Down to the Nitty Gritty – At Sea – [03/22/2012]

Since a few people have asked, and since it doesn’t fit in with any other entry, a few updates on the basic facts of where I am and where I’m going in this crazy long voyage.

We are currently on day 76 of 112. 36 days left, including today.

The next portion of our journey runs as follows:
March 22^nd/23^rd – At Sea
March 24^th – Colombo, Sri Lanka
March 25^th – At Sea
March 26^th – Mangalore, India
March 27^th  – Marmagoa, India
March 28^th/29^th – Mumbai (Bombay), India
March 30^th – April 4^th – At Sea
April 5^th – Safaga (Luxor), Egypt
April 6^th – Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
April 7^th/8^th – At Sea
April 9^th/10^th – Piraeus (Athens), Greece
April 11^th – Katakolon (Olympia), Greece
April 12^th – Messina, Sicily
April 13^th – Naples, Italy
April 14^th – Ajaccio, Corsica
April 15^th/16^th – Barcelona
April 17^th – At Sea
April 18^th – Cadiz (Seville), Spain
April 19^th – At Sea
April 20^th – Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
April 21^st – 27^th – Transatlantic Crossing
April 28^th – Fort Lauderdale

That’s it, that’s all that’s left. Looking at it like that, it doesn’t seem much does it? and chronologically, by strict measure of the calendar, it’s really not. But when you take into account that 18 of those days are sea days, and all that has to be done, plus the fact that – due to a family emergency – we are now down one major team member. That list might start to look a little longer. We have a lot to fit into a short period of time, but I’ve no doubt that we can do it.

The I-95 was alive with rattling wheels this morning as the new members of the crew came on board, and the over-sized crew elevators were jammed with huge crates indicating the arrival of the new shows that have come on board with our new production cast. As much as I loved our previous cast, I’ve been looking forward to the arrival of the new one simply because I know the F1, whom I ran into in the hallway this morning. How well I remember that bewildered ‘how on earth do I find my way around’ look from when I first came to the flagship. The last ship this cast was on was the baby of the fleet, the flagship isn’t a lot bigger, but she’s a totally different layout…bound to be a bit bewildering at first.

So we’ll be breaking them in for the next few weeks.

And ever-westward we go…