Update from the Atlantic Ocean (the final update)

     As I write this, we have left the fascinating continent of Africa and have just 2 ports left before disembarking in Ft. Lauderdale.  We should be home by May 3 and by then (if not sooner) we will begin uploading the regular episodes of this voyage, most of which have already been written.  They will probably appear every other day or so until finished.  So if you have been wondering what all we have seen & done, you will start seeing it soon.  If you were on the voyage with us, or have been following along on one of the many other passenger blogs or the Captain’s blog, then this will be your chance to live it all over again through our eyes.

     When we left you last we were on our way to Maputo, Mozambique, our first stop in Africa proper.  We only drove through Maputo on the way to Kruger National Park in South Africa, where we spent 4 days & 3 nights on a safari.  Camp Shawu (wood & canvas huts with wooden verandas) was on the edge of a small lake filled with hippos, crocodiles & all varieties of birds, while other animals  (elephants, rhinos, wildebeast) came there to bathe and drink.  Each day we went on two game drives to see other animals & birds in the park, one leaving before daybreak and the other returning after sundown.  This was easily the highlight of the whole voyage & an unforgettable experience.  We took many hundreds of pictures, so here are just a few.

    We had two days in Capetown after returning from the safari.  A very interesting, beautiful and cosmopolitan city with much too much to see in just 2 days. Then a day in Namibia viewing flamingoes & exploring the sand dunes & rocky interior they call the moonscape (sometimes used in Sci Fi movies as moon settings).

     After that we visited three cities in western Africa: Luanda, Angola; Banjul, The Gambia; and Dakar, Senegal.  Very colorful & interesting ports that aren’t often visited.  While there was some tension involved in visiting this area & we received numerous reminders about safety precautions, it turned out that negative incidents were few and there was a great deal to learn and enjoy in these places.

* * * * * * * * * *

    At this point I want to note something that has really overhung most of this voyage.  You may recall in our first post about this cruise, back on January 4, we mentioned that this was a reunion of sorts for the seven people who sat at our table in 2016.  We were all back at the same table for the 2018 cruise, picking up where we left off as a happy & compatible group of travelling friends.  None of us were more enthusiastic about that prospect than Lee Wolfle, who had tee shirts made for all of us showing the itinerary and titled “Around The World Together Again . . . Table 65.”

     Like the first world circumnavigator, Ferdinand Magellan, Lee didn’t make it back from the trip.  He began feeling poorly probably in New Zealand, was never able to get his strength back & had to leave the ship in Singapore.  He was diagnosed with Leukemia in Singapore and was flown as far as Los Angeles, where he entered Cedars Sinai hospital for treatment.  But that didn’t work out & he died there three days ago as I write this, when we were approaching Banjul.

     All of Lee’s friends on the ship, particularly Robert, Bill, Bob, Judy, Peggy, Karen, Kathy, Corinne, Kay, Rick & Mary, have been shocked at the speed of his demise. Many of us were walking on the beach with him in the South Pacific just six weeks before he went into the hospital and at that time he seemed hale & hearty. Lee was a very big man, about 6’7”, and very active (he took an expedition to Antarctica last year) so it was hard to picture him as being so seriously ill.  Needless to say, his ordeal has cast a pall over the remainder of the voyage for all of us. 

    We only knew Lee for about two years.  But he was a good friend & the nicest guy you will ever meet.  We all miss you, big guy, and still can’t believe you are really gone.

April 19, 2018 | Categories: Around The World Again | 2 Comments

Update from the Indian Ocean

     For all those who may be wondering, your intrepid travelers are still going.  After leaving Manila we spent two days in Hong Kong.  The first day was gray, cold & drizzly.  We rode the Hop On Hop Off bus, after a 25 minute shuttle ride from the egregious Kai Tak cruise port to the perfectly located one next to the ferry terminal for Hong Kong island.  We visited Stanley, which has a famous market and a beautiful harbor, and Aberdeen Harbor, which was once full of families living on boats packed together but is now mostly a fishing harbor. It also has the largest floating restaurant in the world.

     The weather was better on the second day in Hong Kong & we took a tour to Lantau Island in the New Territories.  Highlights here were the Big Buddha sitting on a mountain top above the Lo Pin Monastery & a suspended cable car ride over a mountain and down past the new airport.. We also visited O-Tai, the oldest fishing village in Hong Kong, sitting on stilts above an inlet..

     The ship was docked a 1.5 hour drive down the Saigon River from Ho Chi Minh City.  We took an excursion bus that would drop us off in town with about 4 hours to walk around on our own (we had been here once before).  This is a huge city with a population of many millions and there is construction everywhere.  They are building a subway from the middle of town to who knows where (with Chinese financing).  We visited the usual sites: the old French Hotel D’Ville (now with a statue of Ho Chi Minh in front), the Opera, the post office, etc.  We had a good time mostly walking around the streets of the city, where they were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive that was so important in the war.

     We had two days in Singapore, a diverse city of strong contrasts between old and new. Our first day there was spent perusing fabrics on Arab street, a world famous emporium, and visiting the mosque.  But we also walked around many of the streets of Singapore and up to Fort Canning Hill.

