Barbados...A Taste of Caribbean Fun

We spent a few hours on a catamaran sailing along the coast to swim with turtles.  We saw some lovely condos and a hotel that cost $3000 a night for a room.  Moored right next to our ship was Paul Allen's (Microsoft founder) private yacht, one of the biggest in the world.  It's the blue and white ship in the middle.  Ours is on the left.

We drank rum punch, caught some sun, laughed like we were young again.  All-in-all a wonderful stop.

No Internet for Two Days

The satellite connection was lost and we have had no communication with the world for two days. Our last Brazilian stop was Fortaleza. Not much to see here. They took us to a shopping center that had 600 shops...all selling exactly the same thing. We ended up buying 2 refrigerator magnets.

We were at sea yesterday and have 2 more sea days before we reach Barbados. Only 3 stops left and less than a week on board the ship. Time has flown.


Christmas along the trip.  It has been full blown summer since we left CA.  Every now and again we are surprised to learn that it is almost Christmas.  It doesn't seem real, as we are so far removed from shopping, decorations, the music, the whole holiday experience.  Here was a tree at the shopping center in Fortaleza. 

Catching Up on Where We've Been

Not sure of the nautical miles.  37 days aboard ship.  7 days to cross the Atlantic. 9 countries visited to date.

Second Stop in Brazil

Salvador de Bahia:  What a lovely old city.  We enjoyed it more than Rio and would have liked more time here.  We did a walking tour of the old city and saw two beautiful churches built in the 16th century.  It reminded us of Europe.

It's Hard to Describe Rio in the Rain

We didn't have the best weather.  The first day was sunny and bright and we lucked out in our trip up to the top of Corcovado.  The next two days were rainy.  We went to the top of Sugar Loaf  Mt. with strong winds, rain and the mountain covered in clouds.  No bikini clad beauties to see on Copacabana either.  We hit the downtown business district in the rain, as I wanted to buy some frou-frou shoes.  What I got was a sole with a leather strip holding them on.  Not exactly sturdy walking shoes.

Celebrated 37 Years Together While At Sea

Should have posted this yesterday, but Rio got in the way.  On Dec. 2, Jim and I were married 37 years.  We started the day with a sign on our door. We got an anniversary present from some shipboard friends delivered to the room.  It got better and better.  We had a special galley tour with the Exec. Chef, which was so interesting.  The captain sent a cake and champagne to the room in the afternoon.  We had arranged a special dinner and invited two British and Canadian couples to join us.  It started with a champagne toast, prime rib carved at our table and the waiters linking our hands together with a napkin and singing Let Me Call You Sweetheart.  We got back to the room to find our stewardess had decorated with towel animals and balloons.  All in all...one of the best anniversaries ever.

RIO...It Justifies Its Reputation

Such an incrediblly beautiful city.  Built on hills with wonderful beaches, it is a great contrast of modern buildings and colonial buildings sitting side by side.  We arrived about 7:00am in the harbor and what a view of Sugarloaf Mt. and the Christ the Redeemer statue that is the trademark of the city. 

We walked the business area for a bit before lunch, then went out on tour to see Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches and take the cog train to the top of Corcavado to the Christ statue.  Today is Sugar Loaf.  Note the black dot about half way up. It's a man working on the statue.  That gives you a perspective of how tall it is.

Didn't venture out last night.  Too hot and tired and not safe.  The heat and humidity are higher here than it was in India.  Africa seemed cool after Brazil.  We are surprised that they are not merchandising the Olympics.  You don't see any reference to it anywhere. They are hosting the World Cup next year, so that's there focus.

Napoleon's Home in Exile...St. Helena

We've heard about it in history class, the place where Napoleon Bonaparte, was exiled and died.  Never thought I'd actually visit.  It's a lovely little island sitting in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean... looks much like Hawaii...and is cut off from the world.  There are only 2000 people living there and they get a mail boat stop once a month.  No airport.

The island is a British Protectorate and at the Governor's House, tortoises live on the grounds.  Of course, Jim had to have a picture with Tommy who is 179 years old.

The little town was so excited about our coming. They were hanging about the little downtown area to say hello and sell us some crafts.  They had a children's choir performing in the town square.

In case you are wondering where we are, it is  the second day at sea after leaving St. Helena.  We have 3 more days at sea to finish the crossing to Rio.










A view of the island. 

Thanksgiving Aboard Ship Included a Parade

A baton twirling majorette, a band, balloons and Santa Claus marched through the Atrium from Deck 4-11. We had an elaborate international feast, which was so beautifully arranged.  Jim captured a lot of the fruit sculptures which were very detailed.  Imagine cantelope lovebirds inside a watermelon cage.

Crossing the Atlantic...Two Days at Sea

Left Namibia yesterday with a wonderful impression of the country. We only saw a small bit of the coastal area, but the people are friendly and seem to have a good quality of life. You can tell by the cleanliness of the countryside and the lack of people standing around doing nothing.

The ship hosted a night under the stars in the middle of the desert. We went out on large buses into the dunes and found a huge tent with hundreds of luminaires lining the drive. I rode a camel and felt like a kid again. We visited Swakopmund, a nice small town with a lot of German architectural influence.

