We did it! All the way around the world and then some. And we got home happy and well. The shipped was docked in Southampton when we woke up Monday morning. We ate a quick breakfast and then were among the first passengers allowed to go ashore. The Captain stood at the gangway shaking hands and saying goodbye. A very nice touch that was typical of our wonderful ship. We were able to quickly gather our suitcases and get our "private car" to come pick us up. We happily ran into Hugh in the pick-up area after we had already said [View Full Entry]

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We've just had the Captain's Farewell Cocktail Party and final formal night. The last Baked Alaska parade and pictures with the waiters. You can imagine that we have grown very close to our waiters. They take such good care of us and we have gotten to know alot about them and their families back home. I am going to be fighting back tears when we have to say goodbye. Yesterday we were in Lisbon, our only European stop on this trip. We arrived at 10:00 AM so we were able to see the Belem Tower, Monument to the Discovers, 25th of [View Full Entry]

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Happy Palm Sunday! Today we are in Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands, which is just off the most western part of the African continent. It is a volcanic island that gets almost no rain, so the dark barren mountains run right down to the sea. Very dramatic. They speak Portugese here so I can't read the billboards and signs. But they drive on the proper side of the road! It seems most of the other places we've been don't! :-) Since it is Palm Sunday, everything in the town is closed, so we just walked around. The beautiful old buildings are painted [View Full Entry]

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An incredibly cool thing happened today. We crossed "Point Zero" on the globe. That is, 0.00 latitude and 0.00 longitude. And the most amazing thing is there is a buoy to mark it! Can you imagine? The chain on it must be more than 5000 yards long! The old joke is seeing the line when you cross the equator, but here there actually is a marker! So cool! Except that it is, in reality, really, really hot. And humid. Practically unbearable. The ship put on a silly program commemorating the crossing of the equator. It was similar, but better than the [View Full Entry]

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Hello! It is raining today, so I can take time out from being out in the sun on the deck. The past week has been absolutely perfect without a cloud in the sky. Hundreds and hundreds of flying fish as we make our way from Namibia to Ghana. Back to Cape Town for a moment. I went back to Table Mountain with Hugh so he could see the view from up there. The clouds were just starting to roll in as we came down from the top. They call it the tablecloth because the clouds drape over the flat top just [View Full Entry]

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I woke up yesterday at 6:30 AM and glanced out the window. The sky was just beginning to lighten behind the Twelve Apostles, the mountains next to Cape Town. It was awe-inspiring! It looked completely two-dimensional: black mountains, pale sky. As if someone had hand-town a piece of black construction paper and laid it against a pale pink background. Stunning. Eventually the far left peak turned into Table Mountain as we rounded the bend. Absolutely the most gorgeous entry into port imaginable. One of the best memories of the trip! Our berth is smack dab in the middle of the V [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, I set foot on my seventh continent, Africa! So now I can check that off my bucket list. We arrived late to Richard's Bay because the overnight crossing from south of Madagasgar to the east coast of Africa was our roughest sea yet. We bounced around like an airplane in turbulence all night long. The creaking and groaning of the ship was almost scary, as if it would break apart. Drawers opened and closed in our cabin and our water pitcher slid right off the table, miracuously landing upright so the carpeting didn't get too wet. Richard's Bay is an [View Full Entry]

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Two days, two very different islands, two very different impressions. Yesterday we arrived ahead of schedule (pronounced "shed-jul") in Port Louis, Mauritius. This used to be a British Colony, but became independent in 1968. The official language is English, but most of the signs and people we ran across spoke French. The shuttle bus from the ship to the "downtown" was a disaster. It took us over half and hour to get to the other side of the harbor (no more than 1/4 mile as the crow flies) where the shopping mall was. Not the center of town at all. It [View Full Entry]

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Sorry, it's been a while. I've had this miserable cold for the past week and haven't felt like doing much at all. Luckily, we've been "At sea" since last Thursday. So I'll try to catch things up. Freemantle was lovely. An old fashioned city just an easy walk from the ship. We arrived very late in the afternoon (the first time we have been late!) so I was only able to walk into town and wander around for a while. They have lots of nice shops and one very good department store, Myer. Another Target, too. The next morning mom and [View Full Entry]

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Since we left Adelaide, we have been crossing the Australian Bight which is sort of a huge bay along southwest Australia. It is notorious for being rough. And it has been. Yesterday afternoon the swells starting getting bigger and they were 18 - 20 feet all night long. The creaking and banging in the ship were horrible. Our dresser drawers kept opening and closing. Even the door to the balcony opened a few times on its own until I figured out how to secure it. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep! Finally, we arrived in Albany about 7:30 and [View Full Entry]

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