     The second day we walked from the ship to the Gardens by the Bay, a huge horticultural park.  It has two large pavilions, one called the Flower Pavilion and one called the Cloud Garden Pavilion.  Outside they have built a grove of giant artificial trees that put on a light show at night that could be seen from the ship.  After exploring all this we walked over the helix bridge to the Merlion fountain (the merlion is an artificial animal created to be the symbol of Singapore) and had lunch by the waterfront.  Today was Mary’s birthday, so a large group of waiters came to our table at dinner to sing the Indonesian birthday song and deliver a birthday cake.  A good time was had by all.

     In Phuket, Thailand we went on a boat trip to some islands. One was a tiny & very pretty island jam-packed with tourists, mostly Chinese.  The other was mostly deserted by tourists & we had an excellent Thai meal near the beach.

     Our visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka was a bit of a disappointment.  We took an excursion to the town of Galle, which was an important seaport during colonial times with a large fort that changed hands several times.  We visited a tea plantation and saw some stilt fishermen (they used to do this for a living but now these guys are only here for the tourists).  We had an outstanding Sri Lankan lunch at a nice hotel.  But because the tour guys managed things poorly we had virtually no time to explore the Galle Fort (just 10 minutes in a maritime museum).  Calling this an excursion to Galle took a lot of gall.

     So that’s it for now, as we cross the so far placid Indian Ocean toward the Seychelles Islands, hoping we don’t encounter any of the pirates against which the ship has instituted defensive precautions.

March 23, 2018 | Categories: Around The World Again | 3 Comments

Update from the South China Sea

     If memory serves, the last time we posted an update we were sailing through hurricane force winds toward western Australia.  We have now seen a video taken from the Crow’s Nest on the top of the ship of waves splashing on the window there, about the height of a 10 story building (although I think the ship was leaning over at the time).  We were not allowed out on deck, so we could only take photos through the windows & from a distance, and they don’t really convey what it was like.

     We made it to Kangaroo Island, though too late for our excursion, and we haven’t missed any more ports since.  Right now we are sailing from Manila to Hong Kong through the South China Sea, and it has been pretty rough again for the first time since Australia.  In between, in Bali & the Philippines, the seas were calm but the temperatures & humidity were very high.

     In western Australia we visited Albany & Fremantle, two towns long associated with whaling, and Adelaide, which looks like a better place to live than to visit.  Fremantle’s prison for convicts transported from England was very interesting as was Albany’s museum to the Anzac (Australia & New Zealand Army Corp) troops, who left from there to fight in World War I.

     So far, our best port has probably been Bali in Indonesia.  It is a most beautiful island with a Hindu culture that is very different from everyplace else we have visited.  We rented a van with a guide along with all of our tablemates for two days there & we saw several beautiful temples, visited a forest full of friendly monkeys & had a day devoted to art & craft studios. 

     Our three days in the Philippines were hot & muggy.  Puerto Princesa is a small town without a lot to see & Manila is a very big city with too much to see.  Both felt overcrowded & the fellows wanting to be your guide were plentiful & dogged.  Nevertheless, we saw some interesting sights, particularly those associated with World War II.

     So now its on to Hong Kong for two interesting days.  That’s it until next time.

March 7, 2018 | Categories: Around The World Again | 4 Comments

Australia Update

     This is just a quick post to let our friends & family know we are still alive & kicking.

     Since we last posted we have been visiting New Zealand & Australia.  The weather has not been kind to us, but so far we have missed only one port: Port Arthur, Tasmania (Australia).  We have had a lot of cold & rainy days and quite a lot of heavy sea turbulence, particularly rounding the southern end of New Zealand and now in Tasmania.  We visited Hobart, Tasmania, on the 13th with a very nice day. But the Captain decided to shorten the visit & “get out of Dodge” because a big storm was coming toward the west coast of Tasmania. 

     We turned around at 9:00 PM & headed out the river & then back up the east coast of Tasmania, then turned west at the top.  Winds and sea turbulence have been all that he predicted and more, with 26 foot waves that reached the 5th deck and winds that reached 86 mph, hurricane (or cyclone here) level.  So we have been rocking & rolling and doing our best to keep on our feet when walking.  The Captain says he still hopes to make it to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island tomorrow, but at noon rather than 8:00 AM as scheduled because most of last night we “hove to,” meaning the ship was not moving because the turbulence was too bad to make any progress.  We are not convinced that a stop at Kangaroo Island, a tender port, is in the cards but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

   Anyway, New Zealand was great & only one of the ports was a repeat for us (Auckland).  We cruised through Fiordland National Park on the South Island, and Milford Sound was especially impressive.  Unfortunately, Rick got sick the day before we reached Sydney, so other than the sail in (gray & cloudy, alas) & a night at the Sydney Opera House to see Carmen, he spent the two days in Sydney in bed.  One expects some setbacks on a four month world cruise, and this was easier to take because we had been to Sydney before & had seen quite a lot after a magnificent sail in.  If all this sounds too negative, we really don’t mean to complain because, after all, this is a world cruise; just giving a status report.  Even the rocky seas are something of an adventure!

