Willemstad, Curacao (2024)
After one sea day we arrived in Willemstad early in the morning of January 22. Occupied by Arawak people when the Spanish first arrived in 1499, Curacao was taken over by the Dutch in 1643. It became one of the most important slave depots in the Caribbean (until slavery was abolished in 1863) and developed a shipping industry as well. It gained autonomy within the Dutch commonwealth in 1954 and independence in 2008. Today its biggest industry is tourism.
Willemstad is divided into two parts by St Anna Bay, a narrow but deep inlet from the ocean. On one side is Punda (Point), the old Dutch settlement that is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and on the other is Otrobanda (Other Side). We were docked in the cruise ship port in Otrobanda. We think this was our fifth visit to Curacao (but only three previous visits are in the blog):
https://baderjournal.com/2014/05/01/southern-caribbean-part-2-oranjestad-aruba-willemstad-curacao/
https://baderjournal.com/2019/12/30/
Curacao is a particularly enjoyable place to visit, both colorful and interesting. On this day there was quite a bit of wind as we walked from the ship toward Punda with surf pounding the rocks along the waterfront near the ship, something we had not seen before.
Our primary objective on this visit was to see the inside of the old synagogue of Curacao. We had seen the outside before but had never had the opportunity to go inside. This time we succeeded.
From the ship we walked to the Queen Emma Bridge, a swinging bridge across the St Anna Bay to Punda. The short walk from there to the synagogue took us past an art installation of flowers on a wall and a store that seemed to be selling a foot fungus (we didn’t shop there). Also an installation near the bridge called “Punda Love Hearts,” three large heart shapes in a row covered by locks, apparently attached there for good luck by couples. The island was named Curacao in 1499 for the Portuguese word for “heart,” so perhaps that had some influence on this installation too.
The Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue is said to be the oldest continuously operating synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. It was opened in 1732 to serve a Sephardic community that had originally arrived in the middle of the 17th century to escape the Inquisition. Most came from Amsterdam, having previously fled there from Spain and Portugal, but we think that some came from Recife after the Portuguese reclaimed that part of Brazil from the Dutch and re-imposed the Inquisition there. This building is also known locally as the Snoa, a local variation of Esnoga, the Sephardic word for synagogue. This synagogue is said to have been modeled on the Esnoga in Amsterdam and we could certainly see the resemblance, full of polished mahogany, brass and silver. You can see our visit to the Amsterdam Esnoga here:
https://baderjournal.com/2014/08/26/amsterdam-netherlands-day-2/
Notable items inside the synagogue were an old wall clock with Hebrew numbers and a beautiful pipe organ in the balcony, where a choir also sits during services. As we understand it, Sephardic congregations like this did not require women to sit in the balcony as Orthodox Ashkenazy congregations did. The floor of the synagogue was covered in sand, which is supposed to symbolize the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert after Moses led them out of Egypt, but was also a precaution during the Inquisition to muffle footsteps in order to protect the privacy of the service.
On the other side of the courtyard from the synagogue was a museum recounting the history of the Jews of Curacao and of the synagogue. Sadly, photography was forbidden in the museum. But outside the museum entrance was part of the remains of a Mikvah, a ritual bath, that was probably installed in the mid 17th century and was in use until about 1870. The street outside was actually named for the bath. The top part of it was rediscovered during renovations in 1969, but this was just the portion where water flowed into the Mikvah and it probably had steps down to a lower level where bathing actually occurred.
Also in this area of the courtyard were some gravestones (which may have been reproductions). If the one shown below makes you think “Live long and prosper,” there is a good reason for that. It depicts two hands as a Rabbi would have held them to impart a blessing. Leonard Nimoy said that his inspiration for the split fingered Vulcan hand gesture was his Rabbi’s use of this hand position when Nimoy was growing up.
Last we have a view of the courtyard from the museum entrance, a view of the synagogue from the courtyard, and the outer street side entrance to the synagogue as we left.
After leaving the synagogue complex we walked along a canal nearby toward our favorite lunch restaurant, which had been closed during the pandemic but we hoped someone would have opened it again. Along the side of this canal is the floating market, a long row of fish and produce stands with boats moored behind it. These boats belong to Venezuelans who sail the 40 miles to Curacao each day to sell their wares then return to Venezuela before night. The first time we were here the boats lined the canal all the way to the end of the market, but since the pandemic and the troubles in Venezuela not as many come. There seemed to be more on this visit than there had been in the last few years but perhaps not.
