I am blessed to be a living a life that allows me to travel from time to time. I look forward to sharing my journeys, memories, great food and heart with you. Being widowed at 43 I know how important it is to live life to the fullest. May you be blessed through this sharing of my travels.
Today was much like most of our sea days. An opportunity to fellowship with other passengers, do our routines, and get ready for our next adventure in port tomorrow. I was up early and went the gym as the sun was coming up. I came back to the cabin around 7:30am and Megan was up. I grabbed my tea and then she and I made our way to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Today is our dear server and friend, Jenny’s, last day on the ship. She has been taking wonderful care of us since we got on in January and it is sad to see her her go. But we are happy she is going to be reunited with her friends and family at home after having been gone for eight months. Megan and I wrote her a nice thank you note and gave her a gratuity, and our email in case she wants to keep in touch. After breakfast we went and spent two hours crocheting in our window for Project Linus. Every day around 10:00am they ring a bell for each blanket that has been turned in for the day as Marty holds them up for all to see. The regular bell ringer is currently off the ship on a Safari so Megan was asked to fill in this morning as the official bell ringer. I think she had a good time getting to do it. After crochet I went home to shower and get ready for my massage and acupuncture appointment. Megan had tutoring with Ms. Bonita at 12:30 and then spent much of the afternoon reading her new book that she bought yesterday. We had a lovely dinner in the Main Dining room tonight. We hadn’t been in about a week and it was nice to see Umam and Regy again. They have been having some South African cuisine on the menu the last few days. Yesterday we had Kudu carpaccio and tonight we had Antelope. I rather enjoyed the Antelope. After dinner we took our crocheting to the Main Stage and waited for the 7:00pm performance from a local group that got on in Durban called Shades of Africa. They sang songs about the land and their homes in their native tongue. It was a very cultural experience and it made for a lovely way to spend the evening. Tomorrow we will be in Cape Town South Africa for an overnight. Through this evening we will be sailing around the Horn of Africa and past the Cape of Good Hope. The captain is extremely happy with the weather conditions we are experiencing and our passage has been very smooth. We also are having a captain change while we are here in Cape Town. We are excited to meet the new captain that will take us through the rest of our journey. This is a first for us and for many world cruisers. So it will be a time of adjustment for everyone. Megan is actually already sleeping as I am writing this. I think that is a first for this trip. I am heading to bed shortly myself. Wishing you all a wonderful day as I say goodnight. Blessings!
Animals Seen Today: African Fish Eagle (Similar DNA to a bald eagle), Brown Headed Parrot, Elephants, Wildebeest, Spotted Hyena, Leopard, Wart Hog, Water Buck (white circle on their butts), African Tree Squirrel, Lions, Zebra, Giraffe, Ground Hornbill, Hornbill, Rhinoceros, Turtle, Impala, Gray Dagger, Crocodile, Ververt Monkey, Cape Starling, European Bee Eater, Lilac Breasted Roller, War Breast Eagle, Red Crested Cormorant, White Rhinoceros, Swensen Franklin Fowl, Ostrich, Cape Buffalo, Golden Orb Web Spider, Spotted Eagle Owl, and Lightening Bugs!
