Crossing Equator

We have now officially sailed across the Equator.  At approx 1am we crossed the Equator, but King Neptune only came on board this morning with Queen Double D for the ceremony.  All the Pollywogs (us) became Shellbacks.  Glad they only selected a few representative passengers to be grunged!  Didn’t relish being slathered in eggs, spaghetti and other unmentionable globs!

Hawaii

Three stops here.  The Big Island of Hilo, Honolulu and Kauai.  On  Hilo we had a volcano crater tour which was very interesting.  Largest volcano in world is here – the only one that can be seen from outer space so they say.  First time we have come across a bus driver who is also the tour guide.  She did both very well.

Honolulu was our shopping destination for sneakers.  Looking for named brands cheap.  We found them but chose not to buy as our options tended to be pink, bright blue and fluorescent green!  Not our colours!  Glad we had already been to Pearl Harbour as weather too windy for tenders to get out to Arizona memorial.

Third island of Kauai was very scenic.  Many movies have been filmed here including Elvis’ Blue Hawaii.  Went out to their version of the Grand Canyon.  This was quite different from the one in Arizona but still very spectacular.  Again our driver was our tour guide and he was also very good at both.  He was passionate about his island’s history and heritage.  Told us many legends about the islands and the landmarks, in some ways very similar to the oral history of the aborigines.  We had a very nice lunch at a resort hotel, but the last ones in did not fare as well – not a lot left.  Problem was not our little  bus, but the big ones that came after.

Sea days now until Pago Pago, lose a day, then Fiji, New Zealand (2 stops) and Sydney.  Where has the time gone?

 Lava Tube

 Tsunami Warning system - tested each month loudly!

Waimei Canyon

Los Angeles 10^th August

Hard to realize, but it is four weeks since we came on board in Dover.  Quite veterans of the ship now and manage to get to where we want to go without backtracking very often.

In Los Angeles today so caught a taxi to Long Beach, visited the old Queen Mary, (as if we haven’t seen enough of the inside of a ship!).  Would have been a life of luxury for those who travelled in her years ago.  Don’t think however I would have liked to have been one of the 800,000 crammed into her during the period of WW11.  Sure their accommodation was nowhere near as comfortable as pre and post war sailings.

Russian submarine tour was optional extra, but we decided that it wasn’t for us.

Visited two of the USA’s institutions – Walmart and the big M.

 The Queen and the Russian sub

Panama plus

2^nd August

Transit of the Panama Canal today.  This started early in the morning and by the time we had been through three sets of locks, with varying numbers of chambers and steps, it was late afternoon.  I know some readers of this blog attempted to see what was happening, but time difference didn’t make that easy and the bow camera didn’t show sides of ship.

What a magnificent engineering feat this was.  Huge cuts made in the mountains, horrific working conditions and primitive machinery.  The new expansion system will make the canal much more accessible for larger ships and alleviate need to unload some containers one end, train these to the other end and reload.

We only had 25cm clearance each side in one lock, so imagine the panamax ships.

There were quite a few ships waiting in the Gulf of Panama after the transit and they can wait for three days sometimes for their turn to transit.

Made a sign to hand on the balcony for the cameras.  Probably no one spotted it so have included it below.

4^th August

Puntarenas today.  Interesting place with a fine black sand on the beach.  Everyone swimming and playing on the beach looked so dirty, but guess it would be no worse than our white sand to clean off and out of clothes.

Took a bus trip out to Espiritu Santo coffee plantation for a very informative tour and tasting, before going on to Sarchi.  Here they make decorated ox carts for sale.  Up to about 20 years ago these painted carts, which identified their owners by the decoration, were still used in the mountains for carrying goods.  All the equipment in the factory is run by a large water wheel – very clever.   It was quite pleasant temperature up in the mountains, but when we got back to the ship, the heat was very noticeable.  Walked through the little stalls at the port entrance but didn’t part with any money.

Pier is quite long (about 500m) so there is a little train to take people from ship to shore.  Big tidal movement – 12 feet today but up to 16 feet so pier is built out a long way and ships have to run with the tides.

 Coffee growing on hill sides - all work done by hand

 A souvenir painted ox cart

Caribbean Islands

July 30^th

Aruba in the Caribbean today.  Booked an excursion that included a drive around the island to several places of significance and an experience in a semi submersible boat (one with a viewing area under water), to look at a ship wreck and the topical fish.

What absolutely beautiful beaches.  Sand is fine and white with turquoise blue green sea the other side.  Small thatched beach huts dot the beaches – just what one dreams of a tropical paradise.

