Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 81

Although our cruise instructions said to arrive between 1-4 PM, the free shuttle from the hotel left for the port about 10:45 AM. We were able to get on the ship by 11:30. It is a beautiful ship with 5 dining rooms and 3 swimming pools - easy to get lost. The ship sailed about 6, later than expected due to repairs to an electric motor and late arriving passengers. We had a bottle of wine and a lovely prime rib dinner and went to bed fairly early. The ocean was sort of rough and Laurie didn’t really sleep all night - kept worrying “shaken old lady” syndrome. Sunday was a beautiful day; so warm and nice. Ken had refused to bring shorts, so the first purchase we made on board was a pair of khaki ... read more

After three weeks and four cities, I'm headed back to Guinea. Of course there are a few speed bumps and pit stops along the way. When I got to the airport, they told me I was two days late for my flight and out of luck. As person after person failed to find me in the system, I calculated all the money I had on me (even in Guinean Francs) and wondered if it would be enough to buy another ticket. I was fully prepared to bargain for a lower price. Fortunately, before I could use my African market skills on an international airline, they figured out why I had showed up two days later than originally scheduled (my connecting flight to Conakry had been cancelled. Apparently Guinea doesn't merit two flights a week anymore.) The ... read more

Sorry about gap - connection probs. on the boat. You'll be relieved to know I'm well and not overworked. Almost completed our flit across the Atlantic & heading for Gibraltar Straits. Had to miss out Madiera as one of the ship's engines has gone wonky, and full speed not available. Unfortunate as it messes up the entertainment exchanges. They've got the facilities to rebuild so I hope they're getting on with it...... May have been something to do with the engine room tour I undertook - I didnt touch anything, honest! They're massive marine diesels, nice and noisy, comsumption 1 gallon every 30 yards! Not the old type with moving rods & eccentrics, like the Woolwich ferry circa 1955 (which I unfortunately remember), just square blocks, only sign of movement the rotating spindles which drive ... read more

Put your finger on a map in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Go ahead, do it, I'll wait. K, did you find it? The farthest point from any piece of land that is around? Good. That's where I am right now. The middle of Nowhere. After three days at sea, I can safely say that I prefer land over water anyday. I look out the window and what do I see? Water. No coast. No other ships. No buildings. Nope. Just water. Because of this fact, I try to sleep as much as I can to help the hours click by faster. I found myself in my room thinking about home and missing everyone terribly. So today, I decided to change that. I woke up early, got breakfast, and began getting busy. I signed up ... read more

Geo: -21.105, 55.5249Monday 02/02/09 At Sea, Hot & Sunny, Temps Air 27°C Sea 29°C I'm naming today Digital Disaster Day on account of all the problems I'm having with a ship load of passengers who just haven't got the faintest of what they're doing and the on board staff who are used to working to the lowest common dominator and forgetting that there are some intelligent people on board. It all started 2 weeks ago when I joined up for an advanced photographic editing workshop after 50 minutes I'd learnt nothing new and the topics I wanted to explore still hadn't been gone over with the time still dwindling away I had to leave the course which had already over run it's timeslot by 25 minutes as it was time for evening dinner, I was assured ... read more