At Sea Again!

A wonderful relief to be on the ocean again, after our enforced stay at the Island of Gamalia, while the worldwide Coronavirus raged. We would have set sail a few days earlier, but just as we were about to leave the dock, we discovered that the main anchor was missing.

I’d quite forgotten that we’d had to send it for repair! Needless to say, it was a little bit embarrassing. Anyway, the anchor was returned, and I’m assured that after extensive testing at the Negibi Iron Works, the cracks are purely cosmetic and pose no risk to the ship.

Today we carried out sea trials to make sure we are “cruise ready”. That’s checking that the machinery and electronics are all working well enough, and also that the facilities for guests are in a fit state. It was just as well we checked everything, as the sewage system seems to have failed. It’s not a pretty sight seeing crew members disposing of waste over the back of the ship.

Our first post-lockdown cruise is to be around the Caribbean, with American passengers. We’d intended to start at Fort Lauderdale in Florida, but we’ve just heard that we are barred from entering the port there. It’s quite absurd, really, as their justification is the damage caused some years ago when our previous cruise ship was tying up alongside another vessel. I think our government is still wrangling over compensation. Anyway, if the authorities want to be petty about such things, so be it.

So our plan now is to start the cruise at our beloved island of Gamalia. It does mean we have to bear the cost of additional air travel for our passengers from Florida. But I plan to recover these costs one way or another!

So we will shortly be heading back to the island for repairs to the sewage system, and then the vessel will be ship-shape ready for our paying customers.