolate) on my pillow. This happened every evening.
Here's the At Sea 1 Schedule. I think you can make it bigger if you click on it?

 

The Italian Buffet for lunch sounded good, as did the "Book 3 1-hour massages & get a free foot or back massage".
So I popped down, & booked 3 to be taken during our voyage to the Azores. But I'm ahead of myself .  .  .
The schedule also showed Tai Chi with Captain Sergey at 0600, & at 0800, "Gentle Morning Gymnastics" with Amanda, one of the Sports duo. The other 1/2 of the duo was Erik, & both were Swedish.
I figured if I was going to eat like I had on the Star Clipper I should get as much exercise as poss., so I got up for Amanda's class. 
There were about 10 other happy campers joining in that morning, & after the early exercise I had a good breakfast & started to get the waiters cued into bringing me oats every morning.
On Day 1 I ate a bit of all sorts off the breakfast buffet, but subsequently tried to be good at b/fast & stick to oats, dried fruit of various kinds, & nuts ditto. 
There were also those cute little black iron tea pots we'd had on Star Clipper in 2006, & I generally had a pot of English Breakfast preceded by a nice strong coffee to get me going.


It was quite a nice day, so I got changed into a bikini & cover-up after brekkers, grabbed my life-jacket, & went for a wander on deck before the lifeboat drill at 1000. 
It was at this point I realised that I had failed to pack flip-flops. I am a dooffuss %-/
As a result I spent much of the voyage wearing bare feet.

After the muster drill we were introduced to many of the crew. These included:
Captain Sergey from the Ukraine;
Lidija the Cruise Director from Switzerland;
Steve the Hotel Manager from England;
Devon the Chef from Jamaica;
Prakash* the Bosun from India; &
Arrigo the Chief Officer from Italy.
Sergey told us there were 17 nationalities within the crew, and 13 nationalities within the 120 guests. As the ship can berth >240 guests, you can see it wasn't exactly over-occupied. * Prakash had a really long name which wouldn't fit on his name badge, & everyone called him Prakash anyway. 
Then we all trundled forward & the Captain toasted the sea & chucked a glass of champagne overboard from the roof of the bridge.

After all that excitement I dumped the life-jacket back in my cabin, & went out on the bow-netting. I knew about it because Rob & I had often gone on the Star Clipper's bow-netting in Aug 2006. However, Star's netting was much flatter & more conducive to kipping in the sun. RC's was pretty steep & not really comfortable lying prone in a bikini :-/

Starboard

Port

After about an hour on the net trying to read The Song Of The Wanderer by Bruce Colville.I called it a day & climbed back onto the fore-deck where I found Tom (an American from Lake Placid) playing his harmonica. 

We went into lunch together & it turned out he'd brought a guitar as well. Also at lunch was Bruce, another American, Peter (who I'd met on the bus - from Guildford), Cindy & her Dad, Charlie, from N Carolina & Virginia respectively, & Earnest. He was a German from Hannover (or Hanover if you're English), but he lived in Chicago.

Tom sucking & blowing

My notes say I had fish for lunch, plus salad, chick peas and parma ham, & fruit and cheese. That's what I meant about exercising 1st thing + Erik's Abs etc. It was just too easy to to fill your face at every meal.

Afternoon was much the same as morning, interspersed with Afternoon Tea, with more fattening goodies. Sleeping in the sun, Sudoku, & meeting various folks also occurred.

In the evening there was a cocktail party for all the singles - ie nearly everyone! I chatted with Christine & drank several champagne cocktails :-q

I didn't write who I had dinner with, but I did write about the food:

Sorbet, Lamb, Mouse, Cheese, & Fruit.

After dinner I went & put the contents of one of my malt bottles in a mug & went back to the Tropical Bar with 2 Pitbull CDs & my Enrique CD. The malt in a mug looked like black tea, & meant that once the music was playing, I was ready to rock'n'roll ;-p

Unfortunately, once Monica & Arpad (the Entertainments duo) put them on, I danced alone ~ mostly.

Then it was bed-time, & off I went.

Sea Day 2 ~ Monday April 14th

Today began with another dose of Amanda's exercise class, followed by my 1st massage at 0830. I was a teensy bit late, but there was no one else waiting.

You could eat breakfast until 1000, or even 1030 if you didn't want a fry-up, so there was no great rush. I was down there for 0930 anyway, so I could chill with the sea going past the portholes :-) & chat with Peter from Guildford I'd met on the bus from the airport, & Tom the harmonica player. I told Tom about Wolfstone, & after breakfast went back to the cabin to get my CDs to lend him.

The book I got from the Library was about unicorns & dragons, & I went into the forward lounge to read as it had started to rain. It was actually a kids book (well, as it took me less than 3 hours to read I supposed it was? It was a good read, tho), & once it was back in the library it was time for lunch.

I ate it with Erik, Arrigo & Amanda ~ who persuaded me to help out at the fashion show that evening. She indicated staff & peeps like me would be on the catwalk, modelling clothes from the onboard shop. Mmm??

