20250115 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 51/96 - Sea Day

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 51/96 - Sea Day - A Great Breakfast and A Great Dinner 

We woke to the first of two sea days en route to Madagascar. Today was special because the chefs made a second attempt at biscuits and sausage gravy. If you recall, the first attempt several weeks ago was a bit of a failure. The gravy was cream gravy, not white gravy, and the sausage was sliced sausages, not crumbled sausage. It tasted OK, but it wasn't biscuits and sausage gravy.

We talked with Harry, the General Manager and he asked for the recipe again and said they would give it another try. He headed that off to Coral, the manager of The Colonnade, and she said they would get it right. We let her know when we arrived and she got the ball rolling. About 15 minutes later, this was delivered to our table.

White gravy, savory crumbled sausage, pepper, parsley, a slightly sweet biscuit - it was perfect and delicious

Boy, oh boy, did they get it right this time. We ate like kings and queens this morning! We will ask for this again!

Next up was Baggo. It was all continuing guests this morning. None of the new guests who were onboarded in Seychelles showed up. The usual gang played the usual game where the two Baggo boards are set up behind each other with points assigned as follows:

1. On the close board - 10
2. In the hole on the close board - 20
3. On the far board - 30
4. In the hole on the far board - 40

After the first two rounds, Entertainment Manager, Rhys, upped the ante. In round #3, you had to attempt to hit the close board with your first two throws. If you could hit all four scoring locations, on and in on the close board plus on and in on the far board, you would collect 100 points for the bags plus a 150-point bonus for completing the cycle. My first toss was on the front board. My second missed the hole, skipped, and landed on the far board. My third went in the front board, and I buried my last bag into the hole on the far board. I was the only player to complete the cycle and score the bonus. That gave me the win for today. Woo!

Since this is technically a new cruise, trivia restarted today with a standalone game. We had our worst game of the cruise, crashing and burning. The long list of failures:

• What airline was the first to fly the Boing 747?
• We guessed Quantis and felt foolish for not knowing it was Pam Am in 1970
• What contraption are brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier credited for inventing?
• We thought it was the piloted hot air balloon but talked ourselves into the guillotine - of course, it was the hot air balloon
• According to Forbes, in 2019, who was credited as the youngest self-made billionaire?
• We guessed Mark Zuckerberg (as did most of the room), but it was Kylie Jenner - her status as "self-made" is debatable
• What U.S. state's name translates to "snowfall" in another language?
• We guessed Alaska, but Nevada means snowfall in Spanish
• What guitarist played the guitar solo on Michael Jackson's Beat It?
• We guessed Slash, but it was Eddie Van Halen
• What is Seabourn's official slogan used on most printed material?
• We had no idea as we hadn't seen it, and after looking, we couldn't find it on their website, but we were told it was, "This is your moment"
• In the bonus, we had to name the only two double-landlocked countries in the world - nations completely surrounded by other landlocked countries?
• We got Uzbekistan but missed Lichtenstein

We finished tied for last today. When we fail, we're the best at failing!

Arlona's beading projects were a keychain and a tassel necklace. She's gaining quite the collection.

I competed in putting again today, but lipped out a couple of putts, falling short.

We attended the port briefing about our two upcoming stops in Madagascar. We should have a couple of interesting days on Friday and Saturday.

Arlona caught boobies roosting on the ship again tonight, and a nice sunset.

Tonight, we were privileged to dine with Captain Hamish Elliott and his wife, Gail, who is on this journey with him plus one other couple. Hamish and Gail were gracious and genuinely seemed like nice and down-to-earth people. The other couple were veteran Seabourn cruisers and were very nice as well. It was a Chef's dinner with a fixed menu and everything was tasty. We enjoyed the dinner.

We went to tonight's show featuring South African singer, Corlea. She had an impressive vocal range and was spot-on impersonating several singers like Dolly Parton, Shakira, Britney Spears, and Cher.

We're time-traveling again tonight, but finally in the right direction. We gain an hour tonight, moving to UTC+3 or eight hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast. We have three more hours to gain before we reach the Canary Islands and then we'll lose one as we return to Barcelona.

Tomorrow is another Sea Day before we land in Madagascar on Friday.