Our first day at sea after leaving Cape Verde Islands was quite restful but also full of intermittent activities. After breakfast we had a demonstration on how some of our fine food is prepared before it gets to our plates to eat. Yesterday, after we docked in Praia, Santiago Island, Cape Verde, the ship's Hotel Manager, Patrick Svaedmyr and Head Chef Henryk Alberg immediately went to the local fish market. First thing in the morning the fish market is most active and the best fish are available. Just before we began disembarking for our day's excursions they returned with a couple large King Fish, each weighing about 40 pounds. These were to be on the menu for our first dinner at sea. Head Chef Henryk offered to demonstrate the techniques of filleting the fish to all of us. We gathered around on the foredeck of the ship to watch. This allowed the birders to continue searching for wildlife as well as watch the fish preparing. Sea conditions were quite nice and we gently rolled along and focusing on our Chef's deft use of the knife to get all of the meat from the fish. Henryk showed us a faster way of filleting the fish and a different technique for cutting where more of the best meat is obtained. Later in the day those of us who ordered the fish for dinner concluded that it was a very fine tasting fish and the preparation and presentation was outstanding.
During the day people relaxed on the decks or in the lounges, some beginning books that they had meant to read for years, some just watching the mesmerizing motion of the waves and the sea, and others just enjoying the day. We also had talks by the ship's staff. Art Cooley talked first in the morning about some of the intersections of our route across the Atlantic and those explorers and scientists that followed the same route to the New World. In the afternoon Magnus Forsberg discussed some of the ecology of the seabirds we have seen and expect to see during the voyage. Later in the afternoon Jim Kelley explained some of the oceangraphy and ocean currents of the part of the world we are traveling through. The day finished with a very soft sunset behind some of the cumulus clouds hovering over the horizon.
