Homeward Bound

How can it be that 3 weeks have gone past? We are on our way to Ft Lauderdale from Santo Domingo Island or as it is now known Dominican Republic. We received many warnings of the dangers of this island. So we wondered why we came here to begin with? History is the answer. Christopher Columbus is almost revered here and they have his bones and are willing to go up against Italy with a DNA test to prove it. Aside from that it is a lovely island

The passenger port area is quite small so we had to wait for a ship to leave before we could dock but it was worth it so we did not have to tender or walk a high gangway.

Our tour today was to a cavern. The bus drove around the city to show us some of the homes and to their credit we saw the good, the bad and the ugly. 95% of the citizens are Catholic so they made sure we saw their pride and joy church. The market area was a really bad and ugly. I don’t think I want to buy food there!

We did not expect much of a cavern on an island but the limestone here was perfect for cavern formations. Unfortunately we were not permitted to take photos. There were many ancient cave drawings with some graffiti that was added before the country’s government took control and made the caves into a national treasure and National Treasure it is. The gardens going to the entrance must be glorious in the summer because they are very pretty now.

Something that we spoke of today is the newness of the independence of all these islands. Of the 9 ports 2 have no independence they are Territories; St Croix of the USA and St Barts of France. Three, Manaus and Santarem Of Brazil and the Dominican Republic have been independent since the 19th century. But, 4 have gained their independence within our lifetime. Trinidad in 1962 from UK, Barbados in 1966 from UK, Dominica 1978 and St Kitts in 1983. Independence seems such a natural thing for us and yet these people are really just experiencing it in the last 40 or so years. I find that remarkable!

Ok, now in 21 days we have sailed 7157 miles: a trip equal to going across the USA and returning. We have walked on the soil of 9 countries counting Nassau, where we started, and talked to numerous people who have all been very proud of their nation. We have seen innumerable skin colors and watched families who are only different from American families because of their location and language. We have watched people walk past the policeman on the corner who is carrying a very large weapon and people who have police totally unarmed. We have seen many more homes than we would like that have to keep bars on their windows. Our brains are full of new facts and our hearts are full of the love of the human race that can smile in spite of their living conditions. We have seen all the wonderful ways we humans worship and sort of experienced how their faith keeps them strong. We have made new friends onboard ship and a few who we may keep in touch with but many who will pass from our lives, when we reach Ft Lauderdale, but will not soon be forgotten.

And so as our trip comes to it’s end and so too does this blog. Tomorrow we must pack and prepare for entering the USA so I doubt there will more entries.
Thanks for coming along on our journey. We hope you enjoyed reading about our Amazon Adventure.
Sincerely,
Barbara & Jack

St Croix, Virgin Islands

The passing through immigration of this US territory went quite smoothly. We figure it was just meant to be an inconvenience, as the US citizens of St Croix must go through a similar immigration process when they come to the states. Oh well, tit for tat as we say. Everyone on board was so pleased and we got off the ship just a few minutes after the posted time. Then it took over half hour for the buses to show. Since we were just going to spend the day at the beach it was no issue with us but many were upset… there are very many type A people on board…

We were greeted on the pier by a youth steel band from a local church and they were wonderful. Photo on webshots. This is truly a lovely island and nice to have English spoken and no exchange rate of the money. Strange to see American cars with left hand drive but yet the cars all drive the European way on the left side of the road so the driver is on the parked car side. This would take a lot of getting used to. US Citizens of St Croix do not have the right to vote for US politicians. The President is considered the Head of State but the Governor is their highest office. We could not find a Post Office but it is part of the US postal system. This lack of postage on board ship is quite a handicap and many are upset about it as we have post cards that we are mailing from other islands. The ones we have waiting now will probably be mailed from the mainland when we arrive home even though they are for St Kitts. The beach was so nice, small but with lots of shade. We were entitled to lounge chairs and a free drink but there were so few of us that the drink boy just kept filling our glasses with fruit juice or a very weak rum punch. Jack did his snorkeling and figures he saw at least 15 varieties of fish. I waded in quite cool water and then became a “sun bather” such hard work! Can you see the sign of the beach snack bar in back if us in the photo? Rose’s Road Kill! We all got a kick out of that. We had a hot dog with sauerkraut… now why am I telling you something so simple? Well, it tasted sooooooo good after all the “fancy” food on the ship LOL

3:00 was the bewitching hour to return to the ship and as I write this at 5:00 the ship is preparing to head to Dominican Republic, our last stop before the mainland and Ft Lauderdale. This had to be the fastest 3 weeks ever. I cannot even tell you how often we had no idea what day of the week it was. Good vacation!!!

