This morning my roommate pointed out that today marks the half way point in our voyage. I was stunned. The time in port passes like a flash, and even these past few days on the ship have flown by. I would partially attribute this to trying to digest the last three countries, but mostly because the days themselves have been full of excitement.
A few days after Vietnam we docked in Singapore to fill up the gas tank. Apparently the fuel there is cheaper and of better quality than surrounding areas. Anyway, while we knew we were supposedly in Singapore, we were really just saddled up to a tanker in the middle of a busy bay full of many other ships and could barely make out land. A rumor is going around that we will get a Singapore passport stamp, which led to debates about whether we could count Singapore as a country we’ve been. I was opposed to the idea since we didn’t even step on land, but it made me think if airports should count or not.
We then passed through the Malacca Straits, which recorded 197 piracy attacks in twelve years. I don’t think anyone would be crazy enough to attack a ship full of college students, but it was still eerie looking out and seeing vague island forms in the distance, wondering who might be lurking out there.
Since leaving Vietnam, the waters have been flat and crowded compared to the Pacific. It is not uncommon to see other ships making their way between countries, whereas I don’t even remember seeing one fellow ship in the wide Pacific. Speaking of companions, Professor Abel, the resident Marine Biologist, took a sample of plankton this morning and let me view it under the microscope. His enthusiasm was contagious, and the plankton were really cool—all different colors and shapes. Another thing I spotted today at breakfast was dolphins! I saw six or so of them, not too close but near enough to see their fins appear every so often above the water.
I must say though that the biggest happening of this stretch were the Sea Olympics. As I talked about before, different areas on the ship are separated into “Seas”, nine or so total. We competed among seas (and one team composed of faculty, lifelong learners, and children) for the title of Sea Olympic champion. We all got a day off of classes and work to do silly events like synchronized swimming, tug-of-war, and lip singing. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and everyone had a great time bonding and soaking up the sun.
I made the banner for my sea, the Mediterranean, with another girl a couple days before the games. It didn’t win, but we were successful in many other things like the Salty Whistle, where the first person who can whistle after eating seven saltines wins, and Crab Soccer, where the four players on each team have to play in crab position on their hands and knees. We also won the lip singing with an awesome choreographing of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. That was probably my favorite event to watch; for some reason one team had guys dancing in their underwear to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, while another team had guys dance up as girls and sing Spice Girls. Plus, there’s one guy on the ship who’s awesome at break dancing and a few other people who are good at flips so that was fun. The Mediterranean Sea placed third overall, but we won the Spirit Award which was almost more exciting! We really did have the best cheer.
And now tomorrow is India! I am so excited for it; my mom connected the dots and realized that one of her coworkers is from the area we are visiting and she has been incredible in planning for my friends and me. I can’t wait!
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