Day three.  Thursday 6^th December 2012.  La Coruna, Spain.

No booked excursions today so we watched the crew doing their emergency drill before we went ashore.  Even though the Captain had told passengers still remaining aboard to ignore the announcements which were for crew only it still gave us goose bumps when the call ‘Abandon Ship!  Abandon Ship!  Abandon Ship!’ was heard.

We went ashore in the intermittent light rain and found the tourist information.  We enjoyed pottering around the old town.  It was only just waking up at 11am, very civilized.  Walked round the esplanade to the lighthouse.  It reminded me of Blackpool in the winter as it had tram tracks and a deserted beach.

We returned to the ship for lunch then went ashore again to buy the essential supplies of bottled water, tonic and cheap alcohol!!!

Open dining put us next to Fred Talbot of GMTV weatherman fame and Tom Newall, the choir master.  It was a laugh and resulted in Ian being co-opted into the choir as it needs more men!

Sailed at 6pm for two days at sea on way to Madeira.  Captain says 2 – 3 metres of swell again tonight – oh joy!

There are still a few teething problems with Voyager and at tonight’s show the microphones only worked intermittently which resulted in it being more of a ‘name that tune’ evening.

Friday 7^th December – Day at Sea.

Slept well.  A combination of less swell and getting used to it and nothing to do with the cheap alcohol bought yesterday!  Went to two welcome parties and enjoyed some free cava.  Well it would have been rude not to!

Had my picture taken with the real Mr Bridge to send to Sheilah.  Ian says he enjoyed his first choir session much more than he expected.  Let’s hope that is his reaction when we get round to our first duplicate Bridge session.

Teething problems continue and the Captain had to apologise for the fact that our cold water supply was contaminated with salt water when a problem arose with the storage and desalination system.  Thought the coffee tasted a bit strange.  We are safer with the beer and wine I reckon!

Saturday 8^th December – Day at Sea.

Well another busy day.  I haven’t used the ‘B’ word yet.  Lectures started at 9.30 with ‘How to use the Internet on board’.  Disappointed to find that using Skype may be a problem if lots of others using internet at the same time.  We will have to speak to you all in the middle of the night or more likely when we have time ashore with free Wi Fi access.

Went to Bridge seminar and then had an instructive session with Mrs Bridge and her partner.  She says she rarely plays with Mr Bridge –  oh well they have been married a long time!

Have now met the couple from Bristol we inspired to do the whole 5 months cruise.  We met Richard and Lynn for about 2 hours on our coach journey from Bristol to Dover in May this year.  They had cruised several times before but had never heard of Voyages of Discovery.  Hope they are still thanking us in April when we are on our way home.

Sunday 9^th December – Funchal, Madeira.

Enjoyed our ½ day tour of East side of Madeira and sampled ‘Poncha’, a rum, lemon juice and sugar cane concoction that is supposed to cure colds.  Well after a couple you would certainly forget you had one!

Left port at 6pm for our 6 ½ day Atlantic crossing.  

Pool steward getting more creative with the towels.