One Day in St. Kitts

Another beautiful morning and anticipation for a relaxing day. We headed off to board our catamaran around 9:30am. So far the field trip staff has been perfect…every excursion has been late. We were scheduled to start at 8:30! Anyway as we were lined up to leave the ship we passed the tender that we rode on yesterday in the 10 foot swells and there is a photo of some of the damage to the fiberglass.

We had about 2 hours cruise on the catamaran, that was so delightful and it felt so nice to just relax and not worry about anything. Today we are tourists. We had a wonderful quote the other day on our daily paper. “The traveler is active: he goes strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive: he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes sightseeing.” Up to today we have been travelers.
After the catamaran we went ashore and boarded a bus all 15 of us had a whole big bus to ourselves. We traveled around the island and headed to a fish farm.

We learned that tilapia is a fresh water fish. We always thought it was salt water. Well, Dr Brown wanted to raise tilapia on an island with no fresh water to spare so he decided to try to raise a strain that is slat water bred. As he said “we killed a lot of fish” before we same up with a way to infuse the salt water into their lives so they could accept it. Today he is successful with the breed of salt water tilapia but not yet commercial. This mild mannered man has had many ambassadors from Japan and other countries come to see what he is doing and even are trying to duplicate his success. He uses ocean water straight from the ocean pumped into his ponds using an old swimming pool pump that he found on the dump and repaired and has had for 7 years. As he says his budget is 0.00 so he has learned to make due. This man is quite remarkable in his devotion to his project and works alone many times unless he can get volunteers from the local college.

After this we headed back to the ship but we went on our own to a local restaurant for a yummy lunch of shark and calamari. We walked around Front Street just to see what was there. You know how every tee shirt shop in USA appears to be run by East Indians or Pakistanis? Guess what? Here too! It was a bit disappointing that the local people were not working the local shops.
Well, after boarding the ship we both fell asleep in our cabin for a short nap, totally unplanned but very welcome.
Tomorrow St Croix. A US Island but for the first time we are told that each person must present themselves and their passport to an immigration official. Just looking at the passports, which suited every other country is not good enough for a US island. This will surely make another day of late field trips. We plan a whole day at the beach so Jack can snorkel.

1 Day in Dominica

Well, today started out as any other day on board. We were up at 6:00 am. Yes, it is true Barbara was up at 6am and in the dining room for breakfast before 7:00. Don’t everyone faint please. Our tour was supposed to start at 7:40… The immigration people failed to show (it’s Saturday). We finally got into the tender boat and at 10:00 we were on the bus and got going. The roads are terrible, worse than Pa in the spring. We went up into the mountains and I swear the bus had no suspension. Then the air conditioner broke so we opened the windows. Luckily we were headed up the mountain and the sun was hidden in clouds. Jack took a lot of photos out the bus window and you will see what appears to be pre-wrapped bananas. We saw them on Bermuda for the first time a few years ago. They put the blue plastic over the fruit to protect it from insects. Dominica is a very agricultural island. The land is very fertile and there is green growing everywhere.

We toured the Carib Indian Reservation, well at least a little village of how it used to be.
The Carib People put on a drumming and dance show for us and were just really friendly. We had some light refreshment and returned back to the ship by way of a black sand beach. Back to the wharf and a tender was waiting so we hopped on. Well the trip should take about 15 minutes but after close to an hour Jack and I finally put feet on board the ship. We made two attempts to “dock” the tender to the ship and failed. At that time Jack pointed out the measurements on the side of the ship for showing the “draft” of the ship and we watched 10 foot swells from 68-78 and that is not an exaggeration. We experimented with the video on our camera and I uploaded them to You Tube so you could see what was going on. I only have a free account on webshots and the videos are too big a file for that so I am trying you tube. The connection on the ship is very slow so I had to sit and wait for it to load otherwise you view it in spits and spurts.
First video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyWJuu7q6R8

Second video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1xwMAqMp8

This has been the most exciting event of the trip, thank goodness. We watched each person’s form and when it came to our turn we went like pros. When we got back to the cabin we had a little wine to celebrate our brush with danger!!
The rest of the photos are on webshots just like normal.
Tomorrow St Kitts. This one is a repeat for us but we liked it a lot last time so I think we will again.

Trinidad, what do you think when you hear that? Beaches, rum, chocolate, oil, steel pan bands and the parang music. Me too. But now that we’ve spent just 2 days here I have a different picture. The people! All colors, shades of brown, all different religions but they are ONE. It doesn’t matter if you are East Indian, Muslim, Catholic or Protestant you are a person and they celebrate you. When any faith has a celebration or festival all participate and honor them. As our guides told us they come from all over the world and have blended to create the Trini. People. When you fall in-love it is no matter who or what lineage the other person is. You marry and live your lives together producing Trini children who will also honor each parents religion or heritage.

