South America Day 4: Sun and Wind

After lifeboat drill, Dad and I began to explore the ship. We started at the Sun Deck at the very top, where we watched the ship pull out of port. We had some great views of the tugs in the harbor





as well as what Dad decided was the entire Chilean Naval Force:



That funky canopy in some of the shots is the tent that covers the Great Outdoor Grill, one of the Norwegian Sun's many restaurants. In the lovely warm sun, the tables were crowded with people grabbing a snack and a drink while watching our departure.

The view from the ship also gave us a nice perspective on Valparaiso itself:





You can really see how steeply the city slopes up. They tell us that the locals don't have cars here; they go up and down the hills on these funiculars instead.

After we bade farewell to the land, we moved down to the next deck, the Sports Deck. This is where things got interesting. We started at the aft (back) end of the Sports Deck which consists of a bunch of restaurants (we stuck our heads in all of them) plus a golf-driving net, a shuffleboard court, a basketball court, etc.

All these sports courts are of course open to the air, and there is a big open walkway looking out over the pool deck below along each side of the ship.

When we started to cross to the forward part of the deck, we were astonished by the wind! Apparently the harbor had been sheltering us; the water was glassy smooth. Mere minutes after leaving the harbor, we were leaning so hard into the wind that we looked like mountain climbers, and the deck hands were putting away lounge chairs and tables as fast as they could. A side table got away from one of them and blew in our direction, barely missing us. I have to admit, I was giggling a bit with exhilaration, but it was a little intimidating. Only the plastic windows kept us from feeling like we'd  be blown overboard!

The Pool Deck on the next level was easier to cross because it's floored with some kind of non-slippery wood. There are two pools - only one is filled at the moment - and four hot tubs under the central canopy.

I've heard that some ships have a retractable roof over the pool, but the Sun's a bit older and the pools are open to the air. Despite this, there always seems to be someone poaching themselves in the hot tub at least, whenever I look!

At the front end of the Pool Deck we came upon the Garden Cafe Restaurant

and stopped exploring in favor of eating some supper, after which we went back to our stateroom:

(When we first arrived they had the beds arranged as one queen-size but the room attendants fixed that right away.) We have it pretty darn nice - Dad popped for a balcony stateroom so we have big glass doors

(lots of natural light!) and a little outdoor sanctum of our very own:


By this point we were pretty pooped, so we sacked out early. The ship rocked me to sleep like a little baby!