Friday, March 9

Another sea day...lovely sunbathing weather. At the moment I write this, we have just passed between San Juan and the Dominican Republic en route to the Bahamas area. Only 2 days left. Those passengers who are perpetual hurriers and worriers spent the day lined up to talk to the representative of the company which will be shipping luggage home. I’m happy enough to wait until tomorrow or even Sunday to deal with that.

I’m beginning to think about packing, but so far haven’t done any. It’s a good thing they gave us that extra suitcase. Today we received a box that’s about 16x16x3 inches containing a Royal Copenhagen Blue Delft serving plate. It will take up almost as much space as the parka!

Saturday, March 10

We visited Grand Turk today. I had taken the "usual" island tour back in 1985, so didn’t do it again. As you can see, the hike to the brand new cruise terminal was appreciable. Jill did it and reported that there were mostly the usual kinds of shops, so I elected to give it a miss.

This evening we are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day a week early. Over the past few weeks, since Jill found a skein of bright green yarn in Puerto Chacabuco, Chile, I’ve crocheted a bunch of shamrocks for us to both wear and share with others. I also made a great green shamrock award for John who has kept us so entertained every night at dinner. It should be lots of fun.

Tomorrow is a last sea day for a bit more sun and a lot of packing and goodbyes, so this is the end of my weblog about my trip around South America and to the Antarctic. I hope you’ve enjoyed my adventure...I certainly have.

Wednesday, March 7


An excellent day at sea. Was invited to lunch with the Captain and was actually seated at his table. He is a very personable man with a great sense of humor. He has been with this ship since the beginning, and was her first Captain when she was the Royal Viking Sun. When she went to Seabourne, he went with her, and the same when she was transferred to Holland America in 2002=2003 to become the Prinsendam. It was also a lovely lunch.


Thursday, March 8


Today we were at St. Lucia, docked at the capital, Castries. Jill and I hired a taxi to take us on a 2 hour tour, much of which we spent at Caribelle Batik (which I knew she would enjoy, and she did). We also got as far down island as Marigot Bay which is lovely as you can see here.


St. Lucia has the highest per capita number of Nobel Laureates of any country in the world. They have two, but their population is about 160,000. Interestingly, both were born on January 23, so that day is now a national holiday!


Back on board in the afternoon, we were treated to a concert by a fabulous steel drum band. Those kids played absolutely non-stop at top speed for almost an hour! then then moed down to the dock and played about another 30-40 minutes as we prepared to sail. What energy!! And many of their numbers, at least in the concert, appeared to be original compositions, although they did play some Caribbean favorites down on the dock.


I think I mentioned that the ship has been giving us presents of one sort or another all along...tote bags, binoculars, books, a parka, etc. Today they gave each of us a great suitcase to take it all home in! It’s even got wheels and a pull-out handle. I swear that it’s big enough that with it and the matching tote bag I could probably do a one-week cruise with just those two pieces of luggage!! The sad part is that I need to start packing soon as we only have 3 days left!

Sunday, March 4 to Tuesday, March 6

Sunday we sailed down the Amazon all day, only slowing down to let the pilots off at Marapa. About the middle of the evening we crossed the bar into the Atlantic again. The Indonesian Crew Show was that evening. Our assistant dining room steward, Fausta, was the master of ceremonies and did a fine job of that and of a ballad. Our dining room steward, Indra, was also in the show. It was one of the very best crew shows I’ve ever seen.

Monday was rainy and bouncy...a perfect day to do not much but read.

Today, Tuesday, we are at Devil’s Island, French Guyana. Actually, there are three islands called Iles du Salut (Iles of Salvation). The main prison facility is on Ile Royale which is the only one we can visit. The other two, Ile St. Joseph (where they kept the prisoners in solitary) and Devil’s Island itself (where they kept political prisoners like Dreyfus) are smaller and virtually inaccessible due to extremely treacherous currents through very narrow channels (650 yards in one case) between the islands. The prison was phased out between 1938 and 1947 and virtually all that’s left are ruins and a small hotel that occupies what used to be the wardens’ mess hall. Having seen enough of prisons in recent years, and the fact that we are going ashore in tenders and there’s nothing to do there but walk around, I am not going ashore today. In fact, the weather is so hazy and humid that the islands look like small palm-covered lumps, so even a photo isn’t very interesting. After lunch we head out for St. Lucia.

Friday, March 2


Another superior tour today! I was really exhausted this morning, but determined to go on the second river tour anyway. I actually felt better at the end of it than at the beginning.


It was most interesting to see the area in daylight. The canoe ride was a lot longer, and we saw a lot of fascinating stuff: monkeys jumping in the trees, a black ring-neck hawk, a blue-capped heron, egrets, an Amazonian kingfisher, one of those bright blue and black butterflies (I forget the name...starts with "M"), lots of different kinds of vegetation. Then there were the kids in canoes offering to let you hold various sorts of wild life like good-sized caimans, three-toed sloths, and an anaconda that was about 9 feet long. I petted the caimans and had my picture taken wearing the anaconda. It was pretty big...my hand just managed to go around its neck...and it was very strong. That was fun, but showing the photos around back on board was even more fun. I declined to hold the sloth as I was quite aware of its microflora and didn’t wish to discover its microfauna, but as I was sitting right next to the guide, I got several good photos of it also.

Antarctica was interesting, but the Amazon has really been the highlight of this trip for me.


Saturday, March 3


Half the day at Parantins, Brazil, the fourth largest city on the Amazon. We were greeted at docking by fireworks and again at sailing. There was also a charming troop of young boy scouts directing traffic and tourists on the dock.


I attended the Boi Bumba show which was most spectacular. It’s a piece of an annual festival that lasts 3 days and celebrates a local legend with lots of drums, music dancing, fabulous costumes and enormous set pieces as you can see. There were also a horde of local girls wearing not much who continuously circulated serving strong rum drinks and (fortunately for me) cold water.


Getting back to the ship, I was finally able to break my lifelong streak of never seeing a dolphin from a ship. I wasn’t able to catch them on camera, but I did actually see both species of freshwater Amazon dolphins, the grey and the pink.

