Saturday - March 01, 2008
Sydney, Australia
Sydney has to have the most beautiful harbor in the world, and is certainly one of the world's most beautiful cities. We arrived on February 24, disembarked from the ship on February 25, and then caught a plane back to New Zealand on February 27. This gave us 3 days to spend some time investigating the city and we made the most of our time with a 3-day Explorer Pass that let us use two different Hop-on tour busses, ferries, regular busses, and some trains.
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Monday - February 25, 2008
Auckland, New Zealand
Having been to Auckland in 2005 on the World Cruise, we didn't feel the same need to race around the city seeing all that we could pack into a day. We decided not to book a shore excursion, not to rent a car, and not look at a guide book. Instead, we booked a ride on a harbor cruise of the city (after all, this is the City of Sails) and then took a short ferry ride across the harbor to the small town of Devenport. This proved to be a good decision as it was a lovely, relaxing day.
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Sunday - February 24, 2008
Nuku'Alofa, Tonga
Well, what can I tell you about Tonga that you don't already know - probably anything and everything. I suspect that Tonga is not very high on most people's list of must-see destinations. Now that I have been there, I don't feel the burning need to go back again, but I am glad that I did have the opportunity to go once. Even though they share a common heritage, Tonga is very different from the Polynesian Islands.
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Monday - February 18, 2008
Papeete, Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest of the 115 French Polynesian Islands and Papeete is the capital and the only real city on the island. And yes, there are traffic jams, even in paradise. Having been to Tahiti before, on the 2005 World Cruise, we decided that we didn't need to tour the entire island again, so opted for the afternoon inland tour by jeep that would take us to a part of the island that we hadn't seen before. We saw more than we bargained for.
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Friday - February 15, 2008
Pitcairn Island
You lose some, you win some. I guess Captain McNaught decided to throw in a bonus stop for us after missing two ports, because today we made a very slight detour over to Pitcairn Island, of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. Although we couldn't go ashore, we did circle the island twice and many of the island's 50 inhabitants came onboard to sell us t-shirts, postcards, ship models, and other souvenirs, and to talk about life on this remote island.
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Wednesday - February 13, 2008
Easter Island
The chances of our being able to tender into Easter Island were announced as being 50-50. Seeing as we had not been able to do the previous two tender ports, we were expecting the worst. What a terrific surprise when we awoke on February 10, anchored in Cook Bay, to find a clear, sunny day with big, white, puffy clouds and most important of all, a low ocean swell. Yahooo!!! Down went the tender boats, and excitement reached a fever pitch as the passengers crowded into the theatre, waiting to be called for their chance to go ashore. We were going to see a magical place that few people ever get a chance to visit. It was what woman called a "pinch me" moment.
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Saturday - February 09, 2008
Valparaiso, Chile
We divided our time in Valparaiso into two parts, the morning on our own in the resort town of Vina del Mar and then the afternoon on tour in the city itself. There is not much room between the high cliffs and the ocean, but these two places combined comprise Chile's third largest metropolitan area after Santiago and Concepcion. Valparaiso has a population of 150,000 and it is still the country's main port.
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Saturday - February 09, 2008
Strait of Magellan
I have always believed in the old saying that "Every cloud has a silver lining", and the silver lining for having to miss the port of Punta Arenas is that we got to sail through the Strait of Magellan during the daytime instead of at night. To say that the weather was blustery would be a vast understatement! The winds were blowing at about 60+ knots and it was darned cold, but the scenery was magnificent.
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Sunday - February 03, 2008
Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, Punto Arenas, Chile, and Cape Horn
Well, as our Australian friends would say, Buggaah! Or, bugger as we'd say in Americano. The two ports where we could expect to see penguins, and not much else from the advance information, are no shows. Actually we are the no shows because the winds have been too strong for us to tender ashore.