The day started with a beautiful sunrise and no rain so we are thankful for that. There are a few black clouds out there but hopefully they just go drifting by. Our tour today was called a Culture Collage

The countryside is beautiful. We were in the North end of the island with high mountains and we went 4 wheeling up some of the steepest and windy roads to the top of the 3rd highest peak on the island. We stopped at a lovely Catholic Church that opened their doors for us to use the facilities for part of our informational talks of the tour. It was a bit rough for some of our older folks and the tour leader admitted that he was told Semester at Sea was coming so he planned the day for the kids! We had fun laughing about it and informed him we are the kids, but just all seniors! What a great lesson to watch our 92-year-old lady struggle into the 4 wheel jeep with out a single complaint and to see the care given her by the guides with out a minute of impatience. While we were in the church the drivers found some wood and made an extra step to help us with getting in and out of the jeeps. The Trini people are truly caring. The photos are on webshots as usual. http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 The new photos start on page 3. Next stop Dominica, another new island for us.
There is a photo of a farmer walking at the top of a field. The guides told us how they farm on these steep slopes. It takes 2 people, the farmer an his wife. A rope is around the farmer and he goes about his work. Tied to a tree! His wife will help pull him back up the hill at the end of the day, using the rope. Hopefully they do not have a disagreement before she pulls him to safety.

We had lunch in the home of a middle class Trinidadian family with great celebration. What they call a LIME, meaning a get together. We had great food; fun music and they opened their home to us. We went into the living room, dining area and into a wonderful, what we would call an old fashion kitchen. I did spot some Corning ware and T-fal pans but where we might have roosters or strawberries decorating the kitchen she had colorful fish. There were wonderful nick-knacks in the china cabinets and it just reminded me of Jack’s homestead in PA. As we ate our meal they provided a small band with local instruments and we had fun singing along. You cannot imagine the fun singing “Sweet Caroline” or “Downtown” to a Calypso beat!

On the way back to the ship our guide, Wendell, pulled a chocolate pod from a roadside tree and broke it open so we could see what it looks like raw. Of course Jack had to have a seed to suck on. It seems the seeds do not provide the chocolate but the “pulp” which surrounds the seed does. This one was not quite ripe so the “pulp” was more like custard and had a very sweet creamy taste. I tasted that part.

My only disappointment was that we ran out of time so that I could not get to a fabric center to explore the batik fabrics. Hopefully we can come across some on another island.

Trinidad

Can you believe it is 2009? We had quite a nice dinner and celebration on board ship last night. Today we got an update on our injured passengers. The lady with the broken hip was air lifted from Santarem today and on her way to USA. The gentleman that was air lifted actually went to French Guiana, he received a blood transfusion and is stable.

We arrived in Trinidad late because of the delays but no one was upset as we are all glad of the good outcome of the medical problems. It was pouring rain as we pulled in as you will see from the photos on webshots. We went on our bird tour anyway, to see the roosting of the scarlet ibis. The Scarlet ibis is the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago and as so is protected so it has flocks of hundreds of thousands. Each evening they come to roost in the mangrove swamp and we were there to watch it happen. The photos just cannot even hint at the majesty of the scene. The white herons arrive first and dot the trees and then the reds start coming. The white birds move into the inner tree branches so that eventually all you have are the reds. It looks, from a distance, like red bows all over the trees. Just watching them arrive in ones, two and big flocks is a wonder of nature. We could hear them from across the lake and I bet it is quite noisy up close. As we sat there watching the sun appeared and so too did a rainbow which went from shore to shore on the lake. Then it was time to leave before darkness caught us in the swamp. As we left the swamp we had sunset so Jack tried to capture it too. Back to the ship and a nice warm dinner. Tomorrow we need to get up at 6am as our tour starts at 7:45am. One week left and it will be hectic as we do an island a day. I wondered if I could last for 3 weeks on a cruise and now find that I cannot believe there are just 7 days left. We have been enjoying hearing of the adventures of our fellow passengers and feel like real newbies to traveling the world when we hear their stories. So many take 3-5 trips a year. Several are headed straight to another cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale when we get back. Must be nice to be able to travel like that, but I do wonder if you get tired of not going home occasionally? Maybe some day we will be able to try that too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL A very busy day with classes on the Mayan Culture and Whales and
what to expect in Trinidad. We have a few minuted before going to dinner so I thought I would blog. We have had much excitement. We left Santaren late but did not think too much about it until we had a medical update today. Seems a lady fainted coming on board and broke her hip so she was left in Santaren. There are 11 hospitals there but none for this important procedure so Med-i-vac left the US today and will get her tomorrow, but in the meantime the government would not let her husband stay so he is with us. Then we had to change our route and come to a total stop for over 1 hour as we had a helicopter medical lift for a gentleman with a life threatening condition. So he and his wife were lifted and flown to British Guinea. I guess when you cruise for this long things will happen but the doctor said in all his years of cruising this is the first time for a helicopter rescue. Time for dinner.
See you in 2009

