Thursday December 31, 2015 – Boca da Valeria, Brazil – New
Years Eve
We dropped anchor about 7 am in Boca da Valeria, but we
didn’t get up until about 7:30. We had
some breakfast in La Veranda and then went to the tender to go ashore. Boca da Valeria is a very small village on
the Amazon and it gives us an opportunity to see how they live along the river.
The villagers were out in force, especially the
children. Tim brought the chocolates
from our room and we handed those out.
They ate them with great abandon, but the down side of it was they threw
the paper wrappers that the chocolate came in on the ground. Not so good as all of this trash will end up
in the Amazon River. Oh well, the
children enjoyed it.
We followed Mirjana for a while as she was in search of the
local shaman. She got way ahead of us
and we ran into Robin and Michael from Plantation. They had met a local man, Sergio, who showed
us around. We then found John and Janet
and I asked Sergio to take us to a boat for a ride up the river. He took us to Ishmai, who had a covered
dugout with a longneck motor on it. We
started up the river.
Beautiful jungle scenery on both sides. We rode inland for about 30 minutes and then
stopped at a landing site. Boys were
there with a giant pet rat and other animals, including sloths and
monkeys. We walked up a steep hill to the
village where Sergio lives. There was a
great lookout point and we could see The Mariner at anchor off shore.
Sergio then took us to his home where he lives with his wife
and six children. Amazing is all I can
say. One of the grandmothers lived there
too. He was very proud to show us his
home.
We then bought a beer at the local pub and walked through
their festival grounds on the way back to the dugout. We loaded up and headed back to Boca da
Valeria. A great river tour.
When we got back, I paid Sergio (50 reales) and Ishmai (60
reales) for the tour. Tim and I went and
had a cold beer at a small hut serving cold drinks. The beer was Kirin Brazil beer and was only
$1 USD each!
We then headed back to the dock and while waiting for the
tender, a pink dolphin broke the surface right off shore. We saw it several times.
It was a short ride back to the ship. We went to La Veranda for lunch. Tim finally got his grilled fish sandwich
that he has been talking about and I had the pasta bar and a salad for lunch.
Then it was cold shower time and nap time. It was so hot outside and sticky – very hujid
so the shower felt good.
We relaxed in the room for a while and I took a short nap as
the meds make me sleepy.
At 2:30 the Captain came on and we pulled anchor and set
sail inland to Manaus. We’ll be there
early tomorrow morning.
We relaxed during the afternoon and then got dressed for our
New Years Eve dinner in Prime 7. We had
a martini at Prime 7 followed by a wonderful New Years Eve steak dinner. We rested in the cabin after dinner and then
went to Observation Lounge for a glass of champagne. We went to the Theatre at 10:15 for the New
Years Eve Celebration. The entertainers
danced and sang while passengers danced.
The staff had made a huge ice carving of 2015 and at midnight they
changed it to 2016. It was a fun
celebration.
We headed off to the cabin about 12:30 as we have an early
day tomorrow.
Friday January 1, 2016 – New Years Day in Manaus, Brazil on
the Amazon River
We got up about 6:30, showered and went for coffee. We are docked in Manaus, Brazil on the Rio
Negro River. We went to La Veranda for a
more substantial breakfast and then headed to the theatre for our tour of “The
Meeting of the Waters”. We left the ship
and got directl We went to La Veranda
for a more substantial breakfast and then headed to the theatre for our tour of
“The Meeting of the Waters”. We left the
ship and got directly on a smaller boat docked across from the ship at our
pier. We rode about 45 minutes down the
Rio Negro, a dark, highly acidic river.
We stopped on the other side and loaded into small canoes, 10 passengers
to each canoe.
We headed up a small muddy channel with marsh land on each
side. Muddy, muddy water. We passed houses along the way, most of which
were floating houses that rise with the waters.
The water will rise over 45 feet between now and June, their winter
season, which is the rainy season.
We stopped at a “restaurant” where they had shops. We took a nature walk on a rickety walkway built
high into the jungle. There were water
lilies and huge trees and lots of dense foliage. We say monkeys playing in the trees too.
We loaded back on the canoes and headed back to the larger
boats. From there, we continued
downstream to a point where the black water of the Rio Negro, which comes from
Columbia, meets a vey on a smaller boat docked across from the ship at our
pier. We rode about 45 minutes down the
Rio Negro, a dark, highly acidic river.
We stopped on the other side and loaded into small canoes, 10 passengers
to each canoe.
We headed up a small muddy channel with marsh land on each
side. Muddy, muddy water. We passed houses along the way, most of which
were floating houses that rise with the waters.
The water will rise over 45 feet between now and June, their winter
season, which is the rainy season.
We stopped at a “restaurant” where they had shops. We took a nature walk on a rickety walkway
built high into the jungle. There were
water lilies and huge trees and lots of dense foliage. We say monkeys playing in the trees too.