Thursday, March 1


What a totally fantastic day!! This morning we saw the confluence of the Rio Negro (which really is black water) and the silty, yellowish brown Rio Solimoes (aka the Amazon which is the name downstream from here). The two rivers remain distinctly separate for almost three miles before their waters mix.


In the afternoon, I went up to the port terminal here in Manaus (using only my canes, but I did take the shuttle up the slope of the floating dock they have here). That felt like a real accomplishment, but it wasn’t a patch on this evening!


Just as it got dark, I boarded a river boat which crossed the Rio Negro to Lake January where we transferred to 8-person canoes and went looking for caimans. What an experience! Floating almost silently along waterways in the flooded forest, with a full moon overhead and a young man with a flashlight on the bow spotting caimans. After several misses, he actually caught a young one, and I even got to pet it! Add in some amazingly good star-viewing (despite the full moon) when I got to see the Southern Cross, and it was an awesome evening.


Tomorrow I’m going back to Lake January in daylight when the canoes will take us actually into the flooded rainforest. I’m totally skipping the city tour here...seen enough cathedrals and opera houses already.

Tuesday, February 27

After sailing at full speed all night, we were still at least an hour late getting to Santarem due to the strong current. I was scheduled on a river boat tour, but when I saw how far I would have to hike in the equatorial noonday sun to get to it, I remembered that I was neither a mad dog nor an Englishman and decided that I didn’t really need to go piranha fishing.

Wednesday, February 28

Today we stopped at a muddy spot along the bank called Boca da Valeria. A number of years ago a cruise ship with time on its propellers anchored here and sent tenders ashore to see what was there. A woman named Valeria lived there with her family and welcomed the passengers to see how she lived in the jungle. So now about 19 families (around 75 people) live there, and about 6 ships a year stop to visit. Lots of other natives come from miles around to let their and their kids’ photos be taken with toucans, iguanas, etc. for a small donation and to sell handcrafts. As you can see here, they swarm out to the ship in their canoes to even try to sell stuff to tourists boarding the tenders to go ashore.

I was most uncertain about getting off the tender at shore (by all reports the dock consists of some bamboo poles and pieces of plywood), and knew that the footing would be rough, so I decided not to go. Those who did said they had a good time, but they went over sweaty and came back rained on. (It’s not called a tropical rain forest for nothing!) Jill and I sat cool and comfortable in the Crow’s Nest watching the weather, the river, and passing boats of an amazing range of sizes.

Sunday, February 25

Sun diamonds sparkle
on brown Amazon waters –
gilding the silt.

Belem is the largest port on the Amazon River. Took a tour that wound up being 6 hours with no lunch. Fortunately I had packed water and a candy bar, so survived. We are almost on top of the equator, so things are pretty hot and sticky. When I got back, I grabbed a couple of cookies from the coffee bar and collapsed on my verandah until I had cooled off enough to shower off the sweat and DEET. (Since the ship cannot purify its own water in the Amazon – too much silt – we are to conserve water until we get back out of it on March 4.)

The best part of the tour for me was a Botanical Garden and Zoo. I couldn’t walk around as much as I would have liked, but there was lots of shade, and I had fun watching several agouti running around loose (unfortunately, never when I had my camera out.) We anchored out in the river and tendered in on local river boats like the one shown here which was interesting. It being Sunday, there wasn’t a whole lot open, but the driving around the city was nice.

Monday, February 26

Sailing full speed up the mouth of the Amazon, but only making 19 knots because the tide is against us. We are headed for Macapa to pick up a pair of river pilots. Weather is warm (hot if you try to move around outside very much) with off and on showers. We’ll be crossing the equator back and forth for the next several days.

Last night in the dining room, all the staff were in costume for Oscars Night. I felt really sorry for the poor guy in the King Kong suit as well as the captains who were in things like tiger and lion suits and Renaissance regalia, but they appeared to be having fun. The awards were shown on our tv system, but as they began at 11"00 p.m. and went on for four hours, I gave them a miss.

Wednesday, February 21

Sea day...great! Lots of lazy time. This evening was both a formal night and Carnaval celebration in the dining room. We brought Harvey back to the table and even dressed him for the occasion with a black tie and my multi-colored mylar wig. He looked great.

We also played mind games on Indri and Fausta by bringing silverware, plates, etc. and a salad bowl with limp lettuce and an enormous carrot that John had swiped from Lido for Harvey. Indri retaliated by calmly serving him salad dressing. Then Fausta made tea for him with all the flourishes!

Thursday, February 22

Albatross, whiter
than whitecaps, soaring, swooping,
diving into blue.

Yeah! Another sea day! Since we are now sailing north, my starboard verandah is perfect for morning sunbathing and afternoon reading. I also spent much of the day watching albatross and petrels pacing the ship and diving for the fish we scare up. What incredible grace.

Friday, February 23

Today was Fortaleza, Brazil. It is the 4th largest city in Brazil at about 2.5 million people, and is a major resort area for the country. This was the first shore day when we had any rain, and even then it was on and off. I took a tour in the morning with the usual sights like a fort, a cathedral, the opera house, beaches, and a modern native market (shown here). Most of the residents live in apartments or condos, and many of these buildings are very interesting architecturally rather than the "concrete and glass gothic" of so many such places in the US.

Saturday, February 24

Yet another lazy day at sea. There were two lectures today in the "Explorer" series about various aspects of the Amazon River and the rainforest. They have done a fine job of having different experts on board to give these lectures at different phases of the journey...geologists, zoologists, historians, etc.

Monday, February 19

Love these sea days! I actually got to lie out in the sun for a (very) few minutes without getting fried. After dinner Jill and John and Lillian and I went to the show in the lounge with a fine singer named Nick who specializes in Neil Diamond stuff. I never liked "Red Red Wine" when it was popular in the upbeat version years ago, but Nick did it as a ballad, and it was really nice. Then there was an hysterically funny magician/comedian named Andy. Both were really nice guys from the UK with whom John and I had spent part of the afternoon chatting. Too bad their time on board will be up in Salvador. I wouldn’t have minded a few more performances from them.

