THE SITE CRASHED and we lost some previous content. Africa, India, and southeast Asia. Hopefully we’ll be able to restore but in the meantime we restarted the blog in Japan. Enjoy!

The World Has Come to An End

45,500 Nautical Miles Sailed

Victoria, British Columbia & Astoria Oregon

As we leave Astoria, OR, it is time to say good bye.

Our World Journey is coming to an end, as we sail the Pacific for just one more day.

It is time to come home.

We had our sail- a-way party on the pool deck and all 410 employees walked the track to a roaring an appreciative crowd as they we introduced by departments.

The band was playing, passengers were dancing and the entertainment crew ended the party, by plunging into the chilly pool together.

A great day evolved into a great birthday dinner at Toscana with Rejean’ and Monet.

Tomorrow morning we will have a sunrise gathering on deck, as we pass under the Golden Gate Bridge at 700AM.

Breakfast to follow with our friends Paul & Carol as we say good bye again.

Thank you for sharing our memories on DeNightsWorld travel blog.

We’ll be seeing you soon. xxoo

Love, JD & Ande’

PS. Here are some pics from British Columbia, Astoria and what we’ll be missing aboard our floating home, Insignia.

Miss Our Balcony Views

Beautiful British Columbia

PRINCE RUPERT, CANADA

Pulling into our neighbor’s country of Canada! The Maple Leaf flag is now off the aft section of our ship, Insignia.

Prince Rupert is a seaport hamlet in the province of British Columba. Grizzly habitat, intense whale watching and sports fishing.

It is a beautiful harbor with a 20ft tide. Never seen such an incredible tide change. All docks are floating on huge pilings.

Incredible 15 Ft Tide Change

We chose to book our Orca & whale watching day in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia in two (2) days. We’ll arrive in two (2) days after sailing in the Inside Passage of Alaska.

Gorgeous Flowers In This Past Of Canada

Beautiful Sunken Gardens

Lunch!

King crab Halibut & Sockeye Salmon

Ketchikan, Alaska

Salmon Capitol of The World

Welcome to the island of Ketchikan.

The island is the second largest rainforest in the world behind the Amazon. An average of 12 feet of rain each year!

During the Alaska Gold Rush, Ketchikan was known for its gold and bordellos on Creek Street!

Now all structures (except one) have been beautifully updated for retail shops. Fun area. Beautiful salmon streams running through the town.

Afterwards, we went to a great, Alaskan Lumberjack Show. Most of the lumberjacks were from Buffalo and Michigan. lol

Cutting, sawing, chopping, tree climbing and log rolling were all part of the show. Great show.

Dolly Salmon Creek Run

The Great Lumberjack Show!

Show Was Great! Time For Crab!

SITKA, ALASKA

We had a beautiful, calm, smooth night of sailing into Sitka this morning. The sun set at around 1130PM and I awoke to a sunrise around 410AM.

We woke up to a beautiful, day in Sitka then set out to walk the day with some friends. The harbor is magnificent.

Headed downtown on our way to the Rehabilitation Raptor Center for bald Eagles and Owls.

The downtown stores are making everything from real animal furs. Including The Duke!. LOL

Beautiful Alaska Spring Flowers

$200 For 2.5 lbs. Sorry. Not Me.

An Amazing Place! So close to Them!

A Different Rehab Center – Bears!

This place was amazing. Such a great story.

Alaska law states a rehabilitated bear CANNOT be returned to the wild after they are healed.

This is due to their exposure to humans. Bears would wander into human communities, then be killed when captured.

This bear rehab center was constructed in an old grain mill. Huge property which is free-range for the bears and human-friendly for us observers.

The average Alaskan black bear here is 500 lbs. The average brown or Kodiak is 1,000 pounds.

Truly beautiful to see them up close and personal. Look at the size of their paws.

Alaskan Black Bears

Brown & Kodiak Bears

Us Four! More Salmon!

Our biological clocks are still out of whack. We were 19 hours ahead of home.

We are in the historical Aleutian Islands now. Locals are called Aleut’s;

We have been sailing for five (5) days and fortunately, the seas have been calm. It was like glass this morning.

Not any more.

The past two nights we had 20-25 ft waves and it was crazy. Ship sounded like it was going to break in half.

Captain said we had to miss Kodiak Island to stay ahead of the worst of the storm.

He continued to sail but at only 7 knots due. to the size of the waves.

The crew warned us it was going to be rough. They strapped down all deck chairs and locked all access doors to all decks for two days.

Hope to not experience that again 🙂

Tomorrow we will pull into Seward, Alaska. Hopefully, under dry skies.

LUCKILY, we have been lucky with calm seas since Central America.That luck ran out, as described, on the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska.

Definitely an intense experience.

SEWARD’S ICE BOX, ALASKA

Finally getting some decent, but still shitty, weather.

It’s been an adventure getting to this point in the Alaska cruise from a rough seas perspective.

As an Ensign on the ship told me, “You are on the top of the world. You can never predict the weather.” Boy, was he right. Calm like glass in the morning, 25 foot waves at night. Wild.

Finally set foot on land! Time to check out Seward and reindeer hotdogs 🙂

Welcome To Seward, Alaska

Seward is the starting point of the original, world famous Iditarod. The race begins from the southern part of the town.

We started walking in the light rain towards the marina part pf town.

Seward Loves The Iditarod.

JD Loves Walking the Marina, Talking to Captains & Looking at Catches

As we walked the marina, we came across a Memorial honoring Fishermen who lost their lives on the Bering Sea.

In addition, another Memorial honoring those fisherman who lost their lives in the 1964 earthquake in Seward.

Today, a a big earthquake occurred in Anchorage.

Lunch

DUTCH HARBOR ALASKA USA

Brrrrr. Cleared US Customs and headed into town via the ship’s tender boats. Temperature is 47 degrees, raining, and windy.

Not a good welcome the USA! And, no cell service here!

However, our national bird, the bald eagle , flew onto to our ship and perched on our bow mast. That was a great welcome.

We took a taxi into town to check out the WWII museum and Maritime museum, all under one roof.

The town’s name is Unaslaska, a name give to the town by the Russians when they owned the territory.

It is now a global, seafood powerhouse port in Alaska. See below from the museum. Amazing.

The US government bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867.

The indigenous Aleuts were great fishermen and hunters for centuries.

The area of Unalaska was far from reaching its commercial fishing potential.

In the early 1970’s, the US government instituted an economic development program for the Unalaska commercial fishing. The government loaned $150,000,000 to individuals and businesses to develop and market the commercial fishing market.

Boom! It worked. A great investment in this part of America.

Today, we wanted to find a local place for fish and chips. Mission accomplished. A great place managed by Filipinos. lol

We had great fish and the best clam chowder we ever tasted!

Halibut and black cod in the fish & chips. Local Alaskan brew too. Yum

As we were walking in the cold, misty rain on the way to and from the museum, noticed king crab pots lined up along the road.

Then, we saw our guy below. Probably enjoying the smell of crab on this crab pot perch.

KUSHIRO, JAPAN

Northern seaport, our last city in Japan, and home to Japan’s second largest zoo. And yes, know for its seafood and sushi. lol

They advertise the Polar Bear and Red Panda, so we’re going!

After today, we sail for 5 days to come back to the USA.

Dutch Harbor, Alaska will be our first stop back in America.

It’s been a wonderful journey.

Cute & Mean Red Panda

Russian Seals From Krill Sea

Japanese Yellow Beak Bald Eagle. Big Bird!

When We Got Back To The Port, Decided To Get Some Lunch.

No More Sushi!

Crown Plaza Hotel!

HAKODATE, JAPAN

Hakodate is located on the northern coast of Japan famous for its seafood industries and mountain cable car with award winning views.

TripAdvisor has voted Hakodate #3 in the world for city views at night from a cable car. Great time.

I think we’ve rode most of the famous city cable cars in the world now.

We lost the view in a manner of 10 minutes, when clouds rolled into the mountain top..

We got down to town, then headed to a famous sushi/seafood market that Ande’ read about online.

Locals rush to have lunch there, then rush back to buy dinner seafood after work.

Some fish there for their fresh squid:)

We got to the market and the local lunch crowd started coming for some ticket action.

You buy 1 yen tickets from the “Ticket Lady” in a quantity you deem appropriate for lunch.

She say, “No ticky, no sushi!”

We bought 15 yen worth and a fellow passenger left giving us 4 more. He was stuffed. lol

$1 = 1.36. yen You then go to each vendor and buy your food with tickets. Example: 1 bowl of rice is 1 ticket..

As we were eating, a young woman asked me if we were Americans off the cruise ship.

As it turns out, she is a famous Anime actress and singer. Having lunch with the locals and with her agent.

Squid Fishing for Lunch. 1 Yen# For 1 Squid

We then walked through one of Japan’s best seafood markets.

Always fascinated by the assortment of seafood and freshness and cleanliness of the fish and markets..

Once we were finished walking off our lunch, we took a long walk home to chill.

Tonight, we have dinner at a traditional, family-owned restaurant. No reservations. Fingers crossed.

We got here at 630PM and they were turning away patrons without reservations. Sent Ande’ up and in to see what’s up.

Boom! She got us in the door. Other cruise passengers turned away. lol

We waited for about 25 minutes, sitting on the stairs listening to Japanese songs downstairs being played on a shamisen, A traditional Japanese string instrument.

The music stopped playing, 5 minutes later, an elderly gentleman started climbing the stairs. He smiled, sat down with us and started playing his shamisen for us. Magical moment.

We were then instructed to go downstairs to be seated.

We entered babasan’s (grandmom) world with her daughter Yukka . Ready to serve us dinner.

Ordering was like a Seinfeld episode due to the language barrier.. A riot.

KIRIBI = Striking A Flint To Create Sparks On Your Back Creating Good Luck

AOMORI, JAPAN

Welcome to Aomari!

Home of the Japanese apple industry, Samurai Warrior Nabuta Art and fabulous seafood markets. A wonderful port.

Apple Store. Everything Apple

This area is famous for Fuji apples

Ancient Art Form

Aomari Host The Annual Nabuta Parade

Love These Seafood Markets!

TOKYO, JAPAN

We finally made it to Tokyo! A beautiful city in every way.

It was seventy eight (78) years ago this August, when Japan was a beaten down, war-torn nation that signed a treaty to end the war with the USA.

A nation with severe, war-related injuries among its population and a broken will. However, with the help of the USA Marshall Plan, and the will of its people to rebuild their lives and society, they overcame the atrocities of war.

Tokyo reflects this proud people.

The city is so spectacular it is hard to express in words.

City skyline architecture, public transportation, no homelessness in their country, public cleanliness, culture, commerce and respect for each citizen.

All with a democratic system of individual voting rights. A model for all rogue, communist and military governments.

The city with more 3- star Michelin restaurants than any other city in the world. We can’t wait to hit this city!

Fortunately, the ship’s port is close to a state of the art monorail to take us deep in the city of Tokyo.

Monorail/Subway Empty at Night

Our first day, we took a trip into the middle of the city to see a 16th century Japanese Garden.

What a beautiful green space and hydrangea colors among concrete and downtown steel.

Skyscrapers and industrialization evolved over the decades, building “around” the beautiful Shukkein-en Gardens in downtown Tokyo.

Afterwards, we visited the Tokyo Tower, which at one time, was the tallest structure in the world. Great observation deck.

We always check out Chinatown’s, even in Japan. Awesome! See below.

Unfortunately, we lost our SONY camera somewhere in Tokyo so pictures are limited. Fortunately, these are some good shots from our iphones.

Our first night Tokyo we took the monorail into the Ginzu Business district. The objective was to check out sushi restaurants, tempura restaurants and geishas being escorted into and out of expensive businessmen’s limos.

First Stop High-End Sushi Eatery

Loving The Chinatown in Japan.

Thank God We Walked 14,000 Steps Today.

The Feast

Hope You’re Japanese! Bye Tokyo!

KOBE & ARIMA JAPAN

Home of Kobe Beef and the Ryokan in Arima.

We headed to the mountain, hot springs town of Arima, via Express Bus, to stay at the Ryokan overnight. What a day and night.

Spent the night, then haded back to Kobe for the day and night.

We’ve been enjoying Japanese cuisine so much, we didn’t even eat Kobe/Wagyu beef!

Farmers feed them Sake’ and massage the Kobe cattle’s belly. Crazy.

What we saw getting off the bus in Arima. Beautiful.

The Ryokan, a Japanese traditional hotel, built around the mountain’s thermal hot springs. The thermal hot springs in Japan are called onsen’s, and are a tradition in Japan for relaxation and medicinal purposes.

Walking to Hotel Up The Mountain

Welcome to Japan. Shoes Off.

They are nude only and available for community usage. Springs are divided between males and females. Kids up through Granny are nude. in these onsen’s.

We enjoyed the community onsen in town.

I haven’t seen so many Johnson’s in one room since gym class in high school. I stopped counting at 40. Kids up through Grandpop.

