Oh Batty Night, or Things That Go Sqeak in the night

Most of today was quite windy. According to the atmospheric lab on board, the relative wind was about 40 knots at midafternoon. We were headed straight into the wind, so the speed of the ship was increasing the wind by about 10 knots.

I took advantage of our first day at sea to make use of the jogging track. Running directly into the wind around the front of the ship gives a whole new meaning to 'limited forward mobility'. In all, I ran 1.2 miles and walked another .8. Tomorrow I will try for running 2 and walking another 1. There was no land in sight at that time, and it was quite a feeling to be running around the top of the ship, looking out to the horizon. Just a bit different than running on a treadmill, watching TV.

The winds have calmed now that we've turned around the eastern edge of Cuba. Unfortunately, we made the turn after dark, so I can't tell you what Cuba looks like. I only know we turned the corner because the Ocean and Atmospheric labs post a realtime update of our position on their site .

When I returned from dinner and the evening's entertainment, I stepped out on our balcony to enjoy the night. It's very dark here, aside from the light put off by the ship. I looked up and could see a number of small...things, moving around at a high rate of speed and mobility. They must have been bats, and I could hear some squeeking, even over the water and wind. I guess something this big and bright draws their attention, even out to sea.

All in all, it was a fairly lazy day. We spent a couple of hours at an Art auction. It was quite interesting. I didn't buy anything, but may tomorrow. Mick and Jenna each picked 3 or 4 paintings.

Updated itenerary -- Grand Cayman is closed due to hurricane damage, so we will be going to Belize City on Friday instead. *le sigh* Oh well. So much for 7 Mile Beach.

I took pictures of my dinner tonight, I'll post them up to Webshots.

Sunburn and Seasickness report -- No burn, no quease. Nothing new to report, the wrist bands seem to be working like a charm. I had a bit of a headache at one point, but I'm hoping now that we've turned into calmer seas and winds everything will be happy.

There was a beautiful sunset tonight, I caught it from the hot tub on the pool deck. Very decadent, I know. I haven't checked to see how the pictures came out, perhaps I'll post them.

Ok, that's it, I'm fading. Good Night John Boy.