Miscellaneous #2

1. Yesterday, we had a presentation from a criminally handsome navigation officer named Kees (and it is only thanks to Claudia and jno that I know how to spell that Dutch nickname for Cornelius). Among other fascinating information, he told us that the ship can be brought to a complete stop from a speed of 20 knots in just two-and-a-half ship lengths. "You wouldn't like it, though," he added, conjuring visions of smashed crockery, furniture, and bones as they yanked the ship into full reverse.
2. My friend Nanette said that on the cruise she and her mother took to Alaska some years ago, the library was always deserted and was a reliable place to escape. Not so on this cruise. I think I've already mentioned the soft leather chairs looking out at the ocean. They are almost always occupied. But what ticks me off is that half the time, people turn them away from the windows and bury their noses in some bestseller paperback, which they could do anywhere.
3. Virtual fellow traveler Doug Miller has found a site for people suffering from my photographic shortcomings. It's www.amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com by Jeff Farschmann, who takes and posts magnificent photos of this cruise. I haven't met him, but Doug is only the latest person to recommend this site. Jeff is a seasoned traveller, so he will do more adventurous things than I will, but we're on the same voyage, so there should be correspondences.
4. Our next stop is Easter Island, which we will reach day after tomorrow after five days at sea. Then we travel four days to reach our next port in Tahiti. Easter Island is literally way out there. I'm reading a book called "Collapse", which includes a chapter on Easter Island that pretty much demolishes Thor Heyerdahl's thesis that the island was settled from South America -- DNA tests link current day inhabitants to the Polynesian Islands, as do their customs, tools, and language. He even explains how they could get those huge statues across the island and how they erected them, though I need to read through that part a few more times before I'll understand it. The book is a survey of how civilizations make choices that do or don't lead to their collapse.
5. As usual, western civilization didn't do Easter Island any favors. The author of "Collapse" mentions three smallpox epidemics within 75 years after the island was "discovered", and Spanish slave traders from Peru grabbing a huge chunk of the island's able-bodied inhabitants.
6. In case Becky Elliott, beautician extraordinaire, is reading, it turns out that sea spray encountered during a windy walk around the deck perks up my curls even better than water from a spray bottle.