We loaded back on the canoes and headed back to the larger
boats. From there, we continued
downstream to a point where the black water of the Rio Negro, which comes from
Columbia, meets a very muddy river that comes from Peru. They call this the “Meeting of the
Waters”. It is interesting that the
waters don’t immediately mix and there is a clear separation of the waters. The darker water of the Rio Negro is colder,
clearer, and very acidic compared to the warmer, muddier water of the other
river.
We observed this for a while and then headed back to the
ship while it poured rain outside.
We had lunch at the pool buffet and took a quick nap. We dressed and went to the Folklorico Show in
the Theatre. The costumes were colorful
and the dancing energetic, but the singing was awful! Janet was chosen to go up on the stage and
dance the samba with them.
We went to the French buffet in La Veranda for a quick
dinner and then went to the Theatre to get our tickets for the Caiman Spotting
excursion that left at 8:15 pm. We
loaded back on a large boat at the dock and headed downstream to the same place
we stopped earlier in the day. We loaded
onto canoes, 10 to a canoe and began our trek into the small muddy river looking
for caiman, small alligators. Andres was
our spotter and we had a guide too.
We looked and looked and went further and further into the
jungle. We stopped at one point and
Andres got out of our boat into the water, barefooted. No way!
He thought he had a caiman twice, but no luck. We went further into the jungle. Tim was fascinated with the stars more than
the jungle ride. There weren’t too many
mosquitoes.
We went much further into the jungle in the boat and Andres
guided our driver to a specific spot. He
got out again and shortly later Andres had our first caiman. It was about 2’ long. I couldn’t believe he caught it with his bare
hands in the jungle. Our guide held the
caiman and told us about it. Tim held it
and then the guide climbed to the back of the canoe with the small
creature. We backed out into the
channel and the guide showed us how the caiman closes its eyes when it’s in the
water. He then turned it loose and it
swam away.
Several other canoes were still looking for caiman. We went a short distance and Andres spotted
another one. Out into the water he went
again and soon we had our second caiman.
A smaller one that was screeching as it was held. The guide told us this one was about 1 ½
years old.
We backed out of the marshy area and found one of the other
boats that hadn’t spotted a caiman. So
we gave them our second caiman. We then
headed back out to the larger boat and waited for the other canoes to come
back. About 30 minutes later we headed back
to the Mariner.
We got back about midnight and went off to bed.
Saturday January 2, 2016 Manaus, Brazil
We got up about 7:30 and went to La Veranda for
breakfast. We picked up our things and
went to the Theatre to wait for our tour.
At 9:15 they called our number and we loaded on a bus for our Highlights
of Manaus Tour. We first headed through
the city to the museum. It was small and
had about 8 rooms of displays with artifacts.
We then headed to the beautiful Manaus Opera House. It was built like one of the beautiful
European opera houses. We toured it
throughout.
We then headed to the Manaus Zoo and saw cheetahs,
anacondas, toucans, parrots, monkeys, and many other animals native to the
Amazon jungles.
It was raining during the entire tour, very hard at
times. A wet, wet day.
We went to La Veranda and had a great lunch with Jurgen and
Anne, and Lou and Janie. Fun people.
Tim went to the gym and I relaxed and read in the
cabin. It is still pouring rain out and
the locals in Manaus are so happy. It
will rain every day for 6 months and the river will rise 45-50’.
I sat on the balcony as we passed the “Meeting of the
Waters”. It was fascinating. We showered and dressed for dinner and went
to Observation for drinks. We talked to
a couple from Rio Vista in Ft Lauderdale and one of the women from Stuart,
Florida.
We had a good dinner in Compass Rose. I had chateaubriand and it was good.
We went to the Constellation Theatre and watched Marshall do
his cabaret show. He was good and was
great at the banter.
We skipped after show drinks and went to bed.
Sunday January 3, 2016 Parentins, Brazil
We slept in this morning and didn’t get up until 9:30 so we
skipped breakfast completely. We went to
the Enrichment Lecture by the NASA guy on Spaces Influence on Medicine, but it
wasn’t very good. It was really about
what we eat and nutrition. We went to
the buffet for a late lunch and it was empty as most people went to the Boi
Bumba performance. We left after and
took the tender to the docks and walked around the small town of
Parentins. It was SO HOT and there
wasn’t much to see.
We returned to the docks and got on the small, mostly not
air conditioned van for our Highlights of Parentins tour. That was hot too.
We drove through the small town and our first stop was a
park with a monument built to commemorate Parentins. It was built as an island and had relief art
on it with the history of the island, the landing of the Portugese, farming,
rubber gathering and processing, hunting, dancing, etc. The pictures were colorful and informative.
Then we went to the stadium where the Boi Bumba Festival is
held at the end of June each year. There was a red side and a blue side as the
island is divided into two colors. The
red team has won the most competitions but the blue team won last year. Coca Cola sponsors this and pays about $2
milliion to fund the festival for the island.
