Month: January 2020

We had 2 days and one night in Barbados. I took the first day to spend more time snorkeling. This time it was from a large catamaran that accommodated about 2 dozen of us. We entered the sea from a ladder at the bow end between the 2 hulls. Dozens of green turtles tolerated our presence. There was also what I first thought was a sea monster. It was 2 feet long and spotted. I was later told it was a puffer fish, and like I said it was 3 feet long. It had a large head and it ate other fish. Did I mention that it was 4 feet long?

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On the second day I took off on my own. I told the man in charge taxis at the port that I wanted to go to Rock Hill. At first he did not know where I was talking about and he had to consult a map. When he appreciated where I intended to go and that I was alone, he escorted me past a long line of waiting taxis to a female taxi driver, named Ann but called “Mama”. Mama and I negotiated a bit starting at $100 but ended up at $50. Rock Hill is a former sugar cane plantation. Slaves there were emancipated in about 1834.

Emancipated but with no place to go, the slaves stayed on the plantation and began to receive wages for their work about 2 years later. There are the remnants of what they call the “slave huts” and a more recent monument to this history. At first Mama wanted to take me to the usual tourists sites: government buildings, the university, the exclusive hotels and beaches. But she eventually drove me out of the city and into humble but pleasant country areas. The houses here are owned by the descendants of those slaves. Some of the original slave huts still exist in ruins. A few have been preserved and are still occupied by the descendents..

As Mama began to warm to my interest in this area, she proudly showed me the house where she and 3 generations of her family were born, on land that has been in her family since emancipation. She said her ancestors were brought there from Ivory Coast to serve as slaves. In 2005 a sculpture was erected to memorialize this former slave and plantation area. Its soaring lines pay homage to the continuous lineage from past to future. Sadly it seems to be rarely visited and is not well maintained.

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Linda

I am discovering that cruise travel is flexible and is sometimes totally dictated by climate. We were initially intended to go to Saline Bay on the tiny island of Maryeau in the Grenadines. Tides and winds made the captain of our not so large cruise ship, divert to the just as tiny island of Bequia in the Grenadines. Port Elizabeth is the most picturesque and the only town on the island. Still it was an interesting and pleasant visit. Its port could not even accommodate our ship so life boats were used as tenders.

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Port Elizabeth had a charming version of the tourist strip, where locals showed their wares. Some of you may know that I am sometimes quite emotional about dogs. That emotion is frequently fear. I was therefore rather intrigued by the home made fudge kiosk. The proceeds go to feeding the feral dogs that roam everywhere. They don’t rescue them. They don’t immunize, spay or neuter them. They just feed them. If they are visibly sick or injured they will try to capture them, but the island has no qualified veterinary services. So care is limited.

Pick-up truck “taxis” drove us all over the island, proudly showing us vistas and the lavish homes of their wealthiest residents.

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The highlight was the hawksbill turtle sanctuary.

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They recover eggs from the beach to hatch them. They raise the turtles for 5 years; then release them back to their original beach. Ever curious, I asked the turtle wrangler , how one can tell a girl turtle from a boy turtle. They all looked the same to me. He said all the turtles in the tanks above were girls about 2 years old. He said their life span might be 50 years in the wild. You cannot tell the gender until they are about 10 years old. Then the males develop what most people think is a tail. He also said that gender can be influenced by the temperature at which the eggs are hatched. Well, what’d ya know!

Linda

We had a one day stop in Bonaire. This again was mainly a beach opportunity. And thankfully I seemed to have found my sea legs at last, so I was able to enjoy this stop. Bonaire is said to be one of the world’s best places for scuba and snorkeling. I don’t scuba, but I will snorkel. I went out on a small sailboat with 5 others for this adventure. It was a great morning. We had a great time.

We had a one day stop at Oranjestad. This was largely a beach opportunity, but I was still not at my cruise ship best. So I mainly hung out at the port area and took photos. One can get beach photos from the internet and one beach pretty much resembles another. So my photos have a slightly different focus. The main tourist drag had the usual tee-shirt and souvenir shops, along with the up scale shopping and restaurants. I took the trolly on the main secondary street. It had plenty of tourists but also some local residents and shops.

Greetings,

Today I am on the Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles west of Cape Verdes. This is the third consecutive day at sea. We have already been to Cartagena, Columbia; Aruba; Bonaire; Bequia (a tiny island in the Grenadines); and three days ago, Barbados. In a separate posting I will post some photos. Today I thought I would offer a personal essay. I don’t know how this will work out. I am sometimes reticent to offer my personal perspective on things. I am sometimes unsuccessful at keeping that perspective to myself. Nonetheless I will try to offer a picture of life as it is for me today.