The alarm went off at 4:30am and we were up and dressed, covered head to toe in bug repellant and headed out before the sun was even up. We saw the sun starting to rise as we enjoyed danish and fruit at 5:15. We were off on our animal drive by 5:45 am. We drove all around the park and followed the sightings as they were called into the CB of our woeful driver Lazarus. We learned this week that the rangers speak in code that only other rangers understand so the poachers don’t know where the animal sightings have been. We also learned that those not staying at lodges within the Kruger National Park are only allowed in the park from 6am-6pm. The advantage of staying in the park is early morning starts and late night finishes. There are 12 lodges within the park. Jock Safari Lodge is among the newest and it was built in 2001. Others are older mostly built in the mid late 70’s. Jock Lodge is “one of the top lodges in the park” according to Lazarus. Mid morning we had our first stop and had the opportunity to stretch our legs and were served tea, coffee and hot chocolate and biscuits. We were back to the lodge around 9:00am and were greeted by smiling staff members and a beautiful breakfast buffet. We spent the rest of the morning showering in our outdoor shower, bathing in our outdoor tub, and plunging in our private plunge pool. It was so surreal being in the middle of the Park, in a bubble bath outside on our deck. Later in the morning we went to the gift shop and did some sovenier shopping. Megan got some post cards and stamps and we took the time to fill them out and we sent them off back to the United States. Lunch was at 1:00. We had now eaten four times today.The highlights of this afternoons menu were Wildebeest Veal shepherds pie, Vegetable Lasagna, and a dulce de leche tart. After lunch we sat on the outside dining patio relaxing and we were rewarded with an entire herd of elephants including many babies crossing the river right beside us. Wow. Then we retired to our cabin for a short nap before we met again for tea time and then on to our second animal drive at 4:00pm. Today was like being in a National Geographic movie most of the day. We saw a Leopard today jump out of tree, slink through the grass and attack a baby Water Buck. The Buck got away and sent the entire herd into high alert. They were all violently exhaling as a warning to the other bucks and animals in the area. The Impalas starting to make the same noise. I don’t know if the buck survived the attack. It had puncture wounds in the back of it’s neck and its mother came right over to it and licked its wounds after the attack. We saw it run off with its mom and hope that whatever needs to happen in this circle of life happens. We had a mid drive stop again with the chance to visit the Lava-tree if needed, to stretch of legs and to eat again. Our evening snack was Biltong Jerky, cheese and crackers, trail mix, beer, wine, sodas and water. I am overwhelmed with everything we have already seen. I am feeling beyond blessed yet again. I was moved to tears this afternoon as I breathed it all in and gave a multitude of thanks to everyone who has been instrumental in getting me to where I am right now in this exact moment in time. I will suffice it to say that if you’re reading this, you’re most likely a part of life and therefore one of my many blessings, and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being exactly who you are. Thank you for what you have done to encourage, support and love on me. This opportunity is a priceless one and I have experienced something that I will treasure for my lifetime. When we returned back to the lodge after our second drive we were seated in the dining room for a plated meal. We had placed our orders this afternoon before we left for our drive and dinner was served. For those of you keeping count, this was the SEVENTH time we were fed today. Three meals and fours snack/mini meals throughout the day. Every thing we ate was absolutely delicious and obviously prepared for us with love and passion for the art of cooking. Cooked with local ingredients and served to us with such hospitality that I don’t want to go back to the ship. Megan doesn’t either. This wasn’t enough time here at all. We have one final animal drive bright and early tomorrow. Need to sleep fast. We’ll definitely need to catch up on sleep when we get back to the ship. It worth every moment of lost sleep. Hugs from across the miles. Enjoy all the photos.
