Across the Labrador Sea
We had heard rumblings throughout the cruise that the weather might cause some problems. Other than a bit of rain here and there and some waves, the ride had been smooth enough. I only realized that some people experienced seasickness when the dining room had plenty of empty seats. On that day, I decided that taking meclizine prophylactically might be worthwhile. Although I usually don’t get seasick, I think my system empathizes with those who do and I occasionally feel some queasiness. Better safe than sorry because once seasickness rears its ugly head, it doesn’t leave quietly. It was fascinating to see the different types of remedies or treatments that fellow cruisers used. Everybody has their favorite way to stave off seasickness: patches, pills, pressure items, acupuncture and others. Green apples and ginger ale help and the crew on Fram recommended keeping something in your stomach no matter how queasy you were feeling.
I grabbed my phone to get a video of the waves as they became more pronounced as some of us ate our dinner.
The public areas of the ship resembled a ghost town. The captain invited us up to the bridge for a tour; several people exited quickly because of the motion. Our Expedition Leader, Helga, shot the footage below. Be forewarned that this has made some viewers queasy!
Standing still was no easy feat, but my sea legs assisted. Speaking of standing still, it became more and more difficult to walk around the ship. For that matter it became impossible to focus on doing much. I thought these sea days would be ideal to catch up on some reading or writing. Not only did I find the motion distracting, I also listened to a continuous banging in my cabin. Eventually I called the front desk to see what could be causing the noise. I looked everywhere around the cabin, but found nothing banging anywhere. I even asked my neighbor if she heard the nearly constant noise, but she heard nothing. Guest services sent up somebody who might resolve the problem. Unfortunately, he was unable to find the source of this most distracting noise, which had happened the past few days and didn’t contribute to a sound sleep. The crew member found nothing, just saying it was something in the wall. Luckily, there was a cabin available on the other side of the ship. Problem solved.
This is the perfect place to mention that Hurtigruten Fram engaged the services of photographer Camille Seaman who captures the entire journey and compiles a disk to commemorate the cruise. In addition, Camille kindly offered photo tips and sessions to guests. Through her guidance, I became quite good at guessing the F-stops of some of her photos. Later, I will share an interview with her and you can learn, like I did, from some of her tips for creating good photos whether by land or sea.
Sail Away!
