Recife/Norovirus

After 4 days at sea we docked in Recife, Brazil.  Their rich soil and an tropical climate tempered by ocean breezes favored the cultivation of sugar cane. Huge plantations called fazendas, worked by African slaves, grew in the region. However competition from the Antilles and French & English West Indies threw the thriving industry into decline.

We hired a taxi and just took a local tour.  there isn't much to see here and we were only gone for 1 hour.  Carnival begins in 2 days and the people are decorating the streets.

The Captain just made an announcement that several cases of the Norovirus have been reported to the doctor.  both Gary & I have really bad colds, but fortunately, not the virus.  Our symptoms are very different.  Those that have the virus are confined to their cabin for a week or two (what a shame).  In the buffet, we are no longer able to take the food ourselves, the staff serves everything.  Unable to even take a packet of Splenda or use a salt shaker.  Same in the dining room.



Also, here is a picture of another part of the ship.

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Pill Box

Our first day (a week ago) I realized that I had forgotten my pill box.  Without hesitation, Gary said "I'll make you one," and proceeded to do so.  He took several wooden coffee stirrers and his Gorilla tape (he never goes anywhere without his gorilla tape), and made me a pill box.  Thought I would share a photo.  Pretty cool, huh!!!

Trinidad

Trinidad was the earliest settled island in the Caribbean.  Since first inhabited over 7,000 years ago, it has had significant cultural infusions from Spain, France, Britain, India, China & Africa.

Ornithologists from around the globe flock to Trinidad for its diverse bird population, which showcases over 450 species including the island's only native bird, the large, forest-dwelling Trinidad Piping Guan, found nowhere else in the world.

Trinidad is one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the Caribbean and is listed in the top 66 high-income countries in the world. In the Caribbean, it's the second richest country next to the Bahamas.  It's economy is strongly influenced by the petroleum industry.

I made Gary stay on board today.  He needs one complete day of rest.  Coughing has kept him up every night.  Hopefully he'll start to feel better soon.

Barbados/Ship

I am finally able, not only to do my blog, but also import pictures.  Took long enough!!  Anyway here is a picture of part of the lobby of the ship.

For more than 3 centuries the island was under British rule making it one of just a few Caribbean Islands to be continuously controlled by a single nation.  English tradition mixes with African heritage brought by sugar plantation slaves create a unique Bajan culture.  The capital is Bridgetown and is a center of Caribbean finance and tourism.  It is a major port of call for many cruise lines.  While sugar has been the islands major export for 300 years, Mount Gay Rum has produced one the world's finest spirits  and the oldest rum distillery.

Gary is too sick to do much of anything here.  However, we did take a car into town and just walked around.  Had lunch on the ship and Gary went back to the cabin, hopefully to get some sleep.

 

 

Antigua

Antigua was formed by volcanoes and it's first settlement dates back to 2400 B.C.  It is located in the center of the Leeward islands in the Eastern Caribbean.  It's the largest of all the English-speaking Leeward Islands. Population is 85,000.  It has 365 beaches and a deep maritime history.  Christopher Columbus landed here in 1493 and named the island after a church in Seville.  In 1784 Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed into Antigua. the port would later develop into Great Britain's most important military bases in the Caribbean.  Located in English Harbour, the 19th Century dockyard that once served as the headquarters of the British Naval Fleet of the Leeward Islands in now a museum and National Park.

Gary and I hired a car to take us to the other side of the island to visit the Nelson museum.  It wasn't much of a museum, but it was situated along side a magnificent harbour.  Our driver gave us a tour of the island as we drove and we had a lovely day. Timothy Dalton (James bond), Eric Clapton,, Giorgio Armani,, Ken Follett and Richard Branson all own homes on the island.

St. Thomas

St. Thomas, along with St. John, St. Croix and Water Island make up the US Virgin Islands.  Christopher Columbus visited and named them in 1493.  They were uninhabited for 200 years, until buccaneers Blackbeard, Bluebeard, Captain Kidd, etc. called St. Thomas a pirate safe harbor.  In 1917 America purchased the territory for $25 million in gold.  As late as 1950 there were only a few hundred people on the islands.  Things slowly changed beginning in 1956 when Virgin Islands National Park was dedicated.  Pan Am began flying here and home rule came in 1970.  Overnight the world discovered the virgin Islands.

