Africa 2023:
Day 13-14 - At Sea

	Sunday, October 22, 2023: We were up at 7:00 AM to watch as the ship transited the Strait of Gibraltar. We were so happy that this was going to be happening during daylight.
	That's Tangier in the distance to the south.
	Tom dashed up to the Lido Market and fetched breakfast so that we wouldn't miss anything.
	To our south was Jebel Musa, also known as the southern pillar of Hercules, the part of Africa that is nearest to Europe.
	Maersk!
	Hey! Gibraltar!
	Now you can see it. That's the Rock of Gibraltar to the north of us with its top covered by clouds.
	Tom used the binoculars to look at the various ships transiting the strait.
	There were lots of cargo ships. We were in a very crowded shipping lane.
	By late morning, the skies had cleared and it was sunny and beautiful.
	When we went up to the Lido for lunch, we saw the Fleet Executive Chef taking pictures of the food presentation again.
	At the deli bar, there was a beautiful display of bread.
	After looking at all of the stations, we settled on the Asian station which was serving a Taste of Myanmar.
	We both got a little bit of everything with a few pieces of sushi on the side.
	When we were leaving, we took some cookies with us back to the cabin including the special of the day: coconut pecan cookies. Tom's verdict: meh. Debbie's verdict: please feed these to me every day forever!
	We spent a typical afternoon at sea working on photos and captions.
	In today's LEGO calendar display, our minifigs were sitting in the chairs on our balcony looking out at Gibraltar through their binoculars.
	For dinner, we got takeout from the Dive In. Debbie had the Back Flip, which was a chicken sandwich with guacamole, lettuce, and tomato on a toasted brioche bun. Tom had the Dunkin' Dog and the Jack Knife. The Dunkin' Dog was a hot dog with cheese sauce, pickled jalapeños, red onion and Dive-In sauce served on a poppy seed bun, and the Jack Knife was bratwurst, curry ketchup, curry powder, and Dive-In sauce on a crusty roll.
	We watched Calendar Girls for movie night, ...
	... and tried again and failed to get a good photo of the crescent moon with our iPhone.
	Monday, October 23, 2023: As soon as we got out of bed, Tom updated our position on the map of Africa that we put on the wall.
	We went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast, where Debbie got the Swedish pancakes ...
	... and Tom got the Pan-Asian breakfast. It was a Bento box containing rice, tamagoyaki (rolled egg), salmon, and steamed vegetables with a bowl of miso soup.
	Back in the room, we were fascinated by a couple of small land birds that would appear on our balcony for a few minutes and then fly away. After a little while, they would come back and then fly away again.
	We took our laptops out to the balcony to process photos and write captions. The weather was perfect and we still had a little bit of shade.
	For day 14, our minifigs were just relaxing on the boat.
	For lunch in the Lido, we went to the Asian section and got dishes from their Taste of Vietnam.
	That wasabi is so beautifully presented!
	Between the two of us, we had managed to get a little bit of everything, and it was all delicious. There was lamb, beef, chicken, and fish, and it was just the right amount of spicy.
	We didn't eat at the Italian station but wow, those desserts were pretty. Instead, we brought bowls of bread pudding back to our cabin.
	Back in the room, there was a letter from the shore excursions office about our tour tomorrow in Tunisia. Because of the war between Israel and Hamas, there have been protests in the capital city of Tunis which was one of the stops on our tour. The letter from the shore excursions office states that they are aware of the protests and have removed that stop from our tour, but that the rest of the tour will continue as planned. It also states that we may cancel the tour if we would like. We understand the risks and are going to go on the tour tomorrow.
	Since it was such a perfect day, we decided to head up the to Sea View Pool for a quick dip. We came back to the room almost exactly an hour later and hung up all of our swimming stuff to dry in the shower.
	We were sailing off the coast of Algeria. "So where is it?" you may ask. About 75 miles that way, through the haze.
	It was time for Five Crowns, and this time Tom crushed Debbie.
	We went to the main dining room for dinner, where there was a little bit of a disparity between portion sizes. This is Debbie's main course, chicken with Peruvian green sauce, consisting of a chicken leg and thigh, ...
	... and this is Tom's vegetable tagine and couscous, which was four green beans, a spoon full of carrots, and a couple of spoonfuls of couscous. Debbie gave Tom half of her deliciously spicy chicken, so it worked out for well for everyone.
	Tonight's bedtime movie was "80 for Brady," which was very enjoyable.  Day 15 >