Day Two sailing to Fanning Island, Kiribati

The seas remain at about 6-12 feet so it is not really rough but just awkward and uncomfortable. I guess we'll hope it doesn't get worse. It continues to warm up as we near the equator. We should cross the equator some time soon, if we haven't already.* No one has really said anything about it. The captain didn't mention it or give an ETA in his announcements this morning. His big news was that after over a week with an empty swimming pool they thought they could keep water in it today.  Given the numbers of people we've seen lolling on the pool deck when ever we cross it, I am sure there are some happy people today.

In other news, we must have known and forgotten that Crystal has draft beer in Waterside and Silk. They have Newcastle and Heineken on tap. Clay likes both and was thrilled to discover this. We have never seen beer on any menu. Of course, we also haven't visited a bar to look at a bar menu. Though if they only have draft beer at Waterside and Silk, it wouldn't be on a bar menu anyway. All to say, if you're a beer drinker on Crystal, ask!

Last time we were on Serenity for the NWP16 cruise, they did not have straight mint or peppermint tea. I am happy to report that now they have a different brand of teas than in 2016 and the mint tea is excellent.

Today Clay checked online for the menus and we found nothing appealing for lunch or dinner. He called and got us a 6pm reservation at Silk tonight for Chinese. We'll cross our fingers for a repeat good meal! We waited until after 12:30pm and went to Silk for lunch that begins at 1pm. We got 1 of the last window 2 tops. We ordered drinks while we waited. Clay also ate from Marketplace buffet since we were seating right next to the door between them and Silk. I waited til 1 pm and ordered a ham & salami pizza. The crust was very nice and the cheese was abundant but it wasn't all that flavorful. It was just a tad too big to eat alone, but to small to split without other food. Since Clay was also eating the buffet it worked out fine. We both had Ben & Jerry's for dessert.

We are skipping today's popcorn movie "1944" since IMDB says its in Estonian, German and Russian. Last night we watched "Ideal Home" on demand on TV. It had Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan. They were brilliant and it kept us laughing out loud.

Tomorrow we anchor off Fanning Island, Kiribati about 9am. We'll be there until 6pm. They are a vanishing country due to rising sea levels. This island has no power grid or running water. Crystal is running tender service ashore and back. Any visits are on your own. We have to set foot so I can pin a new country but I expect it will be a short visit ashore. Two sea days follow to another new country for us at Pago Pago, American Samoa. (Pronounced pango pango.)

I'm assuming no further news and no photos and posting this now.

*I am back after reading tomorrow's Reflections left on the bed after dinner. Instead of waiting for intermittent Internet, I used as a reference the WC2019 route map we had received a few days ago. News flash, the Equator on that route map is a good inch North of where it should appear. I can understand artistic license and not to scale, but this seems like a pretty important place marker. In any event, tonight's Reflections states that the Equator is 262 miles south Fanning Island. The newsletter and today's destinations lecturer said that Kiribati is pronounced Kiri-bas or Kiri-bosh.

Dinner tonight at Silk was a mixed bag. Clay hated everything but dessert of tapioca soup with green tea ice cream and lychees. He had prawn dumplings to start which were like breaded and fried meatballs. By his definition, a dumpling has a dough wrapper. Fail. He ordered the prawn claypot. He did not recognize what was in there as prawn because there were a pair of crab-looking pinchers on top of the pile. Once he dug down, the claws were attached to what looked like a large shrimp or small lobster split in half length-wise. He decided to eat it. I don't think he'll order anymore prawns. My wonton soup was the same as before. My black pepper beef was as good as the first time I ordered it.  Tomorrow night we have our first reservation of the cruise at Prego. Looking at my notes about it from the NWP cruise, Clay loved it and I hated it. Stay tuned.