Hi Everyone

Yet another wonderful sunny day in Sevastopol with the high expected in the low 80’s. We have had such great weather on this trip and extremely calm seas. Yesterday it looked like glass in the morning.

Yesterday we did the Tea Plantation in Sochi. I think the Stalin’s Villa is a better tour but they did serve a really nice tea with some nice bread and gave a little folk show. One of the ladies was so lovely she was older and seemed to having such a great time singing.
At the end I said Spaceba and YellowBlueBus --- that means thank you and I love you. She broke into a big grin and said Spaceba right back to me. Surprised she understood what I said in the first place, maybe she did not she was just being nice.

Last night was the BK Cocktail party and everyone was talking so much it took several tries to stop them to handle the drawing. Sign of a happy crowd. We had Captain Felice draw all the names as he does such a terrific job of announcing the winners and Michael Coghlan the GM held the ice bucket.

Ricky the F&B manager asked the Pastry Chef to do a plate with the image of the pin COSSACKS. It turned out just super! Later today Ken may get some time to post some pictures from the party. The senior staff on the Mariner have been absolutely wonderful to work with and the reception desk one of the best ever. This was just an example of how they have gone above and beyond on this trip.

We played hooky today and cancelled our tour. We have been to Sevastopol several times so decided to stay on board, sleep in and catch up on some things on the computer.
I think we were the only ones at lunch at noon everyone was off on tours or in town.

It has been a great trip with great people but the time is just flying by so quickly. Next trip is a safari, and of course I am really looking forward to that, my passion, South Africa.