The sea day, one of life’s little luxuries between ports. A chance to put your feet up, relax and plan the following day – or for some, to hit the gym like you have lost your mind, eat yourself into a slow food coma or go from one activity to the next until you collapse onto a sun lounger. Love them or loathe them they are there and personally, I  love them!

Sea days for me are just as important as the destinations. Do you know how much you can see at sea?! Seriously! I remember sunbathing on deck in August 2010 and out of the deep appeared a submarine, right alongside! I have seen dolphins, whales, flying fish, other cruise ships (which is always a treat), and the silhouette of distant shores on the horizon. Sea days are a treasured part of my cruise experience and the fact you are in the middle of nowhere, away from the rest of the world, has such a calming effect.

The first time I spotted dolphins from the ship I was completely overwhelmed, I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. To see these wonderful, playful creatures out in the big open ocean and with no interference from the human world was simply amazing. They were doing what they do naturally and all they wanted to do was play and show off their skills to their admiring fans. We were all quite happy to watch and applaud them for their tricks and flips!

I tend to spend my sea days soaking up the sun, if it is shining, of course! Occasionally I will move to graze or to have a walk around the ship. I sometimes find I can’t sit still for long, so in that sense bigger ships have a great benefit – I have more places to walk! If the weather is on the grim side I tend to just go with the flow. I may read a book, play cards, prop the bar up for a few hours, it all depends on my mood, but I know sea days with bad weather can be a little tedious for some people – they just don’t know what to do with themselves.

The below image was taken on a sea day, well, a sea evening to be exact. For me, this is what being on the open ocean is all about. Where else in the world can you get such a view, feel so much freedom and just be at one with everything around you. The only place that does it for me is the ocean! I will also add that the image below has not been altered or enhanced, this is exactly as it looked through my canon lens.

When you can capture moments like all of the above, why would you ever want to cut them out of your itinerary? I certainly wouldn’t!

If you are embarking on a cruise soon then have a sea day for me! 😉

Author: Danielle