Public Thermal Foot Bath. Mineral-rich Water In The “Gold” Spring

When you enter the onsen, you first take a seat on a small, bench seat in front of a mirror and a handheld shower.

Body washes and shampoos readily available to start scrubbing and rinsing.. Before and after the onsen.

Incredible experience.

The hotel was a trip and unique in. a great, traditional way.

Small doors, uphill and downhill hallways due to mountain construction, evening and breakfast kimonos provided, and the infamous Bento Box for breakfast..

Not to mention the futon bed pillow with funky bean pillows. Pillows sucked. lol

We went to the separate onsen’s in the hotel before dinner and booked a “private” onsen at 9pm in the hotel for 45 minutes after dinner.

The town of Arima reminded us of small, Colorado ski villages. Beautiful.

We walked back down the mountain to town for dinner.

We were surprised to see many places closed early on a Saturday night.

Lunch was so awesome we went back to see our gal on the Japanese grill for dinner.

They were packed but smiled and found two chairs to pull up to the bar/grill table with her.

Headed to the Private Onsen

Silver & Gold Onsen Springs

Check Out Our 730AM Breakfast

Chowing The Bento Box

SHIMIZU

Japan’s Tuna & Sushi Capital

Today the goal was to see the famous Mt. Fuji and eat Japan’s best tuna..

We proceeded to the Miho no Matsubara, Pathway of the Sacred Hagoromo Pines, located on Shimizu Bay.

It is called “Path of the Kami” in Japan. Kami are the Shinto Spirits that comes from the sea and use the Hagoromo Pines for their descent.

The park is a very spiritual place used by many, to leave their origami notes and personalized stones for the Shinto spirits to answer.

What a great morning on the spiritual, Shimizu sea coast.

Prayers were said for all friends and family. Ian got an Ande-made, special rock sculpture in his honor.

Next we drove over to the highest point in Shimizu. High in the mountains looking down on the city. Clouds moved in and we could no longer see Mt Fuji.

The observation deck is also an emergency contact tower for tsunamis, earthquakes and missile warnings inbound from North Korea,

The park featured beautiful hydrangeas as we walked to the tower.

The City of Shimizu Below

Sushi, Fried Rice & Dumpling Heaven

HIROSHIMA

An emotional and tearful visit to the city destroyed by USA’s Atomic Bomb and ending the war with Japan.

The time and date the A-bomb exploded over Hiroshima.

The afternoon was an interesting but solemn day.

Hiroshima today is a thriving, vibrant city. A proud example of Japan’s strength, will power, work ethic and its impressive, industrial complex to rebuild..

We walked all afternoon just observing the museum, its grounds and the city itself. It was a beautiful day. Take. a look.

The Atomic Dome in Hiroshima.

Before and after. Only remaining building from 1945.

Survivor’s Memory of Blast

Children’s Art Memory of The Blast

The below pictures stopped our tears and made us smile.

Young Japanese school children who wanted to interview us, in English ,about “Peace.”

Their teacher was an American living and teaching in Japan.

The children are Japan’s future leaders. Charter school. Exceptional students, per the teacher.

The Children’s Peace Monument, on the grounds of the museum, is in honor of the children who died in the blast.

Hundreds of field trip, school children were honoring the fallen children with hand-made origami.

KAGOSHIMA

We spent the day at Sengan-en Gardens, the prior home and Japanese Garden of one of Japan’s industrial revolution’s pioneers. The Shimadzu family.

The first industrial furnace was invented in Kagoshima. This engineering breakthrough led to the rise of the steel industry and other associated manufacturing businesses in Japan.

We stayed at the garden and museum all afternoon and headed back to the ship for an early departure.

Our Walk On Family Premises was 12,100 steps

A Ninja Crew Trimming Trees

A Massive Japanese Garden

Purple Sweet Potato Soft Serve

OKINAWA

We’ll go back and reload our Okinawa page and every page for our Japan ports.

Currently, we are heading to our last Japanese port, Kushiro, then begin a 5 day journey out of the Pacific Ocean.

The navigational chart shows Insignia heading into the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Hubbard Glacier and ultimately, many ports in Alaska.

OKINAWA was a leap back into history and the US Armed Force’s aggressive battle on the island of Okinawa.

This battle was the only ground battle on the grounds of Japan. The US overwhelmed the Japanese with 550,000 soldiers and thousands of ships and aircraft.

In the end, over 250,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians lost their lives in the battle of Okinawa.

The Peace Memorial is a beautiful cemetery and museum highlighting the horrors of war. Families pay annual trips to the sacred grounds.

The memorial grounds are manicured like a beautiful Japanese Garden.

When we left the Peace Memorial Museum, we drove to walk the tunnels of Okinawa, used by Japanese commanders during the battle.

The tunnel network was constructed in 9 months, to hide officers and radio command communications, 300 feet underground.

The Japanese officers had medical, sleeping quarters, mess hall and extensive radio communications operational on August 4, 1945.

When the US Forces overwhelmed the island, the Japanese officers all committed hari-kari (suicide) in the tunnels on August 14, 1945.

The war ended in August 1945.

NAZE

Naze, Japan….

We arrived in Naze, surprised we were arriving in the best diving and snorkeling area in the country of Japan.

Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. We planned to hang at the below beach and snorkel and snorkel over famous patch reefs throughout the area.

After seeing the below sign at the beach, maybe it was good Mother Nature didn’t allow us in the water. Locals say hammerheads and tiger sharks have been n the area this year.

Sign at Our Beach to Snorkel. NOT!

We ended up exploring the town and having a great lunch at a small. husband-wife restaurant.

We were also hoping to get a better internet connection. NOT.

The restaurant was also a laundry. Bags of folded clothes hung from the ceiling. Too funny.

The biggest upside was our experience with the famous, Japanese TOTO toilet. Heated seat, controlled music, wandering wand and the adjustable bidet. Love it!

Starting the Japanese Food Journey! Delicious.

Loved The TOTO!

After lunch we checked out our first Japanese grocery store. The just wrapped and put out this seafood in their sushi area.

Passed on the fish but bought some $4,00 Chilean vino 🙂

CAPE VERDE

Welcome to the volcanic islands which form the Cape Verde archipelago. Approximately 300 miles from the west coast of Africa.

The Portuguese, once again, started colonizing the islands during the 15th century. Cape Verde did not obtain its independence from Portugal until 1975.

As we opened our stateroom curtains, the volcanic structure rising out of the bay was right outside our balcony.

We believe the white building is a navigational and weather station for the archipelago.

Locally, Sao Vincente is known as the “Birthplace of Hurricanes.”

Interestingly, all of the sand beaches in these archipelago were carried from the arid sands of the Sahara desert.

As we were walking out of the port, we were wondering wwe got ourselves into with the sea turtle snorkeling excur

We did not book it through OCEANIA.

However, we got picked up by a great local guide and diver by the name of Quiff.

While walking in the port, JD saw a fishing boat unloading its frozen catch from the refrigerated hull. Sharks and/or swordfish heading to China. Per Quiff.

Hope the sharks weren’t caught in our snorkeling area. Yikes.

As we were driving to our snorkeling spot on the south side of the island , we caught some shipwreck photos in the bay.

We were told they broke loose from their moorings in storms and sunk.

We arrived at a remote little seaside village and noticed the boats that would be taking us snorkeling. Yikes 🙂

They are launched directly from the beach, which under normal circumstances would be fine.

The “launch” is 20 villagers pushing our boat into the surf.

However, today the waves were quite big with strong currents at the surf line. I must admit, I was kinda freakin out!

Despite seeing Becky’s death grip on Michaels arm and my look of total fear, WE MADE IT out of the crashing surf!!

I can’t believe JD was taking pictures the whole time.

We got soaked on the launch, but when we finally got out on the water, it was amazing.

I’ve never been in the water with huge sea turtles. Wonderful.

This big guy greeted us at the spot!

As we were getting ready to enter the ocean, this beautiful turtle came by the boat just under the water.

The sunlight did magic with the colors of his shell. Spectacular.

As we snorkeled, they literally swam right up to us. Mom, Dad and baby turtles. Awesome.

Quiff and his mate were feeding the waters to bring more sea turtles to the area. The other boats joined us in the area.

Below we were getting ready to climb back in the boat, so JD took off his mask to get me up and over. Becky snapped the pics of us in the water.

Thank goodness they had a make-shift ladder.

Going in with the large, cresting surf to the shoreline was a waiting game for the Quiff crew.

It was a 10 minute wait until they made their run. It was getting rougher and waves were bigger. Little edgy on this maneuver. Yikes.

The 20 villagers ran into the surf to grab and hold the boat as we disembarked. Amazing.

It was a great excursion at a beautiful beach area with plenty of dogs and crabs. Lol. Went back to the ship and enjoyed a dip in the hot tub!

Our neighbor enjoying the sail-away with some vino tinto.

We sailed away and came back to our room to find this notice. Yikes!!!

For the next 13 days, we will be sailing in what the United Nations calls the “HRA” or High Risk area that is prone to pirate attacks.

“Within which the use of armed guards and weapons are usually required by navigational ships for protection. “

The West Africa HRA has had the designation since 2012.

218 piracy attacks in 2018. Insignia had an incident years ago that was thwarted.

These navigational waters off Africa have direct courses/routes to follow coming from the west Atlantic Ocean.

These routes are patrolled by US and UK Naval ships in constant constant contact with INSIGNIA. Yikes 🙂

On the open sea today.

Happy St Patty’s Day everyone!

JD said the first St Patty’s Day celebration was recorded in 1601 in a Spanish province now called St. Augustine, Florida.

Home to one of the DeNight bro’s and family.

I may GOOGLE that. lol

We will be talking to you after are Dakar, Senegal stop. XXOO

FYI… Just got the word, Navy Seals came on in Cape Verde. Game on pirates. Just met two (2) of the four (4) SEALS onboard….. Easy to spot….

Tattoo’s all over, ripped and “Yes, sir. Yes, sir” when we were talking. Said we were happy to welcome them to our neighborhood for 13 days 🙂

“Glad to be here sir.”

TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING

Finished three days at sea, and are closing in on the Cape Verde Islands, the starting point for tropical storms coming off the coast of Africa that track to our home in Florida.

We will be arriving at 1030am, Thursday, March 16th.

We have been blessed with calm waters and beautiful weather on the transatlantic crossing.

Yesterday, we were advised the Captain was shutting down the air conditioning (YIKES!) on the ship, due to massive algae blooms that were ingested into the ship’s filtration system for the HVAC system.

We looked outside and saw large algae blooms that looked like the large weed lines we used to follow in Miami for dolphin (mahi) fishing.

Air conditioning on the ship has been awesome.

Between the AC, incredible beds, soft bedding linens, and the slow methodic rocking to the ship, everyone on board talks about loving the “ship sleeping.” Including me!

This small blog entry is just to say hello and post pics of chill on the ship each day while cruising across the Atlantic Ocean.

It has truly become a neighborhood on board for the ATW’s, where everyone knows each other and enjoys each other’s company.

Most of them 🙂 lol

There’s always something to do and the days fly by very quickly.

We love sea days. Even better sharing with Michael and Becky.

A few days ago, we noticed a sign on the gym door stating it was temporarily closed.

It was the “only” common place on the ship closed. Game room, smoking lounge, big auditorium, library, and spa were all open.

JD inquired and was told the ship had hit the 3% level of passenger capacity for reported respiratory illnesses.

This enacted protocols.

The only protocol we saw implemented was closing the gym.

The protocol put JD on a mission (Oh No!) to solicit passengers that use the gym to go to the front desk and file a complaint.

JD filed the first complaint. He convinced me to go down individually to file a separate complaint.

Two days go by and the gym was still closed.

At least 15 passengers we knew from the gym filed verbal complaints.

JD then wrote a letter to the ship’s General Manager(GM) and delivered it to the main reception desk.

We got back to our room that night, and there was a message on our phone from the GM requesting a meeting in the morning.

JD met with the GM in the morning at the outdoor track.

Since there were no additional respiratory cases for the prior two days, protocol would have allowed the gym to be opened the morning.

GM thought he could surprise JD.

However, late last night another case was reported, so another three day waiting period before the gym can be re opened. Bummer!

The meeting was cordial and the GM agreed with many JD points. However, protocol comes from the corporate offices, so the gym remains closed.

We joined Michael and Becky and had a great dinner at Toscana (Italian) restaurant on board.

Looking forward to Cape Verde and a snorkeling trip to swim with the turtles off the coast of one of the archipelagos islands.

Pictures below will show where we are on the globe and life on board while at sea.

We just completed 60 days of our trip, so 120 days to go!

It’s been wonderful.

Hope it doesn’t go by fast 🙂

Until next time….xoxo

Chillin chica’s and Michael chillin with Mitch Rapp.

Deck activities. lol

This is our running track, always a great view!! Now packed without gym.

