Bobm07

Well that's it after a round trip of just under 26,000 miles in 26 days we arrived home safe and sound but extremely tired after the last leg from Honolulu to home via Los Angeles and Newark. Our round the world journey took in 10 diferent stops, some unforgettable, some not so, some fleeting and some with a bit of time to enjoy, but we have enjoyed ourselves and made some new friends. Who knows we might do it all again in another 25 years. We hope you enjoyed our blogs and that you saw and heard about places that you might one day want to visit and on that note we say farewell.... read more

Well things cruise wise are drawing near as we say hello from the Aloha State and the Hawaiian island of Maui and civilisation, although the French Polynesian’s might take exception to this. Maui is reportedly one of the most expensive places in the world to buy property and from the look of some of the homes and the views they have you can understand why. This is our last port of call before we hit the bright city lights of Honolulu and the beach district known as Waikiki, so whilst we say civilisation this is the last place to enjoy the peaceful and slower way of life which has been the mode since we boarded the ship which seems so long ago. So with a heavy heart and an even heavier stomach we now start that ... read more

Our final island in French Polynesias saw us call at Raiatea for what was too short a time as we had to be off on our final leg to Honolulu. As the time was so short we didn’t book anything so had a lazy day all round. However, thanks to the local ferry we couldn’t leave by the normal route and so we actually had some spectacular views departing the port steering in a vey narrow channel between between the island and the reef. Mind you again it was a bit disconcerting too watch the master of the ship spend more time with his camcorder rather than at the controls of his vessel. And so off to sea.... read more

Now this is more like it. Our second stop in French Polynesia sees us anchored off Moorea which we think was where the remake of Mutiny on the Bounty was filmed and which Jeremy Clarkson described as disappointing as he reckoned it looked nothing like paradise. Well Jeremy you may know a lot about cars but you know nothing about what paradise looks like. The island is tiny and it only takes an hour or so to drive around it and that is literally following the coastline as inland it is too mountainous. After the debacle of trying to find transport on Tahiti we already had transport arranged and we took a trip around the north coast of the island via Pothole Road, well that’s what we think it’s called and where you avoid a pothole ... read more

Well here we are still in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, miles from anywhere and actually going through April 15th all over again. We crossed the international date line yesterday at 4pm or was that today at 4pm and as a consequence we have to live 15th April all over again. Strict rules forbid us for doing anything diffrerent from April 15th day 1 which includes wearing the same clothes and eating & drinking the same things - yes we have become Bill M urray and Andie McDowell. Hopefully this is not like the film and we have to go through this everyday for the rest of the cruise. But who knows we have been at sea for so long we could be going round in circles. Hopefully we will hit land sometime soon. ... read more