Ovation of the Seas - Tuesday 7 February, 5th Sea Day

Heading back to Sydney :-( but before we get there we've got some iflying to do!! Both mum and I were a bit nervous, well mum was a LOT nervous so our morning start to the day was even quieter and slower than normal ;-) Mum didn't want to eat too much for breakfast, just in case! She still hadn't had her eggs benny yet but didn't want to risk it this morning.

Our flight was booked for 11am and they ask you to be there about 15 mins or so early to get checked in. I guess this allows for them to fit in any standby people if you don't turn up. We turned up! After checking in and getting a time wristband we went and sat outside on a deck chair to psych ourselves up and take a few before photos. It's go time!

Ready as I'll ever be!

We had a safety and instructional video to watch first, this went for about 4 minutes and then we got suited up. Very fetching, I didn't look dorky at all! Now with our suit, helmet, ear plugs and goggles we were ready to fly (mum, not so much).

Looking (good) confident!

Up to the iFly and before I knew it I was flying! I was first to go in and it was so cool, absolutely fantastic and so much fun!! The flight lasts for about a minute or so (except for mums) and is amazing. Loved it!! To start off you stand at the door, put your arms above your head and let yourself fall. The instructor is there to grab you around the waist and get you centred and balanced, well as balanced as you can be when air's blasting up at you! There is a guy taking photos so the instructor makes sure you face him for at least some of the flight to get some gorgeous photos, cheeks flapping and all. Because it is so noisy in then, hence the ear plugs, you're giving hand signals ie straighten your legs, lift your arms, lower your arms, get me out of here (that was thumbs down!) etc If the instructor thinks you're balanced enough and sort of in control he'll let you go. Such a cool feeling and I didn't even crash! I was sure I would crash into the sides and then flip over but I was very controlled, woo!  After you finish you grab hold of the door and pull yourself down and plonk your feet back on the ground and then go and give everyone a high 5!

Up next, mum! She just couldn't make herself go in, no matter how much encouragement the instructor (Ivan) gave her so she sat back down, shaking and a bit teary. One of the other flyers came over to comfort her! There were three others in our group so the two guys had their go and then Ivan waved mum back over. This time he literally pulled her in!! She did it! You can't hear anything but you could certainly see mum was screaming. She managed to stay up with the help of Ivan but then started to freak out a bit so the air controller guy gave Ivan the thumbs down and mum was out. I think she lasted 30 seconds but she did so well!! She even managed to give everyone a high 5 when she got out, all but a little shakily! She did get a round of applause :-) Later on after we had gotten out of our fetching onesies mum said a lady came up to her and said how well she had done because she had chickened out. We went and had a look at our photos and had to get some of them. Unfortunately because we were both booked into the same time slot we didn't have anyone to take any photos of us from the observation area so needed to buy a couple of photos to prove that we did it!! Mum said she was definitely getting some after that!

We did this!!! Scratch it off your bucket list mum ;-)

With shaky legs we headed back to the cabin for a well deserved cup of tea although I think mum might have needed something stronger!

Mum's never leaving our cabin again! Well, maybe to go to the buffet ;-)

 How smooth is the ocean??

I can't image the sea ever gets any smoother than this, incredible!

After settling her jelly legs we headed to Windjammers for some nourishment. My go to was either the pasta/salad section, conveniently located opposite the dessert station, or the toasted sandwich station. Mum varied her meals a bit more but had a burger a couple of times as well as nachos and a roast roll (not all in the one sitting!).

With bellies full (again) we went for a walk around this amazing ship, trying to take it all in. We watched the iFly (yes mum, you did do that!), the surfers and then headed into the Seaplex to check out was what happening. 

Should I have a hot dog??

Dinner once again was fantastic even with a post it note in my soup. Ha ha. The waiter was putting pepper on my soup when a post it note dropped in instead. He was soooo apologetic and immediately replaced my soup for me. It was quite funny actually :-) He said he'd written a message for himself (a certain beer for a guest) and had put it in his pocket where he keeps his little pepper grinder. He's accidentally picked it up when he got his pepper grinder and it's fallen into the soup. He assured me the next night when I saw him that he had no post its in his pocket :-)

Delicious Mushroom Soup post it note not included ;-)

As we were heading back to Sydney we were getting back the couple of hours we had lost when we went to NZ. It's noted in the Cruise Compass plus Inyoman also left a larger note so we wouldn't forget. It was great getting this hour back as it meant that tomorrow wasn't so early getting up. It's amazing how early it makes getting up in the morning when you lose a couple of hours! We'd get the other hour back the following night just in time for our arrival in Sydney the following morning.

We got a Cruise Compass every evening with what was happening the next day.