Free at Last - October 20 - Agadir

My day really began at midnight.  We have a Sit and Stitch at my local yarn store every Wednesday night.  During the height of the pandemic, this was held via Zoom.  Now, you can still attend that way if you cannot attend in person.  Since I was not the least bit sleepy at midnight, I decided to join and talk to my knitting friends.  It was nice to see and chat with everyone and see what they were working on.

I was able to get two hours sleep and then was up for two hours before falling asleep again.  I had just awakened at about 7:15 when the phone rang.  It was Mary Anne letting me know that she had just had her test and the tech was heading my way (He was working his way down from deck seven.)  

At 7:25 there was a knock on my door.  He came in, took the swab and let me know that I should hear by 9:30.  While he was taking the test he put his schedule down and although I could not read any of it, I could see that there were about 25 names on the list, so that rumor was confirmed.

The Captain came over the speaker at 7:45 with the announcement that the port authority would not let anyone off without a confirmed negative Covid test.  The stewards scrambled to get the tests passed out.  To get off you had to show your passport as well as the actual test.  Needless to say, this held up the excursions.  The Captain came back about a half hour later to say people could start disembarking.

At 9:00 I started pacing (did get in quite a few steps) waiting for the phone call.  It came at 9:18 and it was exactly the news I wanted to hear.  The nurse said I was free to leave my cabin but the port authorities would not let me (or any of the other captives) off because they did not think our quarantine time was long enough.  She did not mention that I should wear a mask (as the CDC suggests) but I plan on wearing mine for at least five days.  I asked if I could remove my pink dot from my door.  She said I needed to leave it because it showed housekeeping they needed to do a deep cleaning of my cabin and then they would remove it.

By 9:30 I had my book, knitting bag, and purse and left my cabin heading for fresh air - I went out and took off my mask and took a very deep breath.  I had planned to walk the Promenade Deck for a couple of laps but there was a lifeboat training drill going on and most of the port side of the deck was blocked off so I headed back indoors to pick up my passport (everyone else got theirs a few days ago - I was told to get mine once I was free).  I then headed to the Lido deck to sit out by the aft pool.  I grabbed an orange juice and some Cheerios to enjoy in the open air.

While I was working on my socks, Judy (Lee) found me and we sat and talked for some time.  Just before noon I decided it was time for lunch.  Although the food I had while incarcerated was good, I enjoyed looking at all the choices I had for lunch.  

I finally decided to get a large bowl of fresh fruit and a very good pretzel-like roll.  While I was eating, Judy (Bob) came over and welcomed me back to the outside world.  She sat and ate with me and we each got an ice cream for dessert.

All aboard was at 12:30 and we were scheduled to leave at 1pm so I went back to the aft pool area and watched as we cast off lines and headed out of the port.  It was very hazy and the man who was standing next to me said that the haze was actually sand blowing from the Sahara.

Wanting to stay outside, I then went to sit by the mid-ship pool and work on my socks.  At 3:45 I went to the Crow's Nest for trivia.  I no longer have a team so I played by myself.  Next time I go to trivia I will attempt to find a new team but for today I was OK by myself.

After trivia I went to the Shore Excursion desk to see about my excursion for tomorrow.  I wanted to know what I should do if the port authorities in Casablanca would not let me off.  She said if that should happen, to talk to them tomorrow evening and I would have my money refunded.

I walked through the shops (bought my Zaandam magnet - I have one from each of the HAL ships I have been on), looked at the photos, and tried to kill as much time as possible so I would not have to go back to my cabin.  After 12 hours short of 7 full days in my cabin, I was totally sick of it.

When I finally returned, I could smell the cleaning they had done (not a chemical odor but a definite cleaning product).  I started working on the blog and I have had a lot to say for today!

While I was choosing my outfit for dinner, the Captain came back over the speaker (piped into our cabins) with a couple of important announcements.  The first was about the weather.  There is a storm near Ireland which is influencing our weather.  It became very overcast and started to get rough.  He said there were swells that would likely increase overnight until we enter the area around the port in Casablanca.

The second announcement was about the port authorities in Casablanca.  Although not been told this, the Captain wanted to be ahead of it if they say that everyone again needs a negative test.  To save time, he said that everyone would be given another test (how many of them do they have on this ship???) and if you are planning on getting off tomorrow, go ahead and do the test and bring it with you. (As I was typing this, my test was delivered.)

He also mentioned that there were a few positive cases discovered during the testing.  I feel for those people.

Since it was exactly one week ago that I last ate in the Dining Room, I had to think about all that I needed to get ready (clothes, jewelry, shoes, purse, etc).  It was nice to see my dinner companions again and everyone was very welcoming.

The evening entertainment was another in the series of BBC Earth.  Since I have to get up for an excursion, after a week of having no time frame, I thought I would make it an early night.

Because it has been so long since the last trivia, I have added extra questions.  I had 9 out of 18 and the two winning teams had 17.

1.  What is the most used club in golf?

2.  What is the least used letter in the English alphabet?

3.  What are the two official languages of Vatican City?

4.  How many dogs were on the Titanic?

5.  What is the most common last name in the U.S.?

6.  Which country consumes the most coffee per person?

7.  Where is the strongest muscle in the human body located?

8.  What action figure was introduced after Barbie and Ken?

9.  Flying in which direction gives you the worst jet lag?

10. What three organs create the most body heat?

1.  putter

2.  Z

3.  Latin, Italian

4.  12

5.  Smith

6.  Finland

7.  jaw

8.  GI Joe

9.  east

10.  brain, heart, liver

Smooth sailing until next time.

Lifeboat drill

the Morocco flag painted on this building

fishing fleet

Agadir

the casbah of Agadir

the city of Agadir

Wonder what that is in the middle?

my pink dot is gone

Mary - here is what is on deck 7, there was nothing on deck 6