20230930 AAAA Trip - Bering Sea - I feel like I slept a day away

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 14/105 - Bering Sea - Day #2 to Japan

Wow, am I rested! I went to bed at 10 p.m. on Thursday and woke up at 8 a.m. on Saturday.  That meant no food or alcohol intake on Friday - almost like a health plan at sea!

Last night, we jumped forward in time 23 hours from UTC-9 (5 hours behind the US East Coast) to UTC+14 (18 hours ahead of the US East Coast). We must have hit 88MPH last night and the Orion's flux capacitor was fluxing.  Just call me Marty McFly. There will be no "20230929" entry as we had no September 29.

Here's proof!

You hear all kinds of horror stories about the Bering Sea and how rough it can be.  We are experiencing none of that, thankfully, as it is smooth as glass.  

Sunny skies, high 40s temps, light breezes - all in all, a pleasant, albeit cool trip.  The captain, in his sea day noon reports suggests that it may change in a couple of days and we may get a more "Bering" experience before reaching Japan.  We shall see, but for now, it is like sailing in a very cool Caribbean.

This morning, Arlona continued on her crochet learning journey and I attended a lecture about the Sun, given by the resident astronomer on board.  One thing different about the Viking Orion versus most of the other Viking ocean vessels is that there is a planetarium on the ship - the Explorers' Dome on deck 8.  So far, it has been out of commission.  Supposedly, there are technicians on board working on it so I hope we will be able to see a presentation in it before we disembark.

Hanging in our room before trivia, we heard a loud noise on the balcony.  It was our awesome cabin steward, Jomar, cleaning the glass.  

He and his assistant, Aiko, do an incredible job keeping everything shiny and clean.  The entire ship is that way with the crew constantly cleaning.

We did worse today at progressive trivia with 11/15 correct.  The tough ones:

• What artist was known for his drip painting?
• We all thought about Salvadore Dali and the melting clocks - we were way off - he was talking about Jackson Pollack and his technique of painting by dripping or splattering paint
• What virus is responsible for producing warts?
• We guessed Rhinovirus, but it is HPV
• What is the national cake of Australia?
• We guessed Devils Food, perhaps as a nod to the Tasmanian Devil - nope - Lamingtons, little cubes of yellow sponge cake thinly covered in chocolate and shaved coconut
• What is the name of the football (soccer) stadium in Barcelona?
• Camp Nou - the home of FC Barcelona, it can seat 99,354 and has the largest capacity in Spain and Europe

We have five more days to reverse this trend.  

After a nice lunch in the World Café, we spent a little time in the room before heading up to deck 7 and the hot tub.  It seems to be helping my knee so this therapy will continue on sea days.

We made our usual Explorers’ Bar appearance before a very nice dinner in the World Café.  The lobster in puff pastry was wonderful.  As we were wrapping up dinner, a pod of dolphins played along the port side of the ship.  They were a slight distance away and never fully breached so we couldn’t tell what kind they were, but it was still fun to see.

We returned to the Explorers’ Bar to catch tonight’s sunset and enjoy some social time as I finished this entry.

Bartender, Algie, whipping up another masterpiece - Click here to view the full 360-degree photo

Tonight, and every night until we reach Japan, we will gain another hour, so 25-hour days are in our future for the next five days.  An extra hour at the Explorers’ Bar.  An extra hour in bed.  The options are staggering – and we would be too if we opt for all Explorers’ Bar.