Is that steak and lobster for lunch? YES! Back to reality in 120 days:)

We play cards with New Yorker’s Monet and Rajean’ on sea days. Sometimes liquor is involved, Lol.

Need new tan lines on the hiney for the Brazilian bathing suit!

Looking for Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Free 15 minute massages

Caio, over 13,000 ft deep sea

We’re finally out of Brazil, and heading east for three (3) days across the Atlantic Ocean.

The weather forecast looks good for smooth sailing and “everyone” on the ship is excited to start our African adventure.

The entire ship had telecommunication problems for the past five (5) days ever since we left the exciting city of Rio de Janeiro.

Maybe it was the Iranian warships spotted in the harbor of Salvadore jamming the airwaves????

New buddies of the new government?

Anyway, all comminicado is great now since we set sail from Brazil, so it’s time to catch up with you.

The past four (4) Brazilian ports have been eventful and non-eventful for many reasons.

That said, we’ll start with our two (2) day stop here in Salvadore and share the experiences. Good and bad.

SALVADORE, BRAZIL

The day started with great weather, and our goal for the day was to walk up the mountain road to spend the day in the “Old City.”

As we were walking through the city and at the start of the mountain road, some of us became concerned.

We noticed no tourists walking in our direction on the narrow road’s walkway. Not one.

This is when our troubles began.

As we’re walking up, I saw some older guys in alley, looking like they are shooting up drugs.

To add to the concern, Becky sees people living in a cave on the mountain. She’s getting nervous (rightfully so) and wants to get a cab.

Unfortunately, at this point, no cabs to be had, nor any car traffic, and we were halfway up the mountain road.

The high hills on each side of the road sheltered the sun making this part of the road very dark and ominous. And scary.

We were walking the road in single file on the sidewalk.

JD upfront, Becky, Michael and Ande.

Becky noticed some older, teenage boys following us and getting closer.

The next thing I realize, the bigger guy of the two, runs up to me screaming Portuguese and motions he has a gun in his waistband under his shirt.

Becky started screaming, “Polizia, Help!” at the top of her lungs, but no one is around.

I didn’t know what he wanted until he tried to grab my cellphone with his left hand.

Michael jumped between me and the guy and yelled, “They are robbing us!”

When the guy reached around Michael and tried to grab my shirt on the back the neck, things got crazier.

JD runs up shouting obscenities, with his fists up throwing punches and kicks.

At this time, the guy is fighting JD with both hands, No gun. He grabs JD’s right leg after a kick and throughs it up in the air, causing JD to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Michael is watching the 2nd guy (who was scared straight) and another guy walking up on the other side of the road.

Becky was still screaming adding to the chaos which was good.

I’m in the middle of this feeling like I’m in a dream.

JD gets up from the road to get back at it but fortunately, the guys turn around and run back down the road.

Michael said the guy on the other side of the road kept walking, but used the ASL sign “I’m sorry.” Crazy.

JD tried to get some buses and cars to stop but they all passed , except one.

A banged-up mini van pulled up, young guy jumped out saying nothing and opened the side door.

Six (6) people were inside, staring at us, saying nothing.

We said, “no obrigado” and continued walking. Fast.

We made it to the “Old City” relieved and grateful.

The incident lasted no more than a minute.

A minute of fear, chaos, screaming and adrenaline rushing.

After it was all over, we actually had a great time in the “Old City” as you’ll see in the pictures.

Thank you Jesus!

“Boys will be boys!”

Once up in the city, we noticed the heavy African influence in this part of Brazil. Lots of sculptures and art murals throughout the town.

The city’s beautiful, colonial architecture shows how they built the city around the churches and the government building.

UNESCO has designated Salvadore as a “Music City” due to the Afro-Brazilian mix in the music.

Micheal Jackson actually performed in concert in this city.

Although Rio De Janeiro gets all the “Carnaval” publicity, Salvadore, is in the Guiness Book of Records for the largest Carnaval crowd ever.

We finished the day at an Afro-Brazilian cafe enjoying cold cervazas and crab pastels (empanadas). Becky enjoyed a local citrus flower vodka drink. Yum!

JD had tried so hard to find an Antarctic beer while we were in Patagonia to no avail.

Funny that he found one here.

The food was delicious and the waitress was great!

” Hold-Up Hill “

My name for the road. We got mugged about 50 yards down the hill from the bus.

JD & Michael, Our Hero’s

Dinner that night celebrating our health & safety at the ship’s steakhouse.

Great sunset. Guest deck party.

We actually had two days in Salvadore. On the second day JD asked, “you want to go back into the town?” NO THANK YOU!!!!

Michael & Becky concurred.

We worked out then crashed out by the pool.

Off to Maceio, Recife and Natal.

Maceio, Recife, and Natal Brazil

There was not a whole lot going on at these next three stops, so we combined all three. We’re wondering why OCEANIA even scheduled them

In the first stop of Maceio, we took an excursion to an island beach area called Gunga Beach.

We were intrigued by the opportunity to finally swim in the Atlantic, without security concerns on the beach, and get to the beach via a”Catamaran”.

Our catamaran….Lol

As we boarded our boat, we looked around the marina and started to wonder what we got ourselves into 🙂

After boarding and laughing with some cruise friends, we realized this would be a great day.

Lots of beach activities and even the Brazilian David Hasselhoff!

We had a great sunset ride back to the marina.

Next stop, Recife, where we took another “Catamaran” excursion through the rivers and canals in the city.

Recife is known as the Venice of Brazil.

We had a great time listening to the Dutch influence in the city’s historical development .

In addition, the beautiful buildings and the strange, phallic sculptures along the main estuary. Say what? Look at them close up 🙂

What was that artistic message?

Many local fishermen in the estuary, JD got a great shot.

Our Catamaran. LOL

Wish that CAT was ours. NOT!

What’s this?

Favellas along the river

” Peace Be With You”

After leaving “Venice”, we were taken to a 1895 prison that has been closed and converted to a “mercado” for local merchants.

They operate out of the individual jail cells. Very cool.

Shopping in a jail cell!

Slept in today after arriving in Natal.

Not much going on in this port, had a bad vibe of the area, but we decided to take the shuttle to the town market.

Believe it or not, it was another converted prison.

Where are the criminals?

Becky got a few things then we headed back to the ship.

Local firewater with live crab. Tempted but we didn’t buy it. lol

No firewater needed, just some more vino for sailing across the Atlantic to Africa.

Beautiful local tapestry hanging from the ceiling of a jail cell.

Can’t wait to sail under it

Tonight we sail away from Natal to our last port in Brazil. Fortaleza.

It is an important commercial port and the closest port in Brazil to Europe.

It was settled in 1612 by the Portuguese, who battled the French and Dutch to retain it.

Many Dutch maritime artifacts remain here and Recife.

Dutch-built fortress.

Ande’ and her frutta guy.

As we’re in the terminal , we asked a local tour rep for the best beach in the area.

He told us Furturo Beach and to go to the Orbito Blue Beach Club.

We jumped in a cab and $10 later Orbita Blue!

Our last day was a blast!

Great beach vendors including our favorite guys selling cold fruit, iced shrimp with limes and beautiful lobster. Bought them all!

The cerveza was cold, the sun was hot and security cops were close by us. Perfecto! Lol

Ande’ got her beach massage while Michael and Becky walked the beach. Nice chill on our last day.

Polizia!!!

Lots of dog owners with their cute pets on the beach and a darling little girl selling candy. for Momma.

The only downside all day was the ocean’s waters… Funky brown foam.

Seen mucho along the country’s coast as we sailed the Brazilian coastline.

Setting sail for the three-day transatlantic journey to Mindelo, Cape Verde, the archipelagos off the coast of Africa.

Caio, caio Brazil! It’s been an adventure 🙂

Talk to y’all in a few days days or so.

xoxo

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET.

CABO FRIO, BRAZIL

We arrived early Sunday morning in Cabo Frio.

Founded by the Portuguese in 1615. Cabo Frio is surprisingly, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Janeiro. Big state.

The ship anchored offshore and the four of us took a tender into the dock.

As we were coming in, we noticed the packed beaches and coastline with sunbathers, fishermen, and snorkelers. Beautiful, clear water.

The plan was to hit the famous “Bikini Street” where we were told is a great place to buy a bikini, and then on to the beach.

Wow, I was so surprised at all the great shops and wonderfully, inexpensive prices. Great quality. Becky and I did great!

Even Michael found his favorite bikini. lol

JD and Micheal went to a local boat club on the estuary for cervezas and pastels (empanadas). Watched the boats and kayakers.

Becky and I shopped. and shopped. and shopped, So…..we never made it to the beach, Lol.

The shopping was too good to leave! Maybe I over shopped a little? Nah!

JD asked a cruise friend at the pier, “How was the boat, beach excursion?” Tom said, “There was no beach.” lol

Then on the tender, JD asked another cruise friend, “How was parrot island?” Victor responded, “There were no parrots!” Too funny.

I guess us and the boys made the right decisions.

Art from recycled, ocean plastic.

Tomorrow is a day at sea and then off to Salvador Brazil!

Tchau amigos!

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

CHRIST THE REDEEMER AT SUNSET

Welcome to Rio De Janeiro, the huge seaside city in Brazil!

We took the above picture from Sugarloaf mountain at sunset. What a beautiful view!

We were blessed to share this “bucket list visit” with Michael and Becky.

Our morning started with Michael and Becky picking us up at the port with their great, tour guide Newton.

What a great surprise to have them with us on this first day in Rio, and for the next 49 days of the cruise.

We left for Mount Corcovado to physically be close to God. Literally.

The pictures you’re about to see are spectacular and show how high we were in the sky over the beautiful city of Rio.

Peace be with you…

We next went off to a great Brazilian lunch set up by Newton at a private downtown club.

The Churrasco na brasa served us an amazing assortment of meats and delicacies. One skewer had seasoned, chicken hearts. Delicious.

It was a typical Brazilian Churrascaria with a huge salad bar of many veggies and pastels (the Brazilian empanada).

With our bellies full, we set off to beautiful Sugarloaf mountain for sunset.

As we arrived at Sugarloaf, the first thing we noticed were the rock climbers.

Newton told us there are many who come to scale the lower rock, but they must have documented training and experience on large scale rock climbs before granted a permit.

We took these pictures with our telephoto.

The cable car enterprise that brings you up the mountains is privately owned and funded by a wealthy Brazilian family since 1913.

The original, engineering design of the cable cars is credited to a local Brazilian engineer hired by the family.

Since then, service contracts of thirty (30) year terms have been won by German, Italian and Swiss engineering firms. The Swiss currently manage the system.

The crowd was large waiting for the ascent of the mountains.

Fortunately, Newton’s travel company is well-respected and we were escorted to the front of the lines 🙂

The first mountain stop on the way to Sugarloaf was a beautiful forest walkway filled with trees, orchids and cafes.

Michael and I stepped through the wishing tree and made a wish!

Once atop Sugarloaf, it was surprisingly busy and packed with people.

The first impact you experience are the breathtaking views of the city below and Christ the Redeemer on the horizon. The sunset was simply amazing.

We witnessed a 737 commercial jet closely bank left in the sky, at our altitude, as is descended to the runway below.

Newton told us locals come to the top of the mountain to party after sunset on the weekend. Lots of music, drinking, and dancing into the night!

Old cable cars are reconditioned and used as advertising venues to entertain guests. We checked out Johnny Walker Blonde’s car.

Newton dropped us off at the ship at 800PM and took Michael and Becky back to the their hotel.

The following morning, they came back to the port, to check-in on the OCEANIA’S Insignia.

We decorated their cabin door as a surprise, included the Chilean “Naughty Indian.”

Translation of sign: “Welcome to Our Neighborhood.”

They started their journey on Insignia’s beautiful ship as we headed to Ipanema, one of two (2) famous beaches and areas of Rio.

The intent to shop and chill with the help of sister-in-law Jane’s informational texts. Jane has spent many months in Rio, over the years, in this area with family.

Thanks Janie.

Also, continued people watching on the beach of Ipanema..

The beautiful bodies of Brazil…. Check out the work out gym right on the beach. Say what?

Had our first dinner onboard with Michael and Becky, as we headed out into the night to the “Bikini Shop Capital of Brazil,” the beautiful beach town of Cabo Frio.

Happy birthday to Morgann DeNight in California.

Love,

Ande’, JD and your Grandma Becky and Grandpop Michael..

Ipanema shopping….Yay!

Sao Paulo (Santos), Brazil

Our first stop in the massive country of Brazil!

The intent of this cruise stop is to offer a day trip to the most populous and wealthiest state in Brazil, Sao Paulo.

OR hang in the seaside, resort city of Santos, Brazil. The busiest and largest port in Latin America.

Santos is the beach get-a-way for the residents of Sao Paulo. The city is 50 miles from Santos.

We decided on Santos.

Some vino, bathing suit shopping along with a salon visit for an Ande’ Brazilian coiffure.

Cruise ship pricing for salon services is absurd.

