March 31, 2016 Sea Day

Early this morning about 4:30am we had quite the wake-up call when the ship’s alarms sounded. The officer of the watch came on the ship-wide speakers announcing that there was an incident onboard and for crewmembers to report to their stations. A short time later the captain came on to announce that there had been a small fire in the crew galley but that it had now been extinguished. All was well.

The morning included a lecture by Professor William Morris Welch where he discussed Spain’s centurie’s old control of Ceuta on the continent of Africa. He contrasted and compared this with England’s control of Gibraltar and how this has long been an issue for Spain. The interesting thing about Ceuta is that there remain very few Spanish people living in Ceuta. The majority of the residents of Ceuta are Muslim from other parts of Africa and so he discussed how this might go against Spain’s best interest in maintaining control of Ceuta.

The afternoon included a lecture by David, the onboard location guide, regarding things to see and do in Cadiz and A Coruna, Spain. Then Martyn Green gave his lecture on A Coruna, Spain, including the old city, as well as the high city. Mark worked on the community puzzle, attended the watercolor class and Kent went to the gym and sauna.

The evening entertainment was a repeat performance of the Rotterdam singers’ and dancers’ show called Variations. This show includes a variety of songs from classical to contemporary; pop to opera, but with new arrangements on old songs.