I woke up this morning as our ship was coming into Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth. It is cool and overcast this morning and the weather is expected to be high of 72, cooler than it has been for us the last week. I recommended to Megan we wear jeans today and we are really glad we did. We went to the Lido for a quick breakfast and then had to meet in the Main Stage at 8:15am. Today we did the South African Penguin Cruise. We took a short bus ride to the Nelson Mandela Bay Yacht Club and we were split into two boat groups of about 20 each for today’s adventure. We took a leisurely boat ride up the coast and saw a few Indo Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins and some Cape Fur Seals. We arrived shortly at St. Croix Island where a colony of African Penguins currently live. They colony of penguins used to be MUCH larger than it is today! (See photo below) Over fishing the waters nearby combined with oil from the cargo ships that frequent this area, killed off much of the colony. There are efforts being made to rectify this and save the colony through the work of the Bay Watch Port Elizabeth group. We got to see some of the birds and saw a photo taken in 2000 when the island was completely covered in the penguins. It was sad to see their drastically depleted number. We got to also see several sea bird including cormorants, white breasted cormorants and Black Oyster Catchers. We were served a snack while at sea and Megan and I climb up into the tower over the captain for a “birds eye view” pun intended. As we headed back to the marina we followed the beach line and got to wave to some people swimming the water. Then we saw a few dolphins swimming in the distance, and then a few more, and then before we knew it there were hundreds of dolphins all around our boat in the water. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. You could hear them taking a breath as they surfaced and dove back down. There were dolphins jumping up out of the water and mothers with their calves. I had never seen or heard of anything like this ever in my life. I later came to find out the Port Elizabeth is actually the bottlenose dolphin capitol of the world. We spent about 30 minutes sailing along with them before it was time to head back the rest of the way. And that’s where our adventure truly began. My understanding is the winds weren’t predicted to come in till about two hours later than they actually did. But mother nature had her own plans and Megan and I rode the ocean all the way back to the port on that upper deck of the boat. We were splashed and soaked to the bone by the time we got back in. Megan was whooping and hollering the whole way having the time of her life. I told her this was similar to what it felt like riding a mechanical bull. I couldn’t help but laugh hard at her silliness. All the passengers beneath us crammed into the captains steering area as that was the only place protected from the surf on the boat. By the time we finally got home we were absolutely freezing and gave thanks for the short bus ride back to the ship. We came home, changed out of our wet clothes, took a quick shower and warmed our bodies and then got dressed to go back out. It was about 2:00pm at this time and all aboard wasn’t until 4:30 so we hoped onto the shuttle that took us to a nearby mall to do some shopping. We bought a few things a book store, the Biltong Store (best jerky ever!) and the grocery stores. Megan restocked up on her sweet, mostly different types of Gummies and we also bought some local flavors of chips including Green Curry, Cheesy Pesto and Thai Sweet Chili. We look forward to trying them. Megan also grabbed a box of six donuts. The lady at the Biltong store said she loved donuts, so we gave her one and absolutely made her day. We were back on the ship by about 4:00pm and decided we are going to stay in for the rest of the evening. We are going to order room service for dinner, watch a movie in our cozies, crochet and be bums. Or I’m going to catch up on my missing two days of blogging…we’ll see which way the evening goes. Either way it will be relaxing and quiet. A nice way to end the week on this Sunday evening. Stay safe and dry especially to my loved ones in CA. I can’t believe the weather you are having again!!
Bonus sea day after East London port was cancelled due to weather!
We woke up this morning and awaited news as too wether or not we were going to dock at the port in East London. It was announced around 9:00am that the weather conditions were not safe enough for us to visit there so we are going to have a bonus sea day. Megan and I are still recuperating from our Safari so we welcome the day off. I do feel bad though for the passengers who had one day safaris booked today and will miss out on the opportunity. I slept in till about 7:30am this morning since I fell asleep so early last night. I left Megan to sleep in and went the Pinnacle Grill solo for breakfast. I spent most of the day sorting through the photos from the Safari and choosing the best of the best. It took hours to get them all downloaded and to get the blog written for the first day of the three day trip. I still have two to do and they will come as soon as possible. I went to the gym around 12:00 noon and then had an acupuncture appointment right after. All of our laundry was returned to our cabin clean from the Safari so we got it all sorted and put away. Some of it will now go into the suitcases under the bed as we will not need those items again this trip. We were supposed to go to the Tamarind for dinner tomorrow night, but since our excursion was cancelled we changed our reservation to tonight. We enjoyed another wonderful meal of asian styled cuisine. We were both into bed by 8:00pm and we crashed out very shortly thereafter. Tomorrow is a port day and we have an early meeting time. No photos for you from today. Sweet dreams.