In addition to this, the Brazilian government levies a “25% cruise tax” on all goods purchased on the cruise ship while in port or in Brazilian waters.

Such bullshit. Biting the tourist hand that feeds their economy billions of tourist-related dollars every year.

We are in Brazil for the next nine (9) days. Yikes.

Anyway, Ande’ saved $200 and I got my 15,000 steps in people watching on Gonzaga beach and walking the streets of Santos.

As I approached the beach area from the city center, I was surprised how much it reminded me of South Beach in Miami.

High rise condos and hotels, cafes, shops and beautiful bodies walking and running the beach.

A wide, hard sand beach also reminded me of Daytona Beach but nicer. Smiled thinking of my Dad, running barefoot next to me as we did in DAB.

Vendors beach bikes retro-fitted to sell hot grills of shish kabobs and steaming ears of corn were cruising the busy beach.

Great way to kill three (3) hours while Ande’ got coiffed.

As we departed Santos, we sailed on a major estuary towards the Atlantic Ocean.

It was so sad to see hundreds of impoverished shanties lining the shoreline. About a quarter mile past the last of the poor Shantytown, we passed an opulent, private yacht club.

I wish I could redirect our 25 % cruise tax to the residents of Shantytown.

We are off to Rio de Janeiro to meet up with Michel and Becky 🙂

Hanging with them for the next fifty (50) days until Dubai.

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

You may be asking, “Why did they cruise back to Uruguay, after being in Uruguay and after going to Argentina? Interesting story that we just found out.

It seems that Argentina’s leaders, and a large majority of the population, still foster bitter feelings about the 1982 Falkland War with England. *

Cruise ships are NOT allowed to sail directly to Argentina from the Falklands. That said, OCEANIA took us to Uruguay, Argentina, then back to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo. And we’re happy to be back.

The late Anthony Bourdain of Uruguayan descent said it best.

“Welcome to the overlooked but enchanted lands of Uruguay, one of my top places in the world to eat and visit.

The capital of Montevideo evokes the charm of old Havana and Buenos Aires, but without the big crowds of people.

However, it is not a country for vegetarians.”

So true.

We explored the city in the morning and once again, amazed at the Italian influence in the country’s architecture, public sculptures and gnocci. **

The city sits on the northern bank of the Rio de la Plata. In 1516, the Spanish said the river looked like the sea and called it Mar Dulce.”

La Rambla is a popular, continuous sidewalk along the river for 14 miles. The longest continuous sidewalk in the world. Residents use it for exercising, picnics, etc.

Across the street, there are thousands of state-owned, apartments for public housing. Beautiful water views of Mar Dulce. Lucky them 🙂

The only famous food we didn’t try in Uruguay, was the “chivito” sandwich. Steak, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg stacked high on a special roll.

We thought it sounded too much like the “muffalata” in the Big Easy so we passed. The muffalata was gross. lol

*Uruguay believes they have first rights to legal possession of the Falklands. Say what?

**The 29th day of each month is Dia de Noquis in Uruguay.

Translation: “Day of the Gnocci.” Once again, another Italian influence in the country. Served throughout the country on the 29th of each month with different sauces.

Examples below of the beautiful Italian sculptures and architecture throughout the city.

Some of the Italian-designed buildings are by the Italian architect who designed similar buildings in Buenos Aires.

The sculpture, “La Caretta,” was donated by an Italian sculptor to the Uruguayan government. The sculptor’s descendants now live in Uruguay caring for all Italian sculptures in the city.

Premier Mussolini of Italy demanded Uruguay return the sculpture to Italy after WWII. Obviously it never happened.

We ended the day in the Juanico wine region for a wine tasting and lunch at the familia Deicas vineyard.

More meat than anyone could eat!!

Platters of beef, pork, chicken, sausages and blood sausage. No one could stomach the blood sausage. lol The rest was delicious!

All this food was served after appetizers of delicious empanadas and vino.

This winery’s wine cellar was built in 1745 by the Jesuits.

The priests amassed over 1,000,000 acres in the area which threatened the ruling Spanish government.

The government simply took the acres and kicked the Jesuits out.

The cellar was beautiful, as was the vineyard and dining room.

Great story about Uruguay, France and cognac. JD will tell you some day.

We left at night under a beautiful sunset, passing a MSC freighter and a pile of wrecked freighters of bankrupt companies.

The Uruguayan government is till trying to figure out who will pay for the mess, as the river’s currents piles up more ships. lol

Two days at sea, then a stop in Santos, Brazil.

After Santos, we connect with our bro and sis-in-law in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Yeah!

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Buenas dias from Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Two full days and nights in the city and out in the pampas flatlands.

Our first night we attended the first shoreside event hosted by OCEANIA for all the ATW’s.

Unfortunately, driving through the city, it’s hard to ignore the economic effects on the Argentinian residents with 100% inflation in the country. That inflation rate is only behind Iran and Venezuela.

Sad to see such a great country with so much promise, suffering from terrible political policy over the decades.

The theme of the show was “The Essence of Argentina” and we immediately felt immersed in their culture as we arrived.

The upside to the night, was being told all excess food (and there was mucho) was being donated to food banks throughout the city by OCEANIA.

Inside the venue they were multiple artistic stations highlighting mimes, puppeteers, tattoo artists, period photographers, and tango dancers.

The food was marvelous Argentinian beef cooked on red hot parillos over a hardwood fire. Mucho Malbec vino was flowing.

JD lost out by choosing the vegetarian dish (who does that in Argentina?), Lol.

He lessened the pain with lots of Malbec!

JD snuck outside to their parillos and got this great pic!

Entertainment featured some of the best tango dancers in Buenos Aires.

At the end of the night, they invited guests up to the stage to partner with a dancer. Of course, JD was one of the first ones up!

I joined in the end, reluctantly, alas no pictures. 😦

Off to a gaucho fiesta at their estancia in the morning for a big asado lunch, more Malbec, bierra* and a Gaucho horse show.

*Italian influence in Argentina is big. Italian bierra = beer.

Arrived at the Santa Susanna, estancia, homesteaded by the McKinley family from Ireland in the 18th century.

Spanish, Italians, Irish, and Poles were the four (4) largest immigrants at that time.

We had a beautiful welcome by the current owner, who is Argentinean, and he kept the original, Irish name of the estancia.

The lunch they prepared was amazing.

Food, wine, and bierra never stopped flowing. They, too, put on a great dance performance.

I even got a kiss from the owner! He’s still a player for sure at 89 yrs old.

If you’re asking, why the picture of those boots? JD thought they were very cool on the owner, wanted them and wanted other shoe dogs to see them .

All the gauchos wear them. 🙂

On our way out to a carriage ride through the estancia, we caught these two big doves kissing. Cute!

We were attending the traditional guacho competition corrida de sortija, in which gauchos, riding at full gallop, must successfully pin a ring the size of a wedding band on a twig the size of a pencil. Amazing!

The owner rounded the horses in big circles before the sortija which were herded by several of their dogs.

The competition in older times, was to get the wedding band for the girl you were to marry. Truly a great day.

To my sweet niece, Mia….the picture below is for you!

Uncle JD and I love you!!!!!

Once again leaving under a beautiful sunset behind the Buenos Aires skyline and a hanging Messi jersey in our room.

See you in Montevideo, Uruguay.

We’ll tell you the story of why we sailed to Uruguay, then Argentina, and back to Uruguay on our way to Brazil.

PUNTA DEL ESTE, URUGUAY

We arrived in Uruguay to the beautiful port town of Punta Del Este, called the “Monaco of Latin America”.

In our opinion, nicer and more fun than Monaco.

A double-decker, open-air tender picked us up from the ship, and as you can see, we had a near miss with another cruise ship in the bay!

Only kidding, but the photo does look like we’re about to get run over. Lol

Punta Del Este is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay. Host of four (4) World Cups including the fist one in 1930.

We were so pleasantly surprised with this beautiful city.

As you can see, there is much to do and we can honestly say, this could be a winter getaway for us in the future.

It’s a popular, summer vacation destination for all of Latin America.

Population swelled during covid.

The government did not shut down it’s society.

Those that could afford it, moved here from other South American countries and, they never left.

As you’ll see, we had plenty to do and see in welcomed, 80 degree weather.

Our first stop was the popular and unique Puente Garzon bridge.

As you can see, very interesting in its design. We took the roller coaster ride over and back in our bus.

The bridge had a poem written about it by the famous pulitzer prize winning poet from Chile, Pablo Naruda.

In the poem, he eloquently writes about the beautiful design of the bridge, comparing it to the curves of the woman’s body and breasts. This is true!

Next stop was the famous Ralli Museum.

This privately funded museum is one of five throughout the world.

The museums were built and funded for the next 100 years from the estate of a famous, South American banker.

It features famous exhibits of South American and European artists in different styles.

We were pleasantly surprised to see unique Dali sculptures, which we didn’t even know existed.

The DALI museum in St Petersburg primarily feature his paintings.

Additional art below that we liked from different artists in South America.

Next stop, the famous Santorini-styled complex, CASAPUEBLO, built by Carlos Paez Vilaro.

He was a famous Uruguan painter and sculptor befriended by the rich and famous in the arts.

Many whom stayed and partied at CASAPUEBLO, including Bridget Bardot and Pablo Picasso.

Picasso loved the man and his art and donated some of his own works to the complex.

On a sad not in this artists’ life, his son was one of the Uruguayan soccer players on the commercial flight that crashed into the Andes mountains.

The son was one of the 16 survivors as outlined in the famous book and movie, ALIVE.

Today, CASAPUEBLO is a museum and hotel. It is one of a kind property in the world.

Designed with no straight lines and lots of green space, built on steep cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Across the street, we noticed para-gliders jumping off the mountain and got a few good pictures.

We finished our day downtown along the seaside.

So many cool shops and cafes.

Below are some pictures of the famous Hand sculpture at Playa Brava.

It’s the winning sculpture submitted at the first meeting of International Sculptors in Uruguay.

Across the street we saw an interesting metal sculpture of a Menorah next to the Uruguay flag set in a beautiful gardens.

While waiting to get back on the tender to the ship we saw a lone penguin doing the backstroke in the water near the beach.

Maybe he followed us from Gypsie Cove in the Falklands??

Had a Stella Artois that is brewed in Argentina and bought some Uruguay wine. The wines are receiving international awards.

Beautiful sunset as we sailed out, on our way to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Adios!

FANTASTIC FALKLANDS

We’ve been anxiously awaiting our arrival into the Falkland Islands.

Pulled into Port Stanley, the capital of the country, with a tender ride from the ship across a cold, windy and cloudy bay into town.

Port Stanley was a famous shipbuilding/ship repair city over the centuries.

First stop after the northern turn at Cape Horn.

Then the Panama Canal opened.

We had canceled our excursion and decided to “wing it ” around the countryside with some cruise friends.

Jumped on the Pelican Travel double-decker bus and hit the road.

The objective was to get to Gypsy Cove to witness some new species of penguins, catch some history of England’s 1982 war with Argentina, and hit the Victory Bar/Pub for some fish and chips, a pint or two, and snooker.

Mission accomplished!

Magellan penguins running all around us, up and down the beach and burrowed in the sand dunes.

The beach terrain was beautiful. The locals probably can only use it a couple months of the year. So cold and windy.

The first thing we noticed on the island is the lack of trees…..anywhere. Strange.

The harbor looked beautiful with INSIGNIA, and a local cod and squid fishing trawler resting on the sea.

We got off the beaten path to find some war artifacts in the Cove.

JD found what he was looking for and had to pose. lol

Also found some maritime artifacts of the naval assault by the Argentineans. Others in deeper water.

We ended up losing our friends by getting off the beaten path lol.

We made our way into town to visit the maritime, war, exploration and whaling museum. What a great find!

This sculpture is made with two (2) blue whale jaw bones installed to celebrate the centennial anniversary and the whaling industry.

This Anglican church is the most southernly church in the world.

This little guy to the right above just popped up from his yard to say hello on our way to the museum.

Wonderful memorial to their fallen soldiers and civilians.

The map of the Falklands reflects different lakes, ponds, hills, straits etc., each named after a fallen British warrior or citizen after the 1982 war.

We love Shackleton and his story. Such an adventurous and brave soul.

The exploration area praised the famous British explorers of the north and south poles. Rightfully so.

The hut I’m standing in was actually dismantled and brought to the museum from Antarctica.

Our last stop heading to the pUb was their national memorial to the fallen soldiers and citizens in the Falkland war.

Respectful bust of Maggie Thatcher.

At long last…..the Victory pub where we found our friends waiting.

Kathy, the pub granny (owner), was showing her grandson how to pour a pint. and convert quid to US dollars.

Place was jammin with cruise passengers. They must have read the same Trip Advisor review that we read!

We sailed from the Falklands under a beautiful sunset.

Heading to Uruguay and Argentina.

Looking forward to some warmer temps!

Talk to you in a few days.