     So here are just a few pictures from this segment of the voyage.

February 15, 2018 | Categories: Around The World Again | 4 Comments

Second Time Around

    In the last blog episode from our 2016 World Cruise, https://baderjournal.wordpress.com/2016/07/, we summed up this way:

“So that’s it for this truly epic journey, a true circumnavigation of the globe (which we discovered requires you to pass through two points on precisely opposite sides of the world . . . ours were near New Zealand & Gibraltar)).  This is truly a once in a lifetime trip . . . unless you do it again, which we just might.  So long until next time.”

     So today, less than two years later, “next time” has already come as we find ourselves again boarding the M/S Amsterdam for another turn around the world.

     We didn’t think we would be doing this again quite this quickly, but HAL offered an interesting itinerary around the southern part of Africa instead of going through the Med.  And in addition all of our table mates from the 2016 cruise decided to go again this year, so how could we pass up such a happy reunion?

     The first episode of our 2016 world cruise blog included my characteristically discursive review of the history of world cruising.  It’s still there so I won’t bore you with any more of that today. if you want to read it just aim you browser to ttps://baderjournal.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/around-the-world-in-115-days/.

     This year we will be returning to some interesting ports we visited in 2016 & also visiting some new places where we have never been before.  Here is the current itinerary map:

Here is a list version of the itinerary, which is probably easier to follow & also tells you when we are supposed to be there:

     This is our “current” itinerary because we have learned over the years that the scheduled stops are not guaranteed.  We have missed ports because the weather or ocean turbulence made tendering ashore too dangerous & also because of political unrest.  This year’s trip was originally supposed to include Madagascar, but that was cancelled because of an outbreak of plague, so we will be stopping at Reunion Island instead.  If we don’t have to miss any other stops along the way we will be pretty happy campers, & also somewhat surprised.  A lot can happen over the course of four months!

     We always drive to Florida & leave our car for the duration of the trip.  There is parking on the pier, but its pretty expensive for a long trip ($15 or $20, last time we checked).  We park our car at a place called Auto Storage USA, http://www.autostorageusa.com/.  The long term rates are very reasonable, a fraction of the pier price, the lot is enclosed by a 10 foot wall with an electronic sliding gate, & the people who run it are really nice & friendly.  They were, as always, happy to see us, spent time with us in friendly conversation, then drove us to our hotel.  They are highly recommended for anyone wanting to drive to Ft Lauderdale for a cruise.

     We are going to approach the blog of this trip differently than in the past, to Rick’s benefit but not yours.  The internet on board ship is so very slow that Rick ended up spending far too many hours sitting in the library waiting for blog entries to upload to the internet.  Moreover, since HAL charges for internet service the old fashioned way – by the minute – this slow service also cost a lot of money.  So, to save some money and (more importantly) allow Rick to enjoy more of the voyage we have decided not to post the blog episodes as they are completed, as we did last time.  Instead, they will be composed as we travel along, but not posted until we have access to reasonably fast internet service.  We may try to post some messages here via email, but those would be relatively short with few if any pictures.  We have never tried that before, so we will see how it works.

     That means that this may be the last posting you will see until we return to the USA at the end of April.  On our last world cruise Singapore was the one port that had fast (& free) internet available from the cruise terminal.  If that is true again this year we may post some episodes from there, but it appears we will be docking at a different place in Singapore this year so we don’t know if the fast internet will be available there or not.  The best way to be sure you see new episodes whenever they are posted is to sign up for email notices (instructions are on the “About this Blog” page).  If you would like to follow the cruise in real time, you obviously won’t be able to do it here, but there are web addresses listed on the “About this Blog” page of four other blogs maintained by people who will be on this cruise with us.

     At the top of this page are three buttons.

     1. The “Home” button will bring you to the most recent blog post if you are looking at any other posting.

    2. The “About This Blog” button takes you to a post that explains (very) thoroughly how to use the blog, including how to sign up for email notices of new posts.  If you want to follow this blog you should read it, since it has a lot of useful information. One key tip: the pictures have captions, sometimes interesting & sometimes not, which will pop up on a computer screen if you hover your mouse over the picture without pressing a button. We don’t know how (or whether) that works if you are viewing the blog on a phone, tablet or other device without a mouse.

    3. On the far right is a button labeled “M/S Amsterdam’s Current Position.”  That button will take you (surprise!) to a web page that will tell you where our ship is currently located (or at least where it is scheduled to be located).  That page would enable you at least to follow the ship’s progress contemporaneously, although without our scintillating photos & brilliant commentary.

     So that’s it for now.  If we aren’t nuked in the China Sea or struck down by Zika or Dengue Fever in Africa or bitten by a poisonous spider or snake in Australia, we will be back on April 28 with a boatload (so to speak) of new stories & pictures to share with everyone.

January 4, 2018 | Categories: Around The World Again | 5 Comments