Maputo, Mozambique to Kruger National Park, South Africa
Safari day 1 of three – Warning Long Post Ahead
Before I even got out of bed this morning I smelled fire. I went outside on the balcony and the smell was even stronger. I watched the sun rise in the East as the full moon was setting in the west. It was an amazing sight to see. Last night we preordered room service for the first time. We were able to eat breakfast in our cabin while we finished getting up and ready for the Safari. Around 8:00am we headed to the Rolling Stone Lounge and waited for immigration to finish clearing us so we could get our passports back before getting off the ship. We loaded up into two separate vans to accommodate our group of 25. Our van had a trailer behind it with all our luggage in it. We had to drive about three hours to Kruger. We passed through three toll booths and paid a toll, but there are no EZ Pass lanes. Along our drive we saw hundreds of trucks hauling iron ore, coal and raw chrome to the port for export to China. Sadly, the driver told us there is not enough coal here to power the country, yet they export so much to other countries. They actually have mandatory power shut offs three times a day lasting a minimum of two hours each. Around 11:00 we came to the Mozambique/South Africa border. We had to get off the bus and get into line for passport inspection. We got stamped and got back into the bus. About a mile up the road we repeated the process again as we needed to go through immigration to get into South Africa. Quite a long process. But with the kindness and expertise of our driver we got through very smoothly. Ahhh. But did we? Unfortunately our HAL escort got stopped at the South African border. She did not have a visa and we had to leave her there. After an hour of failed negotiations, they are making transportation arrangements to get her back to the ship and we ventured forward. We stopped to pick up pre-boxed lunches and continued on and ate lunch in our bus. We were stopped three times along our drive by police offers looking for people not traveling with proper papers. We saw lots of agricultural land papayas, mango, banana, lemons and sugar which they use to make gin. As we crossed the bridge at Crocodile River just before entering the gates at Kruger Park, we saw crocodiles, impalas and hippopotamuses and we weren’t even in the park yet. We arrived at the Jock Safari house and were warmly greeting by so many staff that work here. We were given a quick tour of the property and then we were escorted to the dining hall where there was food and drinks waiting for us. There is a small community pool, two swinging chairs, and a beautiful view of the river below. There is an electrical fence surrounding the entire compound and security 24/7 to protect us. The lodge is so beautiful. We were given a quick talk on the itinerary, meeting times and places for the rest of the day. Next, we were escort to our suite where our luggage was already waiting for us. We have our own little piece of paradise right here in Africa. We have a small private plunge pool on our giant patio, an outdoor shower and an outdoor bathtub and a large screened in enclosure with a day bed. Inside our room is all the amenities you could need. Coffee maker and fridge a king size bed with mosquito netting, a huge double headed shower and two sinks. We also have a small sitting area. There was a lovely letter welcoming us to the lodge. We feel so pampered. There are 25 guests here and I think there are as many, if not more, employees as there is guests. We were given about 90 minutes to get settled in. We dipped our feet in the pool and took in the amazing view from our deck. Then it was time to get ready for our first game animal drive. We met up with our group and our Ranger Lazarus who will be our driver and guide for the duration of our stay here. He has worked in Kroger National Park for twenty one years. At 4:30 we were separated into four jeeps and away we went!
We saw so much I can’t hardly describe it all and I write a blog!!
Animals Seen Today: European Roller, Kudu, Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Peregrine Falcon, Giant Eagle Owl, Giraffe, Crocodiles, Elephants, Impalas, Hippopotamus, Gazelle, Cape Buffalo, Zebra, Lion, Leopard, White Rhinoceros, Spotted Hyenas, Ground Hornbill, Yellow Hornbill (aka Zazu), Lilac Breasted Roller, Kingfisher, Cardinal Woodpecker, Baboon and many other beautiful birds.
The Rhinoceros are in extreme danger here. Due to illegal poaching, the population in Kruger National Park has gone from over ten thousand to about nineteen hundred. About 3 years ago they started a program here where they humanely remove the coveted horn of the Rhinoceros to protect them from being killed by the poachers. They believe the horn will have to be recut in about four years time, but for now it seems to working to deter poaching.