This canal has several Dutch style drawbridges, similar to some we have seen in Amsterdam. When we arrived at our restaurant it was still closed up and locked, but at least the “for sale” sign we saw last time we were here was gone so maybe someone is getting ready to reopen it. We hope so because it is a fun place to eat, set right out over the water in a small lake at the end of the canal. On our way back toward the bay to find another restaurant for lunch we walked by a long row of trees with interesting trunks (possibly live oaks?).
We ended up eating Chickenburgers (much tastier than it sounds) at The Iguana, an outdoor restaurant on the edge of the bay in Punda where we had lunch last time we were here. It has an unrivaled view of the bay and the Queen Emma swinging bridge. Docked across the canal was the Ambience, a cruise ship operated by the Ambassador line. It has a capacity of 1400 passengers and started life as the Regal Princess in 1991. We were told it is also on a world cruise, but we are not sure that is true.
We were glad to be under cover in the restaurant because it started raining while we were eating. We moved to a table further from the edge and finished our meal. Meanwhile the Queen Emma bridge slowly opened to permit some ships to pass and came to rest along the opposite side of the bay. The little yellow building on the end of the bridge is the pilot’s house, where the engines that move the bridge are controlled. We had quite a nice view of this process and weren’t inconvenienced by it as were those who wanted to cross to Otrobanda. When the bridge is open the only way to get across is in a ferry boat, which many did.
After our late lunch we returned to the ship the same way we had come in the morning, finding a Celebrity ship docked behind us. When Zuiderdam sailed away around 6:00 Curacao bid us farewell with a nice rainbow.
St George’s, Grenada (2024)
We reached Grenada (the “a” is long, as in lemonade) on January 30. When Christopher Columbus first sighted this island in 1498 it was inhabited by Carib people, who had taken the island from the Arawaks living there before. The French conquered the Caribs in 1652, virtually wiping out their population, and the island thereafter passed back and forth between the French and English. Grenada remained British, however, from 1784 until it obtained independence in 1974. The month after our visit Grenada would commemorate the 50th anniversary of its independence and signs and decorations were already in evidence for that occasion. Many Americans know about Grenada primarily because of the US military intervention in 1983, a few days after a coup that the Reagan administration thought might result in a government allied with Cuba. Our guide told us that most Grenadians are grateful for the US action, but his tone suggested to us that he was not one of them.
We docked at St George’s, the capital of Grenada, which was founded in the early 18th century. Today it is home to more than 110,000 people. On our previous visit here, in 2014, we walked around the town, eating lunch in the Carenage (the horseshoe shaped harbor) and climbing up to Ft George, among other things. You can read about that and see pictures here:
At that time the extensive damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was still evident. For example there were several prominent buildings without roofs and looking like old ruins. Today many of those have been restored and the whole town looks like it is pretty much back to normal. Notably, St Andrews Presbyterian Church (which we seem to have mislabeled as Anglican in 2014) appears to have been rebuilt entirely around its old bell tower so that it now apparently faces the opposite direction.
So having explored the town on our last visit we decided to join an excursion that would show us around the island this time. For our first stop we drove up a steep road to the top of a large hill overlooking the city to visit Fort Frederick, one of four forts built here by the French (and later completed by the English) in the late 18th century. While the French thought these forts could be instrumental in defending the island from the British, the British recaptured it only a few years later. As you can see in the first picture above Fort Frederick has a commanding view of the coast, but its guns were installed “backwards” as they say here, facing land to the east from which it was thought an invasion would come. A sign at the fort notes that it is one of the few forts in the world “which has never fired a shot in anger.” The main reason to visit here today is the wonderful vista overlooking the city and the surrounding area.
Among other things we could look down on Ft George, which we had visited last time but was closed for restoration on this visit and covered with construction tarps. Of course we had a view of the Carenage and of the ship at its dock and the church (see above). Right below the fort is a prison.
Next we had a long drive to visit an orphanage, the Queen Elizabeth Home For Children. Grenada is a very mountainous island and this drive took us through the lush green mountains to the village where the orphanage was situated. We all left the buses and walked to a covered outdoor pavilion where the children (probably 4 to 8 years of age) sang a few songs. We were told not to photograph the children and not to walk on the grass (though some did both). We wondered why this was a stop on the excursion since nothing much happened, but the grounds were nice and had pretty flowers and plants.
