at Sea
November 5, 2022
Today we headed northeast through the Gulf of Aden. There is a shipping lane that is monitored by local authorities and also by the U.S. Navy. These keeps us far away from
Somalia which is our biggest threat. The Captain said we wouldn’t be turning South until sometime tomorrow.
It’s amazing how quickly the days pass. I can still remember the days in elementary school. It seemed like hours between 3:00 and 3:15. The second hand just didn’t move as fast as it should. Now I want it to stop moving so fast. When did this change?
Today is my grand daughters 4th birthday. Wasn’t she just born yesterday? We did manage a FaceTime call late afternoon which was early morning back home.
Today we received forms that need to be filled out for entry into and out of Tanzania. Paper forms that haven’t been adjusted to indicate that the sex check box is optional nor a spot asking about my pronouns. I’m not sure what to think.
There is a meeting of our tour to Victoria Falls where our Safari begins. The tour is in a few weeks but the meeting is Tuesday. All these days at sea is a good time to take care of these things.
Tonight’s entertainment was Paul Stepian. Paul was from Poland and was billed as a “multi instrumentalist”. By his own admission, he was a flutist that also carried around a midi-controller in the shape of a clarinet. This instrument has a reed and senses pressure changes to manipulate the tone. The tone generated is controlled by a switch on the instrument and the user is able to play any of the standard midi sounds. He demonstrated a tenor sax, harmonica, and a few other instruments. He began his set with his standard flute covering a few Michael Jackson tunes. Very impressive. He took out the midi controller covered some Stevie Wonder. He did a medley of movie soundtracks where he used is alto and piccolo flute. Great performance and fantastic musician. Maybe some of the weaker acts make me give him such a high rating. 10