Happy birthday to cousin Sue Stephenson!

AWESOME ANTARCTICA

Good morning!

After a rough first night crossing the Drake Passage , we awoke, opened our balcony curtain, and to our surprise, saw another Oceania ship very close to our INSIGNIA.

The MARINA had to divert from their South American itinerary due to high winds. and was now heading to Antarctica sooner than expected.

The night before was pretty rough. Not quite the “Drake Shake,” definitely not the “Drake Lake”.

The Drake Passage, named after the British explorer Sir Francis Drake, was/is considered one of the most treacherous voyages for ships to sail.

It wasn’t a good sign when we saw that the crew had emptied the pool and covered it with netting before we set sail from Argentina.

The Drake is the large body of water where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans converge.

The passage separates South America’s Chile, Argentina and the Shetland Islands in Antarctica.

It’s about a 36 hr journey to enter the Antarctica waters from the farthest southern city on the globe.

We arrived into Antarctica’s Admiralty Bay with sunny skies and a very cold 18 degrees.

The map above shows the Captain’s itinerary for the three day tour of Antarctica.

What we witnessed over three days was truly spectacular.

It’s very hard to put into words.

We felt like we were sailing through the Ice Age, but drinking champagne and eating Maine lobster in a 5 Star hotel/restaurant.

Crazy and blessed!

The Captain slowly cruised through bays and between the islands of Antarctica.

The seas were smooth and calm, since they were sheltered from the winds by the majestic glaciers and mountains.

The day quickly became cloudy, and we were advised to expect a very cold and quick snow storm.

Crew ordered everyone inside and closed all access doors to the outer decks until the storm passed.

Afterwards, it was so fun to get back outdoors and watch, not only the passengers, but the crew staff react to the fallen snow.

The crew on board are from over 30 nations, with most never having seen snow!

The snow man that the crew made says it all. Happy!

We continuously passed massive glaciers of all sizes.

Huge chunks of ice break off from the glaciers creating floating armadas of sculptured icebergs.

All different and beautiful in their own unique ways, while displaying multiple shades of vibrant blues.

What you see on the surface of the water is only about one-tenth of the iceberg lurking below.

Thank goodness for the advanced sonar we have on our cruise ships today cruising Antarctica waters.

It was a huge iceberg under the water that brought down the Titanic.

It’s probably hard to get perspective of size, but the two icebergs above are about the size of office buildings.

Some we saw were small as VW bugs.

The last two pics below would soon break off from the glacier and be massive.

JD was on the photographic hunt for all the wildlife discussed in our lectures.

Whales, Seals, Sea Lions, and Penguins.

I dub him, “Wildlife Hunter” !

As they told us in the lectures, there were no guarantees as to what we would see.

“Just remember, all the sea-life is there, you just have to keep an eye out.”

Typically you’ll see humpback whales more than any other species.

JD spent a lot of time running all over the multiple decks on the hunt!

He did a great job and spotted some sea life that the expedition lecturers missed.

We were always looking for their blow spout or the ridge of their back. We found the two below by spotting the spouts.

We even got a great shot of a whale feeding. Great colors in the mouth.

They do this by creating a vortex of bubbles, spiraling down under the sea with their tail. They then swiftly swim back to the surface, with their mouth wide open, to eat the krill caught in the vortex.

Incredible to see and catch on film.

This is a great shot of him breaking the water with his mouth open and filled with krill. The picture below is a different whale doing the same thing. Amazing!

We never got a shot of the full breach out the water but it was fun capturing and chasing the moments above.

The one tale shot above with the red markings will be uploaded to Happywhale.com.

The marine biologist on board said it may be a whale that has been tagged and recorded, and given a name by a research group.

The red markings are how they identify them and are as individual as a finger print.

One day, we had no sightings.

However, while having dinner at The Polo Club, we looked out the window for the beautiful view, then one surfaces with a wink and disappears.

Too funny.

For our last day and a half, we visited islands and icebergs known for large, penguin populations.

This species are so cute and appear to be very playful with each other.

We spent hours watching them sliding, ice surfing, waddling on the ice, with some on their tummies and backs.

The picture below on the left is an island favorite of National Geographic due to its huge, penguin population.

If you look close, all those little white specs are penguins!

Check out the lucky action shot below, as the Gentoo penguins are flying through and out of the water.

This cute, little guy below was on an iceberg all by himself.

He’s a Chinstrap Penguin.

Finally, we found the sleepy slumbering giants of Antarctica.

Sea Lions!

We got some good , lazy pics of them doing a lot of nothing.

These guys below are leopard seals.

They have very sharp teeth and actually love dining on penguins. 😦

For the hard core adventurers we witnessed a few expedition ships offering the opportunity of walking on the glaciers. No thank you, pass the champagne please! Lol

We actually passed the MARINA again sailing through the bays.

As we made our way out of Antarctica, we noticed a few research centers inhabited year-round, even through the harsh winters. That’s dedication!

The continent will only have a maximum population of 5,000 during summer months.

We also passed the research site used by Jacques Cousteau when he conducted an Antarctica expedition.

At the site, you can sea Blue whale bones and vertebrae on the shoreline.

At the end of our journey through Antarctica, we’ll leave you with some more spectacular pictures on the continent.

The different colors you see in the picture above, are different types Antarctic algae that grown on the rocks and glaciers.

Adios Antarctica!

Another crossing of the Drake Passage.

We’ll see you all in the Falkland Islands (more penguins!).

PUENTA ARENAS & ISHUAIA

” THE END OF THE WORLD”

Punta Arenas, Chile is the southern most city in Chile.

Ushuaia, Argentina is the southern most city in the world.

On our way to sail through the Chilean Fjords.

You’ll see some amazing photos from our balcony.

Too beautiful to not post quite a few of them. Even the Captain’s Cam 🙂

You’ll also see our first Glacier and the ice fields flowing through the Fjords.

Captain put the ship in idle for 15 minutes for all to see and photograph.

Our morning in Punta Arenas started with a beautiful fuego sunrise.

We decided to bundle up and take the walking tour.

Very cold, no sun but dry, so we wanted to visit their museum. It was about 42 degrees and no wind.

This city is famous for high winds with some recorded at 200 km/hr over the years.

City government actually installed “hold rails” on the streets for people to grab onto so the winds don’t blow them away!

The museum was very impressive.

We were surprised with all the artifacts of explorers who set out to discover Antartica and the indigenous settlers.

Some artifacts from the HMS ENDURANCE ship, commandeered by Admiral Shackleton were there.

The ship sank off Antartica.

In 2022, current day explorers found and photographed the sail ship in crystal clear, Antartica waters. I saw on Nat Geo.

A good GOOGLE.

The museum even had the actual merino wool covered chair that Pope John Paul used inside the Popemobile when he visited Puenta Arenas in 1987. Very cool seat for The Man.

JD got a good shot of a Patagonian dove in a pretty garden.

Chased the shot for days. lol

We paid our respects to Ferdinand Magellan in the town center.

The statue includes mermaids and indigenous Chileans that helped him with his discoveries.

Folklore has Ferdinand following the mermaids during storms to calm seas. Smart man. 🙂

Folklore also has it, if you kiss the foot of the indigenous Chilean, you and your family will enjoy a life of good luck.

So JD gave it a kiss!

We started our walk to Sotitos, a restaurant on the Straight’s shoreline that is famous for the Centillo (king crab).

Believe it or not, centillo can be hard to buy, since the Chilean’s export everything, including Chilean sea bass and abalone. Chilean’s we’ve met, bitch abiut it.

Good, but our Alaska King wins in flavor.

JD also got the Conger pescado sopa again. Chilean hangover food 🙂

Had to take the picture under the sign of the pole dance work-out studio.

It was the third studio we passed!

The mansion was home of Sarah Braun, a wealthy Russian of German descent, who inherited a boatload of money from her industrialist husband.

Her money was spread around the city. Cemeteries, parks etc.

Note the guard-like structure in the front of the house.

It “did” house a guard, but to keep indigenous people away and out of the property.

It is now a hotel and restaurant.

Headed back to the ship to start our journey through the Fjords to the Pacific Ocean on way to Ushuiai, Argentina.

Our last stop before heading to Antartica.

We attended a great lecture about the different penguin species we will be seeing in Antartica and the Falkland Islands.

We also passed one of many wrecks showing the hazards of navigating in the Fjords and the waters off Antartica.

We left the Fjords passage to the open waters of the Pacific for a few hours and man, it was rough!

Hoping for better seas when we cross the Drake passage to ultimately, get into the British Falkland Islands in 6 days.

Snow capped mountains greeted us in Argentina.

We decided to ride horses in the mountains and what an experience that turned out to be.

Rain, sleet, snow and mud greeted us in the mountains.

Ande’ had GATO and JD had Figaro. Great horses taking us high in the mountains and walking a ridge line that so freaked us out..

The horse ranch owner lets them roam the mountains when they are not working.That said, they travel these trails cautiously, but with ease.

He also told us we earned our Patagonian stripes today. Riding in such tough conditions is not for the faint-hearted. lol

Bruno the guard dog, and six (6) herder dogs, stayed with our pack the entire afternoon….Told us to ward off the pumas. Yikes.

Off to Antartica tonight for 5 days…….look at the charts.

Two days to cross the Drake Passage.

Hope to have good communication connections so we can stay in touch.

XXOO

BIENVENIDOS PATAGONIA !

As we started are trip into Patagonia, the Christ Cross in Port Montt greeted us in the harbor.

Immediately, we were struck with the lush, green beautiful environment surrounding us here, making the color choice of the banner easy 🙂

Welcome to Mt Osorno, inactive for the past 2,000 years.

We’re heading up with an ascent of 5,500 ft. with gorgeous Lake Llanquihue at its base.

The drive up was concerning since clouds moved in and we thought the view would be no mas.

As you can see in the picture sequence, the travel gods were with us.

As thick as pea soup, then the cloud moved on.

The view was spectacular.

At a near by national park, we visited the hardened lava fields, channeling the glacial waters flowing down from two (2) volcanos.

The other, Mt. Hudson, erupted in 2015 and its nutrients change the water colors daily.

From miles away, the Hudson volcano ashes burned the mountain side of Mt. Orsono and villages close by.

The area was closed for 4 months, then residents were allowed to return.

The Park is rich with wildlife and its streams are full with salmon and rainbow trout. (catch & release only)

We caught a gray fox resting under a foot bridge as we walked the lava fields.

The day ended with lunch on the Lake at Puerto Varas.

Lunch was served with local, farm-raised salmon and pisco sours.

JD is actually eating a lot of salmon. A fish he never ate in the seven (7) years I’ve known him. Which is a testament as to how good it is!

Gabriel, our guide, explained how this part of Chile was settled.

In 1858, the Chilean government sponsored an open immigration plan to Germany.

Those immigrants that came to Chile to develop the Patagonia area, would be granted parcels of land to build their home.

To this day, over 300,000 inhabitants are of German descent.

Puerto Varas reflects their culture with local architecture, German social clubs and schools.

We felt like we were in a Bavarian village. Awesome.

Found a great warm alpaca hat in a local street market. Yay!

Remember, Life is a Long Weekend. Their words, not ours.. wink wink

We arrived in Puerto Chacabuco the following day.

It was cold and rainy, which is very typical for this region.

210 days of rain each year.

“Chilly in Chile.”

We bundle up and started exploring the area.

Another National Park visit brought us to the Rio Simpson Reserve.

A major river in this area of Patagonia discovered by Enrique Simpson. Another explorer with European descent in the late 1800’s.

Chilean Mom and Scottish papa.

This region is a jumping off point to the Aysen fjord and archipelagos.

The Simpson river is a popular recreational spot for locals with fishing, white water rafting, etc.

Chilly aqua. I don’t think JD would even take a dip here.

A picture to be posted later shows an indigenous Indian with a 135 pound salmon caught in the river. He sold it for $1,000!

JD was able to sneak up and tickle the elusive, Patagonian Puma. Lol

We ended the day with a Patagonian lunch of meat, sausage, cerveza and papas cooked over a wood fire.

Wood is the primary source of energy for heating and cooking.

Everyone has a wood shed. BIG wood sheds.

The view of the mountain is of Patagonia’s rock climbing equivalent to our El Capitan.

We’ll be seeing you in the Chilean fjords and the OCEANIA Super Bowl party!

The sun setting as we left the fjords to head to the Pacific Ocean…..We haven’t seen much of the sun the last couple days.

Ensign told JD about 4 hours of rough Pacific waters tonight before they turn back into the fjords to show us a large glacier in the morning.

Chief’s had the greater support so we sat with the Philly fans.

OCEANIA team and Chef and did a wonderful job. The Broadcast Manager did a fantastic job keeping us connected to the satellite feed. No interruptions. Amazing.

Beautiful but…. no sun.

Congrats to the Kansas City DeNight’s for the great game victory.

The map shows where we are, as we close in on Cape Horn. The arrow on the map, is our ship heading from the fjords to the Pacific and rough seas.