Grand Etang Crater Lake sits in a volcanic crater created between 15 and 25 thousand years ago. It is pretty but not very large as lakes go. As Nyron, the shore excursion director said, if you live in the US or Europe you might have a very different idea of the word “Grand.” The lake is located in a forest reserve established in 1906 that includes numerous hiking trails. What we liked best about the lake was the tall grass growing in its shallow areas (although the deepest part of the lake is only about 20 feet deep). The hills around the lake are the walls of the volcano’s caldera.
Among the wildlife living near the lake are Mona monkeys. We didn’t see them, but our friend Robert did and shared his pictures with us. There were also some nice flowers in the reserve.
Driving through the mountains and countryside we passed houses in villages and by themselves. Some were interesting, some not so much. Lots of external staircases and 2d floor verandas.
We had a tour of the rum distillery at River Antoine Estate, which was established in the late 18th century. Our guide was very proud of the fact that this is the only distillery still producing rum in the traditional manner, without machinery (except for bottling) or chemicals. This distillery is also powered by the oldest continuously working water wheel in the Western Hemisphere. We saw the processing from sugarcane to fermentation in a vat room to distilling in three connected enclosed vats (one of which said it was made in Kentucky).
After the tour we were given rum to sample. They had two varieties: 75 proof and 69 proof (if we remember correctly). We were told they began producing the 69 proof after the 911 terrorist attack when alcohol more than 70 proof was designated as a potential terrorist explosive. They told us we would be able to taste the difference, but Rick tried both and could not tell the difference (both samples burned too much to actually taste).
We had a buffet lunch at a restaurant on the estate. The food was good but it was much too crowded since there was a HAL tour eating there at the same time. The restaurant building was open to the surrounding countryside and there was a field of sugarcane nearby whose fate will undoubtedly be found in the distillery. The highlight of the meal was a dessert of nutmeg ice cream, which we had on our prior visit to Grenada but have never seen anywhere else.
Grenada is called “The Spice Island” because of its output of spices for export. The prime spice produced here is nutmeg, which was brought here from Asia in the 1840’s. The nutmeg fruit produces both nutmeg and mace. Today Grenada produces about 20% of the world’s nutmeg and some 30% of the population here receives income from this industry. We visited the Nutmeg Museum on our way back to the ship, but there really wasn’t much of interest there, a disappointment to us.
Driving back toward the port we stopped to look at some mango trees (we think) and ripening bananas. We drove past an old plantation house and also the beach where the U.S. marines first came ashore during the intervention in 1983 (but we were going too fast to take a picture). In the distance behind a jut of land we could see our ship docked next to the much larger P&O Britannia, whose passenger capacity is almost twice that of the Zuiderdam. The P&O ship was docked starboard of our ship and, since our cabin is also starboard, we had a wonderful island view from our balcony all day long (see below).
As we sailed away from Grenada in late afternoon we could see the national sports stadium (built by the Chinese) and a nice view of the island. One more stop in the Caribbean to come.
Sailing the Amazon on the Zuiderdam (2024)
After a brief interruption to lament the loss of the Mediterranean portion of our itinerary (see previous post) we now return you to our regular programming
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After leaving Santorem on January 16 we spent January 17 sailing down the Amazon to the ocean. We dropped off our pilots at Macapa early in the morning (before we were up), crossed the Amazon bar late in the day, then spent two more sea days to reach our next port. So this seemed like a good place to sum up our Amazon river experience and also show a little about what is on board the Zuiderdam.
I am not going to bore everybody with a lot of statistics. It is enough to know that the Amazon is easily the biggest river in the world, transporting more water to the ocean than the next 3 largest rivers combined. It is about 200 miles wide at its mouth and, as we may have mentioned before, there is an island in the river near its mouth that is bigger than Switzerland. The Amazon is a very muddy river and a lot of flotsam can be seen floating by, much of the mud and flotsam having travelled from the Andes some 3 or 4 thousand miles up river. The river is wide enough that you often can’t see the shore, sometimes on either side, so it looks almost like being in the ocean.
What gives it away that this is a river is the muddy color, very brown on this visit. The color of the ocean was a significant change once we left the river behind.
The river’s shore is mostly lined with deep green rainforest that looks almost impenetrable, extending for miles and miles as you sail along. But here and there you can also see small houses and out buildings, each one of which has a river boat tethered nearby because that is the only way for them to go anywhere. When travelling on a riverboat for more than a day the locals sleep onboard in hammocks strung on the deck.