While the evening entertainment doesn’t run to the big flashy shows on some of nthe larger ships, they have had a fine variety of acts come and go the past 46 days. Singers, comedians, musicians, and from every genre from pop to classical. Not all appeal to me, but something for everyone. Also the "permanent" musical groups are quite good. I don’t happen to like the port lecturer’s style, but they have had a series of excellent Exploration Lecturers covering history, geology, zoology and most of the other topics anyone would want to know about our itinerary.

Tuesday, February 20

There are seven cruise ships docked at Bahia de Salvador today for Carnaval night: MSC Armonia, Costa Fortuna, Explorer, Island Sea, Sky Wonder, Prinsendam, and Grand Mistral. Way too many tourists for my taste. However, Jill and I took a taxi to the Mercado Model or artisans’ market. Interesting, crowded, and extremely hot and sticky so we only stayed about an hour and were back at the ship by lunchtime. We don’t sail until about 11:00 p.m. (our first evening sailing) and the other ships lit up are lovely, as you can see.

Wednesday, February 14

At Montevideo today, I took another half-day tour. It’s somewhat similar to Buenos Aires, but a good deal smaller. It has lovely beaches and lots of parks and statuary. When I got back I saw the doctor about the bronchitis, got some expensive pills and cough syrup, ordered a room service lunch and went to sleep.

Thursday and Friday, February 15-16

Weather has been great, warm with smooth seas. Two days at sea mostly lost to bronchitis and sleep. I even skipped the formal night Valentine’s Day dinner, but Jill and Lillian and John brought me long-stemmed red roses that were part of the festivities...very sweet of them.

Saturday and Sunday, February 17-18

Rio de Janeiro...again mostly lost to bronchitis and sleep. Wound up canceling both tours I had booked here in favor of another trip to the doctor who gave me a whole bunch more pills and stuff. But I didn’t miss all of Rio completely.

When we docked Saturday morning there was some sort of Carnival kick-off thing going on in a building right near my cabin...7:30 a.m. this was. In a fenced off area were about 100 people (mostly men judging by their shirtless condition) dancing and partying to incredibly loud and driving samba beat with a sort of wailing "New Age" kind of vocals...except when a piercing soprano launched into that famous aria from "Carmen!" It was so loud that I’m surprised that every pacemaker and bypass owner on the ship didn’t go into cardiac arrhythmia!

Fortunately they shut it all down around 9:45 so I went back to sleep. Many of the tour buses got stuck in bad traffic caused by the first day of Carnaval. One bunch of people were on a bus that took 1.5 hours to go 3 blocks! The saving grace was the view they got of various dance clubs, including one group of men in pink tutus followed by another group in red samba dresses...sort of wish I’d seen that, but I was better off asleep. When I was awake I had a great view of "Cristo Redentor" from my verandah as seen here...telephoto, of course.

This afternoon we sailed at 3:00 p.m. The Captain requested and got permission for the ship to sail around the harbor to view the beaches before heading out. It was all on the starboard side, so I just sat on my little verandah and snapped away with my camera as we sailed right past Sugar Loaf. And frankly, looking at the cable car that goes up there, I’m just as glad I didn’t have to test my acrophobia on that tour! FYI, the cable car is the teeny weeny black dot in mid-air to the left of the crag.

Sunday, February 18

Sorry no posts for several days...am now recovering from bronchial bug. Will update tomorrow.

Monday, February 12

We are at Buenos Aires. I did not go ashore today because I’m just not much good at wandering around by myself using public transportation any more. As others came back from tours, they told of long lines of (around 3000) people jamming the passenger terminal at the dock waiting to board the Golden Princess, so I’m just as glad I didn’t try to go. It has now been 12 days since I set foot on land (back on our first visit to Ushuaia), so I am looking forward to my tour tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 13

A pleasant, no stress tour this morning...mostly riding around on the tour bus looking at things as opposed to getting on and off for museums and shops. The photo here is of Eva Peron’s Memorial. I spent much of the afternoon reading in the shade up on Lido Deck.

I did go down to the Infirmary and weighed myself on their scales this afternoon. The bad news is that I have not lost any weight. The good news is that I haven’t gained any either! I’ve been pretty faithful about not pigging out at breakfast and lunch. Also, the chef has been helping me by being quite cutesy with his dinner menus, so that often there isn’t a whole lot that I want to eat...or at least I wind up asking them to leave off the rich sauces, etc. They also have a nasty habit of dripping raspberry couli over most of the desserts, so that I often just have no-sugar added ice cream. It’s now a standard joke at our table about me not liking "red stuff" on my desserts. That’s okay...between that and the fact that it takes more energy to even stay in bed on a moving ship, my clothes still fit.

I am doing my best to fight off the bronchial bug that has been making its way through the passenger list, but I may be on the losing end of the battle. At least it hasn’t gotten up into my sinuses yet.

My sympathies to all in the US and Canada who are buried in snow and ice. I could easily get used to spending January, February and March in the Southern Hemisphere!

Friday, February 9


Lots of people went ashore at Stanley, and lots of them went to see penguins, but I didn’t. We were not docked, but using tenders, and a nasty wind made the tender boarding process more dangerous than I cared to risk. Those who did go had a great time, and said the people there were really friendly as were the penguins. People were admonished to go no closer to the penguin colony than 5 meters, but if they stood still, the penguins would come right up to them and almost stand on the peoples’ toes to check them out.


I spent much of the day up in the Crow’s Nest watching the weather patterns sweep across the town and countryside about every 3 minutes. Sunshine, wind, rain, sleet, hail, sunshine, rain, clouds sitting on the hills, etc. Even the wave patterns were interesting...long lines of foam parallel to each other and the shore line, but seemingly unconnected to wind or wave patterns. Some of the places in Chile were truly desolate with not a blade or leaf of green on the hills due to the Atacama Desert, but there was plenty of evidence of habitation. Here in the Falklands there was green, but it looked almost more desolate. No trees, only gorse and grasses and rocks and this one little village of around 1000 inhabitants with ever-changing weather.