Four hours later, the ship will turn back into the fjords to Puenta Arenas.

We’ll talk to you soon after our feast on Chilean centolla tomorrow..

Hasta lluego amigos.

Heading to the Straights of Magellan.

AT SEA AND VALPAIRISO, CHILE

Our wonderful farewell dinner at Toscana with our friend Sergio.

Everyone in our 21 group came to the blackjack table to bid good bye.

Actually came back with a few bucks!

Adios amigo!

The highlight of our day at sea was a lecture on the anticipated sightings in Antartica.

A marine biologist studying in Antarctica presented the lecture, and will stay on the ship through the Drake Passage.

Very insightful on what we could possibly see over the four (4) days in the Chilean Fjords and Passage.

As she says, ” No guarantees, but they are all there.”

Interestingly, OCEANIA also brought in a new captain to navigate the ship south, until we are on the east side of South America.

Great lecture with some interesting tidbits of marine science.

The blue whale’s veins are large enough for a human to swim through.

Its heart is the size of a VW bus.

Many different species of killer whales.

Killer whales will peel off the fur of sea lions before they eat them. Ande’ censored me publishing the photo. lol

With no arms, it’s like bobbing for apples for hours.

Scientist words, not mine.

You can see packets of food taken from a whale’s belly contents in one slide.

In addition, the life source of all of Antartica’s marine life.

The krill.

I’ve never seen a picture before.

The skull is from a baleem whale displayed to the right.

The speaker was great.

Can’t wait until we are there.

We just happened to hit Valparaiso on a Wednesday, the day all city residents are allowed to bring their personal goods to sell in the city street’s flea market..

New and used, and out to sell them all.

Local farmers bring their harvest to sell on Wednesdays too. Great sight to see.

The guy on roller blades…..not sure what his deal was but had to take a pic! Maybe an UBER Eats? He was good on his blades.

As you can see in the pictures, much of Valpairaso’s homes are built on a steep mountain slope looking down to the city center and the bay.

The city has been a UNESCO World Heritage city since 2003 and once was a dominant seaport in all of Latin America.

Then the Panama Canal opened.

No longer was the port needed, as a last stop before the ships sailed around Cape Horn.

The city is still prone to earthquakes and many of the buildings still show damage from 2015.

The very poor living next door to the very rich is common on the mountainside.

Some of the poor live in shipping containers as shown above next to the broken funicular..

The Chilean Nobel Peace prize winner for Literature, Pablo Naruda, loved this aspect of Valapraiso when he moved here from Santiago.

His home picture is the last in the second row above above.

The home to the left in the second row was his neighbor.

The city is home for many artists and their murals are seen on sides of walls, homes, and businesses.

Everywhere are steep steps to homes. Mountain-side residents here are known as the “billy goats” of Chile.

Some cable cars are used to transport people up and down the hills but many are no longer functioning. Wouldn’t catch us on one.

Locals call them “funicular” lifts. Handy when drinking to much vino.

In the town square, there was a statue of da famous General Arturo Pratt, along with the tomb of fallen soldiers from his famous battle.

Live soldiers stand tall and pay their respects each day at the site.

JD copped a nice Alpaca sweater at the flea market from a young Peruvian guy selling his knitted his goods. Afterwards, we stopped for a cup of cafe con leche and a sweet before heading off to the vineyard.

Story on the General’s death at a later time. lol

I’ll leave you with a couple great quotes from the Nobel Peace prize winner, Pablo Naruda.

“Laughter is the language of the soul.”

“If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t enjoy the view.”

On our way to the vineyard, we drove through the beach resort town of Vina del Mar.

A beautiful flower clock in the city center keeping perfect time greets you as you enter the beach town.

Our friend Sergio will be spending a week here with his sister.

Our guide was born on Easter Island, then grew up in Vina Del Mar from the age of two years old.

We arrived at the Casa Valle Vinamar vineyard. Beautiful place!

Served an amazing lunch of salmon (Chile’s now number one export) appetizer, then an Argentinean beef entree.

No beef aqui.

Our tour guide Zilda, told us they only use the cows here for milk and cheese. Also, Chileans walk so much up and down the mountains, they have the best legs in Latin America.

The cows walk so much on the mountains grazing, that they are too skinny to eat . lol Lucky them.

Chile imports their beef from Argentina, and Argentina imports their seafood from Chile.

The vineyard was beautiful and very generous with their wine pours.

Had a wonderful time.

See you in Puerto Montt, cheers!

COQUIMBO, CHILE

As we sailed into Coquimbo Bay, we first noticed the huge cross on the top of an inner city mountain greeting us.

It is named the 3rd Millennial cross and was built to bring in the year 2000.

The government ran out of money to complete the cross, so they taxed the city residents until the bill was paid. Yikes.

Our first stop this morning was Valle Encanto (Enchanted Valley) in the arid hills outside Coquimbo.

Archeologists have unearthed ancient petroglyphs (engraved paintings on rocks) believed to have been created around 500 BC by a group of people known as Molle. Incredible history here.

The Molle are believed to have crossed the Andes into this region from Argentina.

The seed pods showcased by JD are what they believe were used to create a paint to use on the petroglyphs.

The large rock with deep holes were created by the Molle to use as a type of morter to crush the seeds, then make the paint.

The coolest petroglyphs were believed to be the group’s leader and the other of the tribe’s medicine man.

Time has taken a toll on the paint but the rock engravings were great.

Tough walking in the desert hills. Elderly gentleman fell between large rocks but was ok.

Then we noticed a bunch of holes in the ground, Tarantula homes!

JD assisted his wife (who was scared) down the hill. So sweet, I had to take a pic.

Off to the Tololo vineyard!

Arrived at the Tololo vineyard after a short detour due to washed out mountain roads.

Beautiful agricultural valley between the high, vineyard mountains.

We were greeted by the vineyard’s sommelier, Andrea (beautiful name), and her assistant.

Took a guided tour through the vineyard and got some beautiful pictures of the grapes. We pinched off a couple to taste (shhh!).

Off to the tasting room featuring their wines and the famous Pisco.

Those poor girls had their hands full pouring glasses for these gray panthers, including JD’s repeated trips to the front of the line. Lol.

Of course, we bought a couple of bottles since the cab/syrah/malbec blend was awesome.

JD ran back and said good-bye to Andrea and her gal.

$9000 Chilean pesos for both which is $11.30 in US dollars.

Such a deal!

Farewell dinner at Toscana with our buddy Sergio tonight.

More on him later:)

Off to Santiago/San Antonio tonight. Seas are rough. Uh-oh.

INTERESTING IQUIQUE, CHILE

We’ve been looking forward to hitting this town with our friend Sergio.

Pulled into port on a beautiful day and did some reading beforehand on the city.

Once a city in Peru, the Chileans took the city in the War of the Pacific back in 1883.

A funny story about the macho General Arturo Pratt who led the naval victory but at a later time when we find his statue. lol

The clock tower plaza is named after da General.

The town was initially quiet this Sunday morning as we hit the ATM with Sergio’s help and started buying from the merchants.

Sergio was excited to share his knowledge of the Chilean seafood cuisine and we started searching out a restaurant. Iquique is a leading seafood exporter in all of Latin America. We were about to indulge.

We weren’t alone, we starting seeing many crew from the ship including the casino gals who posed for a pic with their favorite blackjack clients.

JD and Sergio. Me too 🙂

Fun girls from Philippines.

JD picked the restaurant El Viejo since they had an Italian twist making their own local pasta with the El Nono brand.

Sergio took over , ordering drinks made with the local Pisco liquor. Pisco sours with egg white foam with a dash of cinnamon. Tequila-like spirit made from a desert berry. Shots followed after dinner. lol

The seafood sopa with fish, potatoes, tomatoes, herbs and camarone was amazing. Served on a plate that was on fire.

As the seafood feast was delivered, also on fire and bubbling, JD took the honors of serving it up.

Fish, octopus, mussels, calamari, shrimp and lobster in a spicy, fra diavolo-type sauce simmered with potatoes.

Note the Croatian Club picture.

There are large population of inhabitants from Croatia (Yugoslavia) and Germany in Iquique.

Influential in the brewery business in Latin America. Note the beer mug. The name of the beer and the word for “draft beer.” Schop.

As we were enjoying the feast, we heard a young rapper and saw him looking at us through the flowers.

He started pointing to JD and Sergio said he was singing about him. Talking about the guy in the Adidas hat, muscle shirt with the pretty woman. Me! lol.

He is from Venezuela, in search of new home and just trying make a living with his music. Got some pics, tipped him well, then the staff told him to leave. 😦

The adorable little Chilean boy was talking to us in an incredibly animated manner, telling a story about los lobos from what JD & I could understand.

Sergio said he was talking about Grandma being eaten by a wolf. Hmmmm. Little Red Riding hood?

We departed Iquique at sunset, seeing the Atacama desert mountains that are sought out by para gliders around the world.

Warm, desert ,thermal westerlies for optimal gliding.

See you in Coquimbo, Chile.

Visiting some archeological sites and our first Chilean vineyard.

AWESOME ARICA, CHILE

We boarded the bus to explore Arica, the city of “Eternal Spring” named so, due to its warm ocean waters, deserts, and mild rainless climate.

As a matter of fact, Arica gets the least amount of rainfall than any other city in the western hemisphere. We pay attention 🙂

As we headed out, the bus stopped at the famous pre-fabricated, iron church designed by Gustave Eiffel. The Church of Santa Marcos. Yes, that Eiffel.

Purchased by the Chilean government after a massive flood, caused by an earthquake, wiped out the entire town., including the only cathedral.

Arica sits on the tetonic “ring of fire” under the Pacific Ocean.

Always a high risk here for earthquakes and tsunamis.

As the bus drove along the beautiful coast, we noticed a huge fish oil plant, a common site in Chile along the country’s coastline.

We were driving high into the mountains to get to the Atacoma desert and fits famous desert sculptures.

The three tall ones you see are representative of the Man, Woman, and the Womb, ultimately symbolizing the birth of their Chilean children.

Sun dials and rock structures decorate the desert floor around the sculptures.

JD was excited to bring me here, as I have never been to a desert.

So hot, so dry but the desert colors against the blue sky are beautiful.

As we got back to the bus, some locals treated us to a Pisco Sour which is a local drink made from a desert berry.

Also a boxed lunch with a very interesting sandwich. Still not sure what we were eating. Maybe turkey or shredded chicken with corn, seaweed (yes, seaweed) and mayo on Chilean white bread.

JD ate it since he couldn’t taste it. Lol. I ate the small cookies.

As we headed down the mountain, we could see the beautiful Azapa valley with the deep green colors. It stands out between the desert hills.

The other picture is actually an upscale neighborhood built where a river once used to flow and a city once stood until a tsunami carried it away.

The other green patch is actually a small vineyard.

The valley adopted the Israeli desert well irrigation method to nourish the dry valley soil. The greenhouse shows its impact.

The valley is a major export area in the country. They grow many fruits and olives.

Walmart actually buys the Azapa green olives.

CHILLIN AT SEA TO CHILE

Sunset. Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador

We left Guayaquil and had a smooth night of sailing. Thank goodness.

Three days from now we’ll arrive in Arica, Chile. Yeah!

We’ve been looking forward to Chile.

They scheduled a stop in Peru for provisions and technical services for the ship.

Due to the unrest in the cities, they would not allow us off the ship.

However, some local Peruvians came to the port to sell their wares not aware that we could not leave the ship…We felt so bad. They were waving welcome banners, we were waving and they had no clue what was going on.

Local authorities and OCEANIA allowed passengers to get off and buy some wares ONLY if masks were worn to help the locals make some money from us.

We got an invitation to a champagne brunch being held for the around the world (ATW’s) passengers.

It truly was a spectacular event to see and better yet, to taste, complemented with a four string Quartet from Europe.

The artistic displays utilizing the food was unlike any we have ever seen.

There were stations serving Chateaubriand with salmon, carved leg of lamb, and fresh blackfin tuna sushi. Halibut soup was amazing.

The fruit not only looked great but tasted wonderful. Time for a siesta…..Adios!

Over the next two days and nights, the weather was great so we enjoyed the pool, gym, piano bar, friends and main dining room.

Great pool deck party our first night with a live band, and we did some dancing.

The next day after the pool, we played cards with some new friends we met from Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY.

Jeff here, Ande’ still pissed I used this card picture with her crazy pool hair.

I said she looks great, back me up please. 🙂

We had dinner a couple nights with another friend we met on the cruise, Sergio from southern California.

Unfortunately, he’s getting off in San Antonio, Chile in three days.

He’s had a 24-day cruise from San Francisco. More on Sergio later.

The map was just provided to us by staff, showing our itinerary until we get to Antartica and meeting my bro and sister-in-law in Rio de Janeiro.

Can’t wait.

In closing, note (the last picture) some of the finest laundered clothing ever experienced in our lives.

