Katakalon, Greece

Emergency alarm blast

One blast from the emergency alarm.

I jump up from the bed, saying to Jerry, “This is not a drill.”

Maybe the alarm is an accident.

No. There is another blast. I turn on the light.

The light works. How many blasts was that?  I think we are supposed to count.  Six short blasts, one long one means go to the muster station. Oh, God.

I walk to the window and look out. It is still dark night and there is nothing to see, Good sign. I look at my watch and see that it is 6:20 am.

Jerry heads to the bathroom. I walk to the cabin door.  I listen and hear nothing.

Remember your CERT (Community Emergency Response Training.) Don’t burn your hand on a hot door because you might need to use your hand.

I brush the back of my left-hand hand across the door and then the door handle. Cool to the touch. I open the door a crack. No smoke. I step forward a little and see normal light in the corridor and nothing else.

How many blasts was that? I don’t think the last one was long. It must be a fire and not muster stations.

“Jerry, where are the things?” I wave my hands up and down over my torso unable to remember the words life vest.

Jerry says, “The life jackets are under the bed. We have to get dressed.”

I go into the closet and get underwear, socks, and my athletic shoes. I put on my wedding band and watch.

Dress warmly. If we end up in lifeboats, it could get cold and we are halfway across the Atlantic so we could be in the lifeboats for days. Why doesn’t the Captain say something? How bad is this? What am I going to put on?

Then the familiar voice from the bridge comes on. “We had a strong indication that there was a fire in a section of the ship.” He explains that the procedure is to sound the alarm. However, it has turned out to be a false alarm and we should all go back to sleep.

Relief. Joy. No fire. No lifeboats.

Jerry does manage to go back to sleep, but after an hour, I give up and turn on the computer. I am very happy that I am sitting here in the darkness, listening to Jerry’s even breathing, and wishing my son a very happy birthday.

Funchal, Madeira

Another port in which we expected nothing and were pleasantly surprised.  Funchal is on the island of Madeira, a small island in the Atlantic off of Portugal. The city is renowned for its flowers, which were not only in bloom everywhere, but there was also a competitive event underway. In the island in the center of the main street, people were laying “carpets” of flowers on a background of cedar branches with a judging taking place the day after we left.  The aroma of the flowers and the cedar makes the display doubly appealing.

There is some road construction between the dock and the center of Funchal, so there was a shuttle provided. While technically it would be an easy walk, the road construction had turned it into an unappealing trail. We were pleased to take the shuttle that dropped us off a block from the flower carpets and the Hop On/Hop Off bus. We often use the HO/HOs because they are an easy way to cover a large part of a city in a day at a reasonable price and see the important things for tourists to see.

We chose the Yellow Bus, although we usually choose the Red City-sightseeing line. The Yellow Bus has two routes, one around the city and another that travels a bit out of town as far as Camara De Lobos. You may have heard of that town because Winston Churchill spent time there and painted the charming houses built into the hillside.  We rode the shorter in-town route in the morning, returned to the ship for lunch, and went back on the shuttle again to ride the 90-minute out of town route. There really was not time enough for us to do hopping, so we just rode both routes round trip, enjoying the sunshine on the open top deck and the ride.

Not only flowers are growing everywhere, there are also banana trees in big farms and in little yards. There are many hotels and restaurants because Madeira is such a popular vacation destination.  It is clearly a prosperous place and one that looks like a place to visit more than once. Even if I return, I will not be taking the famous basket ride down the mountain or the gondola ride up and down. The bus ride was adventure enough for me.