I am disappointed today because we could not dock in
Tunisia. The way the captain explained it is that the docking area was pretty
small and shallow for this ship but big enough if the weather was fair.
Unfortunately, there is still a major swell from the recent bad weather. Even
worse, the swell is running toward the dock. He was afraid we would smash into
the dock and spend the rest of the day in lifeboats. So, he waved us off and we
are heading back to Italy.
A word about the bad weather: we had a pretty good gale
going outside and the ship was moving quite a bit. Our cabin is towards the bow
and we could feel a shudder pass through the ship when we hit an especially large
wave. The ship also wallowed in the low spots. However, the motion was pretty
regular and there no corkscrew motion. That’s the only one that makes me ill.
We must have our sea legs as neither of us suffered from Mal de Mer. We ate
normal meals the whole time.
The more adventurous among us are pretty unhappy about
missing Tunisia. It is the reason that many signed up for this particular
cruise. Not many ships dock there. They promised us camels on the dock.
According to the narrative, there are men on the dock who let you get up on the
camel for free but then you have to pay to get down. We were warned to
negotiate the price for getting down before we got on the camel. Our daughter
rode a camel in Egypt and I had half a mind to do it.
Also, we were going to see Carthage which is hard to reach
except by boat. I was really looking forward to that. We were going to a market
place where the sales people were described as aggressively friendly. Prices are
relatively cheap and I planned to get a few things there. Alas.
However, many people on board considered that stopping in
Tunisia was foolish at best since a cruise ship full of westerners could be a
big target. So, those people are relieved.
I have caught a minor cold and don’t really feel well. The
last time I was sick was on our last cruise. It is really hard to avoid illness
in such close quarters. Last night, we went to the show but I decided I didn’t
really feel well enough to stay so we went to bed early.
Today, we are
watching “Sahara” with Humphrey Bogart. Last night, we watched “Stalag 17” with
William Holden. We also saw a few minutes of “This is 40” and didn’t like it.
We saw part of “Salt” but it is very violent.