Since this entire area is a giant rainforest it is no surprise that there are clouds much of the time. We have seen many spectacular cloud formations rising high into the sky from the fairly flat landscape around the Amazon.
One thing the Amazon has in abundance is insects, some of them quite large. On our first trip here in 2012 there were a number of them sitting on the walls of the ship that were several inches long and very nasty looking. On this trip all we have to show is a moth sitting on a window, but a pretty big one. Several times early in the trip we thought we were seeing meetings of the waters, but we discovered that when the lines between muddy and not muddy are irregular this may actually be caused by shadows thrown on the Amazon waters by the clouds. It looks interesting anyway.
In sum, sailing the Amazon is quite an experience with many aspects you probably wouldn’t experience on any other river. We want to note that, while we have made much of the low water in the river on this trip, we were pretty lucky about that because a month or so earlier the water was so low that several ships cancelled their river cruises. We are told that navigation was pretty tricky this time, and the Captain seemed very glad to have the river pilots to help find the deeper channels and avoid the sand bars, but the low water never interfered substantially with our itinerary although we did anchor further away than previously at several ports. Our other visits here were both a month or two later in the year so the water at this time of year may have been lower anyway (the Amazon rises and falls some 40 feet between rainy and dry seasons even in normal years). So congratulations to Captain Van der Hoeven for bringing us through without a hitch.
We also want to give a brief idea here of some aspects of life aboard the Zuiderdam. The ship has many venues where an amazing variety of activities are usually going on throughout the day and evening. The Crow’s Nest on deck 10 at the top of the ship extends the full width of the ship and has panoramic windows showing where we are headed, with comfy chairs all along the viewing area. There is a coffee bar, a game room and the shore excursions desk is here. Parties often occur here as well.
Zuiderdam also has a small library. It is nice HAL is moving back toward having ship libraries, although they used to be much nicer places to sit and read. Maybe libraries like that will return eventually.
Deck 9 gets a lot of visits because of the Lido Buffet, where we usually get lunch. Just outside the buffet is the main swimming pool, with a sliding roof and a polar bear mother and child at one end (the baby is almost 25 years old but hasn’t grown an inch). There are lounge chairs and tables around the pool area where we usually sit to eat our lunch.
In addition to the shows by guest artists and the Zuiderdam Singers And Dancers on the Main Stage, there are several musical venues around the ship active in the afternoon and evening. Billboard Onboard is a pair of pianist/singers often called “dueling pianos” but really complementary ones. Rolling Stone Lounge has (as you might expect) a loud and entertaining rock band with two singers. We frequent two other venues. First is the Ocean Bar which features a jazz trio of piano, bass and guitar called Third Avenue West. The guitarist and bassist in particular are really good jazz musicians and they play a laid back type of jazz appropriate to their instrumentation. Some familiar ditties but also some pretty challenging jazz compositions.
Before dinner we often attend a recital in the Explorers’ Lounge by a classical trio consisting of piano, violin and cello. Their skill is more what one would expect at a concert venue than on a cruise ship. All are graduates of leading conservatories and so far they have presented a different program every day. Among the highlights were three of Bach’s solo cello suites and a program of music recently uncovered by the pianist as part of his doctoral studies that was composed by a prisoner in Dachau concentration camp during World War II. They have drawn sizeable audiences when we have been there. What a great way to build up to a delicious dinner in the Main Dining Room (and the food really has been delicious so far on this trip).
When a ship visits a new port for the first time there is usually a welcome ceremony and the ship is presented with a commemorative plaque (or something similar). That actually happened a few days ago as I write this. Many of Zuiderdam’s interesting plaques from these ceremonies are hung in a curving stairwell between decks 2 & 3.
Past HAL ships on which we have sailed had notable art collections,including very old pieces and many from faraway countries exhibited throughout the ship. This one instead has a rather quirky art collection, including some old Dutch prints, some paintings of old HAL ships, but also more contemporary things. Outside the Rolling Stone Lounge are some interesting paintings of old Rhythm and Blues musicians, including what we think is a portrait of BB King on stage. Near the elevators on several floors are sculptures that appear to represent Renaissance entertainers. We should note that there are midships elevators on each side of the ship made of glass, so you can watch outside as the world and the decks and the tenders go by while you ascend or descend. They are fun.
