Blog 2: Leaving Lima

Our departure from Lima was somewhat confused as the transport booked to take us to the Saga Ruby didn’t arrive at the scheduled time, then when we arrived at the ship they said we weren’t expected until 6pm! Anyway we were soon happily settled in a very comfortable cabin with window onto the outside world and the staff and food were of the usual high standard.
We weren’t up to making the most of our first day on Friday as Sue had not been feeling too good and I had a tummy upset. These cruise ships are so paranoid about the Norovirus spreading around the passengers that I was confined to my cabin for 24 hours until the tummy had settled down. This meant missing the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail party and the formal dinner as all I was allowed was a couple of dry biscuits! That will be good for the weight loss. Sue too suffered as the ship’s doctor gave her a large injection in the bottom which eased her upper back ache problem if it did cause some discomfort elsewhere!
Saturday I was to present my first lecture in the ship’s cinema. There is stiff competition for audiences as there are several other lecturers including a Concorde pilot, a transport expert, a retired diplomat, a maritime historian and an ex ITN Correspondent. Thank goodness I had produced my own promotional leaflets for distribution to the passengers and I had a reasonable turnout of “oldies” who enjoyed the wartime nostalgia and obligingly joined in with Flannigan and Allen and Vera Lynn.
Three more days at sea before we get to Easter Island so plenty of time to relax though I have the next lecture on Monday, the weather is good plenty of sunshine and calm seas so we are able to enjoy the trip without too much pressure. The ship put on a fantastic “Jazz Lunch” in the ballroom on Monday with good live jazz music and a spread of wonderful food which makes any attempt at keeping the weight off very difficult as you can see from a couple of photos.
Second lecture on Monday, after the lunch, about the “Good Old Days” of the BBC went even better than the first with slightly increased numbers so the word must be spreading. I’m still having trouble with the technician who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of making my voice sound as loud as the audio illustrations which is somewhat frustrating, I’ll just have to shout or use a different mic next time. But this is easier than P&O as I don’t have another one until next Sunday. Next stop, if the sea isn’t too rough, is Easter Island where we hope to see all those “Moai” statues carved by the locals as a tribute to their chieftain ancestors. The access is via ship’s tender boat so we are dependent on the weather and as I write it’s quite choppy so we keep our fingers crossed.