Saturday, February 10


En route to Buenos Aires. The air is getting warmer and the sea is relatively smooth. They’ve changed our port schedule again, keeping the second day in Manaus, dropping Reciefe, Barbados and Half Moon Cay, but adding back St. Lucia and Grand Turk. This, of course, plays hob with the poor Shore Excursion Office people trying to book alternative tours. My fancy chartered flight tour to Iguazu Falls was cancelled...they just couldn’t obtain an aircraft to charter on the days we are going to be in Buenos Aires. Ah well, the refund on that one tour will probably cover most of my shipboard charges for the whole trip!


Tonight is when Jill and I sprang the plot we’ve been hatching for John. It involved Harvey (the pookah) who was present in the form of a large rabbit made out of bath towels and numerous sets of rabbit ears (made by me with help from Jill to obtain suitable wires for headbands) for the rest of us. Of course we never know how many of the people at our table will turn up for dinner, so we have LOTS of rabbit ears. It was a huge success and really surprised John. Of course half the dining room staff had to come over and get their photo taken with Harvey and ears. Great good fun!



Sunday, February 11



Another smooth day at sea. We should reach Rio de la Plata this afternoon and Buenos Aires tomorrow morning. I am constantly amazed that I am actually on this wonderful trip...never before expected to be gazing out at the South Atlantic Ocean!

Monday, February 5

Well, aside from some 25-30 knot winds early on Sunday, our crossing of Drake’s Passage was quite pleasant. By Sunday afternoon, even the wind had dropped some and we were left with only the gentle swell of deep ocean.

Today has been utterly fantastic! At mid-morning we arrived off Palmer Station and a bunch of the folks from there came out in Zodiacs and gave several really good talks on the US research activities in the Antarctic. Next we sailed into the Lemaire Channel (an area sometimes called "Kodak" Point). Incredibly scenic...alternating sun, fog, and even some snow. When the wind is low you can go outside (at least for brief periods) without a coat, but at times the wind has been up to 40 knots at which point it will freeze your hair off, even with a hat on!

So far just about everybody but me has seen loads of dolphins, whales and even penguins swimming near the ship. It’s almost always on the other side of the ship from where I am at the moment. But there seem to be so many that I’m bound to see some sooner or later.

Tuesday, February 6

Today we sailed the Neumayer Channel, the Gerlache Strait, Paradise Harbor, the Errera Channel and the Bransfield Strait. The weather was mostly low clouds, but clear enough at water level to see tons of penguins (mostly Gentoos), mostly porpoising through the waters around the ship. I got some photos of a bunch of them on a small iceberg then diving off of it. Seals and occasional whales are still staying on the other side of the ship from wherever I happen to be when they are sighted.

One of the interesting things is that the ice pops. Sailing slowly through brash ice or growlers (types of small floating ice bits) everything else is so utterly quiet except for the constant popping and crackling noises of the ice itself. And the growlers really do sort of growl.

The scenery is just unbelievable. White white snow, turquoise blue glacier ice, charcoal gray to black craggy mountains, patches of snow and ice in pastel colors due to algae and microbial blooms, then all the shades of white and blue of the ice in the water, and drifting clouds and fog of every shade of gray.

It is a most awesome experience. Realizing that you are at the bottom of the world, so far from everything familiar. It feels similar to, but even bigger than standing in a grove of redwood trees. Really quite spiritual. I can understand why people and especially researchers who spend a good deal of time down here come back again and again.

Wednesday, February 7

Last night at dinner several humpback whales evidently did everything but a pas de deux outside the dining room windows. I, of course, could not see any of it as 1) I happened to have my back to the windows, and 2) by the time I got turned around, everybody else in the dining room was blocking the view.

This morning we sailed around Deception Island which is a volcano caldera that was often used by whaling ships as a safe harbor and processing area. The smaller expedition tourist ships can go in, but we are too big. Got a good look at a lot of red hematite and green limolite ores, black lava ash, and as a highlight, a huge colony of chinstrap penguins.

The weather here is more changeable than just about any place on earth. In the space of about two hours we had everything from calm and not to cold to fog, rain, sleet, snow and back again in succession. After Deception Island, the Antarctic Sound was too icy to enter so we had to skip Paullet Island and have headed out toward Elephant Island at the north end of the South Shetland Islands. We presently have some rolling sea, but with a following wind, so it’s not too bad.

Elephant Island is where the Shackleford party was stranded for so long. It's very bleak, and I'm totally amazed that they all survived to be rescued.

Thursday, February 8

En route to the Falkland Islands where we should be tomorrow. Pretty decent weather...not too much motion and still a following wind as we cross the Antarctic Circle headed north. Most of us are looking forward to warmer weather again, although all are agreed that to experience the Antarctic was worth just about anything.

First I have sad news for all the members of Haiku SIG. Mimi Barry passed away a day or two ago. More on this when I get home to do the April issue of Pebbles.

We are about halfway across Drake's Passage and while it's bouncy, it's not nearly as exciting as the first try. I am advised that our sattelite link will probably be pretty spotty while we are sailing around Antarctica, so if I don't get any new posts up for a few days, don't worry.

The Captain says that we were past the storm center when we got hit by two large waves in rapid succession which caused the ship to list at 20 to 25 degrees (that was at 12:45 p.m. on February 1st) and caused all the havoc. He also says that we plan to go back to Antarctica and spend our allotted three days there, and that he and the company are negotiating with future ports to squeeze the docking schedule so that we can do that. All of us are hoping for at least somewhat better weather for the crossing. I had an e-mail from Virginia gushing about their fabulous Antarctica experience and saying that they missed the hurricane. I sent back that I could tell her about it from personal experience!

I cannot repeat too often how greatly impressed I am with the Captain and all his crew and staff and how they handled the whole emergency. I feel perfectly safe on this ship as do the vast majority of the other passengers.

Meanwhile, we are still in Ushuaia, having off-loaded the injured yesterday evening, and are awaiting a shipment of crockery and glassware that’s being flown in from Buenos Aires. We’ll probably leave this evening headed south again. The weather today is lovely and Ushuaia is gorgeous with new snow on the mountains behind it. Since we are tendering in today, I decided to just stay aboard and admire the view. I suppose tonight we’ll be back to the (literally) bounding main.

First...I'm okay...the ship is okay...see below for my account of our excitement.

