Day 78 – Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal

For the next two days, we will be sailing the Bay of Bengal, the largest bay in the world. The Bay of Bengal, the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, is located between the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese peninsula.

Tim and I slept for almost eleven hours last night, which I can still hardly believe! I guess we must have been tired from the heat and several port days in a row!

We still managed to get up in time for Sandy Leong’s very interesting lecture entitled “A Rich Brew, Coffee and Tea in Ceylon.” Although the Dutch originally planted coffee in Ceylon, today’s Sri Lanka, in the seventeenth century, it was the British who were responsible for the large-scale production of coffee in the nineteenth century. Coffee became the main export until a fungal disease in 1869 almost wiped out this crop.

A Rich Brew, Coffee & Tea in Ceylon

The British had begun to experiment with tea production just prior to this date, and Ceylon evolved into the world’s largest tea exporter. It was during this time that Sir Lipton, whose name is almost synonymous with tea in the United States, developed his brand. Although Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972, its tea is still marketed as Ceylon tea.

Chef Alastair and his team continue to tempt us with special culinary events. Today’s was a Sandwich Station, with assorted sandwiches from all over the world. I loved the little flags that identified each country’s offerings. The meatball sub from Italy was delicious.

Sandwich Station and Three of Its Creators, Darma, Jamal, and Made

Several of our favorite crew members will be leaving us in Sri Lanka, and one of them is Efren, a wonderful young man who works in Guest Services. I have enjoyed talking with him and learning about his life both now and before he joined Viking. He is so excited to return to his home in the Philippines and enjoy a well-deserved vacation. There is a good chance that we will sail with Efren again, since he may be working on Octantis when we embark on that ship for our cruise to Antarctica. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Efren and Sarah