March 22nd, 2023 Day 78 of 128

Sea Day 1 of 3

Good morning everyone. We are safely and healthily floating off the coast of western Africa. We have four more ports on the continent of Africa as we venture closer to the equator. I started my morning up early. Which is always easiest after we rolled the clocks back an hour. Surprisingly, Megan was up with me at 5:30am this morning. I went off to the gym and she went off to help the Project Linus team to set up the blankets that have been completed to date for a huge on ship display. After my workout I headed out to the Lido deck to help out with the rest of the set up. Then Megan and I went to the Pinnacle for breakfast. There are still restrictions in place and basically everything has to be served everywhere on the ship. Someone puts my sugar in my tea for me, salt and pepper come in small ramekins, and bread and butter is served not placed on the table. Then we headed back to the Lido. From 9-11:30 there was a silent auction of blankets going on for all the passengers on the ship. One passenger had completed 20 blankets during COVID that she donated for sale to help raise money for more yarn for the organization. We were lucky enough to win a couple of them. We are happy to write a check to this wonderful couple, Gail and Marty, for their endeavors for this fantastic organization. I’m happy to know that there will be passengers crocheting away next year on the world cruise with yarn that we helped to contribute to. After the auction was over and the 400 ish blankets were packed backed up and put away (don’t miss those photos below) we headed back to our cabin and slipped on our bathing suits to relax after our busy morning. I found a chair in the sun, cracked open my book, cuddled into my lounge chair and then they closed the retractable roof overhead. Not five minutes later, it started to rain outside. It was a pineapple shower and it passed quickly but it was a damper on my sun time. Megan had tutoring at 12:30pm today and I went to the acupuncturist from 2-3pm. We met back at the cabin around 3pm. I went out on my balcony and enjoyed a little more time in the sun and got a chance to catch up with mom back at home. Megan read. We had dinner in the main dining room at 5:00pm and we were home and in a PJ’s by 7:00pm. It was a long day. And an early one for Megan. She was asleep before I was. Doesn’t happen very often and I find it amusing when she does.

I have to share a little story. The other day when we went to Walvis Bay we had an excursion seal watching out of the boat. After our last boat adventures when we got soaked and it was very cold, I decided to take my winter coat with me that I had brought for home. While we were out on the sea I slipped my hand into my pocket and found my house key. I had not worn that jacket since January when we traveled to Florida to begin this journey and it was unreal to think that back at home they are dealing with rain and record snowfall and under any other circumstance I would be wearing that jacket daily. But it took me 75 days to put it on here. We have been chasing summer all winter and it will be almost summer when we return. I miss being at home and it has been a doozy of a winter back in CA. I have felt helpless many times to not being there to help out, problem solve and pitch in. I have contemplated heading home early several times but I have stuck to my resolve to finish this trip. I know everyone at home is fully capable of handling things and I am here to love and support everyone through it all. Speaking of finishing this trip….on this date in 2020 we stepped off the world cruise and ended our adventure. So we are now officially on the longest cruise we have ever been on!

Enjoy the photos of Megan holding up some of our completed blankets, the displayed blankets on the Lido deck and a few photos we took last night.