Underwear neatly folded, wrapped, sealed and delivered to our 6014 cabin. (Free!)

I guess when I figure the cost of this cruise, it’s really not free. Lol

See you at Toscana!

Our last night at sea and we ate at our favorite restaurant on the ship, Toscana.

Maybe our favorite Italian restaurant anywhere we’ve eaten in the world. JD’s words not mine!

Funny story….JD tried to get into the restaurant our first week on the ship without a reservation. Made up some story about our reservation getting lost.

The maitre’d wasn’t buying it and wouldn’t let us in (JD was pissed). Lol.

However, tonight he was falling all over himself to make us happy and he did apologize to JD on how he handled the situation.

Gave us a wonderful table with a beautiful view of the coastline. Said it was the best seat in the house.

Funny, there were other tables with the same view. Bahaha!

As you can see the food is amazing and tasted as delicious as it looks.

I may have to agree, it may be the best Italian restaurant ever!!!

Fresh baked breads and sticks served with roasted garlic and only a choice of nine olive oils and balsamic vinegars!

A big wheel of imported Tuscan, parm-reggiano.

On everything we ate! Molto bene.

Beef and octopus carpaccio were the best ever.

Pasta primi was a homemade fettucine with a hot sausage and lobster fradiavlo..

Our secondi was dover sole served table side and veal escallopine franchese.

All fantastico!

So January has come to an end.

The first three weeks of dining has been amazing but I am now going into low carb mode.

I can’t take it any more!!!! I can’t go out and buy bigger clothes! Lol.

But seriously, who can eat like this every night?

Buena serra. Caio!

GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR

Welcome to the city of Guayaquil, known as the gateway to the Pacific beaches and the Galapagos islands.

The city is located on the Guayas River, and it is the first time we actually docked on a river and not the Pacific ocean.

The bus dropped us off at the Central Park of the Iguanas, conveniently located across from the cathedral of Santa Ana. Beautiful inside.

I turned over the camera to JD in the park, as the free roaming Iguanas (and I mean “free Roaming”) were freaking me out and didn’t want to get too close! The turtles were much more cute and my favs 🙂

The park paid respect to Simon Bolivar, a popular, historical figure in the independence of Ecuador and other countries in South America.

We’re still trying to figure out the significance of the fighting wild boars statue. Lol

Nice start to exploring the city on our own.

On our way to the Simon Bolivar promenade on the river, we passed the city’s governmental buildings.

The street sculptures celebrated the city’s independence and struggles of its people to gain their liberty through their solidarity.

As you can see, the weather turned ugly, as we made it to the famous Malecon 2000, the promenade along the Guayas River.

The promenade walk is constructed with wood, tiles, terrazzo and stone. JD almost ate it on the wet terrazzo. lol

A beautiful place built in 2000 to celebrate the river, city and Simon Bolivar again with his interview with Jose de San Martin. The Rotunda celebrates their meeting and subsequence independence. Must’ve been one helluva of an interview. 🙂

Gorgeous green space, including a fantastic lipstick palm.

We first saw this palm in Costa Rica. So beautiful, we drove to Miami and bought one. Hope ours has the same growth destiny 🙂

Continued our long walk to the find where we could we could get on and ride the cable cars above the city and across the river.

As we were walking, we heard loud bird chirping from the shore of the river and high in the trees.

Got great pics of parrots drying off from about 100 feet in the trees and a heron on the river.

Malecon is very family-friendly with a great amusement park. Started to get busy as we were heading towards the cable cars.

Found the cable car entrance, and for $5 USD we had a great 40-minute cable ride through the city and over the river.

On the cable car we saw the city honoring their religions, healthcare and public service workers through beautiful art murals.

In addition, celebrating their families and friends who have passed with beautiful mausoleums along the hillside.. Also the multi-colored barrios covering the adjacent mountainside. Reminded JD of the favellas in Rio 😦

Ande’ found her favorite tourist attraction, the Ecuadorian empanada. lol

The cops were beautiful, young women who escorted our bus to and from the ports on motorcycles. Funny and sweet. Nice 9mm pistols too 🙂

Unfortunately, they weren’t around when a passenger on our cruise was robbed and attacked across the street of the Central Park of The Iguanas.

As she was returning to catch the bus, a guy approached her from the back and ripped her diamond earrings off and through her ears.

She lost her left lobe ear and had six (6) stitches once on board.

I’m very good taking jewelry off when leaving the ship to explore the cities. But, I’ve been wearing earrings.

No mas!

We now have three (3) days at sea, until we reach our first port in Chile.

We’ll be talking again in a couple days.

xxoo

MANTA, ECUADOR

We arrived early morning into Manta, the first of two stops in the country of Ecuador.

Manta is the commercial tuna fishing capitol of the world.

The second largest tuna fleet on the world seas, behind Thailand.

They tout their world reputation with big tuna sculptures throughout the city. Beautiful.

We boarded a bus heading south to the the fishing and beach village of San Clemente.

As we were leaving town, we passed the local fishermen ‘s shipbuilding yard.

The boat construction is with the hard acacia wood preferred by the locals for homes, furniture, buses and the tuna boats.

Driving through the valleys, we were told how the volcanic rich soil and hot humid temperatures are idea for many types of crops for export.

Interestingly, we saw the extremes of growing dragon fruits (yellow and pink) and 50 types of rice in expansive rice patties! Other fruits and vegetables in between.

The two pictures above show the dragon fruit farm acres and the rice paddies.

In addition, we noticed the unique looking native sable tree, which is actually hollow, fills with water and loses all its leaves during the dormant winter months. The flowers in the spring resemble balls of cotton.

As we drove from Manta to San Clemente, we noticed the 2016 after -affects of the 7.8 earthquake in 2016.

Manta’s entire commercial district and the roads to San Clemente were all destroyed. The road traveled was like driving over continuous camel humps.

Over 700 people lost their lives while 6000 people injured and left homeless.

Once at the Palmazul resort, we were greeted by the staff and brought to a beautiful poolside cabana with a fresh, cold coconut drink.

Again, we were just amazed with the beautiful colors in all the plants, they flourish so well in the hot humid air. and nutrient-rich soil.

We were told the lower level of the mountain range, exports multi-million dozens of roses each year to Miami.

The picture frame on the wall as we entered the beautiful, hibiscus entrance, is the only remnant of the original hotel structure after the 2016 earthquake.

We had a great day just relaxing by the pool. Did not go into the ocean due to strong rip currents which was a bummer. Beautiful coastline.

JD wanted to try out his new mermaid bathing suit. Lol.

We had a great beachside lunch of fresh tuna, fried dorado, plantains, and patacones with local queso and spices.

The tuna was as delicious as it looks in the picture, melted in my mouth! Our lunch and three local cervezas cost $21!!!!

We couldn’t eat it all food so we brought what we had left back to the sip.

Upon arrival at the port, we saw the Ecuadorian version of the local. Guatemalan Chicken Bus.

The “Chivas Bus” is an open air, tightly cramped, ornately-decorated passenger bus made of acacia wood. Very cool.

JD was excited to see a commercial fishing vessel pull in and suspetced it was full of frozen tuna in the hull. He was right. Got these great pics from the 10th floor of our ship.

After seeing these pictures, I know I was right “always” being picky with my canned tuna. Buy Albacore! Lol.

Another beautiful sunset while leaving another port.

Talk to you after Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Buenas noche.

TWO DAYS AT SEA TO SOUTH AMERICA

Leaving El Salvador in a different way today.

As we noticed in the morning, arriving El Salvador in the strong, churning cross currents where the bay and Pacific meet, caused the boat to rock “big time!”.

Leaving, we had the assistance of about six (6) tugs keeping the ship stable until we got out to sea.

As it turns out the worst was yet to come, Lol!

We were told it was going to be rough later, so we went to the Polo Grill and had an amazing dinner before things started rocking. (and I took a dramamine).

Our itinerary was sailing us past Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, to arrive in Ecuador in 2 days.

We were sailing in 12,000 ft of water off the coast of Nicaragua, when we got hammered by a big storm. I think it helped getting a little hammered at dinner, lol, anticipating what was yet to come.

Fortunately I fell right to sleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.

JD, however, was up from about 2am until 6am watching our hanging fish mobile hanging from the cabin ceiling violently swing back and forth as he heard the waves crashing our cabin balcony and doors.

The next day was sunny, beautiful, and calm (thank you Lord!). We spent the day out by the pool with some books we checked out of the library. It is a beautiful, older-looking room with a wonderful selection.

We had a flock of birds flying along with the ship all day, and I was able to zoom in our camera and get a great couple of pics (after many tries). JD calls them NatGeo shots 🙂

Our last picture is “Hummer”, a handcrafted, balsa wood, Hummingbird we picked up from a street artist and hung him in our room. Beautiful. For our patio.

That night, OCEANIA had a cocktail party for all passengers sailing the full world cruise.

We were told the top five (5) countries represented by passengers, were the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and Switzerland. 40% of the 398 passengers.

The balance of the ATW passengers are from 33 other countries around the world. Interesting.

We also found out that we were automatically joining the secret society of Shellbacks (no longer being Scallywags) as we were sailing across the Equator at midnight.

Joining millions of sailors over the centuries, that have crossed the equator in boats of all types 🙂

Hasta la vista after Manta, Ecuador………….

PUERTO ACAJUTLA, EL SALVADOR

Hola again!

Due to the itinerary change in Peru , we have a shortened stay in El Salvador.

We decided to take advantage of a local shuttle and go to a beach park not far from the port. What a nice surprise!

We walked the cavernous coastline and then settled in the park.

JD was apprehensive about El Salvador due to his past readings about the notorious gang, MS-13. We were told by a young college student, Daniel, that the new El Presidente’ has cracked down on MS-13 nationwide and has imprisoned 40,000 of the gang members.

Daniel also told us, that El Salvador hosts world surfing championships each year, a couple hours from our park, due to the country’s large, constant, coastline waves.

It put JD at ease, so we decided to join locals playing chess in the park above the beach.

We did still wonder why the park was surrounded by a high fence with sharp barbed wire (yikes). Lol.

As we relaxed, we noticed locals had set up tables with drinks, food, and merchandise (of course) in anticipation of the cruise passengers.

They were all so friendly and happy to see tourists.

Sad to think about all the poor Peruvians who will miss out on the needed, tourists dollars due to the political turmoil in their country.

We took advantage and bought local farm nuts, plantain chips, and some door magnets to join the Mia magnet on our cabin door.

As we came back to the ship, the local high school band, that greeted the ship, was still there, playing the Beatles, “Let It Be” .

They were great and had a huge audience of cruise passengers applauding and tipping!

On a sad note, JD and I have been part of a group of seven (7) Blackjack players competing in tournaments and tables on some nights.

I’m the only woman and the other men probably average eighty (80) years old. Lol.

One gentleman, traveling alone, is from Pennsylvania and gambled at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City.

He and JD hit if off with war stories , since JD has been to the Borgata many times with his Aunt, Mom, and brother, Dodey.

The gentleman won big night the night we saw him and was having the time of his life.

We were told the next night by the casino manager ,that he was found unconscious in the hallway on his way to his room.

He had passed away.

We were shocked and saddened to hear the news but then thought, at least he went out a winner doing what he loved, laughing and smiling with friends.

RIP Amigo!

We now have two days on the seas, on our way to Marvelous Manta, Ecuador.

PUERTO QUETZAL, MEXICO

Buenas dias from beautiful Guatemala!

We are headed to the beautiful town of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site high in the Guatemalan mountains.

The day started with an hour and a half bus ride up the mountain. Halfway up the mountain, we started seeing the world famous coffee bean farms. The beans were turning red and close to harvesting.

Another bonus of the trip up the mountain was passing the famous “Chicken Buses” of Guatemala. These pimped-out, used, school buses were all originally purchased for about $2000 each in the USA.

When they emerge from the Guatemalan garages, they are decorated with air brushings and decals along with being mechanically over-hauled.

The buses are then named after a favorite woman or the bus proprietor.

They are a common mode of transportation for the locals.

The name “Chicken Bus” originated from the villages due to passengers being packed into the buses like chickens in a coop! Tight fit.

Also, you may share a seat with crates of chickens on their way to another farm or processing.

As we got closer to Antigua, we noticed many rocks and large boulders along the side of the road.

Last month, a volcanic tremor triggered rock slides that closed the main road for a week until it was cleared.

As we started walking the village, we noticed all the beautiful flowers, mostly bougainvillea, which all thrive here due to the warm dry climate and rich volcanic soil.

In the late 1700’s, Antigua served as the country’s capitol until a volcanic eruption devastated the town.

Due to the volcanic impact, the capitol was moved to Guatemala City where it remains today.

At the time, the country was predominately Catholic reflected by the many Catholic churches and murals throughout the city ruins.

Today, Guatemala is only 40% catholic.

Many of the ruins have been transformed into boutique hotels, restaurants, and baristas along the volcanic rock cobblestone streets.