Today we left the Amazon River behind. As we were motoring, yes motoring(it seems the MV in MV Explorer means Motor Vessel…no steam here) down the river we could see it getting wider. Now, wider is relevant right? 1000 miles up the Amazon at Manous the river was over 1 mile wide, according to my expert. Jack. From Santerem it was probably 3 miles wide and as the day progressed the shoreline got further and further away. Until, still on the river, the shoreline was not visible. We read somewhere it is at some places 30 miles wide. Right through the day and into night we are still experiencing the muddy look to the ocean from the outpouring of the waters of the Amazon. The sea is quite calm right now and we motor through rainstorms periodically but with our speed they don’t last long. Classes today were a craft class for Barbara, I have a really hard class schedule don’t you think? We made a cute box called a Wabi Sabi box with mat board and fabric. Jack went to “Caribbean Leftovers – Waves, Hurricanes and Oil Too” We watched another lecture on the television, as the room was quite crowded, on "Emerging Global Generations". Quite an interesting look into the values and perceptions that differ from generation to generation. We tried to get into the “Community College” class on “How Light Affects Health” but it filled up very quickly so we went to the lounge and read. The community college classes are taught by our fellow passengers and sometimes are quite interesting. The at sea days are quite full of classes and you can select which you want to participate in or let them go. It is not like real school at all. It seems there are always games and cards going on in some of the classrooms too. We did get about 1 hour to bake in the Equatorial sunshine. I mean it, 1 hour is about all you can take. The temperature is very deceptive: 82 degrees and a wonderful breeze as we are moving at a good speed so the sun does not seem so hot but it is strong. Tomorrow is another day at sea and then Trinidad. Rumor is we will be docking around midnight. We plan to stay up for the festivities. If I do not get to write tomorrow: WE WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Port of Santarem, Brazil

We learned today that the people of Brazil gained their freedom, from a military regime, in 1985. They are very proud of the fact that they are self-governed. There are 200,00 people in Santarem. We saw much poverty or what we perceived as poverty, but many happy people. The language barrier kept us from conversations but our guide spoke very good English. He teaches Portuguese in the primary school. He has never been out of Brazil but is saving to travel to Connecticut in 2010.

We had an opportunity to see Brazil nuts and cashews as they grow. That is a photo, on the left, of a cashew nut hanging in a tree. Now we can understand why they are so expensive. We sampled about 20 fruits and Jack tasted the local sugar cane liquor-VERY POTENT- was the adjective!. Then our hosts showed us manioc, a root that looks like horseradish but it is a starch like potato. We watched how it is grown, harvested, peeled, ground, and the liquid, which is a deadly poison was squeezed out of it. Then they sift the damp flour to get it a uniform small size, roast it to dry and it is ready to eat. The webshots photos show all this. http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 They make cakes, porridge, or sprinkle it on everything. It is tasteless, and the guide knows of no nutritional value he just kept saying a starch.

Our host then showed us his rubber trees, which he can tap for 150 years before the tree is “done” as long as it is protected from the termites. They harvest the latex 6 days a week for 6 months and then let the tree rest. I wonder if they too rest, as it seems they are always busy. The rubber tree is protected and caught cutting it down prison is your punishment.

The afternoon was spent at a lovely beach with 82 degree temp and a breeze. We are at the moment at a latitude of 2 degrees 24.8 south of the equator so the 82 degrees really seems hotter. We had a nice beachside lunch of local fish, rice, salsa and manioc. Coca Cola is a large bottle and 600 ml of beer served in a cooler that we would expect a wine bottle to sit in, to keep it cool.. Local residents of all skin tones surrounded us, and it was fun to watch the family dynamics, not much different than at home. Well, the children did seem to show more respect for everyone.

6:00 pm our time which is 2 hours ahead of home and I hear the motors starting as we prepare to leave our last port on the Amazon. We travel all night and will be out of the Amazon tomorrow night. I cannot believe that we have had the opportunity to fulfill a dream. How blessed we are! Next stop Trinidad.

A Day on The River

How quickly it has become the river instead of The Amazon. We see “pieces” of Rio Negra, clear dark patches in the chocolate waters. It is still resisting fitting in or blending, much like many people. WHOA!!! I am getting way too philosophical here!

The ship is cruising in and out of little rain showers and folks are moving from sun bathing to hiding under the canopy and back again. It is almost like we cannot waste any ray of sunshine.