Not far from the plaque stairwell pictured earlier is a series of six interesting art constructions. The artist, Volker Kuhn, calls them Viewboxes. Each box is about 10” x 14” and contains a bit of rather whimsical sculpture. The lighting inside each box slowly changes color from white to red to blue. We found them interesting, but I am not sure the flat pictures here do justice to these three dimensional creations. I hope I have the correct title for each work (from left top to right bottom): Music In The Air; Heavenly Joy; Way To The Stars; Off We Go.
On deck 2 are a number of glass sculptures that we found attractive and interesting.
During these sea days at the end of the Amazon we had a Formal Night. There used to be more of these on Grand Voyages, but now there are about two per month. Diners at all the restaurants on board, except the LIdo buffet, are required to dress up in semi-formal attire for these evenings. Some men wear tuxedos but most wear a suit (although Rick has always worn a sport jacket and tie with no problem) and women dress in cocktail party clothes. There are other nights called “Dressy Nights,” and really it is unclear what the difference is. On most formal nights there is a show on the Main Stage by the Zuiderdam Singers and Dancers, and sometimes they leave us pillow gifts, found on the bed when you return to your room. It used to be that towel animals were left on the bed almost every evening but now that only happens on formal and dressy nights. On this formal night the dining room crew made nice red and black birds as table centerpieces out of napkins and wine glasses.
So that’s all we have for this short intermission from the relentless parade of port stops. Next episode will be another port as we headed toward the Panama Canal.
January 30, 2024 . . . The Other Shoe Drops!
Those of you who have been following since we left Ft Lauderdale saw the itinerary for this voyage that was official at that time. If you haven’t been following since then, here is a link to the first posting for this voyage that sets out the itinerary in map and list form.
https://baderjournal.com/2024/01/08/third-voyage-around-the-world-in-2024/
In that posting we discussed two uncertainties about that itinerary. The first was the trip up the Amazon, which in the end came off as planned. The second was the war going on in the Red Sea, which we were scheduled to sail through to get to the Mediterranean for the last fourth of the voyage.
Well, that one hasn’t turned out so well. The war has kept spreading and the Houthis in Yemen continue to attack ships entering the Red Sea. So we have been anticipating for some time that changes would have to be made.
Today (we are in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), we returned to our room from our shore activities to find the announcement we have been waiting for. The entire portion of our itinerary between Sri Lanka and Ft Lauderdale has been canceled because of the war. Instead, we will be sailing around Africa. Here is our new itinerary, first as a map and then as a list of ports. Lack of clarity is because these are photos of a paper notice; we have not yet received one by email.
(In case you are wondering, “Null Island” is not a port. It is the spot in the middle of the ocean where the Prime Meridian crosses the Equator. We have been there twice before and the only thing we could see there was . . . water.)
As noted, this was not unanticipated but it is very disappointing. Obviously we have been preparing and looking forward to the original itinerary ports, some of which were new to us and in many of which we had scheduled excursions to which we were really looking forward.
Second, though, is the cancellation of the two day stop in Mumbai, which is nowhere near the conflict zone. We had never been to India and had three interesting excursions scheduled there. It may well be less expensive and less difficult for HAL to schedule a trip around Africa leaving a few days earlier from Sri Lanka, but we don’t think that is a good enough reason to cancel this highly anticipated port that is not near any conflict.
Third, we have been to almost all of these African ports just two years ago on the Grand Africa voyage, and apart from Cape Town we have little left that we really wanted to do or see. Many on this voyage are in the same boat, having been on the Grand Africa in 2022 or 2023 and/or having been on the World Cruise in 2023 that also visited many of these same African ports. We wish HAL would have tried harder to schedule some new ports that haven’t been visited on Grand Voyages in the last two years.
Fourth, a quick look at the two itineraries indicates that there are now about 6 fewer ports than on our original itinerary.
So this ends up being a very different voyage than the one we all signed up for. HAL couldn’t have done anything to prevent the Red Sea conflict, but we think they could have done a much better job adjusting for it. They have said they will give us Future Cruise Credits for 15% of the basic fare for this cruise, but it has to be used on cruises scheduled before the end of this year and sailing before the end of next year. They are also giving all passengers $500 in onboard credit to compensate for the additional visas that we will need (and, I guess, for what we spent on the India visas we can no longer use). So that is something, if not much in comparison to what has been lost.