Weather forecast was 28, but with the humidity, it seemed warmer.  When we returned from our excursion we walked into town, but didn’t stay as it was so warm and the shops were all high end designer products though there was a market section of small shops selling tourist souvenirs.

An overnight sail took us to Curacao, the largest of the ABC Islands. Although hot, there was a stronger breeze today and that kept it more pleasant than Aruba.  Island is not as arid, nor probably quite as pretty as Aruba, but still nice to see.  Have learnt how to correctly saw the name of the place too.  It is Cur-ah-sow. With the ‘ah’ being quick and the ‘sow’ being like the pig.  (A bit of useless trivia for you!)

Visited the Hato caves and saw some basic formations and some fruit bats before a walking tour of the old area of town established by the Dutch in the 1700’s.  The house are all attractively painted in many different colours and shades. The old floating pontoon bridge was interesting as it opens by moving like a gate, to allow ships to enter the harbour (as many as 30 times a day).

Makes you feel a bit ignorant when you find out most islanders are fluent in at least three languages.  Dutch is official language, and they are taught English from primary school as well as speaking their own island language and then either French or German later.  Our cave guide did tour in English and Spanish switching to either language mid sentence almost.

 Curacao Floating market

 Aruba Beach

Aruba town

Next Blog

New York was nowhere near as good a stop as it could have been.  Three hours to clear immigration to start with – slow traffic to get anywhere and a departure time of 5:30 didn’t lend itself to too much sightseeing. 

Ron needed a new foil for his razor, so that was a top priority.  Caught taxi to Macys, bought a new shaver cheaper than the foil – if it had been available!  Had a very good lunch for less than $7.  Serves so large, we shared 1 soup and 1 meat & veg. pack.

Ship was berthed next to the aircraft carrier Intrepid, which is now a museum (space memorabilia included), but we were too late to visit.

As we departed the city, we had good views of Manhattan area, including the new Freedom tower on the twin towers site, and also the Statue of Liberty.  We had sailed by the statue about 5:15 am as we came up the Hudson River, and had some nice photos of it in the dawn light, but still nice to see it in full daylight. 

We had booked a trip to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, but this was changed because Ellis Island had been badly damaged in the cyclone earlier this year.  Since we didn’t want to spend 2 hours in the gift shop on Liberty Island instead, we cancelled the trip.

Headed off towards the Caribbean, only to hear that a tropical cyclone was forming where we were headed.  Change of plans and port followed.  Sailing path altered and Antigua cancelled and replaced with Aruba.  Haven’t been to either so didn’t fuss us much at all.  

Saw an excellent show the other night with marionettes.  Extremely good and very cleverly done.  Some of the puppets were operated with 8 strings, others up to 16 and apparently tonight we see one with 32 strings.  Lots of strings for one person to get tangled, but that did not happen. 

Manage to spend a bit of time playing 500 and have been attending the “raw beginners” bridge lessons.  Have actually learnt a lot playing both. Watch out our card partners!!

 Statue in the early morning

Freedom tower dwarfs surroundings

New Jersey skyline early dawn

Photos following last blog - internet too slow last time
Windturbines as we are entering Copenhagen harbour - good place for them
and A view of one of the canals in the city centre

Windmill in Rotterdam and the narrow houses

Troll in Oslo - lots of trolls around in streets and shops and a photo from ship as we are approaching the harbour

Torshavn, through the fog.  Picture is clearer than it actually was as filter on camera  improved view

At Sea

On our last night in Dover we had an intruder in our room.  Woke up and heard a noise in the bathroom but when Ron checked, he couldn’t see anything.  In the morning we discovered Ron’s toothbrush on the outside window ledge and the dental floss sticks.  A bird, probably a gull as there are many around, had decided to do some thieving.  Guess the noise we heard was the toothbrush on its way out the window.

 Boarded the Sea Princess on Friday afternoon and unpacked.  Not sure how the contents of our cases can also manage to fill all wardrobes and drawers in our room.  Where did it all fit!  Trouble is – it has to go back in the cases again (but not for a little while).

In Rotterdam we had a tour out to the Windmills of Kinderdjik. These are the traditional mills we see in photos, but their purpose was to drain the fields, not mill grain.  There are 19 of them and it is now a National Heritage site.  Saw some very narrow houses in the old Delfhaven area.  Apparently they were taxed on the width of the house so this was kept small but the houses are quite deep to compensate.