It is a huge event. We then went
to a warehouse where they store the floats after the festival. They are getting ready to start building the
floats for this year’s festival. Many of
them were a couple of stories high and had moving parts. One of the workers turned the wheels inside
to make the arms and head move. It was
cool.
We loaded on the bus and went back to the port. Along the way our guide took us by the oldest
church on the island which was built in 1945.
We got the next to last tender back to the ship and showered as it was
SO HOT on the island and in the tour van.
We went to Constellation for drinks with Barbie and Ed. We then went to Compass Rose with them for
dinner. We went to the Theatre to see
the cast in Flashback – great dancing to movies from the ‘80’s. It was really good and a new show for us.
We then headed to bed.
Monday January 4, 2016 Santarem, Brazil
We docked early in Santarem.
We had a quick breakfast of coffee and musli and then got our tour
ticket. We were able to load directly
from the ship onto a small boat for our Eco Tour of the River. We rode around the bay for about an hour and
then headed up a small muddy river. We
were able to see the Meeting of the Waters again here where a clear river met
the Amazon and was turned completely muddy.
There wasn’t much to see but it was cool in the shade on the
boat. We saw a few dolphins and
birds. The boat stopped and we each got
a small paddle with a line and hook and a piece of meat. We went piranha fishing. The fish took our bait, but two other people
caught piranha, which were very small fish with very sharp teeth. It took us over an hour to get back to the
ship and then we had to wait for all of the other boats to unload before we
could get off.
We left Santarem in the early afternoon to head out of the
Amazon and then north to French Guiana.
We had lunch in La Veranda and then relaxed in the afternoon. Tim is doing his training exercises for Mt.
Kilimanjaro.
In the early evening we went to Constellation Theatre for
the Society Club event with caviar and champagne to celebrate the members who
have sailed with Regent the most. We are
now Gold members but we didn’t get a pin or anything! One couple has sailed almost 2,000 days with
Regent.
We then went to the Observation Lounge and met John and
Janet for drinks and lively discussion.
We decided to try to get into Sette Mari so I went and got on the list
for a table. He tried to put the 4 of us
at a table for 8 but we waited about 30 minutes in the bar and then they called
us. We had a great dinner and a fun time
with them. They are well travelled. They have been married 43 years and have never
spent a night apart.
We were the last to leave the restaurant. They went to bed and Tim and I went to
Observation for a night cap and then went off to bed.
Tuesday January 5, 2016 At Sea enroute to French Guiana
We are at sea today so we slept in. We passed Macapa, Brazil in the morning but
this was a technical stop only to check the ship out of the Amazon. We then headed east out of the Amazon River
Basin to the open sea.
At 10 we went to meet the group for “Quiche the Amazon
Goodbye”. We were supposed to go up on
the bow of the ship but it was too windy so we met in Observation Lounge. They had champagne and quiche and a short
presentation to again recognize people who have sailed a lot with Regent.
We skipped the morning Enrichment Lecture because of the
Quiche event. We had lunch in La Veranda
but skipped the Italian buffet on the pool deck, which was pizza and
pasta. We relaxed during the
afternoon. Tim worked out and I worked
on either condo or real estate business.
We got dressed early and went to the theatre for a piano
concert. He was a Russian who improvised
on the piano and played classical with a rock or jazz twist. Very entertaining.
We went to Observation at 6:30 and met Gemma and Poppy for
drinks and then dinner in Compass Rose.
We had the best time with them.
Quite entertaining those two.
Poppy had to leave us at 9:30 to go serve as a greeter at the evening
event, a comedian. We continued talking
to Gemma and gave her some advice about her role as team leader with the
cast. She was struggling with some
aspects of it and we hope that we were able to help her. She’s learning a lot.
We headed to the Observation again for a nightcap and we
were the only ones there. We talked to
Alexander a while. We then headed to bed
and had a restful night.
Wednesday January 6, 2016 – Devils Island, French Guiana
We woke up about 8 am and had a big breakfast in La Veranda.
The sea is now a dark murky color rather than the muddy waters we have seen for
the past week in the Amazon. We relaxed
during the morning. Tim went to hear
about the trip to Mars and I worked on real estate and condo stuff.
We went to lunch at 12:30 on the pool deck. We relaxed for a while so the early-birds
could take the tender to shore. We left
about 2:45 and got in a packed tender.
It took a while to load as the seas were rocking so they were taking
their time and being cautious. We got to
shore and decided to take the path around the entire island. We were on the Royal Island in a group of 3
islands where the governor lived. There
is a large penitentiary on this island.
Devil’s Island is next to the Royal Island and this is where
the most dangerous prisoners were kept.
The other island was used for political prisoners. It was a beautiful
island with some flowering bushes. But
it was primitive and the pathways were rocky and treacherous in places. One of our passengers fell and seriously hurt
himself. He was frail to start with and
should never have attempted this, but a lot of them do it regardless of the
danger. They ended up having to evacuate
the couple from the ship.
