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.

What Do We Do On Sea Days?

You might think we'd be bored. But it's not the case. We just completed 3 days at sea and it flew by. We attend lectures. They have an expert on world affairs on board who has been most enlightening us on the Middle East and all the Geo-political hot spots in this part of the world. I went to a cooking demonstration by the Executive Chef and came out ready to start cooking gnocchi and risotto. Bet that won't last til we get home!

Jim walks about 2 miles a day on the deck and I log reading time while he's exercising. Jean Michael Cousteau is on board, but we've missed the oceanography lectures. And, of course, we eat and drink. The food has been really good.

The Fish Market and Transportation in Zanzibar

Donkey carts, bicycles, scooters and cars travel the roads side-by-side.










The fish market was filled with hundreds of people and we could see the fish being sold on the street all day.

Sharing with the Children

The children at the Spice Plantation were expecting candy. All I had to share were ListerMints and you should have seen their faces when the thin little green things melted in their mouths.

Zanzibar, Tanzania

The name Zanzibar conjures up exotic images... Moorish buildings, spice markets and Arab dress...and this place certainly lives up to the expectation. Zanzibar is a semi-independent governing area, almost 100% Muslim, very poor, low education levels, and the exporter of lots of cinnamon, cloves, and many spices. It was amazing to see spices growing wild, as we think they come in a McCormick bottle. Pictured are cloves before they are dried.

The scene at the port was incredible. As we were arriving, many small boats sailed by us. It was the fishermen coming in with their catch. When we docked, we found the fish market right there and hundreds of people were at the market, buying and selling fish.

More Animals

Tsavo National Park

Some of the animals that we saw were: elephants, zebras, giraffes, baboons, wildebeest, gazelles, warthog, hyenas, ostrich, eagles, vultures, and mongoose.

Game Drive in Kenya

JAMBO...Swahili for hello.

We awoke at 6:00 to the sound of drums and singing. We went out onto the patio and found that we had arrived in Mombasa and truly felt that we were in Africa. We departed the ship at 7:30 to travel 2 hours to Tsavo National Park. We traveled in 23 vans that had pop-up roofs once we got to the park. You stood to look out to see the game.

So many animals and birds. We weren't sure that we would see much, as the best game viewing is in the early morning and evening. Lunch at the Lodge provided an incredible view of the watering hole (complete with elephants), the plains and mountains in the distance. It was a long, hot, tiring day, but well worth it. We felt like we saw how the people lived, much of it unchanged for hundreds of years. Most houses had no electricity or running water. It makes you grateful for all that we have.

Jim At the Beach

Praslin, Seychelles

Two island stops in the beautiful Seychelle Islands. Everything is so clean and well cared for...good standard of living here.

Back to the Maldives

This was beautiful beach. But a downpour chased us off the beach. Wish Jim could have gotten the photo of the women in the water with her umbrella open.

Living the Life of Luxury

Three Full Days at Sea

We arrived in the Seychelles last evening. Port Victoria is meticulously clean and pretty. We wandered off the ship in the night and strolled into town, but everything was closed.

Yesterday was wash day and I put the clothes in the washer and left. Came back to move them to the dryer and found that I had flooded the washroom. Water was ankle deep. I do believe that it is a sign that I am not supposed to be a washer woman.

Beach this afternoon...
BTW: haven't been able to access my emails for 3 days. I am sure that the numbers are mounting.

Rained Off the Beach, Sea Day, Sailing Into Pirate Country

Yesterday we stopped at the beautiful Maldive Islands. Spent about 40 minutes transporting out to a pristine beach only to have a downpour which spoiled the beach time. Today and tomorrow are sea days, as we sail to the Seychelles. We'll spend two days there with 3 ports. Hope to make up the beach time.

Yes, we are sailing into pirate territory. It is reassuring to know that we have an Israeli security team on board. About 6 special army guys have been wondering around in cruise wear, but you can tell that they are not here for their tans.

Incredible India!

Land of contrasts. So much poverty...so much wealth. Beautiful structures built by the British going to decay. Hindu, Muslin, Christians live side-by-side. They tell you no conflict...but it is there.

Cochin was quite interesting. It is in southern India. We traveled 1.5 hrs into the countryside to view a traditional Snake Boat Race. Reallllly long canoe-like boats with about 100 oarsmen each. Jim did some quick Flip videos. I am going to try to expand my horizon and post one.