Dick and Mary

We left the tip of South America early in February and cruised through the Straits of Magellan toward Antarctica, a trip of about 400 miles. We tried to remedy our total ignorance a little on the way, and found that the Antarctic is really a large continent (unlike the Arctic, which is all ice and water). On the map Antarctica shaped like a round blob with a little pigtail of islands stretching toward the tip of South America. This round blob is about the same size as the United States and Mexico combined and it is almost totally covered with ice and snow, in some places two miles thick. The "pigtail" islands stretching toward South America are actually a continuation of the Andes Mountain chain that runs down the west coast of South America. The ... read more

PITCAIRN ISLAND I’m sure most people have read or seen “Mutiny on the Bounty,” the story of the mutinous crew of the Bounty, headed by Fletcher Christian, and the infamous Capt. Bligh. After setting Capt. Bligh and his few faithful crew adrift in a small boat, the mutineers headed for the tiny uninhabited island of Pitcairn, a two-square mile speck of rock in the middle of the South Pacific. It was 1790. This story was repeated to us on the way to Pitcairn Island by William Christian, a present-day descendant of the original Fletcher Christian. William Christian was born on Pitcairn Island but presently lives in England. He told us of his 50 relatives and friends who still live on the island, all of them descendants of the original band of 9 mutineers and the 18 ... read more

GALAPAGOS BACK TO ECUADOR After our visit to Galapagos, we were to meet the Crystal Serenity at Lima in Peru, the next country south of Ecuador. But first we had to detour back through Ecuador to get there. This was a long trip, beginning with the obligatory boat and plane trips from Galapagos to the Ecuador mainland. The scoop among our group was that Ecuador is willing to donate the Galapagos Islands for research and conservation, but any air travel to and from the Galapagos Islands must first pass through the airport at Guayaquil on the Ecuador mainland, where many tourist dollars are collected from Galapagos-bound tourists. From Guayaquil we were finally permitted to take another flight to Lima on the Peruvian coast, where our ship awaited us at the port of Callao, 45 minutes away ... read more

ACUPULCO Dick and I left Greenville, SC a few days ago for our second world cruise aboard the Crystal ship Serenity. This is a large beautiful ship that holds about 1000 passengers, with about 800 aboard at present. I think about 280 of us are doing the entire cruise, which left from Los Angeles Jan. 17 and will dock near London on May 5. This year we will go to South America, Easter Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, Dubai, Egypt and some ports in Europe. Not much overlap with last year. The first segment of our cruise has been from Los Angeles to Mexico and Guatemala. To see our route so far, click "Route Map"above. While cruising toward Mexico Dick and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with cake, ice cream and balloons that we ... read more

After leaving Porto Venere and the Five Villages, we spent three days cruising through the Mediterranean until we popped out into the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Gibraltar. It's a strange experience to stand on the deck of a ship and look at Europe on the right and Africa on the left. They are only 15 miles apart at the Straits. What a way to learn geography! The Rock of Gibraltar is on the southern tip of Spain, on two square miles (pop. 30,000) owned by the UK. There is a NATO base there now. Across the Straits is Morocco on the African continent. There is talk these days of building a bridge between the two, which would indeed be an impressive sight -- as well as an impressive feat of diplomacy no doubt. Once ... read more