3/16 and 3/17 At sea enroute to Ft Lauderdale

We are having two very nice days at sea on our way back to the good old USA.  The weather has been sunny and warm with calm seas.  (hard to believe that we are still seeing people wearing  "scope" patches behind their ears!)  Last evening at 6pm we had the Captain's farewell and "Krew Kapers" show.  It is always fun to see the crew perform and the audience is very appreciative.  The 9:30 show was an Elton John impersonator, not bad, but a lot of older people walked out, probably because it was pretty loud.  It was a formal optional night so it was one last chance to get dressed up. 

Krew Kapers Show

With Elda, Assistant Cruise Director and Nicola, Social Hostess

With Farah, our wonderful stewardess

We now have luggage  and piles of clothes all over our room as we are trying to figure out if we can nest a couple of bags and go home with one less that we came with.  Not looking good at this point!

It has been an amazing journey and we have seen some remarkable sights, met a lot of new friends and have really had a great time. 

To paraphrase Walter Winchell - Good bye Mr and Mrs America and to all the ships at sea! 

3/14 Castries, St Lucia 3/15 Gustavia, St Barts

Shortly after our arrival in St Lucia a huge P & O ship (we figure about 2500 passengers) docked on the other side of the small harbor.  Unfortunately we had similar excursions and at one stop there were 10 to 12 small buses at the same store.  The shop was on a narrow, hilly road and it made quite a challenge for the drivers.  Our tour was just an overview of St. Lucia and other than the nice natural harbor there is nothing particularly noteworthy.  One thing of note however was a restored battery on the hill above the harbor.  When the property was bought by an American woman it was completely overgrown and buried under trees and brush.  She did a complete search of the history of the battery when she began to restore the property.  It took ten men three months just the uncover everything.  It is now open free to the public and has some nice displays of artifacts including a large collection of antique bottles that the American woman (who is a diver) had recovered from the harbor.  St Lucia is part of the British Commonwealth so it was nice to be in a country where the signs are in English and it is the official language.  Unemployment is about 25% with tourism and the export of bananas the main industries.  There are some nice areas but also a great deal of poverty.

Just a few of the antique bottle on display at the battery

The Mariner on the right and the huge P&O in the small harbor at St Lucia

We have never done a cruise of this length before but it sure seems like we have had a large number of illnesses and injuries that required treatment ashore.  Just before departing St Lucia there was an ambulance at our gangway, not sure what this one was for.  Then this morning when we arrived in St Barts there was a call for a medical emergency and the stretcher team.  We later heard that a passenger had fallen and broken a hip and was evacuated on the first tender to shore.  Then again this afternoon just as were just leaving St Barts there was another call for a medical emergency in a cabin on deck 8.

We decided to turn in our tour tickets as it was just a short one hour drive around the island of St Barts in a small van.  We took the tender to the pier which is right in the center of the small town.  It is beautiful and clean with public restrroms and showers right on the pier.  There were hundreds of boats either docked or anchored off shore, they ranged from small power boats and sailboats to huge 200 ft yachts.  There was a nice small beach near the harbor, many cafes and bars and lots of high end shops like Gucci, Cartier, etc. 

View along the waterfront with some of the large yachts

Just a few of the boats in the harbor

Beautiful water at "Shell Beach"

In the evening we had a birthday dinner for our trivia partner Dorothy.  Michael suggested making up some trivia questions for her so the three of us made up 15 questions and after dinner we held our "birthday trivia" contest for her, she did quite well and was rewarded with a pretty necklace we had purchased in the gift shop on board.  We now will have two sea days before reaching Ft Lauderdale on Sunday morning.  Plenty of time to start packing!

3/12 at sea and 3/13 Barbados

We had a relaxing day at sea on Monday, the weather was nice but we did have a bit of a swell.  Noel went on a tour of the galley, it is pretty amazing what goes on to prepare all the meals on board.  The main galley is where all the meals are prepared for Compass Rose restaurant plus some of the basics for the other restaurants.  There is a completely different galley for the crew mess as well as kitchens for La Veranda, Signatures and Prime 7.  We were told that the meals are planned about two months out and provisions are ordered accordingly. 

The main galley

In the late afternoon the "Country Fair" was held on the pool deck.  This event is a staple on the longer cruises.  The different departments on the ship set up individual booths with competitive games.  It seems that the crew enjoys this event as much as the passengers.  You can win tickets at the different games and then the tickets go into a drawing for prizes. 

Tom playing "football" against the bar staff

Passengers got to throw water ballons at the housekeeping staff

In Barbados we took a 4 X4 tour of the island that included a forest preserve.  We made a nice stop at "Bathsheba Beach" where we were served a rum punch and some delicious coconut bread.  We drove through a beautiful area where there was a very exclusive resort hotel with a golf course.  We were told that this was where Tiger Woods had been married. 

Beautiful beaches on Barbados

After shopping at the cruise terminal

This yacht was docked across from our ship. We did a little research and found out it is the 10th largest in the world and belongs to the Emir of Qater (sp?)

In the evening there was an event for the gold, platinum and titanium members on the forward "steel beach" deck.  Later we had a dinner for the ten of us who had dined together at the party the night before the cruise began. 

Our group of 10 from first night

Devil's Island, French Guiana

Our original schedule had us arriving here at about noon, but we anchored early as there was another medical emergency on board and a woman needed to be evacuated.  She was taken to Kourou, French Guiana , which is the on the mainland and is the rocket launch facility for the European Space Agency. 

