February 3, 2009

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying our days at sea (3 days). Between the enrichment lectures, destination lectures, eating, sunbathing, shows and occasionally, the gym, I haven’t found time for my blog. There are some wonderful lecturers on board - an art historian, a naturalist/astronomer (fascinating) lecturers who are very knowledgeable about South America. We arrive in Fortaleza, Brazil tomorrow morning.

I’ll start with today’s activities and works backwards. I think we may have crossed the equator before the official ceremony today at 3:00 when Pollywogs (those have not crossed the equator by sea) are pronounced Shellbacks (those who have crossed the equator by sea) by King Neptune. Two volunteer passengers represented all Pollywogs & were tried and punished by King Neptune. The Pollywogs are the guy in the blue shorts and woman in the gray shorts. After being found guilty, they were covered with some slimy stuff and kissed a fish. Here’s a picture of King Neptune and some of the trial punishment pictures. I think normally they get thrown in the pool, but we have not had water in our pool because of the strong winds.

King Neptune's Equator Crossing:



King Neptune & his Queen.



King Neptune roaming the deck.



Two Pollywogs (flowered blue shorts & gray shorts)


Lady Pollywog getting slimed.



Another shot of slime.



January 31 we were in Barbados This is a lovely island - quite different from Dominica. The tour I took first drove along the Caribbean side of the island (East). We drove past the resort where Tiger Woods was married - Sandy Lane. Apparently a very exclusive resort - according to the guide the rate is $1,000 per night per person in the off season (maybe that was Barbadian dollars which is 2 for 1 US, but still…..) We drove to the North Point where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. The East side of the island is very different from the West side - it looks very Scottish - hilly and windswept.

We then visited St. Nicholas Abbey, a Jacobean Plantation House built in 1650. It has been well preserved and there are some interesting pieces of furniture and dishes in the home. They are now making rum on this plantation and we had an opportunity to taste a 10 year old rum which tastes like brandy. Apparently the rum made in Barbados is made from molasses which makes is smoother.



North Point


Cane Field (through rainy window)


St. Nicholas Abbey



Leaving Barbados

January 30 we were in Roseau, Dominica. The tour I took at this stop was the Rainforest Aerial Tram. As a fellow traveler commented, it was debatable which was more exciting - the tram ride or the drive to the base station for the tram ride. The road was very narrow and huge drop offs with no guard rails. The roads were being worked on with what appeared to be very rudimentary equipment. It didn’t seem as scary on the way down - might have been the rum punch.

The tram ride was fun (like an 8 passenger cable car) and went about 14 feet off the ground through the forest on the way up and above the tree line on the way down (same route, just different heights). We did have a chance to go for a little walk at the top and walk across the suspension bridge that crosses the 300 Foot Breakfast River Gorge. I did walk across the bridge, but I could not look down!



View from Tram



Suspension bridge



Me (before crossing bridge)


View from van on way down