It is definitely set up for tourism as stores were lined up adjacent to the dock.  We had a great lunch at a local restaurant, then back to the ship.  We didn't have much time here, but didn't need much.

Summary

Thanks to our good friend, Jeff, I was able to log into my blog.  I still can't download any pictures as Internet Explorer isn't available on the ship and google doesn't allow pictures through aol.  I'll have to figure out something else in order to complete the blog.

Here's a summary of the trip since leaving Chicago.  O'Hare was a breeze, we were really surprised. Getting on the ship wasn't as pleasant.  It took us 2 hours, standing in a line before, we got processed. We were at sea for two days before docking at 4 different islands in the Caribbean, St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad.  We never got off the ship in Trinidad (had our fill of the islands).  I'll talk more about the various islands later.  Gary has been sick the whole time, but seems a bit better today.

This is our second day at sea en route to Brazil.  We enjoy the sea days more that the ports we visit. Gary held a get-together of pilots and sailors, his two passions.  It was big success as about 15-20 people showed up.  This afternoon they had a meeting of those passengers who were on previous World Cruises, surprisingly there were more than 50 people.  It was great fun to reminisce.

About half of the people on board are from Argentina and will be getting off there.  That is the first segment of this trip.

I hope to be able to continue and I'll just have to enter my pictures when I figure out how to get around the problems.

Problems!

Unfortunately, because I'm at a strange computer, due to Google's security I am unable to enter my blog.  They ask me to enter a phone or text number when I sign in and I have neither with me.  A  code would be sent that has to be entered when I log in, I am unable to access a phone.  Right now we are at Tiffany's using their computer and the girl was nice enough to put in her phone number.  However, I will have the same problem when I'm back on the ship.  We are in St. Thomas now and for the next 3 days will be in Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad.  

 In the meantime, we ran into a couple that we traveled with on the world cruise in 2011 (www.worldcruise11.blogspot.com).  They were at my birthday party, Andrea & Mark.  I understand there are about 40 people on board that were on our other trip. The ship is beautiful but much too big for us.  It holds 3,000 people and we are used to a 600 passenger ship.

Gary got sick on the first day and is battling a bad cold, I think I'm coming down with the same thing.

We Leave Tomorrow

No time left.  We are both packed and, surprisingly enough, I am not overweight on either of my suitcases.  The next hurdle is O'Hare Airport & security.  I guess my next entry will be in a few days. 

Above is a Picture of us in front of the USS Missouri in Hawaii.  So long, for now...to be continued.

One More Week

Below is a picture of the Amalia Glacier in Chile.  It is between Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt, which are on the west coast of South America after rounding Cape Horn.  It was taken a few years ago, I hope to have a better picture next month.  Actually, is sort of looks like the front of my house.

Two Weeks To Go

With only two weeks left I have begun the daunting task of packing for a 50 day trip.  With limited luggage options, it has become a frustrating procedure.  Because the climate in most of our stops will be warm to very warm, and some of our stops will be cool, we will be going from bathing suit to fleece.  We are only taking two bags each otherwise we would have to pay extra for additional baggage.  So packing requires a lot of thought.  I'm sure I will have to pay overweight on one of my suitcases.  On our World Cruises we were able to ship a carton filled with all the liquids (which are not allowed on the plane) such as contact lens cleaner, detergent (laundry), bath soap, sunscreen, etc., along with several other heavy things like my hair blower. Unfortunately, this year we have no place to send a carton so we will have to take everything in our luggage.                  

Anyway, the process begins today.  It will be a good day to get started, as you can see by the pictures, we are knee deep in snow.  We have  had more than our share of ice and snow this winter. I believe 2013-14 comes in 3rd in snowfall (more than 62") and below zero temperatures since they began keeping records in Chicago (late 1800's).   It's really quite beautiful, but...ENOUGH!