About midway through our animal drive while we waited for the Lions to cross the fields so we could hopefully get a better view, our ranger brought out drinks and snack for us. We were offered beer, wine, sodas and water to drink. We also had Biltong beef jerky, crackers, and a nut trail mix. I couldn’t believe we were eating a snack in Africa as we watched a whole pride of lions cross over to what was to come right next to and in front of us. It was surreal seeing these majestic animals in their own habitat roaming wild, free from captivity. I had several moments where I thoughts to myself is this really happening, am I really here experiencing this?!? We watched the Lioness and one male Lion for about an hour as the sunset in the distance. It was a beautiful start to our adventure heres and we have already seen far more than I had anticipated. Today will be hard to top. For those who know Safari lingo, you will notice that we saw what is referred to as the “Big Five” already today. I could have only hoped to have seen them all by then end of our time here, but today is only day one and we saw them all!!
After our animal drive we arrived back at the Lodge and dropped off our things in our room and then headed to dinner. Dinner was set up for us on the beach below the main dining building. They moved large wooden table, chairs, everything to keep our food warm, plates, glasses, a bar and everything else we needed down the hill to the beach below. As we are out of the electrical fencing as well, there were two employees armed with rifles and spotlights watching the river for unwelcome dinner guests, mainly crocodiles and Hippopotamus. We were served a fantastic meal. The food tasted magnificent and there was more then we could possibly eat. The star dished fo the evening were Buffalo Sausage, Grilled Sirloin, Venison, Roasted Chicken, Polenta, Chickpea Soup, and Bread Pudding with an Amarula Sauce. Our tummies were so full. I have also fallen in love with Castle Lager which is a local beer and it tastes so good in this hot and humid weather. We headed to our cabin after dinner, our mosquito netting had been let down as part of our turn down service and we understand now why it is there. Our cabin has a thatched straw like roof that doesn’t quite keep all the bugs out. I also suspect the sink drains are not part of a closed pipe system and we had friends visiting us through the drain. We used the provided bug spray (should’ve been my first clue), took showers to wash off the days bug spray and bush dust and dirt, and climbed into a bed that smelled oh so heavenly. They use scented laundry detergent unlike the ship and it was almost like being at home. I haven’t smelled that lovely smell in over two months and it was the cherry on the top of most wonderful, amazing, overwhelming, breathtaking day. Lastly, today is day 64 of our cruise. We have completed half of journey around the world and from hence forward I am working my way back home to my loved ones both in time and geographically. We have much left to do and see. It is almost 10:00pm and the alarm goes off at 4:30am and I am almost too excited to sleep. We meet tomorrow at 5:15am for our second animal drive of this Safari. I suspect not much sleep over the time we are here and I also suspect it will WAY worth it. Until tomorrow….
*There are many photos posted below from day one. They are of our room here at the Jock Safari Lodge, many of the animals we saw today, the sun setting over the bush and the table set for dinner this evening. I have condensed my over 2000 photos from the two and a half days into a mere 99 of our favorites for you to see and enjoy. Hugs
Good morning almost from Africa. We definitely allowed our selves to sleep in this morning. I think last night was one of the latest evenings I have had this cruise. And we still keep saying over and over how much fun we had last night. Some parts of our bodies are sore from dancing in heels all night and it was worth it! I am happy that my back isn’t too angry at me either. WIN!! We woke up around 8:00am, which was 9:00am this time yesterday. We went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Also, because tomorrow we are in Africa, we had to take our first Malaria pills this morning with our breakfast. Please pray we don’t have any adverse side effects. Then we headed to our Project Linus Group. We are gearing up for a big fundraiser for Project Linus on March 22nd and there is a lot of fun and energy being put into the planning and execution of the event. They are going to lay out all the completed blankets from the cruise to date and a passenger crocheted blankets during COVID specifically to be sold to raise money for yarn on the World Cruise. Such a great cause, great volunteers running it, and generous passengers giving of their time and talents to crochet and knit all the blankets to be donated. Around 11:00am I was able to log into the Anne Frank museum website and purchase tickets for Megan and I visit the Anne Frank home in Amsterdam in April. The tickets went on sale today and they sold very quickly. I am happy we are going to get an opportunity to see this historical home. I have been there before but Megan has not had the opportunity to visit it. After Linus time we headed home to finish up packing and to listen to the Captain’s noon report. Our entire Cruise is 34, 652 Nautical Miles from start to finish. One March 4th we reach our geographical mid point of 17,326 miles. Also, around the same day we reached our