At Sea to Ft. Lauderdale

We've calculated that this journey consisted of 7,260 miles sailed and 5,862 miles flown. The last two days are being spent at sea. We're currently about 50 miles from Cuba and the weather is getting cooler (mid-70s) and windier as we travel north.

All indications are that we're going to be in for a big change in weather when we get home. It'll begin to feel a lot like Christmas! Tomorrow morning, we'll leave the ship around 7 a.m., our flight to Muscle Shoals is at 10 a.m. We should be getting home around 2:30 p.m.!

Overall, its been a wonderful trip! Taking the laptop with us enabled us to stay in touch, organize our photos and videos into a slideshow, and post to our blog before we forgot everything we did. The only news we heard while we were gone were the many troubles of Tiger Woods! Surely, there is something else going on in the world. We'll have 28 newspapers to read when we get home, so we'll soon find out!

Dominica

Dominica! This was our first time on this island. We hired a taxi to take us to see the sulphur springs and the rain forest. Dominica is a very lush volcanic island and the locals welcome you with steel drum music and big smiles!

Our sail off this afternoon was very sad! This was our last port on this fantastic journey! Next stop....home!

Yesterday We Woke Up in Barbados!

We hired a taxi driver to take us to Payne Bay with a couple from another ship that was in port. Payne Bay is where the catamarans take tourist to swim with the turtles. We arrived at the beach, rented snorkels, masks, and flippers and swam with and actually touched several very large sea turtles. At one point, one came up for air right in front of us! After several hours, we had the taxi driver drop us off in town and enjoyed an appetizer of fish cakes and cold beer at one of the waterfront diners. We walked back to the ship, which was further than we’d anticipated. Hopefully, we swam and walked off at least one of the many desserts we’ve eaten while on this trip!

Fortaleza, Brazil

We arrived in Fortaleza on a Sunday and were surprised to find anything open. We took the shuttle into the city center and walked through a 3-story handicraft market and toured an old Church. This is a city of approximately 3 million people and I do believe that most of them were in town that day!

It was extremely hot and 100% humidity (just like any August day in Alabama). There were activities available (i.e., beach trip, dune buggy tours, etc.), but we returned to the ship early, although we'd been at sea for 4 days, and had 3 sea days ahead of us.

Crossing the Equator

We tracked our progress towards the equator with the GPS we brought onboard. I kept looking for the big yellow line in the water (similar to the 1st down line in a televised football game), but I never could find it.

I was asked if the water in a basin drains in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. I tested this theory in our bathroom sink and found it drained counter-clockwise. However, I have no idea which way it drains in the northern hemisphere.



We already considered ourselves Shellbacks, having previously crossed the equator. However, there are those that think you have to cross it by water before you lose your Pollywog status. We did attend a big party onboard whereas the pollywogs were initiated. But, did not participate. We celebrated in our own way, with a toast!

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean

This is day 3 of 4 on our journey across the Atlantic Ocean. The seas have been exceptionally calm and the skies are blue. It continues to get warmer as we head south (currently at 9 a.m., its about 75 degrees!). Yesterday morning we passed through the Cape Verde islands, which will be the last land we will see until Sunday, when we arrive in Fortaleza, Brazil.

My concerns of getting bored during these 4 days have passed. Our days are busy drinking coffee, going to the gym, eating breakfast, lounging on the sun deck for a little while, eating lunch, returning to the cabin to watch a movie (which Richard wanted me to add that while crossing, there is no ESPN, world news, or other important satellite feeds, only taped programming), catching up on emails, blogs, and of course facebook, and then going back to rest up for dinner on the sun deck in the late afternoon. Then you have to get ready for dinner and plan your evening activities. There is absolutely no time for bingo, art auctions, trivia pursuit, or other major wastes of our precious time! :} This is what I call serious vacationing! The King and Queen will return to our prior positions on December 21st.

Tenerife, Canary Islands

The weather is getting warmer as we head south. It was 70+ degrees in the Canary Islands. Tenerife, the capital, was very tourist friendly. As you left the port area, maps indicated several city walking tours that you could take and were identified with colored stripes on the sidewalks that you could follow. Other tours directed you to a nearby tram stop, where you could purchase your ticket and ride to the designated location. We chose to take the tram to La Laguna, which is the old colonial capital of the Canary Islands. The architecture was from the early 1500s. Our overall impression was that Tenerife was clean, the people were friendly, the taxi drivers were not pushy, and they made it very easy to tour the island on your own.

