In 2015 Suzi and I are doing something very different, we are taking a long cruise around South America. These posts chronicle that cruise.
March 16, 2015, Sitka, Alaska How could this be my 75th post for a 68 day cruise? OK, one post was anticipation and this one is a coda, written after we got home but still… I averaged more than one … Continue reading Coda, Prinsendam Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage
March 13, 2015 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida The cruise is over and we are back in Fort Lauderdale. I will probably have one more post after this one to sum things up. I guess I have been working on USAID projects … Continue reading Closing Campfire and After Party
March 9, 2015 St Thomas, US Virgin Islands Prinsendam did not dock at the main port in Charlotte Amalie, West India Dock, but at, Crown Bay, a few miles out of town. It used to serve the US Navy. According … Continue reading Tropical Mall of America
March 9, 2015 St John, US Virgin Islands Today we swam a national park service trail. I have hiked and canoed national park trails before but never swam one with my face down in the water. It is the Trunk … Continue reading Swimming a National Park Service Trail
March 9, 2015 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Not every Holland America officer likes serving on Prinsendam; at least that’s what our American Express representative tells me. It has an old fashioned bridge, different from the other ships. The newer … Continue reading On the Bridge of MS Prinsendam
March 8, 2015 Sailing the Caribbean We are on our way to our final stop, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Yesterday afternoon, after taking the course/tour in photo composition we went to the beach and I was playing with my … Continue reading Water, Sky,Light and Perspective, Getting Abstract in Barbados.
March 7, 2014 Bridgetown, Barbados. Ronnie Carrington is a photographer, videographer, film producer and poet in Barbados. He runs photo tours of the island, teaching how to make better photographs. On the tour bus he lectured on picture composition and … Continue reading I Take Photography Lessons, Here are the Results.
March 5, 2015 Devil’s Island, French Guiana In the 1750s they called them the Isles of Salvation. French Colonists found the mainland of South America disease ridden and many died. These islands, several miles off shore did not seem to … Continue reading The Devil Owns Salvation
March 4, 2014 At Sea Early yesterday evening we crossed the equator and early this morning we crossed the bar and are in the Atlantic, the Amazon behind us. We can do our laundry, get clean towels and take long … Continue reading Crossing the Amazon Bar
March 3, 2014 Cruising the Amazon “If I mailed a postcard from here who knows how long it would take to get home?” That’s what one of my fellow passengers said when we sailed into Santarem last week. “This is … Continue reading What Exactly Do You Mean by Remote?
March 3, 2015, 7 AM Cruising past Santarem This is our last day on the Amazon. We reach the bar at the entrance of the river at 1:30 tomorrow morning. We are traveling fast, faster than twenty knots. We need … Continue reading “Wildlife, Science, History, Adventure.” and Joy
March 2, 2015 Parintins, Brazil Parintins is a river town between Santarem and Manaus. If it mentioned in the guidebooks at all it’s contained in a little box off to the side as a side trip to take in June … Continue reading Boi Bomba!
March 1, 2014 Manaus, Brazil Manaus is the starting point for treks into the Amazon rainforest. It sits were Rio Negro flows into Rio Amazon. The Amazon is swift, muddy, coffee colored, and cooler than the Negro. Rio Negro is … Continue reading In the Shadow of the City
March 1, 2014 Manaus, Brazil We’ve just finished two days in Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon basin. Manaus started as a mission station and a military base to reinforce Portugal’s and then Brazil’s claim on the region. I … Continue reading Jungle Metropolis
February 28, Manaus, Brazil It’s a pleasant anachronism. The Manaus Opera House (Theater of the Amazon) was built by the Rubber Barons at the end of the 19th century. The house is decadent; angels, theatrical masks, a painted curtain and … Continue reading A Pleasant Anachronism or Nintindo in the Jungle.
February 25, Went to bed last night the ship was rolling, got up this morning and the water was calm. At sunset the water was blue, at sunrise it was chocolate brown. We have entered the Amazon. Still 29 hours … Continue reading Amazon Sunrise
February 23, 2015 Sailing around the eastern hump of Brazil We are just coming off of 5 ports in 5 days. Everyone thinks this is too much. The ports tend to merge into one another. It’s easy to fall into … Continue reading Thoughts on a Sea Day
February 22, 2015 Natal, Brazil Poor Natal. This is the fifth port day in a row and we were low on energy. Natal has huge sand dunes. Some took dune buggy trips. We watched the dunes as we sailed by … Continue reading Missed the Giant Cashew Tree, Got the Chocolate Pizza
February 21, 2015 Recife Brazil What you notice first in sailing into Recife (which means “reef’ in Portuguese, it’s surrounded by them) is what looks like a giant asparagus. It sits there looking, I think, kind of silly. When I … Continue reading Asparagus and the Birth of New York’s Jewish Community
February 21, 2015 Olinda, Brazil Olinda is a UNESCO World Heritage Site six kilometers from Recife. It was on high ground and so would be easier to defend than Reciefe, so the Portuguese thought. They were wrong. The Dutch took … Continue reading Oh Linda! It’s Not a Doo Wop Song
February 22, 2015 Off the East Coast of Brazil. I have posted three pages with pictures of Salvador Bahia, Combat Dancing, one on churches and one on the extended carnival in Salvador. But there are pictures that I took and … Continue reading Loose Ends in Salvador
February 20, 2015 Maceio, Brazil My friend Eric Jordan wants me to post pictures of fishermen and how they fish. On Friday Prinsedam called at the city of Maceio. We only rode through the city to some villages (and I … Continue reading Lagoon Fishermen
February 18, 2015 Ilheus, Brazil Ash Wednesday, the churches are open and workers are taking down the bleachers and stages from Carnival and sweeping up the streamers and confetti. The Prinsendam seems to be doing a little penance itself. The … Continue reading Chocolate Colonels
February 20, 2015 Off the East Coast of Brazil Capoeria dancing is a combination of dance and martial art with ritual fighting. It is also a sport. Slaves invented it in Bahia state during from ritual African dances. It was … Continue reading Combat Dancing