I am about 2 weeks into this adventure, and it has indeed been an adventure, undoubtedly with even more to come. Some of you, “gentle readers”, are probably seasoned cruisers and well adapted to the vagaries of ocean travels and cruise ship life, but much of it is new to me.

This ship is not very large as cruise ships go, only about 400 guests and about the same number of crew. About 25% of the passengers, like me, will be on board for the entire trip, four and a half more months. Others will come and go. We are an international bunch but not as varied as I expected. The majority are Americans. Next are citizens of the UK and associated countries. That is England, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, and two “Kiwis”. There is a sprinkling of folks of East Asian background, a couple of Germans, and one couple from the West Indies. Sometimes this results in a fairly strong British ambience. There is a fair number of solo travelers, who are like me, “unescorted ladies”. Almost everyone on the ship, like me, is a senior citizen. Some are exceedingly senior. It sort of feels like Blue Skies. I was surprised to learn that most of these travelers already know each other. They have sailed with this cruise line for years and decades. It is not uncommon to find people who have been on 30 trips, or even 100, with this cruise line. They have known each other and some of the cruise staff for decades. I am definitely the “newby”, but everyone has been open and welcoming. It seems that cruising with this line is habit forming. I believe, however, that I am financially immune to this addiction.

I believe that most cruise ships have music, dancing, comedians, and shows. There is no shortage of that here. The talent is top quality. I have been pleasantly surprised about the truly intellectual and informative lecture series. So far speakers or “conversationalists” have included an anthropologist, a photography expert, an astronaut, a oceanographic meteorologist, a marine biologist, and a Hebrew historian. Each gives a series of informative “conversations”. Former British minister of economics and business, Sir Digby Jones, is giving a series on global economics. Retire Royal Navy Commodore Rupert Wallace, is giving an historic to current overview, of how European countries came to dominate the world. Today he gave an overview of slavery and slave trade from the Hebrews (He picked up where the rabbi left off.) to current day human trafficking. This all sounds like an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. Of course many guest prefer to sit around the pool with a cocktail, but nerdy me is loving it.

There is, of course, gourmet food galore. Not surprisingly though, they are a little weak on vegetarian nutrition. I miss bicycling, but I have been too busy or too tired to think about it. I tried the stationary bikes in the fitness center, but it is just not the same as the Wheelmen and Jubilados. For one thing there are no dogs to keep me motivated. Another thing is that it is hard to ride when the floor is rocking and rolling. You have to hold on to stay on the bike. The seas were atypically rough in the Caribbean, but they have calmed considerably, so far, for the Atlantic crossing. I may get back to the stationary bikes.

So far on the Caribbean islands there have been the usual beach opportunities. I have been snorkeling and sailing. I did some individual exploration in Barbados. I will post pictures in my next photo gallery. (Coming soon, I promise.)

Regards,

Linda

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Cartagena has 1.5 million residents. It was first established as a fortress and port in the 1500’s. Historically it was one of the busiest ports in the Americas, trading everything, including human beings. As other areas of South and Central America grew, it diminished in importance. It has resurged in recent decades and especially since the guerilla war has ceased. It is now a vacation destination for rich South Americans who own most of the condos and hotels. It has much poverty, which was not in our tours.

January 10th is a sea day. Overnight there were 10 meter swells all night. I slept through that with no problems. Swells diminished today, but still I can’t say it’s been a “swell” day for me. Aruba is the next stop.

Greetings All,

Yes, I am alive and well. I am just now getting oriented enough and energy enough to start telling about my journey. There are of course the usual horror tales about airline travel, which of course eventually work out well. I’ll make mine brief. It involves taking off at 5:30 AM only to have to make an unscheduled landing at 6 AM because the plane’s radar “went out”. I got a new ticket on a different plane at 11AM but TSA would not move luggage to a new plane. My luggage did eventually arrive and all is well.

There was a black tie “gala” for the 100 or so people who are doing the same world cruise. There are another hundred or so people who are doing some portion of the cruise, getting off in Singapore, Cape Town, Sydney or elsewhere. There will be others joining the cruise at various ports. I am one of the few relatively novice cruisers. A number are on their second or even third world cruise. Everyone is friendly and generously offers cruise tips and advice.

Our first port was Key West in the good ol’ USA. I was there for the day and I had the wonderful experience of meeting SN, the delightful friend of a friend, who lives in Key West. I promised you no food photos, but I can tell you that we had a lovely brunch at a cafe called “Moon Dog”. Then SN showed me around the island on a walking tour. I didn’t take many photos. Mostly I just loved hanging out with SN. We bonded and I hope we will be long term friends.

The photos I have posted are of my new home for the next 5 months. It is spacious and comfortable. Tomorrow will our first international port, Cartagena, Columbia.

Thanks to all of you who have tuned in and left comments.

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