Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 72

I wanted to post this to clear up some things that people have been asking me. · Sorry if everyone is having trouble reading my entries. The spacing and indentations are very off. It is really hard to format stuff on the site I’m using. I’m definitely looking into it and will try to fix it soon. I also have very limited time to write, so I’m also sorry for all the grammar errors. I just jot down everything really fast. · I can never read any of my comments until I get into port and find an internet café or wifi hotspot, but I noticed I get a lot of them. Feel free to keep commenting, but if you have a question or something you can email me. I love getting emails because it’s basically ... read more

Geo: 13.1651, -16.8091The Denton Bridge spans the Coco River and connects the capital Banjul to the rest of the mainland. It is from here that the boat trips set off, outwards for those who want to fish or up river for those like us who wanted tranquillity. The Chef comes out to greet us and we clamber aboard our pirogue and meet the Captain and his helper. There are not many boats around as it is already 11.30am and most have left but we do not like early starts on holiday! It is high tide as the boat meanders through the Mangrove trees and it is also very quiet. There is not much to see apart from the Mangroves stretching mile after mile so apart from waving to the odd passing boat we relax on top ... read more

We slept well and woke up around 7:30. We dressed and went upstairs for coffee. We met Josh, Eduardo and Uncle up on the Lido deck. We had breakfast and eventually saw all of our friends but were missing Jason and Lola. We went to their room and knocked and woke them up. It was 9am. Their room is an inside cabin and truly you have no idea what time of day it is because it is so dark. Once Ken and I took a 4 day cruise in an inside cabin and slept most of the time. After they had breakfast, we decided to all meet back up at the pool. We had a fun time swimming with Lola, eating lunch while looking out at the ocean. The weather is beautiful…not too hot…not too cold. ... read more

Geo: 13.4531, -16.5775GAMBIA 1Guaranteed sunshine, balmy heat both day and night and accessible from the UK via a 6 hour flight. The main reasons people say why they keep coming back to the Gambia. But then they add "of course the people are also so nice and friendly, the food is good and the place is safe and the prices are so much cheaper than the Euro zone." All true as we were to find out. Our hotel is the Coco Ocean recently built and one of the better hotels along the Atlantic coast. We have a villa with large bathroom, simply furnished but with minibar, complimentary tea and coffee and a large private terrace with two sun loungers, 2 long settees & 2 tables. The most delightful thing is to hear lots of birdsong in ... read more

Well, not quite what I expected but as Nigel had checked the shipping forecast before we left, he had unfortunately correctly forecast a rough day for today. Don't think even Nigel was ready for force 11 gusting to force 12! Needless to say we have survived and not missed a single meal during the past 36 hours of lets say “interesting” conditions. Arcadia seems to be riding the waves well but unfortunately the Captain had to make a decision to miss out the Azores due to our slower than expected progress. As they had been telling us that they refuel at the Azores, I hope they have enough fuel to get us all the way to Barbados where I am sure we will be taking on fresh crockery to replace all the fairly spectacular breakages today. ... read more