global midpoint. The globe is approximately 24,000 miles around and we were about 12,000 miles from California that day too. Lastly, tomorrow is our 64th day of this 128 day cruise marking that our journey is halfway over. Lots of little fun facts for you all. The mid way point is definitely a time for further reflection of where we are and where we have been. As much as I absolutely love to travel and will do it over and over, I love home too. I love my family very much and look forward to being back at home too. At 12:30 Megan had tutoring. I had an acupuncture appointment at 2:30pm. Then it was time to get ready for dinner at 5:00pm. It is Tuesday and we haven’t had the opportunity for a few weeks but tonight we are having our friend Ginny as our dinner guest this evening. She is my fellow Linus partner who sits in the window with me as we share our lovely “cat time” in the window when we crochet. We are now back in our cabin and have finished up our packing for tomorrow. Our meeting time is 8:15am. I fear I am going to be too excited to sleep tonight!! But we are going to try. Please keep our travels in your prayers for a safe journey, good health, wonderful memories and safe return to the ship on Friday. I can’t wait to share all that we saw and did and hopefully some amazing photos. Enjoy your week everyone. Blessings to you!! Debra
Lots going on around the ship today. They really try and keep us busy on Sea Days. There is much to do if you want to join in or you can choose to do a little or nothing at all. I was up at 5:30am this morning and decided to take a break from the gym. I am still feeling good and I want to keep it that way. Instead I grabbed my tea and went to the Lido aft deck and watched the sun rise. The weather was warm, the wind was blowing and the sun was out for the first time in a couple of days. I got some amazing photos and I hope you enjoy them. After I watched the sun rise, I went back to the cabin and woke up Megan. We went to the Pinnacle Grill and had breakfast. They had a special today, avocado toast, it wasn’t as good as mine is, but it was a nice switch from my normal vegetarian omelet. After breakfast we went and did our project Linus time. Around 11:00 am we headed home and change into our bathing suits. The sun was shining, the weather was warm and I needed to bronze my body. Megan had tutoring at 12:30 and I napped on my lounge chair. We rounded up our afternoon with a nice soak in the hot tub before heading home. I had an acupuncture appointment at 2:30pm and then I headed home. Megan and I crocheted and watched a movie this afternoon until it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight was formal night and we took some extra time getting all dolled up for dinner. We had a special menu tonight compete with escargot and steak & lobster. I had a lamb shank and a lobster tail. Hey what good is it being on a cruise if you can’t get exactly what you want right? LOL!! After dinner we headed home so I could write my blog and we could wait out part of the evening until the party at 9:00pm. We were greeted in our cabin by an adorable towel animal and a pillow gift from Holland America. They gave us each a power bank with the 2023 WC logo on it. Tonight’s party theme was a “Poolside Crew Party.” It was a night for the memory books. Crew member Nyron was our DJ all night. The music started at 9:00pm appropriately with Toto’s Africa and it didn’t stop until 12:15 am. The ship hosted champagne for the guest and it was free flowing. The photo below is just a small portion of the bottles that were consumed tonight. We visited with friends, both passengers and crew members. The crew was allowed to come in their street clothes and dance and party with the passengers. Everyone seems to have a most fantastic time. At 10:30pm there was a late night buffet and everyone who wanted to, could visit the Lido and eat, as taco bell used to call it, fourth meal. Some of this crew generally don’t get to eat in the passenger area as they have their own dining area and it was a wonderful time for everyone. Megan and I took to the dance floor around 10:00pm and we barely stopped until the music did. We have sore feet, happy hearts, and sweaty bodies. There will definitely be clothes needing to go to get dry cleaned and showers to be had before bedtime. The weather out around the pool deck couldn’t have been any better. It was perfectly warm and they had the retractable pool roof fully open all night. I can’t express enough how wonderful it was to see all the crew who work so very hard, who take such wonderful care of us, dancing and laughing and joining in with us in the celebration of just being right here right now. I feel bad for those who have the morning shift tomorrow and there is a time change tonight, another hour back. Hopefully that means some extra rest for some. LOL. Thank you for following along on my journey with me. I am feeling especially blessed this evening as I go to sleep. The upcoming Safari we are about to go on, the fun we had this evening, my wonderful family at home living their lives and holding down the fort while I am away, I have much to be thankful for. I will have one more post tomorrow and then I will be MIA for a few days as we travel on land. Megan is hoping for a room with two beds as we have been sharing a bed for 62 days along with a myriad of squishmallows and pillows in a wall between us. But she would love the opportunity to have her own bed for a couple of nights. Enjoy the photos!
