THUSDAY, JANUARY 13 - At Sea

It is another sea day. Once again, Dick is up at 6:00AM and heads down to the coffee lounge with the computer to get on-line. The internet speed is OK both early and late but very slow during the day when everybody is trying to use it.

We go to breakfast a little late and immediately head for a talk on the upcoming shore excursions followed by the first of the on-board lecturer’s talks on South America. She is Terry Breen and has a Phd in cultural anthropologist and has worked for Regent since 1999. She is an excellent speaker and we see why she is so popular with the returning guests. She leads off with a fascinating discussion of why North and South America developed so differently.

By now it is after 12:00PM and we have not eaten in nearly two and a half hours. Carolyn discovers a huge Caesar Salad at the grill on deck, so we go back to the grill deck and get a nice serving of the salad as well as a BBQ rib. A tasty, light lunch. Maybe it will hold us until supper.

The afternoon is quiet. Dick heads for his time on the treadmill and then to Trivia. His team comes in second and would have tied for first if the record keeper for the team had written down the right answer to "How Old will Diana Ross be in 2011," (67), as provided by Dick instead on insisting on her own answer of 70.

Carolyn reads and naps until about 4. The ship has been rocking all afternoon so she goes to check out the pool. Sure enough there is a "Tepeckawana" or five foot seas in the pool. It is great fun riding the waves and great exercise too. The Deck is empty except for a guy reading. After twenty minutes swimming and a few minutes warming up in the hot tub, she is good to go. Back in the room we watch a nice sunset while sipping the wine sent ot our room the other night and getting dressed for dinner.

We attend the Captain’s "Welcome Aboard Party" at 6PM. The staff is introduced and there is dancing, but the ship is rocking so we go to dinner. We are randomly seated with a couple from Friendswood, TX and a couple from El Dorado Arkansas who we have eaten with before! It is another great meal. Dick has the Menu Degustation: Smoked Salmon and Sevruga Caviar, Cream of Porcini Mushrooms with White Truffle foam, West Indian Curried Crab Cake and Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Three Pepper-Herb Crust. Carolyn has the Chilled Fruit Cocktail, Fresh Spinach with Bacon, Chopped Eggs and a Dill Mustard Dressing, a small serving of the entree Crepes Florentine (fabulous) and the Butter Poached Maine Lobster. We both have the Grand Marnier Souffle’ for desert. They serve another good red wine tonight, Valpolicella Classico, Allegrini from Veneto, Italy 2007. After a good meal, plenty of wine and good conversation, we head back to the cabin and bed where we are rocked to sleep.