So today was the first of two sea days before we reach Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I was a bit slow moving this morning and didn’t wake up until 8:10 (typically I’ve been getting up around 6:30 or 7, kind of staying on East Coast time). Since I wanted to go to my watercolor painting class at 9 I told Jeremy to go ahead to breakfast without me while I got ready for the class. You pretty much can arrive anytime after 8:30 and there are already folks there setting up. Today’s class you were supposed to use a photo of your choice to paint, I chose a photo I had taken in Cartagena, Columbia of one of the restored colonial homes that had a balcony covered with a red and green flowering plant, and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself 😉

Afterwards I came back to the room and met up with Jeremy and we chilled in the room for a bit and then headed up for a quick lunch at the poolside grill for burgers and fries. The seas had been a little rough so we headed back to the room and I took a nice two hour nap while Jeremy read. At 4:30 there was another cruise staff vs guests volleyball game so we headed up to the sports deck for that. Initially I had said I was just going to watch but after a game and a half of watching (and having one of the couples who were sitting out that game asking why I wasn’t playing, and saying I needed to go “help the team” and play) I went back to the room and changed into more suitable clothes (a bathing suit, coverup and flip flops were not ideal for volleyball playing) and came back out and played for probably 45 minutes. We then headed back to the room and got cleaned up for dinner at 7 at one of the ships specialty restaurants, Qsine, with John and Karen.

After having a little bit of trouble finding the entrance to the restaurant (you can see it on deck 11 but there are no entrances on that deck, you have to go down to 10 and go up the midship staircase) we entered right behind John and Karen and were seated. The restaurant is decorated in black, orange and white, with mismatched black lacquer and white high backed cloth chairs and the food was amazing. You can order as many things as you like off of the menu (which is an iPad app) and they’re all kind of mini-portions with one portion for each table. We had spring rolls (served in giant springs), sushi lollipops, build your own sliders, filet mignon, so much tasty food and capped off with a “chocolate tombstone” for dessert for me (super tasty chocolate mousse with a nutella crunch crust). I haven’t been that full of food in a long time, but it was worth it.