Knowing that this day would be followed by four sunny, warm, relaxing days at sea, we did a lot of walking today. We leave the old world this afternoon, heading towards the New World!

Casablanca and Marrakesh, Morocco

This is a great example of why we cruise! Cruising is a great way to see places that we’d not normally visit, to see if we would like to return for a longer stay. In this case, NO.

In all fairness, I’ll try to paint an unbiased picture of our day. But you must know that organized group tours are not “our thing”.

We arrived in Morocco the morning after Alabama played Florida for the SEC championship (Roll Tide). We woke up at 4:30 a.m. to turn the TV on, hoping for results of the game (9:30 pm central time). ESPN quickly reported that the Tide had throttled Florida! Not beat….but throttled! With that, we were unable to go back to sleep, and seeing how the alarm (yes, I said alarm) was set for 5 a.m., we went ahead and got out of bed. We headed to the Lido deck for our morning infusion of caffeine, only to find out that there was no staff awake yet to make our espressos! Knowing that we had a 3-1/2 hour bus trip ahead of us, and not knowing what comfort stops were available, we decided to forego the 3 cups of coffee we normally would have to replace the espresso rush we so needed.

Our excursion was to leave the ship at 6:30 a.m., and we were supposed to report to the Princess Theatre promptly at 6 a.m. like sheep being led to their slaughter. We were herded out of the ship, on to awaiting buses sitting there in the dark. Like in every large group, there are always those that you would not choose to sit next to because they talk non-stop. And as our luck goes, they sat right behind us on the bus. They were completely unaware of the double danger they encountered (1, we were up much earlier than we liked, and 2) we had not been infused with caffeine).

We arrived in Marrakesh around 10 a.m. There was an excellent 4-lane, controlled access highway that took us there. We picked up a local guide as we pulled into town. He seemed more interested in supporting his own agenda rather than serving as our tour guide. He seemed to know everyone in town and herded all 30 of us into 3 or 4 expensive shops for high pressured sales pitches.

The market place, although quite intimidating, was very interesting. Women in burkas approached us wanting to sell us silver jewelry or just begging for money. Their English, however, was excellent.

At lunch, we were herded into a restaurant with another 100 or so people from other groups. The food was not bad (vegetables, chicken, fresh tangerines, and a cookie). Loud music was played by a couple of local musicians and a belly dancer tried their best to entertain us, as we ate. Everyone wanted money, the photographer that took our picture as we entered the restaurant, the musicians, the belly dancer, as well as the snake charmer we encountered in the square outside the market.

After a full day of excitement, we returned to our bus for the long ride back to Casablanca, and to our home away from home, the Grand Princess.

After a day of rest and relaxation at sea today (by the way, the weather was 70+ degrees), we look forward to arriving in Tenerife (Canary Islands) tomorrow morning. And no, we don’t have a group tour planned!

Gibraltar

We just sailed from Gibraltar through the strait between Europe and Africa, which is 36 miles long! At this point, they are only 8 miles apart. We're headed to Casablanca. Our tour departs the ship at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. It'll be an early night tonight, although Alabama and Florida are playing. We don't get CBS, but will watch updates on ESPN. We took the cable car to the top of Gibraltar and the views were beautiful. It is less than 3 square miles in area. There are also approximately 250 monkeys on the rock!

Barcelona, Spain

WOW! What a day. We took a 3 hour tour of Barcelona on Segways! Everyone survived. We were able to cover a lot of the city in a short time. We're leaving Barcelona tonight, headed for Gibraltar. But a day of rest at sea tomorrow, thank goodness.

Florence and Cannes

We spent Tuesday at Pitti Palace and it was absolutely spectacular! I was in total awe of the paintings on the walls and ceilings. My neck was hurting so bad from looking up that I wanted to lay down on the floor. It rained in the afternoon, but can't complain about that!

Today we arrived in Cannes, France and took a train and bus to St. Paul de Vence and returned to walk around Cannes before returning to the ship. It was an absolutely beautiful day, 65 degrees and sunny. We had to eat one last crepe before leaving France. Why do I do that? I never eat dessert at home!