Tuesday, January 30

Still at Punta Arenas for the day, as originally scheduled. It’s a relatively desolate spot with a town of around 100,000. I was feeling lousy today, so I skipped the "usual" bus tour of the town with the usual church, main square and native market. I understand that the 4th item here was the local cemetary...that may sound odd, but I hear it was gorgeous.

As for feeling lousy, it turns out that it’s probably a side-effect of the anti-malarial drug I’ve been taking. So on advice from the ship’s doctor I’m stopping it until we get to Rio.

The ship has been giving us nice gifts every so often. Today’s was a gorgeous light blue parka. A couple of days ago it was a nice pair of binoculars, and before that a top quality tote bag, plus other stuff. Of course we’ve paid for it all in our fares, but it’s still fun to get "free" stuff.

Wednesday, January 31

Morning spent cruising the Beagle Channel looking at a lot of spectacular glaciers. The photo here is of Romanche Glacier. They have two new lecturers on board, a geologist who did the narrationof the glacier viewing, and a man who is a specialist in Antarctic birds who gave a great lecture on penguins today.

Arrived in Ushuaia on time at 1:00 p.m., but couldn’t dock because a container ship was in our spot, so had to wait for it to leave. A number of other ships in port including a Russian expedition ship, the National Geographic Endeavour, the Mare Australis, and The World which I think is the condo/hotel ship that goes where its owners/passengers vote to go.
Took a nice tour on the narrow gauge railroad then by bus to Tierra del Fuego National Park. Went to the very end of the Pan American Highway...the "end of the world" or as far south as one can go by vehicle. Lots of interesting mountains, cirques, open areas that had been logged off by convicts from the Ushuaia prison 1912-1947, areas of trees killed by introduced beavers. Saw a Caracara bird, several Upland Geese, and tons of rabbits...BIG rabbits! Finally got back to the ship a little before 6:00 p.m.

Friday, February 2

Okay, I’ve seen Cape Horn...a tall island through the mist yesterday morning about 6:30 a.m....I was awake to see it because of the 30+ foot swells that started at just about the same time as we got well out of the Beagle Channel. Then we set off across Drake’s Passage for Antarctica. Conditions got rapidly worse...over 70 knots wind and 40+ foot swells (can you say "hurricane"). At one point a really big wave or 3 hit us while I happened to be sitting on the edge of my bed, and I wound up on the floor and stayed there while furniture and glassware and most anything else not nailed down thrashed about the cabin. I wasn’t hurt and did manage to get myself back up off the floor and onto the bed by myself, although it took a good bit of doing.

At that point the Captain changed course to run with the swells to ease their effect some while the injured were helped and damage to the inside of the ship...cabins as well as public rooms...was assessed, and headcounts were taken. Several of the injured need shoreside treatment, so at about 7:40 p.m. last night the Captain turned us back into the teeth of the storm with the eye between us and South America, and set course for Ushuaia again.

I still haven’t been out to see the rest of the ship...early on I decided that the safest place for little ol’ unstable me was right here in Cabin 191 until things calm down. Much of the time we were having swells OVER 45 feet high. I gotta say I’m now really tired of looking UP at whitecaps from my position on Deck 8! God bless my friend, John, who brought me a supply of crackers and a couple of sandwiches during the afternoon. Also thanks to my cabin steward, Gaga, who managed to come in, put things to enough rights that nothing rattles too badly (including corralling all the cans and bottles that fell out of the fridge at one point and rolled around on the floor for a while), and clean up all the broken glass.

I have passed the time sleeping and watching tv. Last night they showed "The Queen" which was very good although I must admit that my attention was not wholly on the movie.

We have now (12:30 p.m. on Friday) gotten back to the Beagle Channel. The swells are down a little and should drop more as we get farther inside, but we still have 80 knot winds. We will be at Ushuaia (probably anchored instead of docked as they may not have space for us) until tomorrow evening. I believe that he intends to try for Antarctica again if the weather allows. Several of us had wished for more time in Ushuaia, as it is an interesting place...looks like they got their wish. Well, the seas are calmer, so I think I’ll try to go get some food and see what’s what.

Later...we’re coming into Ushuaia now. Some 48 people were hurt, most not badly, although there’s at least one badly broken leg, one staff member has a badly sprained or broken ankle, and one staff member has burns from where the coffee machine upstairs in the Lido landed on him. Most of the crockery is gone and they are flying in replacements. Two grand pianos are damaged and one of them is toast. The galley came through okay, but the food storage areas are a mess (according to one of the officers). It’s amazing that it isn’t any worse. The Captain and crew have been fantastic about getting things back to as normal as possible.

Evidently we made the CNN news, so Holland America phoned everyone’s emergency contacts to tell them we are okay. Of course, in my case, that means they called my lawyer who probably didn’t pass the word along, but I’ll send e-mails to various folks and ask them to pass the word around. I heard a rumor that some people are going to disembark here in Ushuaia and skip the rest of the trip, but I’m not one of them. I sort of hope that we skip a return toward Antarctica, but I’m sure the Captain won’t risk that unless conditions are a lot better...also we’d probably only go as far as Elephant Island instead of all the way down to Palmer Station.

Sunday, January 28

Lots of "shrimp" jokes going around the ship as this morning they had to switch to reserve power while they cleared masses of shrimp out of all the engine filters. And one guess what was on the menu for an appetizer this evening...although even the Captain assured everyone that the shrimp from the filters would NOT appear in the dining room. (The Captain has quite a sense of humor, and when he comes on the PA to make announcements, starts off with "It’s me again," instead of the usual "This is the Captain speaking.")

We spent most of the morning and early afternoon cruising down the Messier Channel. Around 4:00 p.m. we sailed up "Iceberg Fjord" to view "Iceberg Glacier" – our first look at a real glacier, and some folks even saw a few penguins (of course on the other side of the sip from where I was at the time).

The show after dinner was very good. Jim and Ann Curry. Jim is a major John Denver devotee and was the one to sing his songs in the biopic about him. They did a number of his songs, both upbeat and ballads while the ship rocked and rolled back out in the Pacific. Later, just as I was going to sleep, one of my closet doors jumped its little stop thing and banged open. I figure it woke the back half of the ship, it was so loud. Then I had to use various bits of clothing to keep the glassware in the bar from rolling around after it fell over. Well, at least I’m not seasick...at least not yet, although if the crossing to Antarctica is much worse than this, I’ll be popping Dramamine like Life Savers!

