Head Note: (Because people usually don’t bother to read footnotes.) Suzi and I are out of isolation and feeling better. I wrote this yesterday but didn’t want to send it until we were “free as a bird” as our room … Continue reading A Fist Full of Sea Days
Getting to the beginning of each cruise is chaotic but each chaos is different. This year the chaos was uncertainty. Suzi broke her arm just before Christmas. She went to the ER, and they set up an appointment with the … Continue reading Chaos
After 10 sea days we pulled into Honolulu. I watched as we sailed past Diamond Head just after sunrise. Being our re-entry port into the U.S. the ship had to clear US Customs. The day before we had to go … Continue reading How the Boy Scouts could help.
On the east side of Honshu, on the Sea of Japan, Kanazawa is compared to Kyoto because of its traditional buildings and a cityscape that escaped World War II destruction. The city was a regional center of government, art and … Continue reading A Touch of Autumn in Kanazawa
At breakfast this morning the omelette ladies asked me if I was excited about getting to Japan tomorrow. The proper answer, of course, is yes. But while interested in Japan, I love the sea days. One of the reasons we … Continue reading A (Sea) Day in the Life
Friday the 13th does not exist for me. It’s the day we cross the dateline, we move directly from the 12th to the 14th. To compensate we will have two October 12ths on the way back. A lost day at … Continue reading Cruise Conundrum
September 6, 2024, Sailing the Lynn Canal Haines is near the top of the Lyn Canal, a deep fjord created along a fault line. Deep both in depth below sea level and because it cuts deeply into the continent. Haines … Continue reading An Alaskan Ferry Tale
Alaskan’s have a love hate relationship with Seattle. It is often the place we are medevacked to when we have an emergency. When we arrive, we feel like crap, but we leave healed. It is the home of Costco (well … Continue reading The Colonial Office
Our tour bus driver and guide in Hilo, Jessica, made it a point that she was Jess, and if we called her Jesse she would throw us into a Volcano Caldera as a sacrifice to Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of … Continue reading Don’t Make Pele Mad (Volcanoes National Park)
Objectively speaking I should like the Adelaide cruise terminal less well than the White Bay terminal in Sydney. It is at outer Harbor, which is further from downtown Adelaide than White Bay is from Sydney. There is no shuttle bus, … Continue reading Before the Fringe — Adelaide
Stacy owns her own KIA cab and is proud of being an independent businesswoman, her own boss. After the shops had closed at noon in Papeete, I talked to the tourist office to see how much a cab would cost … Continue reading To Venus and Beyond!
In the Panama City’s old city there are a lot of murals. Some depict local heroes like boxer Roberto Druan or Salsa and Latin Jazz master Ruben Blades (who is also a politician and former minister of tourism.) Some depict … Continue reading Pictures on a Wall in Panama
March 21, 2020, Fremantle, Australia We were lolling along at 12 knots toward Fremantle when all of a sudden Amsterdam picked up speed and started racing along at 22 knots. Captain Mercer came on the horn saying that we were … Continue reading Waiting
February 9. 2020, Puerto Montt, Chile Muerto Montt, Dead Montt, that is what Lonely Planet says the locals call Puerto Montt, our latest port of call. Lonely planet is not impressed. It claims there’s not much to see here. Generally, … Continue reading Muerto Montt
February 6, 2020 Punta Arenas and the Straits of Magellan, Chile Sunset, Sunrise, Abandon Ship orBells and Whistles Redux. We didn’t get enough sleep last night. We stayed up to watch the sunset as we entered the Pacific from Beagle … Continue reading Sunset, Sunrise, Abandon Ship
February 2, 2020, in a fog bank off of Antarctic Sound. Someone cried out. “A cruise ship! What’s cruise ship doing here?” Of course, we all laughed because we’re ON a cruise ship, it’s just that you don’t expect to … Continue reading A Wonderful Deception
February 1, 2020, Off the Antarctic Peninsula Actually, it’s called brack, it’s the slushy remains of sea ice melting with bits of glacier ice, growlers, thrown in. As the ship passes through it makes a sound like “slush”. Growlers are … Continue reading Driving Through Slush, Blocked by Ice
January 28, 2020, Off of Port Stanley, Falkland Islands There’s no sleeping in on port days in this stateroom. The tender hangs right outside our window and as soon as the ship anchors we hear the whine of the engines … Continue reading Looking for the Vicar of Bray
January 19. 2020, Rio In San Francisco an earthquake brought down the Embarcadero freeway giving the city a chance to revitalize its waterfront making it more pleasant for pedestrians, streetcars and allowing a vibrant waterfront district to emerge. Seattle is … Continue reading Planned Graffiti
Getting off Amsterdam in Roseau, Dominica, a steel band played calypso to the counterpoint groaning and rasping of the ship rising and falling against its fenders. Beyond the harborside soundscape you plunge into the real thing. A rich mix of … Continue reading Riding Out the Storm, Dominica
Pop and “Uncle” Ed, one of those honorary uncles who had been one of pop’s army buddies, built a cabin cruiser in Ed’s garage. It was a 16-footer made from a kit. They proudly trailered “The Laurel” to a marina … Continue reading Which Amsterdam?
Sandwich Harbor was surveyed by the Royal Navy, which rejected it as a port. But fishermen and whalers used the harbor because it had a fresh water lagoon. It still has a lagoon but it is now brackish. The terrain … Continue reading Artifacts at Sandwich Harbor.
This is a picture post showing some Maputo street scenes from our walk through the city. The Botanical garden was filled with strolling bridal parties having their pictures taken. The entry portal is an example of Manueline revival architecture. You … Continue reading Maputo at Walk Level.
I had a tough choice. I could either wander about an interesting city where I had never been or I could take a train ride, two hours out and two hours back, to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. The city was … Continue reading The Viceroy, Almost To Kandy.