Another day at sea to rest and relax and get ready for our upcoming adventure. I was up at 5:30am and hit the gym. Just like the “good old days”. Always so much easier when the clocks roll back an hour. I had a great workout and my back is still holding up. I am so happy. After my workout I went and got my morning tea. I am still coffee free and enjoying the change. I came home and woke up Megan so we could go to the Pinnacle Grill together for breakfast. After breakfast we went to the Project Linus meet and and spent our time crocheting and working on our blankets. After project Linus we headed home and laid all all our clothes and everything else we will need when we get off the ship for our Safari on Wednesday. We were encouraged to take everything we needed and take as little as possible. We will have a bus ride the begining and a plane ride at the end of the adventure. We got mostly ready to go and will finalize all our packing on Tuesday. After we were ready, we headed to the Main stage for a viewing of “Disney Nature African Cats.” It was amazing documentary and it got us even more excited for our safari. I admit that I dozed off a little during the movie. A gentle rocking will do that to you. After the movie we headed home for some down time until dinner time. This evening we had dinner with Gail and Marty at the Canaletto Italian restaurant. We had lovely meal, great conversation and a wonderful evening. It won’t take long for me to go to sleep tonight. Sweet dreams from afar.
Since we lost the ability to visit Madagascar, we now have four sea days. Today was day one. It was a rough night at sea and it affected my ability to sleep as well as I should. There were 15′ swells as we continue on our course following the outside edge of Cyclone Freddy. The captain is changing our course as needed to ensure we have the smoothest passage possible and I feel completely safe and protected in his care. I was up early due to another time change and I was able to be at the gym when it opened at 6:00am. It is nice to start resuming my workout routines without being in pain. After my workout I worked on my computer for an hour and enjoyed my morning tea before I went and woke up Megan. We heading to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast and then we went to Project Linus for our crochet time. I had to leave a little early because I had a 10:30am massage today. It was nice to have an opportunity to have a massage primarily for relaxation and not for therapy. It had been a month and I needed it. After, I headed home to check in with Megan and found a beautiful bouquet of flowers in my cabin. Every two weeks we have I flowers delivered to our cabin because it make our room look and feel more like home. They had already been delivered a couple of days ago. But these were from Guest Services for my willingness to step up and donate blood when asked. It was way above and beyond for them to do this for us and I appreciate the gratitude they showed me, but I would do it again for nothing in a heart beat if needed. Then I went back to the spa for an acupuncture appointment at 1:30pm. At 3:00 we had a meeting with the excursion team and the other passengers who are all going on the Safari at Kruger National Park in a few days. There are 25 passengers going on this overland tour. We will have a Holland America Employee, Rebecca, escorting us and staying with us for the entirety of our time off the ship. I will not be able to blog those few days and I will have much to share when I get back on the ship. We will be off the ship May 8th-10th. Today we received our daily itinerary, a suggested packing list, and we all had a chance to ask any questions we had. We will take a bus to the location and then at the end of the trip we will fly to Durban to meet the ship again as it will have moved on without us. They concluded our meeting with a champagne toast to the memories and adventures we will all be making together soon. After the meeting we headed home to get ready for dinner. We invited two EXC staff, Dali and Adeline to join us for dinner in the main dining room tonight. We love the opportunity to again get to more about the crew on board. Where they came from, how they came to work on cruise ships, what they did during COVID and then they get a chance to learn more about us and our family. The conversation flowed so easily and before we knew it, it was 8:00pm and time to call it an evening.