The Enrichment classes this morning were The Amazon River Dwellers. These hardy self-sufficient people only need money to pay for gasoline or kerosene for lights. Since there is no winter here, only rainy season and dry season they have no need of heat. All the river people are what we could call squatters. They find a place they like and build their home even though the government owns the land. They are so far away in the jungle that the government people never bother them. For money they work collecting rubber sap and Brazil nuts. Tomorrow we will get to visit one of the villages of the River People and see their homes close up and personal.
Jack chose to go to the River Dwellers class while I went to my second watercolor class.
The first class was watercolor on wet paper and we created a waterfall. Me, the one who can't draw. I really surprised myself!! This teacher claimed everyone can draw. Well, here is my result. Not too bad for a first effort. Today’s class is Watercolor Batik. I was intrigued, as to me batik means fabric so I had no idea of the watercolor part. The theme of the work is “The Amazon in My Eyes”. I tried for shady forest and a large butterfly! We had to draw the picture then sandwich a piece of waxed paper between it and a plain paper. Using a ballpoint pen we went over our lines, very hard, to transfer the wax to the sheet underneath so the paint will not stick to the waxed lines. Then a pale green wash over everything and then the details. Here is the result. Really good refrigerator art!! I have surprised myself and am looking forward to more art classes.

Later in the afternoon we had our preparation class for Santarem, our next port. (SANTA-rem) emphasis on SANTA. It is a form of Saint Irene. We heard of the languages and culture of the area. It is so much nicer to know a little of what to expect. They tell us what type of apparel is proper, if it is safe to wear our jewelry or may cause some jealousy in the poorer peoples. We are told that it is considered rude to photograph someone with out asking his or her permission and, if they agree, it is polite to show the photo on the digital camera. These people do not expect to be paid for the photo as the people in Panama did. No cruise has ever prepared us for a port the way Semester at Sea has.

Our second day in Manaus we awoke to rain. Stands to reason we would have some rain in the rain forest at some point. We spent the time in the faculty lounge Jack reading and I worked on yesterday’s photo. They have been uploaded to the webshots page http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 Jack had a really good time on the caiman hunt and was certainly in his element as there was a young man about 14 who was very apprehensive about the whole thing so Jack sort of took him under his wing and explained what was going on and felt like he really helped the boy to have a good time. It appears the young man is traveling with his Mom and had no company on the tour. The photos are quite good for nighttime. Jack is becoming a good photographer with the digital camera.
Today after lunch we went into town and have some great photos of the buildings and prettier things of a very dirty and crowded city. Manaus is the wealthiest city in all of South America, but you sure cannot tell from the city streets. The markets are quite interesting so you will see some photos of them and we took a taxi to a very large hotel complex recommended by the ship people and had a nice walk through a mini zoo, a shopping arcade and a lovely jewelry store (one of my favorite places to shop). We stopped at the bar for a cold beer and had some wonderful fresh cashew nuts, locally grown.
Manaus has some very interesting features: Oil refineries, bank towers, and bustling traffic. Did you know, Nokia, Samsung, Sony and LG have plants here? Yep, right here in the heart of the rain forest. About the only distinction I could see between it and your average Western capital was that I never saw a single person on a cell phone. I know this will be hard to believe but Harley Davidson builds cycles here too.
Everything about the city is tied directly and inextricably to the mighty Amazon River. If you want to travel to anywhere else in Brazil from Manaus there are two ways...fly...or take the river. For the people who call Manaus home the Amazon River is their highway to the world. The pier is in downtown Manaus and even it is the most unique we have experienced. It is a floating pier, built in England and dragged across the Atlantic and up the river. Now, some may think that a floating pier is no big deal....but you don't find them big enough to tie up cargo or cruise ships. The floating pier completely changed the life of Manaus! The Amazon River level fluctuates twice a year. Check the photo of the high water marks. It is impossible to build a fixed pier that could function efficiently with water level changes so drastic.
Just to give you an idea of the local travel. It takes 5 days for them to go “down river” to Santarem. We are going to do it in 1 day and 9 hours on the ship. But it takes them 7 days to get back home to Manaus fighting the current. They buy a space on an open sided boat, much like the tour boat, to hang their hammock, which becomes their bed and chair for the duration. Some cook their own food others pay extra and have food provided. The trip costs about $100.00, which is 200.00 Brazilian.
From what I can see in just 2 days, it is not so great to be a middle or lower class citizen of Manaus but they all claim they are happy at least the ones we can talk to.
We leave Manaus tonight at 11pm and arrive next port Santarem around 8 am on 12/29.

I borrowed this photo from the Internet because it is such a pretty sunset on the Rio Negro.