When we finished the circuit around the water’s edge, we
walked inland to the penitentiary. The
quarters for the prisoners were primitive indeed. We went to the lodge and walked around. There were beautiful peacocks and pelicans as
well as these little animals everywhere (we don’t know what they are).
We walked by the Governor’s House and a guest house back to
the tender launch point. We headed back
to the ship and showered after a very sweaty walk all over Devil’s island,
French Guiana.
We walked up on deck and saw that the tender was still
shuttling the hurt passenger and his belongings to shore so we were delayed
leaving. We went to Observation and had
a drink. Then we took our drinks to
Mariner Bar and started talking to Janie and Lou Gill. He was the partner at PWC with the DuPont
account so we reminisced a bit about the DuPont days.
We went to dinner with Janie and Lou and had a great
time. Engaging couple. He was so funny wanting “more hair” (he’s
almost bald) and I explained my hair transplant to him but he thinks he’s too
far gone.
We had an after dinner drink in Observations and then went
to bed.
Thursday January 7, 2016 At Sea enroute to Castries, Saint Lucia
We got up about 8.
Tim did his exercises and I had coffee.
We went to the Horizons outside deck to read but it was too bright so we
went into the lounge. We had a lifeboat
drill at 10:15 so we had to go to the Constellation Theatre for that. We went back to the cabin and read for a
while on the balcony.
We went to lunch at the pool deck at noon. It was a chili cook-off and was very good
with several different types of chili.
The afternoon was a “Fidlow Day” – learning the art of doing
nothing. Tim did his workout and then
went to hear the last portion of the Mars landing Enrichment Lecture. I walked the circuit upstairs for about 45
minutes.
We dressed and went to “James Bond” at 6 with the cast. Martinis, stirred not shaken! They sang and danced for us and showed clips
of James Bond movies. It was fun. At the end, Gemma asked me to dance for the
last song. The cast is so talented –
Marshall and Mika (the singers) and the dancers, Gemma, Poppy, Amelia, Lauren,
Taylor and Lewis. We love our cast
members on Regent.
We went to Observation for another martini and then went to
dinner in Compass Rose. We got the table
usually used by the gay couple from Holland and then wanted to be sure that we
knew they got the table back the next night!
Delicious dinner.
We skipped after dinner drinks and went to the cabin and
read and then went to sleep early a little after 10 pm.
Friday January 8, 2016 Castries, Saint Lucia – West Indies
We got up about 8.
Tim went to the gym for an hour and a half for his routine. I caught up on the travel blog and had
coffee. We arrived at Saint Lucia about
9 but won’t get to Castries until noon.
We are on the first tour and it will last all day. As we sailed in to Castries, we passed the
Grand Pietons – beautiful peaks on an otherwise mostly flat island.
We docked and our excursion was one of the first off since
it will last all day, over 7.5 hours. We
were in a group with John and Janet so we hung out with them.
We loaded onto a catamaran and headed south down the
coast. We passed a huge Sandals Resort
and the town or Marigot. We went by a
huge oil storage facility and by the largest fishing village on the
island. We sailed into a beautiful cove
at another town and then headed south to our stop for snorkeling and
swimming. It started POURING rain so
ever and by the largest fishing village on the island. We sailed into a beautiful cove at another
town and then headed south to our stop for snorkeling and swimming. It started POURING rain so everyone was
huddled under the canopy of the catamaran.
We got to the swimming spot and Tim was the first one in and
stayed in the last time. It was still
raining off and on but the water was in the low ‘70’s, much too cold for me, so
I stayed on the catamaran and John and I hit the rum punch. After four of them I was feeling pretty good.
We then headed further south to the Pietons and got off of
the catamaran and loaded onto a small van.
It took us to an old cocoa plantation where we had lunch and a tour of
the plantation. They showed us how they
used to live, how they processed cocoa, and “The Coconut Man” was there to show
us how they opened up coconuts. We
loaded back on the small vans and went to the Botanical Gardens for a
tour. Tim and I had been here before and
there is a waterfall, nothing spectacular, way in the back. It was pretty.
We loaded back on the small vans and went back to Soufriere
and loaded onto larger vans for the ride back to Castries. We stopped several times for photo stops. We got back to the ship about 7:20 pm and
went straight to our room to change for dinner.
We were supposed to leave at 7 for St Barts but there apparently were
two passengers hurt on excursions today so they are trying to get them packed
up and off of the ship.
We had a drink in our cabin and then went to the Compass
Rose for a quiet dinner. It was good
again.
We returned to the room and watched Everest on TV about
climbers who attempted to climb to the top of Mount Everest. It was sad.
Then to bed.
Saturday January 9, 2016 Gustavia, St. Barts – French West
Indies
We got up about 8.
Tim went to the gym and I did work for showings on Monday. We went up on deck for the sail in to St
Barts. Such a pretty island.
We ordered an early lunch from the pool grill (fish
sandwiches) and ate as the ship dropped anchor just off of the coast. We went to the theatre to see if we could get
on the “Sailing the Leeward Coast” tour but it was booked. So we took a tender to shore and walked
around Gustavia. We walked to the Dive
Shop across the harbor from town and Tim booked a tour for next week when we
are back. It was SO HOT.