We are not suggesting that anyone should feel sorry for us. After all, we are privileged to be on a world cruise and are still looking forward with much anticipation to visiting Hawaii, Japan, China and Southeast Asia. This is still a great trip, just not everything we had hoped for. If there are any further changes we will let you know.
Santarem, Brazil (2024)
Founded in 1661 and named after a Portuguese city, Santarem is now a metropolis of more than 300,000 people. Interestingly, in 1867 a contingent of die hard former US Confederates immigrated here rather than accepting reintegration into the United States. Some of their descendants still live here.
We were anchored opposite the upriver part of town on the morning of January 16, the last of five Brazilian ports all on consecutive days. Santorem is situated at the confluence of the clear blue Tapajos river and the brown Amazon and the two rivers run together for several miles without merging. The Amazon’s brown color is partly due to silt from the Andes that flows with the river all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. This stretch of brown water on one side and blue on the other is known as the “Meeting of the Waters” (which can also be seen at Manaus where the Rio Negro flows into the Amazon). On our last visit to Santarem we had a wonderful boat excursion into the rainforest and sailed right through the meeting of the waters on our return:
https://baderjournal.com/2019/11/04/santarem-brazil/
On this trip this phenomenon was clearly visible from our anchored ship.
Santorem is about half way between Manaus and the Atlantic Ocean. It was once a center for rubber shipment and other products later, but today the big product is soybeans. A good deal of rainforest has been cleared south of here to plant soy beans and Cargill corporation has a huge facility here for processing and transporting this stuff down river. Their plant, with huge storage tanks and very long conveyor belts to move product to ships in the river, dominates the up river part of town.
We didn’t have anything special we wanted to see so we just tendered to a dock near the Cargill plant, where a shuttle bus took us downtown to a centrally located square called Praca do Pescador (Fishermen’s Square). On one side of the square was a phone booth that looked like a parrot (really) and on the other was a long riverside promenade called Orla de Santarem. Fishing boats and ferries were lined up along the shore and we saw one boat (perhaps a ferry) being loaded with goods the old fashioned way, by hand.
We walked over to visit the Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora de Conceicao, the city’s distinctive blue cathedral first built in 1761. Inside was a baptism chapel behind a brightly colored curtain of hangings that would seem out of place anywhere but in the Amazon.
In front of the cathedral was a large outdoor market made up of rows of individual vendor kiosks. Many things were for sale, but the predominant products seemed to be backpacks and flip flops. We walked across the street to visit the Theatro Municipal Victoria, which looks relatively new and has a nice facade with a sweeping double stairway. Unfortunately, it was closed so we couldn’t go inside.
There wasn’t anything else here we wanted to seek out in this heat, humidity and very hot sun, so we took the shuttle back to the tender port and tendered back to the ship. As we sailed away we had a further view of the meeting of the waters. Notice that Zuiderdam was anchored in the blue water of the Tapajos River and you can see the brown Amazon entering in the background beyond the point of land.
That evening the Oi Brazil! group put on its farewell performance on the Main Stage, and what a show it was. They presented several different styles of Brazilian song and dance in different settings. For example, the first set was a street scene with a very acrobatic primary dancer doing back flips and such. Then was some singing with precision dancing by a couple who were also quite athletic (and practiced!), who ended up dancing on top of a small table. The guitarist from the jazz trio in the Ocean Bar was part of that and accompanied a performance of Girl From Ipanema on solo guitar. Background pictures of Brazilian locations were projected on the screen behind the stage.
The main singer came out for another set dressed like Carmen Miranda, a popular Brazilian appearing in US movies in the 30’s who was famous for her fruit basket hat.
The final set was the samba, with the dancers and the singer wearing Rio de Janeiro Carnaval costumes. Kimberly even came on stage in the Carmen Miranda get up. They danced up a storm then paraded up the aisles of the theater and continued throughout the ship, with audience in tow. They danced and sang and played into the Rolling Stone Lounge, where a show was in session, and basically took over the stage. The singer for the Rolling Stones band took out his phone and enthusiastically videoed the whole thing, before they danced out of the Lounge and on through the corridors toward the rear of the ship. That is where we left them. A good time was had by all.
Well, for a day that started off relaxed enough, it sure ended with a bang. We will leave you with a final view of the city of Santorem and the meeting of the waters as we close out our last Brazilian port.
BADER JOURNAL 
