We were disappointed that our Port visit to Catania was cancelled due to high winds. We’d booked a tour via Viator (the tour consolidator) that included a visit to Etna and lunch and wine tasting at a winery. Tim was in contact with our guide…he too was disappointed.

We enjoyed breakfast on the balcony and I emailed Viator about a refund.

 

 

It was a bit windy on deck, so I headed to the gym and walked for an hour. The gym is smallish, but I’ve never experienced crowding, nor had to wait for a machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I headed to the pool deck to begin Stephen King’s The Institute. Crystal usually has The NY Times best sellers’ list well represented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clouds remained from the  overnight storm but the temperature was lovely…70 degrees or so. And I pretty much had the deck to myself ❤️

 

 

 

 

 

We passed through the Straights of Messina, I enjoyed my book…Timmy took a nap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met up around 3:30 in the Bistro for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we took a tour of the Ship’s Galley. What  a fantastic experience. I was amazed at the scope of operations and the technology involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the galley tour, we returned to our cabin. Our amazing, wonderful, stupendous Captain diverted the ship to circle around the Stromboli volcano. This is an active volcano, steam spewing. We sat mesmerized as we passed by. I snapped some pics … but Timmy captured the money shot… as he exclaimed “lava baby!”.

 

                                                           My pic

 

 

 

        Tim’s terrific shot… I’m in awe that he captured the red flow

 

So here’s the happy coincidence part of our day. A new friend, Steve, who we met on embarkation day ( he greeted us after recognizing Timmy from this blog) joined us for dinner. As we were chatting, and talking about our very first Crystal cruise, I mentioned by name, some lovely folks who were so kind to us on that cruise. They took us under their wings; inviting us to join them in Trivia and greatly enhancing our experience. Well! The look on Steve’s face was priceless…beyond priceless… turns out that the friends who are joining Steve in Barcelona for the crossing are the very same friends we made on our first Crystal adventure.    Serendipity on Serenity. ❤️

 

 

 

 

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I only managed one dinner pic…because, well, I’m easily distracted and the conversation was lively and fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Steve enjoying a Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timmy and our super server Stephan… not very successfully trying to look svelte as he’s ready to dive into another amazing dessert.