We left the Dive Shop and walked to Shell Beach which was
packed. We sat at the bar and had a
glass of wine and cooled off a bit. Then
we walked back through Gustavia to meet our tour. We waited for a while only to find out that
the boat (The Blue Cat) was broken so our tour was cancelled. Instead they put us on a van with Marie
Claire as our driver and we did an island highlights tour. It took about 40 minutes. She drove by the airport, by several beaches,
to the east end of the island and then back to the city. John and Janet were with us and we headed
back to the tender station. But along
the way I noticed that the “Sailing the Leeward Coast” tour was just loading so
I asked if we could get on it in case there were some no-shows. In fact there were some spots for the 4 of us
and Amanda (Miami) and her husband got on.
We had a good group and headed around the island on a sailing
catamaran. A young Frenchman was our
captain and Sonya, from Paris, was the mate.
It was beautiful and relaxing. We passed some huge mega-yachts and the
Mariner on the way to a cove on the north end of the island. We anchored and everyone went swimming in the
beautiful blue water. It was
refreshing. We had rum punches and good
conversation. I met Kenneth and Ashmir
from Glasgow, Scotland. Oliver and
Desiree were on our boat too. We headed
back just at sunset and it was magnificent.
We returned to the tender pier just as the tender was
leaving. John Wells was not happy as he
and Janet had invited guests to their suite and they would be late. We ended up being on the last tender from
shore to ship and arrived back at 6:45.
We showered and dressed and had a drink in our cabin and
then went to Observation for another drink.
Gusti took care of us with our usual drinks (vodka, soda, splash of cran
and scotch and water!).
We went to Observation about 8 and had a relatively light
dinner and good conversation. I like it
when the two of us have meaningful chat constantly and consistently. Never a dull moment for us.
I didn’t want any more to drink so we went back to the room and
relaxed and then went to sleep a little after 10. A great day in St Barts – see you in a week
when we return!
Sunday January 10, 2016 San Juan, Puerto Rico
We were awakened a little after 7 with an announcement from
Jamie that the US Customs agents were her and ready to check passports. We showered and dressed and went to La
Veranda for breakfast. Then we went to
the theatre and got our passports and met with the Immigration agents. It was pretty quick.
We returned to the cabin for a short while and then Tim left
for his Canopy adventure. I went down
about 9 am to check in for my San Juan City Tour and Bacardi Rum Distillery
tour. We loaded on a small van for the
30 minute ride to the Bacardi factory.
We got a glass and a voucher for a rum drink. We took a tram ride to the museum where we
heard the history of the Bacardi family, first in Cuba and then in Puerto
Rico. Then we went to the distillery
where our guide, Crystal, gave a commentary on how they make the various
rums. They are very conscious
environmentally and are using wind turbines and have creative ways of handling
the waste products from the distillation processes. After the tour we went to the gift shop and
then loaded on the vans at 12:15 to return to the ship.
The traffic was awful getting back into Old San Juan. We stopped at the fort in the city but since
I had been there before, I left the tour and walked back to the ship through
Old Town. I stopped at CVS for a few
things and then went back to the ship. I
went to La Veranda for a quick lunch at 2 pm.
Then Tim and I walked back into Old Town and went along the waterfront
and around by the Governor’s House. We
went to Barrachine Restaurant and had a pina colada. They invented the drink here in 1963. It was good, especially with a floater of rum
on it.
We walked back to the ship and boarded at 3 pm. Sail away was supposed to be at 4 but it was
after 4:30 before we left. We went up on
Deck 12 and had champagne and watched the ship sail out of San Juan Harbor.
We showered and got dressed and went for a quick drink in
the Observation Lounge. We had
reservations in Signatures at 7 pm for a sharing table but we were able to get
a table for two. Dinner was
delicious. We left Signatures and went
to the Constellation Theatre for the MoTown Show by the Jean Ann Ryan singers
and dancers. It was a great show.
We had a nightcap in Observation and then went to bed about
11:30. Restful night.
Monday January 11, 2016 At Sea enroute to Nassau, Bahamas
We got up about 8:30 and had coffee and then relaxed in
various parts of the ship. It has been a
bit rocky this morning due to the large swells in the sea. We had lunch at the pool grill for their
“Cookout” and that was good.
Then we relaxed in the cabin in the afternoon. I had some real estate things to do and Tim
read and then did his long workout routine.
We went for afternoon coffee – a double macchiato and an
Americano. We got dressed early and went
to Krew Kapers which was a lot of fun.
We had to leave after 30 minutes as we had reservations for a sharing
table at Prime 7. We had dinner with
Louise and Graham from Nova Scotia. They
were delightful and a lot of fun.
Liberal thinkers too! Dinner was superb.
