England and Iberia Day 14

Sea day stuff, and a primer for tomorrow's eclipse

Posted by Brian Hart on August 11, 2026 · 6 mins read
  • Start of day: At sea
  • End of day: At sea

Celebrity hosted a lecturer to ready people for the total solar eclipse happening tomorrow.

The ship's theatre during a daytime lecture, shot from the back of the raked seating. Three curved screens across the stage wall all show the same slide titled Geometry of Solar Eclipse, with a diagram of the sun, moon and Earth on a black background. The room is lit deep blue, with sculpted white ceiling ribs and a balcony rail curving overhead. A speaker in light clothing stands at a lectern beside the round stage, which is edged with blue LED strip. Perhaps a hundred passengers sit watching in grey armchairs, more filling the seats along the right-hand side.

A close view of the lecture screen showing a slide headed Geometry of Solar Eclipse. On a black field, a glowing orange sun at the left casts two blue shadow cones onto a small white moon and then onto the Earth at the right, with the umbra and penumbra labelled, along with SUN, MOON, EARTH, EARTH'S ORBIT, MOON'S ORBIT, TOTAL ECLIPSE and PARTIAL ECLIPSE. The Earth is shown with Europe and Africa facing the viewer. A logo at the lower right reads BEYOND THE PODIUM, ENRICHMENT SERIES. Below the screen, the speaker and a second person stand at a lectern on the darkened stage.

Otherwise it was a lazy sea day. On sea days (and perhaps other days) the Activities team places a collection of board and card games in one of the main restaurants for people to play. Siena and I played a game of Battleship, then the kids played a game of chess.

Siena and Rowan look up from a game of chess at a white-clothed table in a quiet ship's lounge. Siena, at the left in a blue sleeveless top with her blonde hair in a ponytail, leans on the table with both arms; Rowan sits opposite in a black t-shirt with wireless earbuds in, one hand resting near the board. A small red and black folding chessboard sits between them, mid-game, with a printed card of rules beside it. Cream leather tub chairs surround them on a patterned red and cream carpet, with pale timber-panelled walls and wall sconces behind.

I spent time in Eden up on the ramp, one of my favorite spots, working on this blog and some other business. As far as offices go….

The ship's wake seen through a large angled window, the white-painted frame cutting diagonally across the top left of the frame. Beyond the glass, a broad churning band of white water trails away to the horizon across deep blue open ocean, under a clear blue sky with a line of small white clouds low on the horizon. A faint reflection of a person is visible in the glass at the right, and a second pane below the sill shows more of the wake.

A bit later I found Rowan in the lobby playing chess, online this time: Rowan sits sideways in a cream leather tub chair in a quiet corner of a ship's lounge, legs draped over one arm of the chair, wearing a black t-shirt, pale blue sweatpants and black slides, looking toward the camera. A dark walnut display wall of open shelves fills the space behind him, lit from within and holding vases, books and ornaments. A second matching chair and a small round mesh side table sit at the left, a framed dark floral picture hangs on the wall, and the floor is laid with a grey carpet in a swirling contour pattern.

The weather was clear (and a bit cooler, which was a relief) in the evening:

The upper deck of the Celebrity Apex at dusk, looking forward along the port rail. The ship's blue funnel housing rises at the right with APEX lit in white letters across it and a bank of tall exhaust stacks angled behind a black lattice screen. Below it, a curved wall is painted with a colourful mural, and a row of tall rust-coloured cut-metal lanterns glows on a raised planter bed. Teak decking and a glass balustrade run away toward the bow, past a planter of clipped greenery and a red life ring, with the dark Atlantic to the left and a pale pink and blue sunset sky along the horizon.

A selfie of Brian on the Celebrity Apex upper deck at dusk, his face filling the right of the frame. He has short light brown hair and blue eyes and wears a white t-shirt with irregular black horizontal stripes. Behind him the teak deck runs forward along the port rail past a white planter of clipped green shrubs, with warm deck lights already lit. The ship's blue funnel rises at upper right lettered APEX in white, beside a wall of tall perforated rust-coloured metal screens and a mural in pale blues and yellows. The flat Atlantic is dark at the left under a pale sky streaked with pink and grey cloud near the horizon.

That’s about it. Sea day stuff.

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