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Thursday - January 31, 2008
Montevideo, Uruguay
Montevideo, pronounced montay-vee-day-o, not montee-vid-e-o as I heard one woman say it, was a really delightful stop. We spent 1 1/2 days in port here and I could easily have stayed for another 2 days. Uruguay is probably the most stable of all the South American governments, and has been democratic almost since the country's conception in 1808. It is quite a wealthy country with a high literacy rate. Compared to the cities we visited in Brazil, the capital city of Montevideo is quite a safe place to wander around in. Rather than take a guided tour here, we decided to explore on our own and we had a great time doing so.
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Monday - January 28, 2008
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
When Portuguese navigators found Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502, they thought it was the mouth of a river so they named the port Rio de Janeiro (January River). When precious gemstones and gold were found in the interior of Brazil in the early 1700s, Rio assumed a central role in the exporting of riches back to Europe, and in 1763 it was named the capital, taking the role from Salvador da Bahia. Today, Rio has a racy reputation for oiled bodies in skimpy bikinis, golden beaches, samba bands, Carnival, and crime. Its harbor is thought to be the most beautiful in the world, with the 130-foot statue of Christ the Redeemer on Mt. Corcovado welcoming all who enter with open arms.
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Monday - January 28, 2008
Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
Amerigo Vespucci sailed into the Bay of All Saints on November 1, 1501, but it wasn't until 1549 that Brazil was actually colonized by the Portuguese at Salvador. The discovery of mineral riches had a lot to do with this, and Salvador became the capital city. The tobacco and sugar industries here were run by slave labor (which resulted in a very large African population in this part of Brazil). Colonial churches filled with gold and beautiful mansions also grew out of the riches. Salvador became known for wild festivals, general sensuality, and decadence. Unfortunately, we didn't see any signs of all this sensuality because we arrived one week before the Salvador carnival, the second biggest after Rio. But we definitely saw the vestiges of the riches that poured out of the ground, and, for a price, I even managed to take a few of the semi-precious jewels away with me.
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Monday - January 21, 2008
Barbados
We had a lovely day in Barbados, mainly sunny with just a short rain shower. We chose to do an excursion in a Land Rover that took us on an off-road expedition around the island. I have to admit that I have never been a big fan of Caribbean travel. I can only do so much lying on the beach and I burn easily. I can't swim, so snorkeling with a life vest on is the extent of my water sport experience. I think I am a type A personality who always has to be doing and seeing something, so Europe is more to my liking. But one would have to be a complete idiot not to appreciate the natural beauty of the landscape, the wonderful white sand beaches, and the colorful houses that dot the island.
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Friday - January 18, 2008
Fort Lauderdale
Having been to Fort Lauderdale before, we didn't feel the need to rush off and see everything there is to see, because frankly, there isn't that much. The center of Fort Lauderdale is quite pretty, with a few high rise buildings and a lot of restaurants, but it is the gorgeous, and incredibly expensive, houses and yachts lining the canals that give the place its color and interest. Fort Lauderdale is called the "Venice of the South" and for good reason. I know that a lot of cities make this same claim, but in the case of Lauderdale, it seems justified. The city is criss-crossed with a series of canals that can be seen by boat, and we even saw a Venetian gondola tied up with a sign advertising Gondola Rides.
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Wednesday - January 16, 2008
New York, New York
Not trusting Michigan winter weather, we started our journey by flying from Detroit to New York on Friday, January 11, ensuring that we would be there in time to board the ship even if the weather was bad enough to delay us a day. It was raining when we arrived in New York, but cleared that evening and stayed sunny and fine until the time of our departure two days later. Cunard had taken out a full color insert in the New York Times advertising that for this one historic occastion only, all three Queens (the Elizabeth 2, the Mary 2, and the Victoria) would be departing New York together with a celebration of fireworks over the Statue of Liberty as they sailed by.
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Monday - December 31, 2007
Here We Go Again
We're off to New York soon on the first leg of the next big trip.
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