We popped into a local barista for a cup of famous Guatemalan cafe con leche. Once zooming on caffeine, we were much better equipped to negotiate with the strong -willed, Guatemalan women vendors! Lol.

We had a typical Guatemalan lunch of carne and beans with rice, and local cerveza at a beautiful restaurant. The restaurant building was originally built as a convent before the eruption.

The volcano seen in the picture is actually still active with tremors and even small eruptions throughout the year.

We met people from all over the world vacationing, honeymooning, and enjoying this quaint little village like we did throughout the day!

Talk to you in our next stop from El Salvador!

DAY AT SEA AND PUERTO CHIAPAS, MEXICO

Hola everyone!

Once again, we had a beautiful sunset as we left the Gulf of Acapulco and entered the Pacific.

Had a great sunset work out in the gym, the wonderful view helps inspire us to get to the gym. Along with many others, Good to see.

Afterwards, went upstairs and chilled to the Insignia band, who are by the way, awesome.

Chase, the sax and flutist, is amazing. My Mom would love him!

Pulled into Puerto Chiapas (Chiapas is the poorest state in Mexico) and started off with room service to keep our streak alive.

JD had his usual avocado toast with poached eggs (now you can see why we have to work out regularly). The food truly is incredible.

The town is a 45 min drive away and not much of a tourist destination, so we decided to just take a long walk from the port and see the banana plantations.

As we were walking, a banged-up passenger van stopped, and the driver yelled out he would take us to Tapachula town center for $2.00 each.

We thought, “hey that’s a good deal” so we got in. How wrong we were!!

No air conditioning (and it’s hot here) but only 6 other people in the van so not too bad.

Over the next forty (40 ) minutes, the driver stopped eight (8) times and filled the van with twenty (20) people, stuffed in worse than sardines in a can!

As you can see, JD yelled, “No Mas!” when he stopped again, and we finally got to the town. safely. Lol.

Tapachula is the southern most city in Mexico, only eight (8) miles north of the Guatemalan border.

Sadly, it was everything we’ve seen on the news in regards to the illegal migration heading to America. As you can see by the pictures , immigrants were everywhere, and from as far away as Africa and Haiti.

Old and young, mothers feeding babies, people sleeping on the ground.

Sadly, we were told, they think they are home-free once they arrive here, but they soon find out the Mexican government will not help them to get to the US.

We didn’t stay long, after what we experienced the the sardine-can bus, JD sprung for a solo cab for the ride home (Yay!!).

We got back to the ship and the beautiful port park pool (very unusual), so we took a dip.

Lastly, when we got back on the ship , we heard that due to the political unrest in Peru throughout the country, our stops there were cancelled.

No big deal, though, as they added additional stops in Ecuador.

Now we sail to the beautiful volcanic town of Antigua in the country of Guatemala.

Until next time. xxoo

ACAPULCO, MEXICO

We left Zihuatanejo under another beautiful, Pacific coast sunset.

Pulled into the port of Acapulco just after sunrise.

Acapulco was the beach resort escape of Hollywood stars and the honeymoon destination of millions from around the world.

JD and CB 4arrived here 40 years ago to celebrate their honeymoon and partied at the famous Jackie O’s disco. We passed it and it’s still here today but called Baby O’s.

Our main objective was to see the famous cliff divers. JD was rained out of this event on his honeymoon trip.

As we drove to the cliffside hotel to watch the divers perform, we passed the prior hotels owned by John Wayne (The Duke) and Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan).

We were amazed at how young the cliff divers are, some younger than 16 years of age. 4th and fifth generation families of Acapulco divers.

Truly a wonderful experience on a beautiful day, watching them climb the cliffs to get to their diving platforms, some 138 ft above the water.

As you can see in the picture, the area they dove into the sea is a narrow gorge ,where they must time the incoming waves to hit the water at a deep enough depth.

Also interesting, was the Mother Mary shrine built into the cliff ‘s dive platform that they say a prayer before each dive. While leaving the hotel, we met all the divers and tipped them (of course) as we left to drive around the rest of the city. Beautiful!

Did stop and buy some Taxsco silver earrings:)

Looking forward to a day at sea to relax, catch up on our blog, and get ready for our last Mexican stop in Puerto Chiapas. See you there!

ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO

As we left the port of Manzanillo, we set sail under a beautiful sunset over the Pacific coast mountain range.

Dining alfresco on the ship, JD started off with some beautiful sushi, a tropical bean salad, and Sicilian anchovy crostini ( anchovies not one of my favorites, although the plate looked pretty). I had my fav sushi with carved leg of lamb, while JD continued to deplete the Maine lobster inventory. 🙂

In the morning we anchored, then tendered into the beautiful coastal fishing village of Zihuatanejo.

Our goal was to find Playa De Ropa, the most beautiful beach in this Zihua village (as we were told).

It was about a 30 min one-way walk along the paver promenade recently installed by the Mexican government. Gorgeous, along the beach coastline.

We were surprised by all the wonderful restaurants and shops in this sleepy little fishing village and no massive hotels and condos on the beach.

We passed family-owned, beachfront cottages, a cool basketball court, and local fisherman coming out of the sea with fresh oysters.

We found Playa De Ropa and settled at Casa Del Mar.

We were set up for lunch with a $10 rental for two chaises on the beach along with an umbrella (what a deal!!).

Angel, our waiter, brought us cold Corona’s with fresh lime and sea salt along with an avocado stuffed with fresh camarone and langostino.

We were touched at how friendly and sweet the locals are, making us think this could be a great winter home in the future.

We finished the day with a great 14,000 step walk along the beach, full bellies, and great sun tans!

We loved this town and we may very well return someday!

See you in Acapulco!

MANZANILLO, MEXICO

Hola’ everyone!

As we entered Manzanilla, we were awestruck by the change in topography.

Beautiful mountains rising up from the waters edge. Awesome.

Manzanilla was a quick stop for everyone, worthy of a good walk into town.

We were brought into the commercial port, which was interesting, due to the resort port being full with longer stay ships.

We were intrigued by the Rocky Balboa-looking statue in the distance. As it turns out, it’s a tribute to the “estibadors” who have worked the port over the decades.

In the states they call them longshoremen or stevedores. Of course, JD had to do his estibador pose.

As we entered town, we noticed a beautiful, wedding pavilion with beautiful brightly colored lace hanging from the ceiling. Another picture worthy shot.

The downtown redevelopment is paying homage to the reputation of being the sports fishing capital of Mexico. Hence, the big, Blue Marlin sculpture. Very cool.

We noticed a gentleman coming out of the bay with mask and snorkel and bags of oysters that he gathered from the oyster beds under a bridge.

JD asked if we could take his picture. He agreed before he set-off to sell them on the streets of Manzanillo.

As JD was dragging me thru the streets looking for vino tinto and vino blanco at bargain prices ,we came across this colorful stairway entrance to the local iglesia . Made for another great picture.

Mission accomplished at the local mercado. Uno Argentinian and Uno Chilean for our stateroom stash for veinte do’lares!

Off to Zihuatanejo, our next stop, where we plan to have a beach day.

LIFE AT SEA BETWEEN PORTS

Ande’ here again.

FYI. JD is my proof reader and content provider (of course) Lol.

We set sail from Ensenada for a two (2) day , 1200 nautical mile southern cruise to the resort city of Manzanillo. We’re still exploring the Mexican Riviera on the beautiful Pacific coast.

We found out some interesting passenger information.

We have 580 cruise neighbors on Insignia. 389 of them are sailing around the world with us. The others are on 21 to 50 day segment cruises.

This 2023 cruise sold out in 31 minutes when offered.

2024 just sold out in 37 minutes. Post covid demand world-wide to travel.

We’ve met folks on their fourth world cruise!

JD has given me the distinction of being the youngest around the world cruiser onboard Insignia. Lol. He’s not to far from being the youngest too 🙂

The weather is turning beautiful and tropical as we get close to Manzanillo, which is known as the sailfish capitol of the world. It is a sportsmen paradise.

Loving life onboard, in the gym, the casino, on the jogging track, in the hot tub, dining alfresco, and even in the laundry room (say what?).

I later found out that the “around the world cruisers” ( referred to as the ATW’s) get their laundry done for them for free.

Yay, no more laundry for me (and JD. He put in the first load. ) 🙂

The food is amazing, the dining rooms are beautiful.

Had to take a pic of the Versace china. Beautiful!

JD had a two-day run on Maine lobster!

We’ve limited our gambling to only tournaments and I’m proud to say, I’ve come in first in the slot tournament and 2nd-place twice in the blackjack tournament. JD’s picture tells you how he’s doing. LOL.

We’ve stuck to our daily work-out program and have been surprised at how many people on the ship are working out in the gym and stay very active around the jogging track.

I’ve joined the Artist’s loft where I can paint at my leisure. The Loft has an in-house professional artist to help. So fun!!

Our room is becoming our home away from home with our personal touches including our front door. Our little niece, Mia-Bentley from Kansas, wanted to stow away in one of our bags. LOL.

We couldn’t fit her in my overpacked luggage so we brought the adorable magnet she made for me for my Birthday and it is now on our cabin door. Thank you Mia!!!

After Manzanillo, we are looking forward to visiting Zihuatanejo, a little Mexican fishing village. The beach paradise Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman escaped to in The Shawshank Redemption (just a little known fact). We’re falling in love with the western, Pacific coast of Mexico with the beautiful mountains and cliffs that rise from the waters edge.

Talk to you soon!!!

ENSENADA, MEXICAN RIVIERA

Ande’ here again!

Boy was I right, rough sailing on Monday the 16th. Fortunately we docked this morning at 8am in the coastal town of Ensenada Mexico.

Ensenada is the first of many coastal towns making up the Mexican Riviera.

We are 78 miles south of San Diego on the Baja peninsula. It’s a popular wine region.

Due to the cold front that followed us here from California, roads were washed out and our vineyard tour was cancelled. Cold and rainy.

We got a break in the rain and we made it downtown to share some cerveza’s with the locals at a cool bar with mucho murals.

Got a chance to wear our cool “Around The World” jackets given to us by Oceania.

Bought a paper mache’ fish mobile for our patio and some local wine. JD trying to build an inexpensive wine cellar in our room.

Our room is starting to feel like home with pics of the kids and our Teddy beach bag.

Had a great lunch at the Waves grill on board after a dip in the hot tub.

Getting ready to set sail again and will be at sea for two days.

Heading towards more sunshine and warmer temperatures.

The featured dinner tonight is fish Al fresco with locally caught Mahi.

See you in Ixtapa, Mexico!

Adios amigos!

SAN FRANCISCO

Ande’ here!

Arrived in San Francisco early morning on January 14th.

How lucky were we, that our room was ready and waiting for us at The Historic Fairmont Hotel in the Nob Hill area of San Fransisco.

So much history at the Fairmont.

United Nations Charter was signed in the Garden Room of the Fairmont in 1945.

More importantly, Tony Bennett first sang the famous “I Left My Heart in San Fransisco” in the Fairmont lounge (lol).

The Fairmont honored Tony with a bronze statue on their front lawn entrance on his 90th birthday.

We set out in the morning walking the steep streets of San Fransisco.

Onward to the city’s famous Chinatown, to see the weekend’s street market and enjoy an authentic Chinese lunch with a couple Tinsao’s.

Additional steep walking downhill to Fisherman’s Wharf to get a good shot of “The Rock.”

Although we were stuffed, had to experience the city’s famous sourdough bread, clam chowder bowl at Boutin’s Sour Dough bakery and bar.

A great day with a lot of walking finished with room service for dinner (we were exhausted!)

Working on our goal of having room service for breakfast everyday for 180 days!

Did it on day 1! 179 mornings to go 🙂

The weather started to turn miserable, with another historic front coming towards California’s coast. Flood watches issued in the City.

Oceania announced we were leaving one hour early tonight to miss the worst of the front’s impact to San Fransisco Bay as we sail out to the Pacific.

Although it was a rough journey out, we got a great picture of the Golden Gate Bridge as we passed underneath.

Seeing the size of the front ,we know it’s going to be rough sailing heading south to the Mexican Riviera.

I’ll be putting on a motion sickness patch in anticipation for rough seas, yikes!! 😉

See you in Ensenada, Mexico!!!!

GETTING READY

AS MOST OF YOU KNOW, THIS TRIP HAS BEEN IN THE PLANNING STAGE FOR ABOUT THREE YEARS.

WE DECIDED TO RENT OUR HOUSE FOR THE 6 MONTHS WHILE ON THE HIGH SEAS.

FOUND A GREAT TENANT(S) FROM CHICAGO.

A BUSINESS OWNER AND HIS DOG.

WE CLEANED, SCRUBBED, DUSTED, AND PAINTED, WHILE DOING ALL THE OTHER THINGS THAT GO ALONG WITH LEAVING THE COUNTRY FOR 6 MONTHS.

WHEW!!! IT’S FINALLY HERE…… BON VOYAGE!!!