We left dinner about 9 and went to Observation for an
after-dinner drink. While there I found
out that a client wants to rent one of my listings so we went to the cabin for
a while before the Beatles Party in Horizons so I could work on the lease
documents. We had a blast. The singers were wonderful and the dancing
was superb. John Wells was disappointed
that it was over though. He told us the
next day that the party was like having a shop full of customers buying lots of
things and then telling them – Sorry but I’m closing! We had a good time.
We left about midnight and went to the cabin for a restful
night.
Tuesday January 12, 2016 Nassau, Bahamas
We got up about 8 and Tim went for his daily walk. I worked to finish up the lease
documents. We had coffee mid morning and
then relaxed until lunch time. Another
“Fidlow Day”? We docked in Nassau,
Bahamas mid morning.
We had lunch in La Veranda and then went ashore to walk
around Nassau. Same as before. So many little shops with the same
things!!!! Lots of people ashore as
there are 5 ships in port.
We went back to the ship and changed for our Dolphin
Encounter on Blue Lagoon Island. We left
at 2:30 and exchanged our tickets for the tour.
When they called our group we went ashore and loaded on a large vessel
that took our group to Blue Lagoon Island.
The experience was excellent.
They did an orientation and then we locked our valuables up
in very small lockers. We went to the
water and met our dolphin, Cassis. He
was born there and was about 25 years old.
He was fabulous. This encounter
was a lot more than what we did in the Cayman Islands a few years ago. He kissed us, we hugged him, we danced with
him and we fed him a fish. He splashed
us with the very cool water and we laughed and clapped and had a great time.
We finished and then loaded back on the boat to head back to
Nassau. We lot back a little after 6 and
showered and dressed for dinner. The
ship left Nassau about 6:40 and we headed for Miami. Tomorrow we’ll be back in the USA!
Tim did a load of laundry and then we went to Observation
for a drink. Then we went to Sette Mari
for dinner. We both had chioppino and it was
delicious. Tim was a bit overserved at
the end of dinner so we returned to the cabin and went to sleep.
Wednesday January 13, 2016 Miami, Florida, USA
I woke up about 5 am as we approached the coast of
Florida. Home at last, only to leave
again today for more adventures. We had
coffee and then went for our Hop-On-Hop-Off excursion in Miami. They took us from the port to the Central
Station where we got on the Blue Line bus to Miami Beach. The commentary about Miami and the beach was
interesting.
We got off near Ocean Drive and went to a 7-11 to get a
PowerBall ticket for the $1.5B drawing tonight.
Then we went to a Wells Fargo and did some needed banking. Then we walked to Ocean Drive and had
breakfast at the News Café. This is
where Versace ate every morning and its usually packed. It was a good breakfast. We talked down Ocean Drive to the
Hop-On-Hop-Off pickup and got on another bus and continued the loop. When we got back to Central Station we got on
the Red Bus and did a loop to Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and Little
Havana. We talked about getting off and
eating at Versailles, the huge Cuban restaurant, but neither of us was that
hungry for a big Cuban lunch.
We returned to the Central Station and they took us on a bus
back to the port. There was a HUGE line
at the cruise terminal with people waiting to check in. Apparently the computers weren’t working right. We finally were able to enter since we had
already checked in. There were a lot of
disgruntled people as it took most of them 3 hours to check in.
Tim went to work out and I went for lunch and read. He came back a little before 5 and we
participated in the compulsory life jacket drill. We didn’t have to go out to the life boats
though. We changed for dinner and went
for a drink in Observation. Our friends,
Paul and Patricia, were there and we chatted with them. They changed very quickly for dinner and we
all went to Signatures for a great dinner.
We went back to Observation for an after dinner drink and
then went to bed about 11. We are at sea
for 2 days now enroute back to St Barts.
Thursday January 14, 2016 - At Sea Enroute to Gustavia, St Barts
We got up about 8:30 and went for coffee. We went to the theatre for the Enrichment
Lecture on the various cultures that settled the Caribbean Islands. We sat with our friends, Richard and Monica.
The Captain came on to announce that during the night the
ship had turned around and headed back to Miami due to a heart problem with one
of the passengers. A helicopter met the
ship and took the passenger off. No
wonder we haven’t gotten very far from Miami!
We had lunch in the dining room and then relaxed in our
cabin for a while. We went to a wine
talk with Mirjana at 2 in the dining room.
At 6 the ship had its traditional Block Party and we got to
meet our neighbors on our hallway. I
talked to Judy and Brent from South Dakota a long time. We went to Observation for cocktails and
talked to Monica and Richard. At 8 pm we
went to Compass Rose for dinner and hooked up with Judy and Brent and a British
couple (Peter and Ann) who were fun. So
we had dinner together. Since there were
6 of us, dinner took a long, long time and we didn’t finish until almost 10:30
so we missed the Broadway show. Oh well,
we’ve seen it 4 times before!
We retired to the Mariner’s Lounge and had drinks with Paul
and Patricia and then went to bed at 11:30, which was really 12:30 since we
lose an hour tonight.
