Blogs from Atlantis, Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 9

Geo: 21.3667, 95.4667We woke to our last morning in Inle Lake. As we walked around the hotel grounds on our way to breakfast, we noticed about a dozen military personnel perched at various spots around the facility, a few holding machine guns. (In Myanmar, it is illegal to photograph the military and police, so sorry, no pictures.) As we ate our breakfast, the table of distinguished looking Asian gentlemen and their wives next to us had finished and we're leaving. As they exited the doors of the restaurant, the military guys all assembled in formation and left with them. We then learned that we had been having breakfast with the Prime Minister of Thailand. Yep....that's how we roll. We then took a tour bus with our tour expedition leader, guides, and the nine in our group, ... read more

Geo: 16.7837, 96.1568From Vietnam, we flew to Yangon (nee Rangoon), the former capital city of Myanmar. Whereas Justin had a vague sense of Vietnam based on previous trips (albeit 18+ years ago), Myanmar was a mystery, an enticing one, but one for which we had no intuition, other than from news reports. Myanmar has been a military dictatorship/junta replete with human rights abuses and accompanying US economic sanctions for decades. A democratic thaw in the junta's grip on power began in 2011 with (largely) free parliamentary elections. Also, the junta has also been fighting a series of low-intensity wars, some of the world's longest-running with 17 various ethnic, religious and and narco-terrorist (heroin production) groups for decades. Thankfully for civilians caught in the crossfire, 14 of these groups signed ceasefires by October 2015. http://... read more

Geo: 18.3435, -64.9791Whoa! We've been on the MOVE!With the Christmas winds behind us, we made an aggressive move from Culebra to the BVI with only overnight stops in between. The Northern Swells were coming and we had to get moving towards SXM for Tony's birthday. We stopped in Brewer's Bay, St. Thomas for one night and then carried on to the BVI. Our first stop was Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke. While Tony was ashore to check us in, he bumped into an EYC member or two!!! Bob and Bob (From A dock) were sailing around the BVI for a couple of weeks. Tony came back to the boat to pick me up and we enjoyed a quick catch up with "the Bob's" before we made our way to Diamond Cay to get ourselves out of ... read more

Geo: 18.328, -65.6566Took the ferry over to Fajardo where Rebecca, from SV Summertime Rolls, picked me up and we did a girls trip up to San Juan for the day. Thanks for a great day, Rebecca! ;) ... read more

The ship is now looking very festive. The colour scheme is gold and silver. I would have preferred some splashes of red and green along the way but then that's why I'm not allowed to decorate our tree at Christmas!!! The Christmas songs are all by the original artists such as the 1947 version of 'Here Comes Santa Claus', ‘I'll be home for Christmas' (1943) and ‘Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow' (1945). From some of the scratches it sounds like they are being played on the original vinyl as well!! As for the last track I mentioned: ‘Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow', Princess should redub the track: ‘Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain as despite the temperature remaining warm, we have had rain at some ... read more