Sunday April 9, 2023
Happy Easter to all. It was Sunday so we both attended the Ecumenical Service with Captain Andrew Hall, Roman Catholic Priest and Lutheran Pastor as well as the Cunard Singers who performed the Hallelujah Chorus.
It should be mentioned that we have been blessed to have a Catholic priest on board throughout the 4 months. Up to Sydney we had Diocesan priests from Ireland, Canada and USA (from Boston, as well as, a Monseigneur from New Hampshire). From Sydney we have a Jesuit priest, artist and educator from Seattle University’s, College of Arts and Sciences. He is especially interested in “Creation Centered Spirituality” and his manner of conducting daily mass has been disturbing, due to it’s unorthodoxy; yet, Anne is grateful to celebrate daily mass during this holy season.
The first Lecture we attended was Gloria Barnett, talking about Ocean World and Marine life. She differentiated the different species of marine life that occur in the Epipelagic Zone 0-200 meters – most of the marine life we know; Mesopelagic 200-1000 meters – area where sperm whales dive, holding it’s breath for 20 minutes each way, to eat ; Bathypelagic 1000 to 4000 meters black the domain of the smokers where there are cracks in the seabed (Pompeii-worm); and the Hadopelagic done 4000 meters to seabed where tube-worms live under very high pressure.The second lecture was Dr. Stephen Payne (who was the Designer of Queen Mary 2) speaking about “Dispelling the Myths of the Titanic – 1912 – 2023”. Many of the myths that run around were actually untrue. In those days, for example the number of lifeboats were dependent on the length of the ship, not the number of passengers; the ship was built not only to the existing standards, but exceeded all the construction standards of the day, etc. We went to lunch in the Kings Court where there was lots of chocolate – animal sculptures, fountains, cakes and sugar everywhere to celebrate Easter. That evening when we got to our cabin after a very special Easter dinner at the Verandah Restaurant, thanks to our Travel Agent’s invitation, we found two chocolate bunnies as our Easter present from the Captain & Cunard, which was a very nice finishing touch.
Roger & Anne Travels 