Monday, January 29

We were supposed to visit another glacier early this morning, but because of a medical emergency (a passenger had a major heart attack yesterday and is still in critical but now stable condition), the Captain decided to skip the glacier and proceed as rapidly as possible to Punta Arenas. We were originally due there tomorrow morning, but should arrive about 7:00 this evening.

So we’ve been sailing down the Straits of Magellan all day with fabulous scenery. We’ve had occasional rain, and it’s pretty chilly out there. This morning I saw a fantastic double rainbow that appeared so close I was tempted to check my verandah for the pot of gold!

Sunday, January 28

Lots of "shrimp" jokes going around the ship as this morning they had to switch to reserve power while they cleared masses of shrimp out of all the engine filters. And one guess what was on the menu for an appetizer this evening...although even the Captain assured everyone that the shrimp from the filters would NOT appear in the dining room. (The Captain has quite a sense of humor, and when he comes on the PA to make announcements, starts off with "It’s me again," instead of the usual "This is the Captain speaking.")

We spent most of the morning and early afternoon cruising down the Messier Channel. Around 4:00 p.m. we sailed up "Iceberg Fjord" to view "Iceberg Glacier" – our first look at a real glacier, and some folks even saw a few penguins (of course on the other side of the sip from where I was at the time).

The show after dinner was very good. Jim and Ann Curry. Jim is a major John Denver devotee and was the one to sing his songs in the biopic about him. They did a number of his songs, both upbeat and ballads while the ship rocked and rolled back out in the Pacific. Later, just as I was going to sleep, one of my closet doors jumped its little stop thing and banged open. I figure it woke the back half of the ship, it was so loud. Then I had to use various bits of clothing to keep the glassware in the bar from rolling around after it fell over. Well, at least I’m not seasick...at least not yet, although if the crossing to Antarctica is much worse than this, I’ll be popping Dramamine like Life Savers!

Monday, January 29

We were supposed to visit another glacier early this morning, but because of a medical emergency (a passenger had a major heart attack yesterday and is still in critical but now stable condition), the Captain decided to skip the glacier and proceed as rapidly as possible to Punta Arenas. We were originally due there tomorrow morning, but should arrive about 7:00 this evening.

So we’ve been sailing down the Straits of Magellan all day with fabulous scenery. We’ve had occasional rain, and it’s pretty chilly out there. This morning I saw a fantastic double rainbow that appeared so close I was tempted to check my verandah for the pot of gold!

Saturday, January 27

We were sailing up a fjord when I woke up. Arrived at Puerto Chacabuco (a really teeny town...barely a hamlet...maybe the size of Ivy) about 9:30 am. John and I went on the "Cruising the Austral Channels" tour which was excellent. On shore, everyone else had to walk from the tender dock to the catamaran, but I (and John) got a ride in the local hotel’s van. The boat was lovely. Downstairs were all airline type seats, but we stayed up on the main deck in the lounge which had nice couches and tables and huge windows. It got somewhat cloudy as we went, but was still totally spectacular! Waterfalls and snow-capped volcanoes on every side.

Once we got down to the Islas Cinquo Hermanos Natural Reserve area, they began passing around wine and other drinks, then several rounds of canapes, then little pizza-like things, then skewers of chicken and beef, then chicken empanadas, then large triangular beef pastries (also containing onions and a big chunk of hard boiled egg an an olive complete with pit), then little candies, and more drinks. Meanwhile a young couple in costume did native dances, after which they inveigled various tourists into dancing with them, etc. A good time was had by all!

The ship sailed out by way of the Darwin Channel...more fantastic views. What a place! Less than 30 minutes underway, there was an odd vibration to the ship. I thought we may have scraped something in the water, but the Captain soon came on the PA system to explain that we had just experienced an earthquake!!

We are also advised that as we sail farther south our Internet access may be interrupted at times. I believe this has to do with our angle to the various geosynchronous satellites. Anyway, I will do my best to keep this up in a timely manner (or at least no worse than so far).

Thursday, January 25

At sea again today. I really like the sea days with not much to do. I did finally see the comet this evening. It is called Comet McNaught for the Australian who found it about a year ago. It is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere and supposedly is the brightest comet (or was at perihelion around January 12) since one in 1965. Now that I know where to look, I should be able to see it easily from my own verandah.

Friday, January 26

Today we were at Puerto Montt which is at the southern end of Chile’s lake district. The difference in general appearance of the towns is amazing. This is due to the very strong German influence from an influx of German immigrants in the early 1900s. The architecture of houses in particular is very different from the Spanish influence areas of the country, complete with pitched roofs, shaped shingles and even some half-timbered effects, not to mention the basic paint schemes which are far more Germanic than Spanish. Some of that is going away as the city has been greatly rebuilt since it was almost destroyed in an earthquake in 1960. However, you can still see it clearly in the resort city of Puerto Varas where our tour went (photo).

This afternoon we are sailing south through the Golfo de Ancud with the Andes rising most majestically to the east of us.

Monday, January 22

At sea today–overcast and cooler than it has been in the morning, but warming up nicely in the afternoon.. Team Trivia in the morning, then Jill and I got together to plan some future skulduggery in relation to Harvey. He is, of course, the pookah who occupies the apparently vacant seat at our table.

We also went to the knitting and needlework group. If you don’t have any needlework of your own, the ship will provide yarn, needles and instructions for making various items that are then donated to orphanages...this trip possibly in Rio. So now I’m knitting a cap for some poor unknown soul...I call him or her that because my knitting skills are rusty, and there’s no telling how it will turn out although the yarn is a lovely, soft blue-green mix.

Tuesday, January 23

Today we were at Coquimbo, Chile. Actually there are two cities on this huge bay; the other is La Serena. Took a half-day tour of the area and again had an excellent tour guide. In these ports which don’t get a whole lot of cruise ships, they tend to recruit tour guides who are English teachers in "real" life. The photo is of the lighthouse at La Serena.