Although we are referring to this area as Devil's Island , there are actually three small islands that were used by the French for a prison.  Royale Island is the main one and the only one that has some restoration and tourist facilities, including a small hotel.  The islands are very hot and humid and it is indeed sobering to see at how convicts were housed and treated.

Devil's Island from Royal Island

Entrance to cells

Cells were very small

Huge deep cistern built by convicts

It is a large complex that originally had a medical building, chapel, cell blocks, bakery, butchery, and work shops, as well as the houses for the guards and officials. 

Chapel was fairly large

Inside had large paintings done by convicts

Cemetary was only for guards and their families, dead prisoners were thrown into the sea

Along with the old buildings there is now a modern radar tracking facility that is associated with the rocket launch station.  We saw a lot of wildlife, including monkeys, agoutis (large rodents), caymans and iguanas.  It was a very enjoyable visit. 

Agouti

Monkey in rubber tree near hotel

Cayman was in the cistern

Pair of iguanas

We sailed about 4 pm, just in time for tea and trivia.  We again won although it was a tie with one other team.  In the evening, Tom had arranged a blind vodka tasting for 10 guests. The bar tender then showed which brand was served in what order.  There was a tie for the favorite between Ketel One and Belvedere,  Grey Goose was third and Stolichnaya was fourth.

3/10, Leaving the Amazon

We had another rainy morning to begin our last day in Brazil but it cleared a bit later .  We have been in Brazilian waters or ports for the last 22 days.  What a country of contrasts of different cultures.  More European in the south, Portuguese mixed with whatever in the middle, African influence in the north middle, Spanish in the north, and Indian mixed with everything in the Amazon basin.

The Amazon is so vast that the light coffee colored water turns the salt water of the Atlantic brown for well over 100 miles out to sea.  It seems a bit strange to have the swells of the ocean again after 8 days on the river.  There was so much down river current last night that the ships speed reached 30 knots.

Another stupid passenger comment was made by two ladies chatting about the large unloaded freighters anchored on the river waiting for cargo.  Most of the freighteres, as well as cruise ships, have a bulb on the bow which improves the ships performance.  When the ships are not loaded the bulb is out of the water or partially out.  The two ladies agreed these ships with the visible bulbs must be ice breakers.  Tom overheard them and said "must be".  The fact that the ships were in a tropical rain forest was apparently missed by the ladies.

Santarem, Brazil 3/8

We decided to turn in our highlight tour tickets for this city and chose to just take the shuttle bus into the city center.  We had noticed that the wind was blowing fairly hard when we docked this morning and about the time we stepped off the ship the rain was pounding down so hard that you could not use your umbrella.  By the time we had walked about 200 yards to the bus we were completely soaked.  We looked around for about an hour, bought a couple of souvenirs with the last of our Brazilian  money and decided we were wet enough to head back to the ship.  We quickly changed out of our wet clothes and spread them around our room to dry (as of 6 pm they were still not dry). 

Santarem was founded in 1661 by the Portuguese at the confluence of the Amazon and the Rio Tapajos rivers.  It is the only city in the Amazon that is connected by road to the south and east and therefore is an important port.  There was not much to see from a tourist standpoint but it is amazing to see how much the residents depend on boats for housing, transportation, and they even have floating markets on them.  We saw probably about 50 of the small ferry boats docked here and a lot have satellite dishes on top and we even saw several with solar panels. 

There were a lot of these floating gas stations, especially around Manaus

This sign was on the pier is Santarem

Two of these boats were loading passengers, the first thing they do is hang up their beds, it was quite colorful to see all the brightly colored hammocks swaying back and forth on the decks

We sailed about 2 pm and will be on the Amazon all day tomorrow before entering the Atlantic again.  Our next stop is French Guiana at Devils Island.  The old movie that starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman "Papillon" took place there. 

P.S. One of the things that drives Tom crazy are stupid questions or comments by some of the passengers.  One was "I wonder why it rains so much here?".  Tom said "Let me guess, it's the rainy season and we are in the middle of the largest rain forest in the world".  We have others and will save a few for other posts!

Parintins, Brazil 3/8

Parintins is a city of 100,000 that is on an island of the Amazon river.  The river continues to amaze us.  It can have 2, 3, or more major channels that are miles wide with flooded jungle and islands among the 30,40 miles or more of the actual river size.  We passed this city when going up river and anchored here midday so we could attend a special show this afternoon.

This feathered costume was about 20 feet tall

Giant frog was also about 20 ft tall

Girl that came out of frog

This snake was even taller

Snake girl!!

Really big moth man

Tom with the girl that had been inside the giant fish

Every year in June this city hosts a large festival called Boi Bumba, it is a three day event that draws people from around the world.  It is second only to the Carnival in Rio.  The basic story goes back to colonial times and started somewhat like our county or state fairs as it was a contest of who had the best bull.  This has since evolved into a competion between two factions that support either the white bull or the black bull.  It involves telling a basic story with music, singing, and dancing.  There are huge floats, elaborate costumes with tons of feathers and large figures.  We saw only a short one hour version put on by the "red bull" side.  One of the huge figures was a large frog that opened up to reveal a girl is a fancy feathered costume, another was a big fish, again with a girl inside another figure was three huge snakes.  The final figure was a man depicting a huge moth.  Throughout this whole show there are about 30 costumed dancers performing.  It is hard to believe that in the actual June festival they perform like this for three hours each night of the three day event.