Sailing in the Ionian Sea
Well the chaps and I have had a terrific week sailing on the water. I don't think I've laughed so much for years. As the week progressed our behaviour became increasingly juvenile but we managed to survive and I got my deposit back. The weather was fabulous for the first…
L.A. and Florida
An Afternoon in California I arrived in L.A. ten hours before I left thanks to the dateline. First off the plane and an improved border control experience far more like the Australian system. Grabbed a cab to the Westfield mall thinking I might spend all day there but it was very…
Fiji
I'm starting to regret using the pavlova joke before I'd experienced Fiji Airways. I will go out of my way to avoid them in future. Since I am geographically removed from most of their route network this should not pose a problem. Arriving at the airport I was greeted by…
Melbourne & Sydney
It seems like only a few months since I was last here! We sailed into Melbourne and docked in an area near to St Kilda which is a coastal area about 30 minutes from the centre of the city. Australian customs required everybody to get off the ship whether they…
Tasman Sea
The storm we were due to pass through was avoided in large part because the captain took a detour. We ended up with 10ft swells instead of 15ft but they still put the sick bags out at every lift shaft. I think some people were affected but they stayed in…
New Zealand
Our first stop in New Zealand was at Waitangi which in on the north island in an area called the Bay of Islands. Cruise Director Gene (from Provo Utah) urged us all to get up at 5:30 for the sail-in which was said to be spectacular. I suppose definitions of…
Sailing towards New Zealand
We had four days at sea between the Cook Islands and our first of three stops in New Zealand. Some of the ship characters Tanned Jeff lives on the ship for 7 months of the year and this is his 15th world cruise. Home is Virginia Beach when he's not…
Cook Islands
Dear all or Kia orana as they say in Rarotonga, Drama this morning as we stopped in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It is notorious as a "missed port" due to the sea swells and this morning was no exception. The captain had warned us the day before that we…
Tahiti & Moorea
We arrived in Tahiti in the early hours and from quite a distance away the shadowy outline of the hills and peaks was quite breathtaking. Tahiti is the main island of French Polynesia and is a sprawling metropolis compared to the other islands we'd visited so far. We docked at…
Nuku Hiva & Rangiroa
Nuku Hiva is the second largest island in French Polynesia (Tahiti is the largest) and has a population of a whopping 3,000 most of whom are the size of a small family hatchback. French Polynesia is split into several island groups including the Society Islands, the Marquesa Islands and rather…
8 Days in the Pacific
Today we reached our first Pacific island, Nuku Hiva in the Marquesa Islands of French Polynesia. I'd almost become so used to being at sea I wasn't sure I wanted to get off. During the first few sea days I thought I'd learn how to play bridge which is basically…
Costa Rica & Panama
Our first stopping point was at Peurto Limon (Lemon Port) in Costa Rica and as we hadn't booked a official tour, Karla and I jumped into a taxi and had a private tour lasting about 3 hours. Our driver Manuel spoke excellent English and was very friendly and informative which…
Ft Lauderdale to Costa Rica
The flight from London arrived at Miami International at 2pm and I was on the ship by 4pm which was good going. The taxi driver from the airport to Port Everglades was from Haiti and came to the US 30 years ago using a dead persons birth certificate which he…
Hong Kong part 2
On Thursday morning I flew from Brisbane to Hong Kong and something told me it would be a good idea to get to the airport over 4 hours before departure. Whatever that "something" was needs a good talking to. I couldn't even get into a lounge... I'd been scared into…
Gold Coast
On Saturday I roused myself at about 8am (still legal in Australia) and got ready for the drive back down south. I had 1200km to drive in total before flying from Brisbane to Hong Kong on Thursday. I had no idea how far I'd get but Rockhampton, where I'd stayed…
Queensland
After the Lady C lift encounter I got chatting to a couple in the bar from Australia who asked me about the crowd that had assembled to see the celebs go off for their party. It turned out that they attend Ascot every year for the whole week and were…
Sydney
Sydney is a very nice city especially where I'm staying in circular quay near to The Rocks. My room has a great view of the cruise terminal and the harbour bridge and I'm staying at the InterContinental (think of the points). Sydney is Australia's largest city but only by a…
Driving from Melbourne to Sydney
I left Melbourne on Thursday morning and headed for the airport to pick up the car to be greeted by an enormous queue which was quite divine. I've ended up with a Rav 4 and I declined the satnav for 15 dollars a day (I've got the car for 21…
Melbourne
The flight from Bangkok to Melbourne was only 8:40 despite the itinerary saying 10 hours and there were 100 empty seats at the back so I was glad business was full because I would have resented paying an extra grand on such a low occupancy flight. The only gripe was…
