Day 107, Sailing toward Funchal, Portugal

As we continue our journey west we are now in the North Atlantic Ocean and no longer in the relative shelter of the Mediterranean Sea. This morning was cooler than we have experienced in some time and there is noticeable deck motion once again as we are subject to the larger swells of the open ocean. The stabilizers are working as advertised and we are avoiding any roll but are subject to the rise and fall of the bow and stern as we plough through the waves and swell.

Tomorrow will be our last port of call for the world cruise, Funchal, Portugal, where the weather is forecast to be rainy in the morning and warming in the afternoon under partly cloudy skies. We should be cleared to go ashore by 7am with the all aboard at 4:30 pm.

Stephen Clark was the guest on Good Morning Amsterdam and he brought two of his Altus Flutes. He is sponsored by Altus which sells flutes from about $2,000 to over $20,000. Today he brought one of his more normal flutes along with the one made from gold. He claims the golden flute has a superior tone and he tried to show us the difference with a blind audition, but he didn’t have us shut our eyes so we were influenced by our expectation and declared that the golden flute had an obviously superior sound. Stephen chuckled for a bit because I suspect he knows that any difference is probably undetectable by the average person and the collective wisdom of the audience was imaginary.

Barbara presented her port lecture on Funchal and mentioned that we would have a shuttle bus available to take us downtown, although it wasn’t that far and you could walk in if you desired.

The last Stir Fry of the cruise was held on the Lido deck by the pool from 11am to 2pm. We haven’t missed a one as we enjoy this type of food very much and the Amsterdam does a wonderful job of setting this up and providing the outstanding cooks. I am not sure if these are done on other cruises, but if you enjoy Mongolian BBQ or Stir Fry – don’t miss this special meal when you see it offered.

A good day for me on the Poker table as I managed to take the win with a full house on the final hand. It is always nice to start with an K Q , flop K Q 10 and then have another K show up on the turn.

Today’s project in Crafts was to make a small ‘book’ with pages impregnated with seeds. Decorated with a charm on a ribbon, it makes a nice gift for anyone who gardens.

Tonight was our final night for our Tablemate, Kelvin, who will be leaving the ship tomorrow in Funchal and head back to England. We will miss him a lot and we hope to sail with him again at some point in the future. We often joked about seeking out Nirvana at the various temples we visited over the cruise so he was presented with an appropriate Nirvana T shirt as a going away present. We also shared a large composite photo of our tablemates along with smaller versions of our dinner table photos from the formal nights and with guests.

Thanks to our participation in the Cruise Critic roll call, we were able to form 4 of the 7 people at our table in advance, the 5^th person we picked up after the first night’s dinner, but we since already knew her from Cruise Critic, we were able to fit her into our table since we had a few open spots. The final couple was randomly assigned but was like winning the lottery as we had a very close group of likeminded people for the entire cruise. Participation in your roll call and sharing your interests in advance can help you find people who may be a good fit for your dinner table.

World Champion and Rock Star Juggler Mike Price provided the entertainment in the Queens Lounge this evening. He put on an amazing show that featured pure juggling of up to 7 balls at the same time, juggling numerous pins and he amazed the crowd by juggling 6 pins while riding his 6 foot unicycle across a moving stage. For his finale, he juggled numerous glowing balls and illuminated pins in total darkness while wearing glow in the dark “laser” gloves. He was the best juggler of the entire cruise.

• Mike Price