Advertisement
Published: April 25th 2012
Next day we are at Antigua, with our splendid view from the cabin it looks like we have moored up in the High Street, they have literally extended the town to the port. We have had another rock and roll night, we think being at the front of the ship we feel the swell much more but usually it sort of rocks us off to sleep.
We have booked a tour which is around the island by boat, seemed a bit daft to get off one boat and on to another... Hey ho. It was a very sleek catamaran with about 50 of us on board, we sailed out of the port, sun was shining wind in our hair and we thought this will be lovely, once out of the port we picked up speed and we had to hold on tight thinking this is fun, very soon we were hitting big waves at a fair pace and we were hanging on for grim death, not quite so much fun. We decided to try and move inside which was easier said than done, Col fell over and did a bum shuffle to get to something to hang on to but we got under cover and Sal got a seat. They then said we were about to go out into the Atlantic and it would be rough for 20 minutes..... WHAT! It was already bloody rough! The brave souls (or idiots) who had stayed outside soon weren't so brave but le capitain didn't give them a chance to get in and everybody was going flying, it was dangerous and horrible. The lady beside me was petrified and as we bounced up and down, loads of water was coming in and we were soaked. We had expected to leisurely glide around the island and we were as far removed from that as we could be and it wasn't fun. When the lady beside Sal threw up ...... smell it, she was in it ...... Didn't know Sal could move so fast! Yuk, just wanted to get off.
Anyway, we got through it and arrived at a deserted island where we could walk off the boat on to the golden sand, swim and snorkel whist they prepared a BBQ with lots of wine and rum punch and it was idyllic, the sea was warm and blue/green and we were assured that the weather over the last 48 hours had been unusual and the afternoon would be smoother.... Thank goodness for that! We saw some beautiful beaches and the colour of the sea kept changing and getting better and better from deep blue to milky green, it was just fabulous. The crew on the boat were good fun, music blared all day and we ended up dancing, doing the conga and follow me leader huh huh!
Back on board our ship, they had a steel band playing on the back deck just before we were to leave port. Another huge block of flats ship was beside us and many of the passengers had been out on their balconies enjoying OUR steel band so once our orchestra started belting it out with Faily the singer, the good old Brits and loyal Fred Olsen travellers completely packed the decks and sung and danced like never before to show them what a good time we were having and by Jove, we were! They looked quite envious from the other ship.
So pointing for home, we have 5 days across the Atlantic. Every morning at 9am the captain broadcasts our position, where the nearest land is, depth of water beneath us, miles travelled, miles to go and temperatures etc. 3 days into the crossing, his broadcast said we are as far from anywhere as we can be!
Col has taken up shuffleboard which is a deck game, his team partner is a lovely lady called Dot, first couple of days, they didn't do too well, 3rd day Sal arrived to take photos but Dot hadn't shown so Sal had to stand in ..... About the same standard as Dot!
Stomach flu or novo virus is something most ships dread but generally get. They are meticulous with hand wash around the ship, particularly when going into the restaurant, but several people had come down with something so they very quickly act. People who are ill are confined to cabin, everything has to be sterilised before and after use, like the shuffles for shuffle board, every paint pot, paint brush, pencil etc used at craft, even every playing card for bridge or whatever game. On going jigsaws are stopped and there is constant wiping of stair rails, door handles etc. At breakfast and lunch we have a buffet but this is stopped as there are communal spoons etc, so everything is served to us, fortunately we are fine and only know one person affected who told us they are very thorough in checking you, going through where you have been, where you sit in the dining room, what you have eaten, trying to find the common denominator. If confined to your cabin, they check regularly that you are there and so long as you obey the rules, you get money off for future cruises for each day confined and the cruise director told us on the qt that he is convinced some people are making out they are bad just to get the credit, nothing would surprise us!
As we make our way north east across the Atlantic, we have some time to make up and in fact have lost an hour each night for the last 4 nights :-(
We were to have a change of entertainers and lecturers in Antigua but following a problem on a flight at Gatwick there were long delays and they didn't make it except for one lecturer who had come to Antigua early, however there are so many talented entertainers and musicians as part of the ships company that it hasn't been a problem, the cruise director himself did an entire show and probably surprised everybody with his range of songs and quality of his voice. They appealed to passengers for lecturers, which Sal is thinking about as it may be an opportunity for the future to get involved in on board lecturing. We have had dinner with the lovely couple, Gwen and Vic who run the crafts, they think Sal should go for it and have been very supportive and also given us some fundraising ideas for Hearing Dogs.
They held a 'country fair' to raise funds for 2 orphanages, one in Philipines and the other in Thailand where the majority of the crew come from, it was well done with all sorts of things going on from pin the name on the ship in the right place to how much this enormous cake weighed, maps of where we have been signed by the officers, an hours private tuition with the dance instructors to a human one arm bandit, we liked that one, look out team Bot! They have also been creating a mile of coins and this runs up several flights of stairs. Total raised £5000+ plus they do ongoing fundraising for RNLI and that stands at £3000+.
The big news of the day is that Col won the shuffleboard! He had been knocked out with Dot already and then someone was called away and he stood in with the lady who is the wife of the ex bloke.... Keep up..... Anyway, she didn't know one end of the shuffle from the other but didn't need a plus score, so long as she didn't get minus they won! Apparently the lady in the team they beat was not impressed and wouldn't even shake hands.