As we gave started the Atlantic crossing, we have trouble getting Internet service. Don't be surprised if the posts are sporadic.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

The Living Desert in Namibia

We arrived in Walvis Bay, Namibia this morning and took a 5 1/2 hour desert tour.  We loaded into 4X4 off road vehicles and traveled through the Namib Desert.  Quite an interesting experience.  It's starkness makes it beautiful.  Our guide was a Crocodile Dundee sort of fellow who showed us reptiles that we never expected to see.  I wasn't too keen on holding the cameleon or petting the lizard, but a number of women did.

What we've seen so far was very nice.  It is tidy and clean and the people seem to be workers.  It was a German Protectorate until the early 1990s.

Translucent Lizard:  the skin is so sensitive that we couldn't touch this lizard.  Our guide said you can see the eggs when they are pregnant.

A Day in the Wine Country

Stellenbosch, is the center of S. African wine production.  It has much of the feel of Napa Valley, but with Dutch architecture.  As we had visited the area before, we elected a gourmet wine tour there, which included 3 wineries and an incredible gourmet lunch.  There were only 9 of us and a terrific guide.  Each stop had something special.

We  tasted at Vergelegen, which is totally unpronouncible unless you speak Dutch, which is a beautiful estate with colonial manor house and gardens.  This vineyard was the beginning of the wine industry in S. A.

The second winery, Morganster, had some good reds, but the owner was Italian and was also producing olive oil.  We did an olive oil tasting which was a highlight.  You can't believe how clean and smooth really good olive oil is.  We bought some lemon olive, but resisted the truffle olive oil.  The third winery included cheese tasting as a food and wine pairing.  The cheese was better than the wine here.  The sad news was that our favorites at the 2nd winery aren't exported to CA  and Canada.

Christmas in South Africa

The Australians call it Summer Christmas. 
Here is a glimpse of the mall with holiday decorations.

A Day on the Wharf

We walked the waterfront for several hours. It's is so colorful and alive. A yacht race around the world just happened to be preparing to depart  on it's next leg.  California is sponsoring a boat, so we stopped to talk with the husband of one of the crew.  For just 38,000 British pounds you can crew one of these vessels in a race covering 40,000 miles, 13 countries and 10 months.

Sailing Into Cape Town

Today is Sunday and it is hard to believe that we sailed into Cape Town on Friday. It was a magical sail-in. The weather was perfect. We spent hours on deck as we passed the beautiful suburbs and made our way to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

This is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Jim and I had to pinch each other that we were actually back after almost 13 years. Even more exciting was that the ship docked right next to the Table Bay Hotel. In 1995, I did a hard-hat site inspection of the hotel when it was just steel girders and 2 display sleeping rooms.

The waterfront could be compared to Sydney, Vancouver or San Francisco for its beauty, dining, entertainment and shopping.

Can You Believe the First Leg of the Journey Is Almost Over?

It's hard to imagine that we have been on the ship for 18 days. We dock in Cape Town at about 4pm today. Most of our European passengers are getting off. There will only be about 430 of us making the Atlantic crossing.

The British are the big European contingency. They are a hoot to watch...talk about being divided by a common language! We have enjoyed knowing several couples and learning more about life today in England. We expect a big change in the character of the cruise.

We've been told that a bunch of Brazilian jewelers come aboard in C.T and to be wary. They become very friendly with you and you don't realize that their purpose is to sell you jewelry. The weather has been cooler the last few days than any of us expected. We are planning a sweater shopping trip today.

Are we ready to get off? No, not by a long shot. We are loving the cruising life.

A Walk on the Wild Side

Yesterday, we struck out on our own with a British couple that we have enjoyed knowing on this leg. Hilary and Harvey have traveled the world and are quite adventurous. We took the ship's shuttle to the shopping mall (too boring...) then we hired a driver to take us to Enseleni Nature Reserve to trek to see hippos.

Well, as you can see from the sign, it's quite a large park and our driver said he'd never been there. But he led the way anyway. We got on the trail and couldn't determine where we were, so we hiked for two hours (4 km). It got a little scary as we were way down the trail and time was running out. The ship sailed at 2:00pm and we didn't make it back until 10 minutes before sailing. We cut that a bit close!

Troop of Baboons

My favorite game drive experience was watching the baboons. A troop blocked the road, so we just stopped for about ten minutes and watched. They groomed, the babies played and the dominant male supervised it all. We started to hear this uproar coming from several of them and the "papa", as our ranger called him, started roaring and chasing one of them into the bush. The dominant male was disciplining one of the young males.

More Animals from Hluhluwe

Our ranger was a native and he had a sixth sense about where we would find game. It was fun to
watch him look and see things that none of us could see. The white rhino really isn't white. Giraffes have the same number of vertebrae as
humans. Imagine that!

Hluhluwe Game Park

We spent 1 1/2 days in Richard's Bay, S. Africa. It's a new, clean city with a higher standard of living than any we saw in Kenya or Tanzania. It's the largest port in S. Africa and lots of heavy industry surrounds it.

We skipped the trip to Zululand to see the native dancers and lifestyle. We wanted to see more animals, and we did. This time the ride out to the game reserve was motor coach. We transferred to a 10 man Land Rover for the game drive. We added some new animals to our list, white rhinoceros, cape buffalo, nynala (large deer-like animal with stripes). Both the rhino and cape buffalo are dangerous animals.

It's spring and there are lots of babies to see. One of my favorite moments was to see a mother with baby giraffe walking up the road and just behind was a mother and baby zebra. The mom's were taking their babies out for a stroll.