Day 1 - Departure
Seattle was beautiful, warm and mostly sunny. We arrived at the terminal a little ahead of our scheduled time and everything went smoothly. Boarding the ship is little different from boarding an airplane. The security procedures are pretty much identical. The main difference is there aren't many limits on baggage - size, weight or number of bags.
We were more than an hour late departing but nobody seemed to concerned about it. Almost immediately after departure we had our first dinner appointment in the Botticelli Dining Room. Food was pretty good, for the most part, and afforded many opportunities to participate in variety of culinary adventures.
After dinner we checked out a very crowded show in the theater and then retired to our room. By now we were well along into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and were just passing Port Angeles and Victoria about sunset.
By morning we were in the open ocean west of Vancouver Island, about 20 miles offshore, traveling at 18 knots. The sea was very calm (disappointingly so, in my opinion). From our room we saw sharks, whales, puffins, and dolphins.