Then it was back on deck with the camera as the sun was out a bit.

The Foredeck

I was lying on deck again for this one

Luffing a bit!

Afterwards, I decided to walk-off the full plate from the Caribbean Buffet in the gym. I took a CD down & walked until it was over, & then went in the Steam Room. 

Bloody Hell!. 

That floor was Hot! ! ! 

& there was me with no flip-flops. Mind you, they'd've probably melted & stuck to the floor. I lay on my towel for about 20 min, & then used it to walk on to get out of the door. Like I said ~ Hot underfoot. Nice tho., lying there in the bluey-green underwater light coming through the porthole. Very restful :-) 

Changed ready for Erik's "Special 6-pack work-out", went back on deck to have a brew & a bit of a nibble at the Afternoon Snacks in the Tropical Bar. 

The ab workout was quite good, & I met a few more passengers who would be regulars in the exercise stakes. I didn't get names immediately, but the (reasonably) regulars were Tom, the Big & Little Davids, Steve (I'd met those 4 already), Jerry (Canada), Jack (USA) & Andy (Germany). More of them later! 

Heretofore, Erik's "Special 6-pack work-out" will be known as Erik's Abs ;-p 

We did it on the Aft deck, & then, as the Captain came up & was doing some Tai Chi, some of us joined in as the sun went down behind us. Very Zen. Or whatever that would be in Chinese ;-p

A sunset & Jerry's vest! 

A sunset & 1/2 of Lidija

Back in the cabin I listened to Pitbull & read after my shower, & then had a late-ish dinner (prob too many afternoon snacks!?). Bizarrely, there was nothing in the 'special' menu I fancied, so I asked for a blue steak.

The fashion show was at 9, so I reported for duty in the Library & found there were only 2 of us who weren't staff ~ me & Ernie! To bolster my courage I went back out to the bar & got a malt (Laphroaig. Not Really into too much smoke ~ or peat for that matter, but it was that or Glenfiddich ~ yuk).

Come my 1st turn, I was on with Amanda & Erik, & wearing shorts & a Star Clippers top doing "Beach". I went on again wearing something else, but I can't decipher my notes! For Act 3 it was "Wet & Windy" with showerproof kit to show-off to the audience. Amanda also gave me a brolly/parasol, so I hammed it up & acted daft. It was quite fun really, & of course I hardly knew anyone yet, so no need to be too embarrassed. However, I guess the malt helped ;-)

After all the excitement I was quite wide awake, so I stayed up talking to Patrick (Canada, & who had a marvellous* moustache* ;-p ) & Steve (England) who were propping up the bar.

Eventually, I went to bed, but read Book 2 until gone 2am. I remembered to do the clock thing so I'd get up in time for Amanda, but forgot to set the alarm - doh!

TYPICALLY TROPICAL

BARBADOS - 09/08/1975
1 week at #1 - 11 weeks on chart

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Captain Tobias Wilcock welcoming you aboard
Coconut Airways flight 372 to Bridgetown Barbados
We will be flying at an 'ight of 32000 feet and at an airspeed of approximately 600 miles per hour
Refreshments will be served after take-off, kindly fasten your safety belts
And refrain from smoking until the aircraft is airborne

Woah, I'm going to Barbados
Woah, back to the palm trees
Woah, I'm going to see my girlfriend
Woah, in the sunny Carribean sea

I don't wanna be bus driver all my life
I've seen too much of Brixton town, in the night
Fly away on Coconut Airways
Climbing high, Barbados sky

I look up at the sky and I see the clouds
I look down at the ground and I see the rain go down the drain
Fly away on Coconut Airways
Climbing high, Barbados sky

Woah, I'm going to Barbados
Woah, back to the palm trees
Woah, I'm going to see my girlfriend
Woah, in the sunny Carribean sea

Far away from London town and the rain
It's really very nice to be home again
Mary-Jane, on the Coconut Airways
Now I know, she love me so

Woah, I'm going to Barbados
Woah, back to the palm trees
Woah, I'm going to see my girlfriend
Woah, in the sunny Carribean sea

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now commencing our approach into Bridgetown Barbados
The weather is fine with approximate temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit
The sky is blue and the palm trees are really cool
Captain Wilkock and his crew hope you have had a pleasant flight
And that you will fly Coconut Airways again

Woah, I'm going to Barbados
Woah, back to the palm trees
Woah, I'm going to see my girlfriend
Woah, in the sunny Carribean sea

Woah, I'm going to Barbados
Woah, back to the palm trees
Woah, I'm going to see my girlfriend
Woah, in the sunny Carribean sea

Woah, I'm going to Barbados
Woah, back to the palm trees
Woah, I'm going to see my girlfriend
Woah, in the sunny Carribean sea

So, I'd sung the song, been to Barbados, sailed away, & was now headed into my third day At Sea :-D

* Isn't it annoying when some American geek tries to tell you you spelt marvellous and moustache incorrectly. And spelt for that matter. He or she clearly would prefer I spelt it spelled ;-)
OAO