Usually, when the first day of a cruise happens to be a sea day, it suits us very well. This time, however, we are ready to get going again! Of course, there were the usual entertaining activities on the programme. I made a Boho bracelet and my needlepoint project saw quite a bit of action. We listened to a great lecture about the area in which we will sail during the next few days too.

We enjoyed a good lunch too, sitting at a table with a fine view as we sailed up the east coast. We watched our progress on the Marine Traffic app and I waved as we passed the Humber Estuary. But as the day went on, the sea became more lively and in an announcement later on, the Captain’s message about our planned day in Kirkwall was a clear “we’ll wait and see”.

It’s life at sea. The weather!

I didn’t take photographs during the wild and woolly night we just sailed through. Thankfully, neither of us is especially affected by the tossing and turning or the pitching and rolling and we both slept well, entertained by the tuneful whistle coming from the doors to our verandah.

This morning, I felt sure that we’d find some casualties from the movement however.

Amazingly, my glass of water and little clock had not moved an inch in spite of all that rocking and rolling.

More surprisingly, none of the little bits and pieces in the bathroom had moved either - neither the small lightweight things nor the heavy glass bottle of water.

Indeed, there was just the one, single casualty of the storm. My pencil case fell from the side table to the floor. Hardly a disaster!

This morning, as a vast team of people clear everything up and put everything back into shape ready for the day, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the captain considers it to be safe enough to make it into Kirkwall shortly.

We will see.

No more casualties needed.