Friday January 15, 2016 – At Sea Enroute to Gustavia, St
Barts
We got up at 8:30 and had coffee. At 10 we went to the Enrichment Lecture and
the speaker was excellent. She gave a
historical perspective on South America.
At noon we went to the pool grill for the seafood grill for lunch.
We relaxed during the afternoon. Tim worked out then we went to the Enrichment
Lecture mostly on Cuba. It made me more
excited about going to Cuba next month.
Tim went for his run and I caught up on email, blog, and pictures.
We had a cocktail in the room and then went to the Captain’s
Reception in the theatre. Not very
exciting. We went to Horizons for a
drink and then met Monica and Richard in Signatures for dinner at 7:30. Another great Signatures dinner. Stephane, the head waiter, took good care of
us.
After dinner the night got very interesting. We went to Observations and met a very nice
couple, Don and Lucy, from Winston-Salem, NC.
We had a good time talking to them.
Then another couple from Hilton Head sat down and the conversation took
a turn for the worse. Somehow politics
came up and the Hilton Head woman told Tim . . . “Well you can’t be intelligent
and vote liberal!” Tim got up and left.
Don and Lucy were so upset.
Anyway, I tried to talk through some facts in a non-hostile way but the
Hilton Head couple rejected it all. They
were the epitome of “hubris” – a new word that I learned on the ship that is
the illogical belief that you are superior to others. She was just that.
Lucy and I made a date for the four of us to have dinner the
next night and then I left to meet up with Tim in the cabin. He was worked up, so he meditated for a while
before going to sleep.
Saturday January 16, 2016 – Gustavia, St Barts
We were expecting to arrive in Gustavia late but we got
there about 12:30, which was pretty much on time. There were many large swells though so the
tendering was difficult. We watched from
on deck as we passed St. Maarten and sailed into St Barts. Beautiful islands and blue waters.
We had an early lunch and got a tender ticket to town since
we don’t have a tour scheduled. We did
the two tours we wanted the last time we were in St Barts so we decided to
explore on our own. It was rough getting
on the tender due to the swells and it took longer than normal. We arrived in Gustavia and the small dock and
we took off on foot from the city and headed up the hill to the airport. The planes landing here are something to
watch. The airport is snuggled at the
bottom of a hill and the runway is very short.
We took pictures and then headed on foot past the airport to
Nikki Beach. We first went to La Plage
and had a drink at the bar. Tim a rose
and I had a raspberry daiquiri. It was
good and the people watching was fun at this beautiful beach. Before we left, the music came up and they
played the theme from Star Wars and 3 people came out dressed like Yoda, a
Storm Trooper and Darth Vader. They had
a magnum of champagne that someone on the beach had bought for 1,500
euros. Everyone erupted in delight.
We walked down the sandy beach and went to the shops at the
far end of Nikki Beach. Not much
there. So we headed back to Nikki Beach
St Barts and got a table with a bottle of rose.
Tim had a sushi roll and I had some yummy gazpacho. It was so good. We ended our snack with a banana split and
Tim had coffee. Only $200 US for that
small meal! St Barts is an expensive
place.
We tried to get a taxi to no avail so we headed back to the
airport where we were certain we could get a taxi. Before we got there a taxi was in a parking
lot and I asked him to take us the short way to Gustavia. It was $25 but worth it not to have to walk
back.
We were the last ones they let on the tender headed back to
the ship. We showered and dressed and
went to Observation for a drink with Don and Lucy. Delightful couple. Progressive Republicans so we got along
fine. We went to the dining room and had
a great dinner. We bid them goodnight
after dinner in Compass Rose and headed to our cabin.
We decided we should plan a trip back to St Barts at some
point. Beautiful island, beautiful
waters, beautiful people. A fun place.
Sunday January 17, 2016 – Fort de France, Martinique
The ship arrived in Fort de France about noon and docked. We hadn’t been to this city before. We did our normal morning routine and went to
the theatre and got our tour tickets and went out to our respective tours. Tim did a rainforest hike and I did a tour of
a botanical garden, a sugar can plantation, and a banana grove. Gregor was my guide and he was from Berlin,
Germany. He spoke beautiful English,
French, and German.
The Balata Botanical Garden was nestled on the side of a
mountain and had beautiful plants of all kinds, many in bloom. Beautiful.
We drove by the Balata Cathedral and stopped for a photo stop. It was patterned after the Sacre Coeur
Cathedral in Paris. We walked all over
the sugar can plantation and got a tour of the rum distillery. We got to sample the rum and it was like rot
gut. Ugh!
Our last stop was a banana grove and we got to see some
banana pods (the flowers that produce the bananas) and bunches of bananas on
the trees. We arrived back in Fort de
France as the Carnivale Parade was coming through the city. Lots of colorful costumes, music (mostly
drums) but some horns, dancers, and large puppets of people. It was festive. An observation: Despite this being a happy parade, none of
the people smiled. It was difficult to
make eye contact with any of them.
