20250109 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 45/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 45/96 - Sea Day Winning and Almost Winning

Like many sea days, today started with Baggo. Today's competition included throwing bags from one deck up, which added some fun. Arlona and I, along with one other guest qualified for the finals. I lost in the first round as Arlona and the other guest tied with more points. In the final, Arlona made a terrific four-bag toss from one deck up, putting two in the hole and two on for a decisive win and her own black Seabourn cap.

So far, we've scored four hats, two USB-rechargeable personal fans, two international plug converters, a game set, and an umbrella in addition to the gifts Seabourn has provided of insulated wine glasses, a tote and a duffle

I mentioned our most recent itinerary change where we lost Mayotte and gained an additional stop in Antsiranana, Madagascar. We received confirmation paperwork today showing that our booked excursion for Nosy-Be, Madagascar had moved to the new date. They also published new excursions for Antsiranana so we could book an activity there. We continue to be flexible and roll with the changes.

Arlona's art today featured watercolors. This morning, she used a photo that she took a couple of days ago as inspiration and produced this awesome work.

Dhow boats are particularly picturesque

We continued our progressive trivia today at noon. It was our best day yet, missing only one question.

• How old was Tiger Woods when he won his first Master's?
• We guessed 20, he was 21

Today's bonus had seven answers - name all the Von Trapp children from the movie, Sound of Music. We got Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Marta, and Gretl, but missed Brigtita, so we scored 120/140 on the bonus. Today's strong finish moved us into second place with two more events remaining.

I participated in another golf challenge this afternoon. Today's challenge was to hit five balls, recording your best shot closest to 75 yards in the air. The measurements were made by Cruise Director, Nick's electronic swing analyzer. There was a tie for first with the two netting 75.4 and 74.6 yards respectively. Third came in at 74.5 yards. I finished just out of the prizes in fourth with 76.7 yards.

I spent some time outside on Deck #10, photographing the local birds fishing for flying fish. It's always fun watching their aerobatics as they try to snag the fish out of the air.

I can't tell for sure as there are so many similar species, but these look like red-footed boobies

This is what was on the lunch menu.

Flying fish

Chasing lunch

Stretching...

Nope

Despite best efforts...

...the fish lives another day

Circling over more snacks

We were bridesmaids in Name That Tune this afternoon with 34/40, losing to another team with 36/40. It was a fun mix of music.

Tonight was another formal night. 

We attended a cocktail reception for members of the Seabourn Club loyalty program.

It honestly wasn't much. They recognized the cruisers with the most nights. They had champagne (that we don't like) and canapes. It was a non-event for us and I doubt we'll attend another one.

We had a quick drink in the Observation Bar before joining friends for dinner in The Restaurant. Tonight's dinner was a fixed chef's menu. The service was slow, and dinner took two hours, but the food and conversation were good. Because dinner took so long, we went directly to tonight's show, singer, Sandy Grigelis.

Sandy put on a high-energy show featuring mostly rock and roll

Sandy sang and played guitar, piano, and harmonica

We enjoyed the show and were amazed at how much energy he had. This brought our day of winning and nearly winning to a close. Tomorrow is another sea day.