At the University here there is a large observatory...of course the actual telescope facility is way up in the mountains. But I heard from another passenger that his guide’s father is associated with the observatory, and that there is supposed to be a comet visible this evening around 9:30 to the southwest. I have also heard that we are supposed to have fairly high swells this evening, but if I can navigate myself, I plan to go have a look for the comet after dinner.

Wednesday, January 24

Well, I didn’t see the comet...it was cloudy and somewhat rough last night. In fact, it was bouncy enough that just about everything creaked, rattled or thumped. It was like trying to go to sleep in a bowl of metallic Rice Krispies. I can only imagine what it will be like when we get down to the Horn. There is an astronomy session tonight, so maybe I’ll see the comet then.

I was booked on an all day trip to Santiago today, but just didn’t feel up to that long a tour, so bagged it and stayed in Valparaiso. I did go ashore briefly and "managed to find" some lovely lapis lazuli set in silver that I couldn’t resist. Lapis is, by the way, one of Chile’s major exports, so what better souvenir of my various stops in this country...

Valparaiso is built on a thin strip along the shore then on hills that rise so steeply that they have lost of funicular elevators to take people to the top. The photo is of some houses at the top with a funicular going up to them.

I didn’t go see the comet (which someone said is called McNaught, or something that sounds like that), although we did turn up at the beginning of the astroomy session. It was quite chilly and very windy, and Jill and I just weren’t dressed warmly enough to spend time on the upper front deck. Also the astronomy session was later than the best viewing time for the comet, so we’ll try again tomorrow. This comet-viewing is beginning to sound like my experience in 1986 on a Halley’s Comet cruise when I never did see the comet while on board (although I did see it later).

Sunday, Januar y 21 -- I am now proud to say that I was almost born in Antofagasta, Chile. (That was the other choice besides Butte, Montana when my father went to work for Anaconda Copper back in 1939.) Antofagasta is a fascinating city. While it has mostly mining and shipping for industry, and while it is about the driest city in the world (it only rained one day last year), and while the surroundings are virtually devoid of any blade of grass, much less tree or bush, that isn’t watered and cared for, it is an attractive and clean city full of very friendly people. It’s population is about 300,000 and it has several universities, the usual complement of cultural venues, and several very new gigantic shopping malls in addition to its historical areas. The photo is of a formation called La Portada with Antofagasta in the background.

We arrived around 1:00 pm this afternoon to be greeted by a huge crowd of waving spectators on the breakwater to watch us come in, and then at the pier by an excellent brass band and spectacularly costumed dancers. The tour I took was excellent, our guide was very fluent in English, proud of her city and happy to show it off. This is the first time that Holland America has stopped here, and in fact they only had 2 cruise ships stop last year and 2 before us this year, so their tourist industry is relatively new, but they are really working at it and doing a fine job.

Monday, January 22 -- At sea today–overcast and cooler than it has been. Team Trivia in the morning, then Jill and I got together to plan some future skulduggery in relation to Harvey. He is, of course, the pookah who occupies the apparently vacant seat at our table.

Lovely sea day today (January 19). Great weather and just enough motion to know you’re on a ship. Had a great massage from a young lady who did her training at Virginia School of Massage in Charlottesville, so we spent some time reminiscing about Bodo’s. Spent much of the rest of the day out on various decks reading. Tonight was a formal night and the ship’s officer who was a guest at our table was the Environmental Officer...a very nice man with interesting stories to swap for some of ours.

And on January 20, here are Gil, me, and Virginia in Arica, Chile. A real "fancy meeting you here" shot! They had just returned to their ship, ms Discovery, from a trip to Macchu Pichu and came over to the Prinsendam to visit. They loved Macchu Pichu, are having a great time on their cruise and said to say "hi" to all and sundry back home. (For those who don’t know, Virginia and I have lunch with a bunch of friends every Friday, and their itinerary and mine just happened to mesh here.) We visited for about an hour on the dock swapping trip stories. Got some great photos of Discovery as she sailed past us later. I was waving madly, and presume that Virginia and Gil were also. Then to cap the afternoon, I had my cruise-traditional Myers and Coke ("Hi" to Jeff, Mark, and Mary.).

We are in Callao (pronounced Kai-yo), the port for Lima, Peru, for two days. Today (January 17) I took a tour that went to two of the best museums for Inca and pre-Inca artifacts. One had a stairway that I couldn’t negotiate, but the other had ramps that I could get up. That was the Museo Larco. What a fabulous collection of gold, silver, copper and especially pottery pieces! The photo here is just one sample.

Back at the ship in late afternoon I watched container ships unloading at this huge port, and at one point there was a flock of at least a thousand sea gulls that took off all at once and circled for around 5 minutes. It looked like a scene from a Hitchcock movie and certainly explained why the entire dock area is polka-dotted in white.

Today, January 18, I was supposed to go on a "shopping" tour, but when I discovered that it was to spend 3 hours at a native market, I decided that was too much shopping, so I stayed on board instead. There are several cruise ships in port with us. To our immediate port is the Seabourne Pride. Just beyond that is good ol’ Minerva II, and beyond that I can just see the stack on the Discover from which Virginia and Gil took off at 5:30 this morning for a trip to Macchu Pichu. We’ll catch up to them again in 2 days in Arica, Chile where we are planning to get together for a "fancy meeting you here" photo.

On to Salaverry, Peru (port for Trujillo) today. My tour left at 8:30, so I was up at the proverbial crack of dawn. We’ve been playing hopscotch with the Minerva II taking turns to be first in first out of the ports, and today is our turn to be first.

The tour today was really neat. First of all, it was the very best bus I’ve ever ridden in! Double-decker, but only one step up to the first level which another lady and I had all to ourselves. Big wide cushy leather bucket seats, each with its own cup holder and pull-down leg rest and plenty of leg room. First sightseeing bus I’ve met where I wasn’t all cramped up by the time I got off! Actually, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the fine quality of tour buses on this trip...I was all set for recycled un-air-conditioned school buses, and we’ve had nothing but top of the line models.

