Some pictures not necessarily in order... read more

Imagine that you could build a coastal city from scratch with buildings designed by the world's top architects and that you could include all of the infrastructure and amenities to attract tourists and investors from all over the world. Also, imagine that you had the financial resources to build such a city with the idea that "if you build it, they will come". And to help people get here, you could create your own airline. Well, the Dubai royal family had that opportunity and they seem to have pulled it off. It is truly a unique place and a city of superlatives: Home to the tallest building in the world, the only seven star hotel in the world, the most expensive hotel in the world, the only rail Metro system in the middle east. Dubai is ... read more

This afternoon Jason and I went to see the Grand Mosque. This site is analogous to the main cathedral in any Christian town. It is relatively new (22 years) but built in the classic style. I was surprised that they offer tours for non-muslims. We were guided by a very knowledgeable and articulate woman who learned her English at Oxford where she completed an advanced degree in English Literature! She was Egyptian by birth but has lived in Bahrain most of her life. She explained the architecture and the significance of the the design. You may know that Islam prohibits the depiction of humans and animals in any art form. So Islamic artists tend to compensate by developing very complex patterns and designs. She took us from the main entrance courtyard into the prayer hall with ... read more

I left Minnesota at 8:00pm Thursday on a direct flight to Amsterdam which arrived there at 11:00am Friday. That's about eight hours travel and a seven hour time difference. I passed part of the three hour layover there by visiting a branch of the Riks Museum and just wandering around checking out the shops and people. A seven hour flight with two more hours of time change got me to Bahrain at 10:00pm Friday night. Bahrain is a relatively small airport but very busy. Customs and immigration went very smoothly and Jason met me in the lobby. He is only about 15 min from the airport so we were at his place by 11:00. Needless to say, spending 20 hours in travel is not pleasant but all went well considering! Slept thru the night with the ... read more

After spending a pleasant evening in Boqueron, we hauled anchor a dawn and started working our way around the southwest corner of PR and heading toward Ponce. The day started calmly (as you can see by the picture of the lighthouse) and proceeded to get more robust. A stimulating passage which we were happy to end at the Ponce Yacht Club. After getting ourselves secured in a slip, we headed up to the club bar and restaurant. We met some really friendly and helpful club members who gave us some great local information on completing our trek up to Fajardo. We finished the evening with a nicely prepared grouper filet. Today, after Terry goes into the Customs office to purchase some sort of decal that we need, we will head up to Salinas which is only ... read more