Breaking news……..Keith played Paddle Tennis right after lunch today. First time in about a year. Maybe this is historic. Wonder if anyone has played Paddle Tennis this far north. It was 37 degrees but sunny with just some wind. There are some media people on board and a reporter from Bloomberg Business asked if she could take photos of us. We’ll see if we make it. If so, look for a guy with a red hat, sun glasses and wearing a green fleece in the photo. Keith has actually played in worse weather such as on a crossing from Japan to California. Likely not as cold but with the wind chill factor it felt far colder. Before dinner last night we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon. We first stopped by the Crystal Cove but it was on the noisier side so we decided on the Avenue Saloon. Afterwards we dined at the Crystal Room with the creators of the iMovie class for Crystal Cruises; Kerry Millerick & Dina Sterr. Keith took their iMovie class on World Cruise 2013. This class is taught on all voyages With so many sea days, the type of itinerary and so many guests wanting to make iMovies for a keepsake and also to share with family and friends the classes on this voyage have been very well attended. They are attracting in the neighborhood of 80 to 100 guests per class which is a significant number. They both had extensive careers. Kerry's career included filming documentaries and working for various local television news stations and some of his work was on national television for CBS. Dina produced two halftime Super Bowl Shows as part of her career. Keith, Kerry and Dina began dinner with tuna tartare, while Anne Marie had jumbo shrimp cocktail. For our next course it was snapper for Keith and Anne Marie and steak for Dina and Kerry. The photo of the entree is of the snapper but it is not how it was presents. This one includes some grilled onions and peas that Keith had added to his entree. Dessert was berries for the two of us. After dinner we enjoyed the evening entertainment. Another fan (guest) favorite on board Crystal ships is the very talented Naki Ataman who took us through the popular music of 19 countries. He performed two shows; 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM. The times recognized that clocks were forwarded one hour before we went to sleep last evening. Now lets's get to the bad news. LOL. When we returned to the room we had to set our clocks forward by one hour. The good news is we survived all of this but our preference continues to be traveling East to West, but that was not an option for this epic voyage. LOL. We did sleep well last night. The seas were calm and there was a gentle rocking of the ship. We would say this is the calmest it has been in a few days. By the time Keith awoke, the outside temperature as a toasty 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Is this really summer? As a result of the weather Keith has not been able to pay any Paddle Tennis. In fact, the gate has been locked and will likely stay that way at least until Greenland. This is largely due to not only how chilly and windy it can be but also due to moisture on the court which makes it slippery and of course dangerous to play. Hopefully before we get off the ship Keith will be able to play a game or two. If not, as they say there is next time. We began our morning as we usually do. Some exercise for Keith at the Fitness Center. An early breakfast for us. Then a walk for Anne Marie and Indoor Cycling Class for Keith. The only difference is that Keith taught the class. Keith has become a certified indoor cycling instructor at home and with supervision of the Fitness Center he taught today's class. Keith & Fitness Instructor Kyle went though a trial run of the playlist that Keith used for today's class which is one of many that Keith used back on land. The good news is with Keith teaching it allowed one more guest to participate on a bike. All bikes were in-use. It was a fun class and Keith received good feedback from those in the class including his music selection. Anne Marie took a couple of photos ten minutes before class started so not everyone was on their bikes. The morning and afternoon featured several speakers and we watched all of them.
Expedition Lecturer Adam Lajeuness spoke about the history of the arctic. He spoke about the historic and exciting sea routes. He also discussed Canada's Arctic sovereignty and what it means and who is challenging it. Contention began in 1985. American Navy sailed an ice breaker thru the Northwest Passage. They did this as they needed to get to Greenland and then Alaska very quickly. USA didn’t ask permission but just told them in advance and evidently the Canadian Press made a big issue of this creating an international incident. In a meeting between Ronald Reagan and the Prime Minister of Canada the Prime Minister pointed to a map and said this is owned by Canada. According to Canadian Government these waters are historical internal waters and they are Canadian and not international waters. The lecturer is from Canada. The United States position disagrees and thinks that the Northwest Passage outside the 12 miles coast line is an international sea with the international strait running through the Northwest Passage. They also believe that this is a critical path and no one country can control these straits. Changing gears, next up was World Fairs Lecturer Bill Schneider who spoke about the secret to winning Presidential Elections. In a nutshell Bill Schneider said the party out of power needs to figure out what the people want they are not getting today and try to offer that as an alternative. The key though is figuring out precisely what the people want and articulate it. He used several examples throughout his talk of what worked and what didn’t work in many of the recent elections. Often much of this comes down not to the issues but to the character, demeanor and persona of the candidate. This was the second talk given by Bill Schneider. He is very insightful and to us he is missed on CNN where he used to provide much added value to the discussion and he is one of those that you don’t know his political views. We enjoyed lunch at the Lido Cafe. Afterwards Expedition Lexturer Tom Smith spoke about the cold dark ocean and polar bear research. He told the story of the animal that lives in an impossible environment. This was a continuation of a story that he told yesterday. In addition to the formal lectures three other programs were available from the expedition team. From 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM members of the expedition team were available in the Palm Court to keep an eye out for passing marine life. From 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM as he did the other day Captain Ken Burton was available in the Crystal Plaza with a display of artifacts, ephemera and copies of historically significant maps, charts and documents from the Vancouver Maritime Museum Collection. To close out the day, at 5:00 PM Tim Soper and members of the expedition team provided a recap of the day and a full briefing on our plans for Ulukhaktok of the Northwest Territories. Comments are closed.
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