Perhaps because I’m white! I
walked close to the fort and was able to get out into the street and take
better pictures and I got a few of them to pose for me. It was great.
I returned to the ship and we showered and dressed and went
to Observation for before dinner drinks.
We got a table for two in Compass Rose for dinner and enjoyed that. We skipped the show and went to Observation
for a nightcap and then went to bed. We
sat with Paul and Patricia and Dave Currier, the piano player, was playing Neil
Diamond songs and we did some sing alongs.
Yvonne and Ian were there and had him play their theme song for their 30th
anniversary – “Love On The Rocks”! A
strange theme song for a couple. We went
to bed about 11 and got a good night’s sleep.
Monday January 18, 2016 – St Georges, Granada
Our tours start early today so we were up at 7 and we had a
regular breakfast in La Veranda.
We went to the Theatre at 8:30 to get our tickets for the tour
of the Island – the nutmeg factory, the spice plantation, the highest point on
the island for a short walk to the lookout and rum punch, a waterfall when the
men jumped from high up on a cliff into the water. Martin was our driver and guide. The streets and highways were so narrow in
many places and hairpin turns on some of the mountains.
The walk to the lookout was very muddy and there wasn’t much
to see from the lookout, but we went.
The nutmeg factory was fascinating with women sitting around the
facility sorting nutmeg nuts. One
offered to let me take her picture so I did.
It was fun.
We had lunch back on the ship followed by a quiet
afternoon. Tim worked out and I got my
hair cut and took pictures of the city from the upper deck.
At 6 we went to the theatre for the Florida
get-together. Of the 75 Floridians on
board only about 25 came. We then went to
Observations for dinner with Paul and Patricia.
Gemma and August were planning to join us but August has a set to play
for Mika’s show tonight so they cancelled.
I had Svetlana get us a reservation at Sette Mari and we had a great
dinner. We ended up with a table for 6
so Gemma should have joined us.
We left Sette Mari and went to the theatre for Mika Horn’s
cabaret show. She was excellent
again. Then we went to Horizons where
the band was playing a Latin Music set.
We danced a bit. At the end I got
the entire group on the dance floor for a Group Dance. Marshall, Taylor, Lewis, Mika, Amelia, Gemma,
Tim, Patricia, Paul, Yvonne and Ian. It
was fun. Tim mostly talked to “the boys”
– Marshall, Taylor, and Lewis, all of whom are ‘members of the family’!
We went to bed about midnight.
Tuesday January 19, 2016 – At Sea Enroute to Bonaire
We got up at 9 for a quiet day at sea. We are sailing very, very slow as it isn’t very
far to Bonaire. We went to the theatre
at 10:15 for the Enrichment Lecture by Terry Breen on the Making of the Panama
Canal. This will be here 78th
transit of the canal. It was
interesting.
We returned to the cabin but they wanted to clean it so I
went up on deck for some Tax-Mex Lunch.
Tim skipped lunch today as we are going to Prime 7 for dinner. It has been so cold inside the ship so it
felt good being outside in the warmth.
I worked on my blog in the afternoon. Tim went to work out and I went to the 3 pm
Enrichment Lecture on Colonialism in the Dutch Caribbean by Anthony Maingot.
We dressed and went to Observations at 6 for drinks and then
to Prime 7 at 7 for dinner. Excellent
dinner. We went to Observations after
dinner but it was empty so we returned to Mariners and had an after dinner
drink and then went to the cabin about 10:30.
Wednesday January 20, 2016 – Kralendijk, Bonaire
We arrived in Kralendijk sometime during the night as we
were docked at 7 am. It isn’t far from
Granada and we creeped along all day yesterday.
An extra unnecessary day at sea.
I would have rather been in port.
Tim dressed and went to find a dive shop as there is
supposed to be great diving and reefs in Bonaire. Bonaire is a part of the Netherlands
Antilles. I had my coffee and walked
around the town for a while in the morning.
Thursday January 21, 2016 – Oranjestad, Aruba
Friday January 22, 2016 – Cartagena, Colombia
Saturday January 23, 2016 – Colon, Panama
Sunday January 24, 2016 – Transiting the Panama Canal
Monday January 25, 2016 – Cruising the Gulf of Panama
Tuesday January 26, 2016 – Manta, Ecuador
Wednesday January 27, 2016 – Guayaquil, Ecuador
Thursday January 28, 2016 – At Sea Enroute to Peru
Friday January 29, 2016 – Salaverry, Peru
Saturday January 30, 2016 - Lima, Peru
Sunday January 31, 2016 - Lima, Peru to Juliaca, Peru
Monday February 1, 2016 - Paro, Peru – Lake Titicaca
Tuesday February 2, 2016 - Lake Titicaca, Peru
Wednesday February 3, 2016 - Lake Titicaca, Peru
Thursday February 4, 2016 - Juliaca, Peru to Lima, Peru to
Miami, Florida
Friday February 5, 2016 - Miami, Florida to Ft Lauderdale,
Florida
