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I woke up at about 7AM and updated my diary while Renée slept. She woke up soon after 8AM. We had a nice slow gentle start. We went to Oceanview for breakfast soon after 9AM. While eating cereal I could see to the South an oil tanker and I suspect one of the other cruise ships (later to be identified as the Crown Princess) from Santorini. Otherwise it was one giant blue disc of an ocean! I had cereal, bagels and a banana for breakfast. Renée went to find a sun bed at 9:30AM while I finished my breakfast. Then I went to find her. She was sunbathing on a lounger. After a short while sitting in the shade nearby, I went to the room to change to swim wear before returning to the pool with my camera and iPhone. We spent a little time in the jacuzzi before I'd had enough. I returned to the shadey sofa while she continued in the jacuzzi. I relaxed, went through the photos and updated my diary. I had another veggie burger and chips for lunch at 12:15PM. I also took some pictures and identified the Crown Princess that was shadowing us to the Southeast.
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| Having fun by the pool. | The Crown Princess | |||
After more relaxing I left Renée to sunbathe some more and returned to the room alone at 1PM. I was a bit bored and wanting to go home for the first time this trip. However I was still looking forward to Vesuvius first. In the room I did a planned repack of my case and sorted the papers. I left out the clothes I plan to wear for the remaining trip. Renée returned to the room at 3PM. We decided to go to Celebrity Central at 3:45PM to get jackpot bingo tickets. I got two $30 pack (one for each of us) of 4 sets of 6 boards (4 games, 24 boards, 6 per game). We also were given scratchcard style cards where we opened the flaps to see if any of them won. Joseph was the only winner there for $5. No bingo win for me this time. Gary won the first game though. The last game was the jackpot game requiring a full house. The winner bagged almost $600! The bingo finished at 4:55PM. Then we went to Oceanview for a late tea. We had our daily ice cream first. Renée then had pizza slices and I couldn't resist some more garlic bread. We then fell for the chocolate mousse. Meanwhile the Crown Princess was still shadowing us at about 7-8 o'clock. I couldn't resist 12 sushi pieces at 5:30PM to make my total up to 100! Delicious! We then went back to the room at about 5:40PM.
We went down to Silhouette at 6:15PM as we approached the Straight of Messina between the toe of Italy and Sicily. We also grabbed some information about Naples from the Guest Relations Desk. The Silhouette menu looked terrible! I just ordered fruit medley and then steamed veg and rice. We were given a tropical fruit sorbet between courses which was nice. At 7:30PM I could see a very hazy Mount Etna pass the port windows. We were lucky to get such a clear day when we went up there. After the main course I scarpered at 7:45PM, skipping dessert. (Renée stayed with her family for dessert. I later heard that there was a speech, whooping and spinning of napkins to thank the waiters after I left.)
After dropping my jacket and tie at the room I went to Deck 15 Fwd and attempted a 270 degree panorama of the Straight of Messina. Then I went to the back and grabbed another 12 sushi pieces (->112) to fill the gap left by a rubbish meal, and admired the view from the Lawn Club as we carried on up the Straight. I soon returned to Deck 15 Fwd where I stayed for ages and took many pictures. Renée joined me there at about 8:45PM as we reached the narrowest part of the straight. Here there were patterns of turbulence in the water showing it was being forced through a narrow gap. A guy from San Francisco nearby said it reminded him of the water around the Golden Gate Bridge. As we cleared the straight it opened out again and a number of islands including the Stromboli volcano could be seen. Looking back I could still see the outline of Etna. Behind us the Crown Princess ship could also be seen following our wake through the Straight.
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| A hazy view of Mount Etna. | The Crown Princess still following. | Panorama of a backlit port of Messina. | The other side, the toe of Italy. |
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| Ahead (North) is the narrowest part of the Straight. | More views of the port of Messina. | Sailing through the narrowest part of the Straight. | ||
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| Views of the toe of Italy. | Sun getting low over the tip of Sicily. | Golden Hour over the Tyrrhenian Sea. | |
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| Looking back to the Messina Straight. | The Stromboli volcano. | Tyrrhenian sunset is imminent. | The Crown Princess following us through the Straight of Messina. |
The extra haze earlier appeared to be more forest fire smoke. Sunset soon occurred as the sun slipped past some low cloud layers and down to the sea. Meanwhile the air had plenty of forest fire smoke in it, and one fire on the mainland could clearly be seen as twilight deepened. Some time before 10PM we went back to the room. After preparing for tomorrow I went back up top for a while to go Stromboli watching as apparently it is almost continuously active. However I failed to spot anything and photography was now too difficult even at a higher ISO as on a moving ship it was impossible to keep the camera still for long enough.
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| Sunset in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Dropping below a layer of cloud almost hidden by the haze. | ||||
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| Tyrhhenian twilight. Stromboli to the far right. | A brand new moon shines above. | A forest fire on the coast throwing up a lot of smoke. | Closeup of Stromboli. | Stromboli in the dark. |
At 10:30PM I gave up and returned to the room to join Renée in retiring for the night. Although not before putting the clocks back an hour as we returned to Italian time.
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