We are both pleased with ourselves as we have mastered several line dances but one called rio we have really struggled with but today was the day, we got it!!!!!!
Itineraries have been published today for 2014 world cruises - we are very tempted :-)
Last port of call, Ponte Delgarde in the Azores, we had no idea what to expect and were very pleasantly surprised, what a pretty place, many of the buildings are built in a particular style and painted black and white, all the streets are cobbled and the pavements are so pretty, with patterns like mosaic made from black and white stone. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and most of the shops were shut which was a pity as they looked interesting with good prices too. We found a nice bar with lots of outside tables in the lovely warm Sunshine. We sat with 2 lovely ladies we have got to know, Philomena who takes care of the Dutch passengers and Mavis who teaches crafts on cruises though is a passenger on this one but has taught Sal to knit of all things, just what you need in the Caribbean, it is one of those curly scarves which we are very pleased with! They were great company and pointed us in the direction of a shop that was open and had some great stuff and we left with a just a little bag....... having spoken to Keith earlier who is now bring his trailer to get us home - Ha!
The port was well laid out with shops and bars which were packed with our fellow travellers including one we have omitted from our manifesto previously, we call him Irish, he is a big chap, larger than life and we can't understand a word he says, his Irish accent is pretty heavy. Sometimes one of us will pick up something that gives us the gist of what he is on about but it is always hard going, and we are too polite to say we don't understand... Today he had downed a few pints and was singing to Sal and we understood, hurrah! When Sal told him keep singing it is the first time we have understood a word you have said in 7 weeks, he just roared with laughter!
Last sail away, music and dancing as we left which we just love, probably the last of the sunshine as well, it really was a beautiful evening with the sun setting behind the island and dolphins in the sea in front of us, so a perfect way to leave our last port of call. All the way to The Azores, the sea was so calm, not a ripple, looked quite spooky when we took our evening walk around the deck.
New entertainers have caught up with us today and we had a comedian, Adrian Walsh tonight who has been on TV and we and most of the rest of the audience thought he was good, good clean humour which really did make you laugh...... Except for 2 of our table mates who we had line of sight to and their faces didn't crack, they usually complain about the comedians on board so why bother going and why always sit in the front row, must be so hard for the guy who is doing his best but having to look at theses 2 stoney faces, takes all sorts though.
Stomach flu seems to be all clear so back to normal with everything which is good news.
Sal did do the lecture today on the Olympics which went down very well and lots of the lovely people we have met came along and said they really enjoyed it and there were big hugs all round and something to think about in the future. Col was very proud.
It was the Captains farewell cocktail party this evening and probably on the back of the lecture, we got an invite to the Captains table this evening which was extremely nice, never ending flow of drink, same meal as the others which was as good if not better than usual. We had our photo taken which was presented to us and out of the 8 invited, one of them was a lady called mo (Maureen) and her husband go (gordon). We talk to her a lot and she is a lovely lovely lady so it was great to be with her and we really enjoyed it.
Gavin and Stacey's mum and dad are here, they look like them, they talk like them they even come from Essex! They are fine but in small doses, we didn't come across them too much to begin with as they were on a different meal sitting but, blimey, can they talk! We are not sure if either of them ever finish a sentence as they are already on to the next thing to say, they try and catch us after dinner to go to the show and then want to sit and talk through most of it, we like to turn up for the show just before it starts and slide in at the back which works well as they don't spot us!
Brilliant this morning as lots of people we don't know coming up to us with compliments regarding the talk and the cruise director came to find Sal with details of becoming a cruise lecturer :-). People we have line danced or choired with saying they were very proud of Sal which is just so nice and so appreciated. So Sal now glad she did it and will have to work on talks to make them suitable.
We have watched the passenger talent show, passenger choir and drama group in the last couple of days, all excellent and lots of address swapping going on from people who we will probably not see again.
Last dinner this evening and the tambourine started with the waiter procession singing with the birthday cake, and it was coming near to us for the first time so camera at the ready....... Surprise it was coming to Sal!! 4 days until her special day so not expected and the cake which all of the table ate was lovely. We checked afterwards and they would only do this one day in advance so somebody put in a word somewhere.
The entertainment this evening was The Celtic Tenors and Adrian Walsh the comedian both very good and we would be happy to see them in UK.
So we are packed up, suitcases bulging with all sorts of toot we have bought but enjoyed buying are waiting outside our cabin door for collection.
What a fantastic trip we have had, we are still speaking and in fact haven't fallen out since our departure in mid February, we have met some lovely people and visited some fabulous places and, ............ that stupid cough still appears from time to time, but it is nearly the 100 days since it started.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.36s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 8; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0606s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
HILARY & PETER SHEFFIELD
non-member comment
AU REVOIR BLACK WATCH
What a superb Blog!! So enjoyed reading it. Well Sal - your new career awaits! Think you were really brave to get up in front of 200+ very critical passengers and speak! Presumably of course you didn't have any slides or stuff to help you so even more commendable! Antigua - once past the boat trip - sounds idyllic as do the Azores. Oh wow, now it's over you guys have so many memories and stories to tell friends and families! Look forward to hearing about 2014 - have you booked?????????? XX