So where did we go? To Huaca El Brujo which is a Moche temple up the coast from Trujillo where excavations only began in the early 1990s and which has only been open to the public for a relatively short while. We had an excellent tour guide, an archaeology grad student who really knew his stuff. This temple was where they first discovered that the Moche (a pre-Incan civilization) had used adobe to decorate their temples with high relief figures. Since each lower level of the temple was filled in before the next level was built, the original paint colors are mostly still there, as you can see. After the Incas conquered the Moche, the area continued to be used as a cemetery, and they have found fabarics in some of the graves that have survived this long. One of the most interesting tours I’ve ever been on.

Toured Manta and Monticristi Ecuador today (Sunday, January 14). Definitely coastal equatorial weather...i.e. hot hot hot. I did buy myself a real Panama hat (they were originally and are still made in Ecuador, mostly near the little town of Monticristi). If anyone is in touch with Frank...tell him I thought of him a lot today, but had not contacted him as Quito is a 6 hour drive one way from where I was.

At dinner John had a photo he’d taken a couple of years ago on the Amazon. We told our waiter that the animal it showed would be tomorrow’s dinner and that there should be enough to share with everyone, then showed him the picture. He howled! Then he showed it to the head waiter who almost exploded trying not to laugh and then showed it to the Hotel Manager who eats at a table near ours with his wife. They also got a big kick out of it. The photo was of a young boy holding up the front end of a very large dead snake...probably a young anaconda. John and Jill and I of course were having hysterics all along. It was a fun dinner, especially as none of our table mates had managed to come.

Today (January 15) is another long lazy sea day. Sat in the sun. Played team trivia (our team would have tied for first if I hadn’t been out-voted on one answer). Tonight is a formal night with a black and white theme...I’m sure we shall all look like the ubiquitous penguins.

Here’s my snake from last night. I discovered that he is made from only one large bath towel with little bits of black paper for eyes and a folded foil candy wrapper for a tongue. Can’t wait to see what/who turns up tonight!

Today was a long, slow, cloudy and even a bit rainy sea day. Absolutely perfect for not doing much of anything. There was a "King Neptune" ceremony out on deck this afteroon as we cross the equator about midnight tonight, but I learned years ago to give such activities a miss.

I’ve been having a simple breakfast in my cabin most mornings to a) cut down on calories and b) to be lazy. When we got to Panama, I was quite surprised to find that my little milk cartons have been changed to the "Shenandoah’s Pride" label. Shades of home! We’ll see how long that lasts.

I’ve also been meaning to tell you about Joco, my cabin steward. He’s from Indonesia and has worked on ships for quite a long time. He is most efficient and has a sense of humor as evidenced by the nightly turn-down service. While I am at dinner, he turns down the bed, arranges things like the next day’s schedule and other little announcements, and makes a animal from towels to greet me when I return to the cabin...usually with chocolates for eyes. So far in this first week I’ve been met by a bunny, a lobster, a ray, a cephalopod (probably squid), a frog, a dragonfly and a puppy. Tonight after dinner I returned to my cabin to find a large snake on my bed...if the photo comes out, I’ll post it tomorrow. It’s truly spectacular! I’m waiting to see how long he can go without repeating himself.

So, in less than 36 hours I have made the trip ocean to ocean 3 times: once by ship, once by train, and once by bus. All 3 were different and interesting. The train (I was in a very nice dome car with an excellent view) ran right alongside the Canal. The bus took a different route back, and in fact, we got special permission for the bus to drive across the upper dam on the Chagras River (which is the source for the 52 million gallons of water PER SHIP that goes through the Canal). Wow!

Leaving the Canal
Sea birds screaming their farewells
From every buoy

The photo shows a fuzzy beige patch with a brown stripe in a tree. According to our guide at the Tortuguero Canal in Costa Rica, said fuzzy patch was a 2-toed sloth. Right. I was actually more entranced by a flock of little black bats asleep on a palm tree. They looked like black ravioli pasted in a vertical line on the trunk.

Our tour driver was a real pro at avoiding the millions of potholes that the government has decided there is not money to repair...this in a rain forest area that gets 250-350 inches of rain per year (and it didn’t rain a drop while we were ashore!). Off the main road, there was far more hole than pot, and a one-bus-wide bridge that I would not have gone over by myself given any kind of choice!

We have just pulled up next to the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama, so I’ve got to get ready to go ashore and get my share of molas!

- - - So I’m back on board, cooled off, cleaned up, and we’re rolling (literally) back up the coast to the Panama Canal which we will traverse tomorrow. And for the first time, I came back from the San Blas Islands with less than $40 worth of molas instead of my usual $200 dollars worth. Of course there’s still plenty of opportunity to change that total before we leave Panama...

Now we are in the middle of the Pedro Miguel locks at the Panama Canal.This was the first time I have seen the Centennial Bridge over the canal...a lovely construction.

Hissing wake bubbles
Underscore rushing whitecaps -
A far horizon

I finally got hooked up with the ship’s Internet system, so hope to get this entry out today. I’m typing this on the back deck aabout 30 feet from my cabin with a nice breeze and a view of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. (No photo this time because it’s basically all flat with white houses...nothing particularly scenic, at least not from this distance.

My trip down from Charlottesville on the 4th was uneventful (Thanks again, Jan, for the ride to the airport.) That evening I had a nice visit and dinner with Jayne Byal, a friend of Bob’s from his Punahou days who is a cruise travel agent in Ft. Lauderdale.

On to the ship on the 5th. I did get a little nervous when the ship finally sailed and my luggage had’t turned up in my cabin yet, but it was there when I got back at the end of the evening. I spent most of yesterday morning at sea unpacking and arranging my little “nest” for the next 2+ months.

The ms Prinsendam is a lovely ship. It was originally built in 1986 in Europe as the Royal Viking Sun. The only disadvantage I’ve found so far is that there is only one “American” electrical outlet, but it is conveniently located and I think/I have at least one adapter buried in my stuff somewhere which will help.

In the dining room I am at a table for 8 that seems to be all single people traveling alone. We haven’t seen everyone yet, but so far there are 2 from Canada, 1 each from Denver, Charlottesville, England, Germany, and perhaps India.

I went into Georgetown, Grand Cayman briefly by tender...mostly a test of how the tender system works for me and my walker. It worked just fine. I didn’t stay long as I was just there at Grand Cayman last January.