The next morning we are surprised to be woken by Anusha, our stewardess, with a trolley from which she serves us breakfast on bed trays. We engage in conversation and she enquires if we have discovered the 'special' cabinet. Sansa confirms that we have and it dawns on me that there are more toys than the one that Sansa gave me to wear. She asks if we would like her to show us what is available, I'm about to ask her to, when Sansa says that she knows because it was her that arranged the purchase and supply.
The black coffee is just perfect and we are able to serve ourselves a second cup. Anusha leaves. Sansa whispers that the 'special' cabinet is her personal contribution, explaining that there are two of everything. Being the femme, she tells me that the pink toys are for me and the green, her favourite colour, are for her. We finish breakfast and I get up to examine the contents of the cabinet, while Sansa ensures the 'do not disturb' sign is put out and the door locked.
I can kind of guess what each toy is for, but there's a 'kit' that I've no idea of its purpose. Sansa gets the instructions out and we read them together. It is a fucking machine, but it has been disassembled and boxed for transit. Using the instructions she shows me that it's a self-construction kit of only a few parts and when put together is placed at the end of a bed. When assembled and carefully positioned with the head of the lubricated dildo just inside the vagina, it can be turned on and the speed/tempo of thrusts controlled with a free app for the iPhone. There are several different sizes of dildo made of soft silicone, all of them are pink in colour. Sansa says we can share, indicating a desire to use it herself. We agree to follow the instructions and 'assemble' it after lunch.
After our intimate shower & massage we dress and, at the appointed time, go to the cinema. We are wearing identical silk & lycra ready-pleated saree gowns with intricate border work in gold with matching embroidered net blouse with half sleeves. Sansa's gown, matching handbag and shoes are green and mine are pink. As we gather in the cinema, we admire everybody's choice of clothing, I note that we all have chosen styles of the Indian sub-continent to wear. Perhaps western style clothes will be seen later in the cruise.
Maharani is at anchor and the sea is nice and calm, when Prajna enters with her three bridge officers, we take our seats expectantly. Prajna smiles and begins: "Good morning ladies, we hope you enjoyed your first night on board and how wonderful it is to welcome all thirty-six of you, plus our two esteemed owners, to our first talk on 'fixing position'. As I mentioned yesterday, there are several ways to fix position and today we will use a simple sextant method". She holds up a sextant, then the second officer passes it round the audience. Prajna continues: "First slide please!"
The lights dim and a chart is displayed with a dot in the centre of a circle, displayed in a blue part of the chart: "This is a photo of a chart showing our current position. Blue is water and green is land, sometimes beginners make simple errors that end up with them marking our position in the green, but it is a common mistake and soon rectified. A good sextant is a very accurate instrument for measuring angles, most often of a star or the sun above the horizon, hence the shades to protect the eyes when looking into the sun. Second slide please."
"The line northwards from our position is to a lighthouse at the entrance to the river leading to Jaleswar. Third slide please. The line running north-west from our position is another lighthouse, at the entrance to the river leading to Basudevpur, the angle between the two lines is roughly 45 degrees and will be marked on the chart to fix position. Fourth slide please".
"The line running to the west-south-west from our position is a headland named Palmyras Point. The angle between the lighthouse at the entrance to the river to Basudevpur and Palmyras Point is roughly 68 degrees and we'll be marking that angle on the chart too. Are there any questions before we go to the bridge and give every guest the opportunity, with help, to measure these angles with the sextant?" There are no questions so Prajna leads the way to the bridge.
We split into 4 groups for the first part of the exercise; measuring the angles. We learn to hold it sideways to measure horizontal angles and since the sun isn't involved, all the shades can be moved out of the way. We set the angle on the index arm so it reads zero and then focus on the lighthouse at the entrance to the river to Basudevpur. Squeezing the locking mechanism unlocks the index arm so it can move. We then move the index arm until the other lighthouse is as near as possible to directly over it. We release the locking mechanism so it can't move and rotate the micrometer until one lighthouse is as exactly on top of the other as possible.
Finally, we read the degrees scale through the opening in the index arm and add the minutes from the micrometer to the nearest whole degree. Our result agrees with the rough 45 degrees bearing from the plan and happily everyone else manages to get within five degrees of it as well.
We do the same process by focussing on Palmyras Point and setting zero, measure the angle from there to the lighthouse at the entrance to the river to Basudevpur and again, everyone is delighted to get a result within five degrees of the rough bearing from the plan.
The officer with each group then shows us how to use a plotter to draw the three angular distances. She shows us why it's necessary to use a reciprocal bearing to prevent the line going ashore instead of out to sea. Where the three lines intersect is the plotted position and marked with a dot in the middle of a circle. If the lines don't intersect exactly, then the size of the triangle shows the degree of accuracy and the fix plotted is in the middle of the triangle. We finish by learning that most often there is a small triangle. Adding thirty six plots to the chart makes it look very busy but demonstrates that no one is far out. Happily the lines are in pencil and can be rubbed out.