Emergency Broadcast; “Heyday, Heyday”

Nothing should ever be this good. I mean, for goodness sake I haven’t been in a gym for a decade, and here I am on the Eclipse run by Celebrity Cruises and doing the gym thing daily. This is as almost as good as in my heyday, except I’m walking on the treadmill and not running. A few gradients here and there and I’m anybody’s. Take it up to 3.2 mph and I can just about keep pace. Which is a good thing as some of these tour guides set a mean pace and I can now keep up.

The good thing is that the gym is a great place to meet people and to see the sights.

Yep, I’ve done the Dolphin thing twice since I last blogged about it, and on both occasions I was looking out through the expanse of glass that encapsulates the gymnasium. I’ve also chatted to amongst many others; a lovely couple from Chicago and a great guy from New York. It seems as if all the best people go training. Mind you, I have to drop the speed to 2.5 mph and hang on while turning to chat to those who drop by.

Today we were in Cadiz. It’s a lovely place with lots of history and lots of narrow streets and shops selling at keen prices. Not that I was able to buy anything as I had paid for the 3.5 walking tour. Bet Mrs B was pleased with that unilateral decision. Walk and talk and talk and walk. I like the talking bit, but the walking part can wear you down. Especially in this humidity and when you enter some of the buildings. But hey ho as Mrs B would say, we just got on with it and had a giggle. There we were on the coach when the Chicago duo walked past. I waved frantically and with a surprised expression they waved back. They need to watch out as they are in danger of being sucked in as good friends. Only five hours later and they joined us for coffee in Cafe al Bacio on Deck 5. We had already drunk beer in Cadiz, and two glasses of non alcoholic something or the other with our lunch. It’s been another great day, but stop and pause. It’s only 5pm Continental time and we have the swimming, the treadmill, the show, and the four course dinner to look forward to. Then the Jazz lounge or out onto one of the Decks for poolside live music or a midnight stroll around the jogging track. Emergency broadcast channel Celebrity Cruises the Eclipse; “Heyday, Heyday, please send help urgently. The chap in Stateroom 3101 is taking the training seriously”.

Celebrity Cruise Tip 18: The Aqua Spa bar is not a drinks bar. It serves grilled salmon, poached salmon, and steamed salmon amongst many other delights like poached pears, frozen yoghurt, and all fruit smoothies. Miss it at your peril. Aqua Spa in the Solarium Deck 12, booking not required, and no cover charge

Nautical Miles and Adam Westcott

The Earth like any circle consists of 360 degrees. Each degree is split into 60 minutes which is nice and easy to remember as there are also 60 minutes in an hour. Now each of these degrees is a nautical mile. So one minute is also one nautical mile, and one degree is sixty nautical miles. So there was nothing tough about that then.

Therefore there are 21600 nautical miles going around the World i.e. 60 minutes multiplied by 360 degrees = 21,600.

So a nautical mile is different than the mile that we know about. Simply because most of us know that there are 25,000 miles to cover in order to travel around the World. So by land its 25,000 miles and by sea it’s 21,600 nautical miles. I have to check all of this with on the crew on the Celebrity Eclipse as I may have the values wrong as someone said that a nautical mile is less than a mile mile. But if that was so, then the number of nautical miles around the world should be greater than the number of land miles. If you see, what I mean?

Yesterday we were in Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy. Mrs B and I walked about 5 nautical miles in blistering heat over the ruins of Nora, and down from the City Battlements into the centre later in the day. Nora was first a Phoenician colony and trading port. Cagliari is on the southern tip of Sardinia and as the Capital it also hosts the largest community on the island. We have had a great day, but I am truly whacked. I am chilling in ‘Cafe al Bacio’ on Deck 5 while listening to the excellent Spanish Guitarist, Adam Westcott. Pure bliss, tip top surroundings, air conditioning, excellent coffee and a superb musician.

Celebrity Cruise Tip 17: Summer sailing, then buy a hat and some good sun block