Smooth as Glass . . . Welcome to the Twilight Zone

March 20, 2012 – Smooth as Glass . . . Welcome to the Twilight Zone

The ocean leaving port in Bayonne is never smooth. You expected anything different? After all, we are sailing out of New York Harbor throughout the freakin’ winter! And mostly, what you expect is what you get. That is until the mysterious evening of March 19, 2012. On that night things changed.

Think of the smoothest surface of a lake you have ever seen and then take it one level smoother. As we sailed out of Bayonne that evening and into the Atlantic the surface of the ocean took on the eerie consistency of a glass table top. It was purely by accident that I saw it. I normally do not get up on decks much on our first evening out. But due to our efficiency in processing our sign ons during the day, I had changed into my evenings and headed up to the promenade on Deck 5 just as the sun was setting. As I walked out onto the quiet deck, quiet as the early dinner seating had begun, I noticed only one lone figure standing on the deck. It was Mickey Ilarde our acoustic performer. As he had only recently signed on I didn’t yet know him well. But I sidled up alongside him to stare at the mysterious ocean around us. We both admitted that we had never seen a major body of water look so calm. With the sun setting it was almost too picture-perfect. Either this was the most beautiful sight we would ever sea, or maybe it was the last . . .

For we both agreed that this scene was so placid that it could only be the start of a Stephen King novel, or perhaps a Peter Benchley movie. It reminded us of the scene that all precedes terror striking. Remembering that I did have a camera in my pocket I did take a few quick snaps (available on my Facebook page) and then settled back in to the peaceful silence to embrace this rare gift. We both eventually faded from the scene, Mickey to his next set in the Ensemble Lounge and me to my office to process the paper from the day.

This was the start of Lucky Voyage 021. We believed we were in for a fortunate cruise but this mellow start was unexpected. We had just come off a voyage that produced a score of 283 out of 300 on guests Overall Cruise Experience (vs. our goal of 276) and we wondered if this was a sign of an even better cruise ahead. But we didn’t question the gift we had been given or the new possibilities that every new cruise provides.

All we knew was that if ominous music started to play in the background . . . we were ready.

And the adventure continues . . .