The City of Manaus

The City of Manaus in the state of Amazonia, Brazil
We arrived at our furtherest destination around 11 am 12/26/08. As we step outside onto the deck our first impression is Busy and hot. We stood on the deck watching Manaus, (man/ouse-stress on the last syllable, rhymes with "mouse"), is a most interesting city. It appears from a distance to be very old European in style and design, but, at the same time very Brazilian and colorful. I am looking forward to exploring it on our own tomorrow.
We are off on a tour this afternoon to the “Meeting of the Waters” where 2 distinct rivers meet and yet do not merge.
Manaus, in fact, is not on the Amazon River, but rather the Rio Negro River. The two rivers join together about 9 miles east, (down stream) from Manaus. Now, here is the cool part, .the Rio Negro is, as one might guess, black in color, and is much cooler in temperature than the Amazon River. Rio Negro is black because it drains a different part of Brazil picking up a lot of vegetation and travels over different rock and soil than the Amazon, so its silt is a different composition. The Amazon on the other hand is the color of milk chocolate. It is shallower than the Rio Negro so it is warmer, and it moves more slowly picking up vegetation matter that rots along with reddish soil that gives the water its color as it travels from the Andes Mountains. This is a aerial photo of the meeting of the waters that was provided for us on the ships computers. Down stream, as we approached Manaus, we could see the colors being broken up but still not mixing until much further down as the temperatures began to match.

Our tour consisted of a trip in a very narrow canoe into a part of the jungle that is a preserve to see many familiar and not so familiar birds, but no creatures other than some children who approached us in their canoes to have us hold their “pets”… a sloth, an anaconda and a couple monkeys. We were already warned to not be tempted so we were all good little children and obeyed. Next was a short trek through a jungle path raised on stilts to view some very large water lilies. These lily pads would put our South Carolina lilies to shame. The leaves are 3-6 feet in diameter and very strong. The flowers start out white with the male stamen being prominent, but by day three the flower is pink and all feminine. It then dies and reproduces another flower. We have some lovely photos I will upload tomorrow as Jack has the camera and he is off on an alligator (caiman) hunt this evening. So that is the new and different for today. Good night and more tomorrow.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day far away

The day starts as overcast but we are on the Amazon River – Chocolate waters flowing very rapidly. If there were rocks it surely would be called rapids. Our depth is 31 meters, around 100 feet. Christmas cheer reigns. The staff is humming Christmas Carols and Christmas wishes are everywhere. We have folks who are observing Hannukah and a few Kwanza. Small family groups are meeting in the various little areas exchanging gifts and the children are awaiting Santa who is due around 3pm after completing his journey around the world.

The scenery is a wonder but there is definitely a void in our holiday. Family and friends are missed even though new friends surround us.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve away from the familiar

The children onboard are showing their excitement and the adults are quite cheerful. After dinner we had a Christmas Eve service with a retelling of the wonderful story and Christmas Carols. We officially cross the equator around 11 pm.

There will be 3 post tonight as I try to catchup after Christmas. Just a few photos on webshots http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4

Land Ho!

After breakfast I walked outside and the heat has really arrived or should I say we have arrived in the heat and humidity. Our latitude is 1 degree north. in the morning. After the one class we wanted to attend on languages we went outside on the deck but in the shade. We are told to expect temperatures in the 90’s while we are on the river. Suits me!

Around lunchtime we started to notice the “muddy” ocean, the closer we come to the river the muddier it has become.

This afternoon, on Christmas Eve, we finally came to the coast of Brazil. The photos are of the mouth of the Amazon. http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 The first is the north shore and t.he one far off is the south shore. It is truly a wide channel into the river. As I took the photos the water looked like milky hot chocolate. It is almost unbelievable the amount of sediment this Amazon puts out to discolor the ocean in this way.

The ship has slowed down to 14 knots from an average of 25 knots so all the passengers are happier.

Merry Christmas friends. The ship is quite festive and Santa is coming tomorrow afternoon after he has delivered presents to all the world. Aren’t we lucky?

We are sitting on the Equator as I write this

Life at Sea

Life at Sea;
This morning there is no doubt that we have left the Caribbean Sea behind as the color of the ocean waters is now a deep sort of Prussian navy blue. In class this morning we received a lot of information about the formation of the Amazon River Basin from the resident geologist. Last night again found us on a very choppy sea. He jokingly asked if we all experienced the “Ship Tectonics”. A geologists joke I guess. Anyway we are told now that the winter seas are always more “choppy” with lots of wind. Now they tell us! Tomorrow we cross the equator and it will be summer. Yeah, we shall see. Today is lovely though and we are thankful for the wind. Sitting in the sun is just a 1 hour activity unless you have leather skin and do not burn. Not only is the sunshine hot but very strong and clear, sunglasses are a must. I guess it is the same feature of no pollution in the atmosphere.

