Feb 17th, 2020 Day 45 of 128

Another glorious sea day. Mom and I were blessed to have massages again today. We spent a couple of hours pampering our bodies and relaxing our souls. It was such a wonderful indulgence. We headed back to the room afterwards and picked up the girls so we could all have lunch together. After lunch Valerie went off to tutoring and Megan and I went back to the room to rest and work on schoolwork and tidy up around the room. Mom and I had a Pisco Sour party tonight hosted by the captain and officers. Those of you who have been reading my blog, we tried our first Pisco Sours in Puerto Varas in Chile and fell in love with them then. My goal when I get home…among others…will be to find a bottle of Pisco to purchase. It is a wonderful summer drink, refreshing, a little stronger then a margarita. We love having the opportunity to touch base with the captain and the officers and to personally thank them for everything they are doing to keep us safe and happy. After the cocktail party mom and I headed to the Pinnacle Grill for our first dinner there of the trip. We frequent this “establishment” for breakfast, but it was our first time there for dinner. We enjoyed a bacon appetizer, lobster bisque, filet mignon and lobster sauce, creamed spinach and sautéed mushrooms. A nice bottle of wine and it was a wonderful way to celebrate mom’s birthday one last time. They brought her another cake to the table and sang her happy birthday again. It was another wonderful way to celebrate mom’s special day. Then we popped over to the front desk and paid to have our passports stamped on Pitcarin Island. I guess the immigration officers come on board there and you pay a fee to get your passport stamped, or not. Which I find peculiar since we don’t even actually set foot on the island; the local people actually come on board and bring their merchandise to sell.   We did get a chance to look at our passports; we haven’t seen them since boarding the ship in Fort Lauderdale. We have new stamps in them from Argentina, Chile and Brazil. We get our passports back after Pitcarin Island and have to physically carry them with us when we are in New Zealand and Australia. Today we also received a form to complete for the French Polynesia Health Control. It is a questionnaire asking us about our travel information for the past 14 days to ascertain our exposure to Coronavirus. This is the times we are in right now. They are no reported cases in French Polynesia and they are trying to keep it that way. I can not blame them. Mom and I keep saying how we are in this bubble out here on the sea, where no one new has come into our bubble and we have no risk of exposure at this time. Hearing about all the other cruise ships in the world, this is a unique experience for sure. We are just going to keep taking care of ourselves. Being conscientious of our hand washing, covering our mouths when we cough or sneeze, and did I mention hand washing. We give back yet another hour tonight, so we will only be one hour off from CA time. We are almost “home” in time zones. It’s been hard having so many changes in a short period of time. But I guess it is better than all at once. Sending love and hugs from across the sea. Debra.