09:30 am

We are back on the high seas and with a course of SSO we are heading for New Mangalore at a leisurely 11 knots (20 km/h). With a distance of 22 nautical miles to the coast, but a visibility of only 6-7 nm, India cannot be seen on the horizon at the moment. When we arrive tomorrow in the industrial port of New Mangalore, we will have a distance of only 144 kilometers to the equator, Captain Wegner just says through the loudspeaker. So it’s getting hotter and hotter. Due to the puny 3 Beaufort wind from astern and the leisurely pace of the AIDAaura, it already feels quite warm on the way, although it is only early in the morning. The people on Antigua and Barbuda must feel similar, because there are similar temperatures around 28 degrees Celsius and we are just at the same latitude as these Caribbean islands. Perhaps the heat is even more of a problem for us as landlubbers who are used to bad weather than it is for the sailors who are used to the tides.

01:00 pm

With another announcement the captain drives away our boredom. The water temperature in our fairway is a pleasant 29 degrees, so it’s anything but cool to be pulled behind the ship in a life preserver. The wind is still lukewarm, only the humidity has increased by 10 to 70 percent since this morning. There are still 200 nm to the next port, which means we have already covered a little more than half of the distance, or 390 kilometers. At 28 degrees Celsius, the 4450 kilometer distance to the North Pole is felt at least as clearly as the distance to the equator, which is currently 950 kilometers and getting smaller. The water is only 65 meters deep so close to the coast. On the next sea day on 06 January, when we set off for Oman, it will be many times that. The day ripples along like this. There are regular recreational activities offered by the crew on board, such as shuffleboard, darts, dance and sports classes, a wide range of wellness services with massages and other treatments. Meanwhile, in the air-conditioned room, there’s also the TV, which can be used to watch the pool deck live with exterior cameras, for example, if the heat outside gets too much.