We are told when we are about 150 miles away tomorrow we will see the color of the Atlantic being changed by the Amazon. Instead of that deep Prussian jewel blue that we've been seeing we will see some green and muddy gold. The flow from the Amazon has so much volume that the fresh water from the mouth, in one day, would provide enough fresh water for New York City for 9 years. Think about that. The salt in the ocean is reduced up to 150 miles just from the fresh water from the river. It is mind-boggling. Here is another thing for thought: We are taking an ocean ship up a river. Well, ok, ocean tankers go up the Mississippi, but as Jack reminds me just past New Orleans not 900 miles. Yes, we will be traveling about 900 miles “up” the River, which runs west to east. So 900 miles up the old “Miss” we have Minnesota and the last 200 miles would have to be by canoe. YIKES!!!
We are anxious to get there not just for smooth water but just to fulfill one of our goals, on what Jack calls our "Bucket List", to see the Amazon and the Rain Forest. I cannot believe Christmas is just 2 days away.
No new photos today on webshots.

Barbados:
Did you know that George Washington left the United States only once? He was about 19 years old. His brother had asthma or some other respiratory ailment and he went with him to Barbados. They have restored and saved the house they stayed in. Also, George, while in Barbados caught smallpox during an outbreak, met the British head of the military, who taught him military strategy and studied the government structure. Well, he used the strategies in fighting the British and when smallpox broke out in the Continental Armies George Washington was immune so he could continue to lead. Our constitution reads a good deal like the Barbadian one which came first. Hmmmmm Divine Intervention?

Also are you aware that there is a connection with South Carolina and Barbados? South Carolina was settled by people from Barbados and our first 4 governors were from Barbados. They came into Charleston area. That was all new to us so I thought you might like to know it too.

Education, from nursery school thru college is free, as is health care. The literacy rate is 99.7% from age 15 and over.

The music is Calypso and Reggae but I think you already knew that. The people seem fun loving, conservative and very spiritual. The play cricket, which is the national sport. Many of them are employed in the tourist industry. Their old fashioned homes are called Wooden Chattel Homes. They are built on blocks so they can be moved in case of disputes with landowners. The homes have corrugated roofs and lots of Victorian type “gingerbread” trim. The colors are all brilliant and many are multi-colored

There are many Christian churches, from Anglican, the most prevalent, to Spiritual Baptists, Muslims, and Quakers are represented there too and 1 synagogue. The synagogue is the oldest one in the Western hemisphere. That seems like a very good fact given that we celebrated the first evening of Hanukkah last night, on board the ship.

We took a 45-minute ride to an animal reserve and Jack took some really nice photos. I was so surprised at the hilly terrain of Barbados. Most all photos are of the beach areas, which are lovely, but the hills and valleys are pretty too.

Back on board I realized how many photos Jack took so I started another album on Webshots. http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4

A quiet evening followed this 5 hour tour and we are now underway toward the Amazon. 1 day at sea and then we enter the Amazon River. Tomorrows lectures will prepare us for that adventure.
Good night I am really tired

St Barths:
We spent several hours on this lovely 8 square miles island. Imagine living in just 8 sq. miles. It is truly like a paradise but so small. There are 14 beaches on this very hilly island. Each beach is just a lovely as the next. French is the language of choice. It is a tax-free island but making a living is very hard unless you are a native. There are 2 gas stations and lots of “smart cars”. Children must leave the island to get an education after grammar school. How hard must it be to send your 12 or 13-year-old child to another place during the school year? There is neither unemployment nor major industry of any great import. Agriculture and tourist services are the main jobs. They are 53 % men and 47% female on this island. The major religions are Catholic, Protestant, and Jehovah Witness.

This, our second, visit to this little paradise was spent just walking around and enjoying the vistas. Some folks on the ship were upset that we are only on this island for 7 hours but I think they will be satisfied when they see just how small the island is, plus being Sunday not much will be available and even if it is the prices here are for the rich and double so with the dollar versus euro exchange rate. 1 euro = 1.40 us
We started to walk to the lighthouse, but Barbara gave up about half way there and returned to Main St. Check the photos in web shots for some lovely lighthouse vistas and to see the fake cannons. Jack was the only soul strong enough to brave the hill, so he had the place to himself. He said he went to put his foot on the cannon to steady himself to take a photo and the cannon surface gave. It was made of fiberglass over wood, but sure looks real.