  

In Copenhagen we visited the Little Mermaid again and had a bus trip around the city.  Sightseeing buses had free wifi but was fairly patchy, only managed to clear the junk from emails without sending anything.

Not good internet access in this area, so including a few ports.  In Oslo we went  for a trip to the Viking museum and saw three long boats from around 800AD.  Two had been restored, one was as found.  Huge number of burial gifts, beautifully carved were found in the burial mounds with these ships.  Went to the Holmenkollen ski jump to see scenic views of city before going to the Vigeland Sculpture Park.  Over 200 statues, all except one ‘au natural’ depicting the Circle of Life.  Wonderfully made in great detail.  Most were bronze casts, but the central monolith display was marble.  This was completed after Vigeland’s death following plaster casts he had made. 

No port stop for Faroe Islands because the weather was unfavourable.  Had travelled through fog for some time and the wind was coming from the wrong direction to make berthing easy and widened the turning circle of the ship.  Now on a seven sea days to New York.

Dover Castle

 Dover Castle dominates the skyline when you look up from the town

From the top of Henry IIs Great Tower, you can see the Church of St Mary-in-Castro and the Roman Pharos (lighthouse).  This is all inside the castle battlements.

Thursday

Today we have walked our feet off I think.  Up to town to leave the washing at laundromat for a service wash before taking a taxi up to Dover Castle.  We did think of walking, but I decided that I would rather ride.  Thank goodness!  It was a steep winding road and quite a distance - a good half hour walk we were told and all uphill!!  A very interesting castle with a very long story.  Went down into the underground tunnels and had a sound and light type presentation of Dunkirk.
As part of our hotel package deal, we had a cream afternoon tea - scones, jam and cream, very beautifully presented on a two tiered plate.  Too much really for afternoon tea, but it was very nice.
Suitcases to repack tonight for almost the last time for our holiday.  gosh I like that aspect of cruising.

10th July

Left London today and caught high speed train to Dover.  (Took a photo of train for Jay)  Hotel is nice and right on the sea front, not that it is any comparison to our beaches – all small rocks. Saw some people ‘sunning’ themselves and preparing for a swim.  Didn’t actually see them go in though. 

Weather has changed and had a few spots of light misty rain, but still not that cool.  It is really nice to feel some fresh cool air.  Have noticed before that it is not always that easy to get room windows open, and of course in London, there was no cool breeze anyway as it was so warm.

Tomorrow we are going up to Dover castle.  It dominates the skyline of the town.  Not sure about walking up there, wonder if there is some form of transport?

Tuesday 9th July

Last full day in London.  More shopping for 'bare essentials' before going to theatre to see matinee performance of Jersey Boys.  We bought half price tickets and got front row seats in the dress circle. Enjoyed the show and the music.  Tomorrow we are off to Dover by high speed train.  Decided that it would be a bit more comfortable than a stop start bus trip and cheaper than a private transfer!

Sunday 7th July

Arrived in Dubai after a little eventful hiccup.  Found out Friday that Visa PIN wouldn't work and problem couldn't be fixed over phone.  Needed to get to Adelaide by 12 to sort this out.  Made it with about half an hour to spare.  Visa fixed and off to have lunch with Tish and girls for Cassie's 17th birthday.  She passed her driver's test that morning so will now move up to being a 'P' plater.
From there, to Mark's where we helped Connor celebrate his 8h birthday (a little early), before he and Tatum flew back to Brisbane on Sunday morning.

June 27th
Two weeks tomorrow we will be boarding the Sea Princess for our cruise home.  One week on Saturday we fly out of Adelaide. All of a sudden there seems a lot to do in a short time!  Visiting Scott and Tania for a night before heading home to induced chaos.

May 20th 2013
Today the cruise ship Sea Princess is due to depart from Sydney on her World Ccruise 2013.  Unfortunately we are not on-board, as the time commitment was more than we could make.  Instead, we are sitting at home carrying on with every day tasks, but waiting with impatience for our turn.
In 47 more days we leave Adelaide on our way to London for a few days before joining the cruise in Dover on the 6th July. 
Have been following all the chat on Cruise Critic site and Facebook and read a wealth of information about what is available - some new, but others reinforcing what we have discovered.
This will be our eighth cruise (4th with Princess Lines) and our longest.  Poor cats will have to survive with their surrogate carers for  a while, but experience tells us that they will not be disadvantaged at all! (Maybe Shadow should learn to wait for his fish and not help himself to whiting that is thawing for humans' tea.)