I want to mention that March 2nd, was my late husband’s 7th angelversary in heaven and one of his favorite snacks was Bugles. He taught the kids at a young age how to put them on their fingers and make “claws” and then eat them. In his memory we bought these bacon flavor ones we found in Reunion and we look forward to trying them. We miss him every day and he is in our hearts wherever we go. We will be in the Ireland in about a month. I had the opportunity to take some of his ashes there shortly after he passed as he desired very much to go there and never had the opportunity to. It will be a bit emotional visiting there again, but we will remember him as we venture on in our lives.
Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend. Remember to make some time to laugh, live and love . Hugs.
Today we visted France. Well kind of. It is a French territory and under the control of the French government. We are in Reunion. Another country I have never visited before. We were up and ready to head out by 7:30am. Megan got a few bug bites yesterday on our excursion and I thought I had escaped without any. But I woke up this morning and during my sleep about 30 bites became irritated and I woke up itching. So a new part of our morning routine for the next few weeks, when we are in ports, will be head to toe insect repellant. At least this one doesn’t smell too bad. We grabbed a quick breakfast in the Lido and then headed to the Main Stage. Like yesterday there was technical difficulties but they were resolved quickly and efficiently and we were off on our excursion in no time at all. There are four buses doing the same excursion as us today but we are visiting our spots in different orders so we will not all be at one place at one time. We had a wonderful guide today who shared so much information about Reunion and it’s history and culture. Megan diligently took notes all morning and has a wonderful record of all the things we learned. I brought my crocheting and was able to get some work done on my blanket while we drove around in the bus from stop to stop. We saw so many beautiful waterfalls. The best words I could use to describe this side of the island is lush. Much like Hawaii it has a dry side where they get little rain and then the wet side where it almost always rains. This was the wet side and the amount of green was breathtaking. We had a chance to visit a couple of small communities and do some shopping. There were many patisseries and we bought a baguette and ate the whole thing just the two of us. It was delicious. We had a lovely lunch and were served fresh juice, very strong rum punch, wine and variety of local food all served family style. One of our table mates grabbed a photo of our group and I’m glad we have that memory to keep. Our last stop was at a vanilla plantation. We have previously visited a couple of them now and that freed us to spend more time playing with the family dogs and relaxing while everyone learned how they cultivate and grow vanilla. It was a long day, another eight hour excursion today. We got back to the ship shortly after 4:30pm. When we arrive back to the port we had to actually get off the bus with all our purchases, go through a customs building and verify we were ship passenger by showing our key card, then we reboarded our bus and it took us the short distance further to the ship. It was something I had not experienced before, but we do what we are told when we are traveling abroad. Shortly after we got back to the room an announcement was made by the captain. There is a cyclone right in our path hanging out off the coast of Madagascar and unfortunately it was decided that it would be unsafe for us to visit there so we are not going to have our port of call there. In the photo below you can see the cyclone and the yellow boat represents the path we were supposed to take. The red boat is our new route bypassing Madagascar. So that port will have to be for another day, cruise and time. So we will now have four days at sea until we reach Maputo. We are expecting some rough seas in the days ahead so we will be rocking and rolling along. I am looking forward to a few sea days and it will give Megan and I a chance to pack for our upcoming Safari. We are going to spend two nights off the ship and then fly to meet up with the ship ahead of where we got off. It is called an overland tour and this will be our first time doing this through the excursion department on board. We actually have a meeting tomorrow to learn more about what to pack, how to prepare and what to expect. So happy they are doing that for us. Happy weekend to you all back at home. Hope you do something amazing and memorable the weekend. Hugs and Love from us to you.
Live Vicariously Through Debra 