Back onboard after lunch we had a very nice worship service. There is a retired pastor on the ship and they gave him 10 minutes notice to make a sermon. Short and strong was the result. We are having a meeting in the next day or 2 to prepare our Christmas service. I intend to go to see if we can come up with a choir. After worship we had an Enrichment Class to prepare us for Barbados, which covered history, culture etc, but that will come to you later after we have been there, tomorrow. Let me just say that it was lead by the Consulate Representative of Barbados who is traveling with us, and a professor who has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his work in compiling “Bajan” history and promoting Barbados. It was by far the most entertaining class yet. We are under way and going to pass by Montserrat, an active volcano tonight around 7 and will have view of it from the lounge at the top of the ship. We hope to make it up there for that too but must find time to eat, very important on a cruise, and be to our next class “The Ebb and Flow of Brazil’s Business Trends at 8PM. Classes are late because of the land trips today. So you see we have full days to do or to not do many things available.

At Sea

Dec. 17th , We walked Bay Street in Nassau... hasn't changed much, still kind of dirty but trying to selling jewelry,clothes and perfumes. The straw market is really a disaster! just mostly cheap "knock-offs". It is funny to see Christmas decorations in an island environment. So far just one Nativity Scene but plenty of Santa Clause. We see a lot of Rastafarians about the streets, so I wondered about their beliefs? This is what I discovered: Rastafarians are members of a Jamaican messianic movement dating back to the 1930s; in 1974 they were estimated to number 20,000 in Jamaica. According to Rastafarian belief the only true God is the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie (originally known as Ras Tafari), and Ethiopia is the true Zion. Rastafarians claim that white Christian preachers and missionaries have perverted the Scriptures to conceal the fact that Adam and Jesus were black.

We have chosen to relax onboard and enjoy the sunshine and cool breeze today. Check the photos as we have been joking about the Bahamian Navy ships(2) and there is a photo of one. A fellow passenger said the navy consists of 1 man and a phone with a direct line to USA and a recorded message "HELP"!!!

Here is more information on the Semester At Sea program: The University of Virginia is the Academic Sponsor but students come from all over to spend a semester travelling the world and earning a minimum of 9 credits. Spring semester 2009 is from January 19 to May 6 and goes around the world. Bahamas, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, India, Thailand, Viet nam, China, Japan, Hawaii, Costa Rica and finally Miami. The summer semeter is from June 16 to August 22 and covers one geographical area. In 2009 it is Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Morocco and ends in Charleston SC. For those of us who love learning there is a Lifelong Learning Program so we can study with the young people. We passengers at this time are just getting a sample of the semester

First Day at sea:The breeze has become a strong wind and the seas are very rough. We are not permitted outside on the bow because of the force of the wind. This is not very pleasant. We do remember when we passed this way, east of Cuba, on the way to the Panama Canal we also had rough seas, but not the wind. Classes today were: "Critters on Islands: Getting There is Only Half the Problem" Learning why certain creatures are on certain islands and how they adapt. "Environmental Issues of the Caribbean" The issues are almost exactly the same as our issues. "Dance of the Continents, with a Caribbean Rhumba" This one was Jack's. It was a overview of the plate tectonic theory and how it has influenced the developement of thCaribbean region. He told me from reading he was already aware of most of the facts. Silly me just went to a craft class and made a little "Bahama Mama" ornament. Critters plus the Environment were about all I could absorb this "rocky" morning. Don't get the worng idea, there are games, cards, yoga, socializing and the wellness center spa sure looks appealing for later maybe! There is plenty of exercise equiptment, which I am nonchalantly avoiding. LOL The computer center is never empty so I am glad we have our own and the free internet extends to our cabin which is where I am compiling this entry between sessions. I will finish and post it later.

We were told that the ship population ages from 2 years old to 94 years young. The 2 year old is one a family of 3 children but the parents brought the Nanny too so we hardly know they are about and the program includes activities for children.

The rocking has settled down this evening as we prepare for the Welcome Aboard party. We just remarked how nice it is to not have a photographer dogging our steps like on the "luxury cruises".

Long entry today but learning a lot.

Photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4

MV Explorer

We have arrived on our new home for the next 3 weeks. The trip down was relatively smooth, just a glitch in Ft Lauderdale… our last leg of the flights was delayed 2 hours so we arrived later in Nassau and had to deal with a lot more people checking in, so that was long and slow. Finally lunch at 2:00 but it was worth waiting for, Yum!

Jack has made the rounds of the ship and already taken many photos. We have 3 of the hotel, LaQuinta, that we used in Atlanta. You can see photos, so far, on the website http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4

The ship is so much more than we expected. We were told not to expect a luxury ship but it sure is close to what we would call luxury. You will see in the photos. I'll keep adding photos to the webshots page as I get a chance. It is so nice sitting in the Faculty lounge with the large windows and working on the laptop. We also have free wireless internet from the desk in our room. Oh, our fellow senior citizen passengers are in the majority but we appear to be among the younger ones. What a nice feeling to be one of the kids!