Blogs from Oceans and Seas - page 90

For those people that think getting out of bed in the middle of the night to drive up a dormant volcano on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean just to watch the sunrise is a waste of time, here's one hell of an argument FOR ! My endeavour with this posting is to give people the inspiration to experience Haleakala in all it's majesty, be it Sunrise OR Sunset. I do love the contrast of the Sunset photos posted. Thanks for doing that as it show people both ends of the spectrum. One must remember that you're at the mercy of Mother Nature and she can be a fickle friend. 2005 was the first time we experienced the Sunrise up there, as part of a bike ride package. The sunrise was great, with ... read more

Our early departure from Ushuaia heralded our earlier “Rounding of the Horn”. On this cruise; though we more or less sail pass Cape Horn out of Drake’s Passage, continuing in a south, south easterly direction on to Antarctica. On Sharon’s previous east-to-west cruise she did “round the horn” during daylight hours, and the captain traversed in a zigzag fashion several times from the Atlantic to the Pacific or back again, each time tooting the deep throated cruise ship horn. (Do cruise ships toot their horns?) We were scheduled to pass by Cape Horn just before midnight, so this event went largely unnoticed by passengers; indeed, Sharon and I were sound asleep by this time. The captain had predicted about ten-foot swells once we reached the unprotected waters below the horn, and we did notice some rolling ... read more

On this trip we visited many ports in a number of different countries. Cruise ships, we found out, only dock at nice terminal facilities in major ports like San Francisco. In most other ports, we were "parked" right into the mix of cargo ships, tankers, naval ships, and container ships of all sizes and from countries around the world. Steve took advantage of this opportunity with his camera gear. If you like ships, machines and naval weapons, check out this photo gallery!... read more

Well, this is the last day of our cruise per se, a day at sea on the way to the port of Valpariso, Chile. We will have a day in Valpariso and then will head home from Santiago. We sleep in a bit. In the morning, we receive instructions on disembarkation procedures for tomorrow. As mentioned, we have booked a bus tour that will take us through Valpariso and the surrounding area and eventually deposit us at the airport in Santiago. Today we attend three lectures: the history of scurvy, bird ringing (or banding), and magic. The latter deserves some explanation. Devlin, the magician who entertained us previously, puts on an afternoon workshop on simple magic tricks or "actions," as he calls them. He shows us nine different tricks, demonstrating each one first and then explaining ... read more

Bonne Année 2013 à tous Saison d’hiver 2012-2013 Bonjour à tous, Bienvenue sur notre blogue de voyage pour l’année 2012-2013. Encore cette saison nous voyagerons sur notre voilier Grand Style dans les îles Vierges et surtout nous ferons le voyage jusqu’à Grenade ou nous y laisserons le bateau à la mi-avril pour la saison d’été. Vous vous souviendrez dans nos blogues précédents je vous donnais des nouvelles de ma sœur Louise qui avait le cancer et bien elle a perdu son combat le 14 octobre dernier. Elle s’est éteinte tranquillement à la maison de soins palliatifs Victor-Gadbois de Beloeil. Triste réalité…. Entendre et vivre ces épreuves nous motive à profiter de la vie le plus possible. Et bien, pour nous c’est une nouvelle saison qui commence, ce sera la septième. C’était notre deuxième mise à l’eau ... read more