Noon Position: N 33º 44′ 50.88 – W 118º 16′ 32.44″

The itinerary says we’re in Santa Barbara today. The weather says otherwise. Based on the atmospheric river blowing into the area the decision was made to skip that port and leave LA headed directly to Honolulu – taking the southern route to duck under the weather. We’re rockin’ and rollin’ a bit, but I’d guess this is about what the seas will be like for much of our Pacific Ocean transit.

This was very much a normal sea day: Walk, breakfast,

Incidentally, as he was talking about navigation technology he relayed a story about butter. Apparently sailors would start in England with a cube of butter in a bowl and head south. At the point the butter started to melt they would turn west – catching the ‘westerlies’ to the Americas. this is brilliant because it works no matter how high or low the westerlies are in a given year, you will always hit them.

Following this lecture we hung out in the Theatre until…

Russell Lee’s lecture on the history behind the story of “Around the World in 80 Days.” Jules Verne wrote the story in serial format for a newspaper and had people believing that he was recounting actual events. There was even a real bank robbery that he used in the story. The concept of 80 days became possible because of 3 events: The completion of the trans-continental railroad in the US, The completion of the Suez canal, and The Bombay to Calcutta rail line. Together these shaved enough time off the trip to make an 80 day transit possible. Lee followed the book and the 1956 version of the film (David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Newton) to weave the story of the journey and how Producer Michael Todd utilized the talents of his actors to add to the action in the movie. For instance, in one segment Passepartout (Cantinflas) is separated from the others and ends up performing in a circus. Cantinflas was actually a trained circus performer.

Lee also recounted other world circumnavigations including Nelly Bly’s 1889 trip (16 years after Verne published the original). Other journeys reviewed included several sail voyages (the youngest sailor, the fastest trip, etc.) and the non-stop air flights, both fixed wing and balloon. Fascinating stuff!

After lunch Cheryl read while I got a couple of Blog posts ready for publication. Then it was back to the Theatre for…

This one covered early circuits including Magellan’s voyage (why they really went and what really happened).

We had a short hour before he last lecture of the day:

After a quick dinner we headed over to the Explorer’s Lounge for Bruce’s Brain Busters. This evening we scored 18 out of 26. We’ve done better. On the other hand we TIED FOR FIRST PLACE!!! Wahoo!

So that’s the first of 5 sea days to Hawaii. Tomorrow looks a bit busier. We’re gonna need a port day to get some rest.

Nite all, R