Seychelles, Sunday Mar 24, 2024

Coming into port today, we have all the indications of a Tender Port (No, not a soft and gentle port, LOL) A “Tender” Port is where you dock in the harbor (like we did in the Maldives) and the ship’s ‘Tenders’ (aka, lifeboats) bring you to shore. But then, as we get closer, we see we will be pulling up to a dock. This is our preferred way to come in as we don’t have that added chore of riding the Tender to port, but can walk right off the ship onto dry land!

Today we meet friends in the Purple Turtle (haven’t you been paying attention?) at 9AM. There are 5 of us, a perfect amount to hire a van. We first ask about going to the Botanical Garden and are told it is a 5 minute walk. Next we ask for a tour of the island that MUST include seeing Land Tortoises and Beaches.

The driver wants $250 for the day. Um, too much. I offer him $150. He balks. I tell him to split the difference to $200. He balks again. Not going to do this. I look at our friends and we walk away. I approach another van and the first guy chases us down and agrees to the $200. That’s $40 each. Acceptable (although I think I could have done better).

So we agree to tour the island with the above provisions. Oh, and it must include a lunch stop and we have to be back on the ship by 3PM. We head out. I take the front seat with my camera. Everybody is happy. We head out and the tour starts. We drive along the shore heading north. This island is called “Mahe”. There are 115 islands in the Seychelles. This one is tropical and fun to see. “Nelson”, our driver, stops several times for photos and knows all the ‘Kodak’ spots! Our cameras are all in their happy place as we go along. We stop at this one spectacular beach (maybe the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!). There is one house right there overlooking the beach and I ask Nelson what that house would cost. Nelson thinks about it and says, “Approximately 2.5 million Seychelle Rupees!” I do the math and that translates it to about $200,000 dollars! Wow! I look at Elee and say, “Want to move to the Seychelles?” LOL

What a place this would be to retire to! But the one overlying factor is the 90% humidity that lasts year round! Maybe we could get used to it! The economy is definitely something we could likely handle! And they speak English, French and Creole. Not a bad way to go! But it is time to move on. So Nelson takes us further and there is civilization a short distance ahead.

Then we turn at the top of the island and drive approximately 70 kilometers south to the bottom of the island and visit land tortoises at a plantation along with a short tour of the plantation. The beaches are beautiful!

More gorgeous beaches and then it is off to lunch at “La Gaulette” where the food was good but a bit pricey ($40 per person for a meal and a drink). One person with us lucked out and got a fabulous seafood meal. I ordered their ‘Special’ which turned out to be a run of the mill fried prawns and fish basket with chips (fries, for you Americans). Not bad, but there would be a learning curve to order food here, for sure!

Then it is off to go back to the ship via the road over the mountain. Fun ride up the mountain and back down the other side. There were some views but a bit of miscommunication stopped us from getting photos.

All in all, a good day! We got back to the ship in time and even played some shipboard games before dinner! Then off to the Purple Turtle (have you payed attention yet?) for a fun music trivia game before bed!

Goodnight all!

Days 16-19, At Sea in the Indian Ocean, Thurs, Mar 21-24, 2024

Our ship sails west at a steady 16-18 knots. For these 4 days, we settle into normal shipboard routines. For me that means breakfast, Morning Trivia in the Purple Turtle, back to the room and maybe do a load of laundry, lunch in the Buckingham Restaurant where it is open seating and we meet new friends each day, Whist at 1:30, Pub Games at 3, Ukulele Lessons at 4. Back to the room and relax before dinner, Dinner at 6PM where we sit at our assigned table and visit with Steve, Sandra and Liz, Evening Trivia in the Purple Turtle, the Show in the Palladium, and off to the pubs for music, games and visiting with friends.

Then to bed, wake up and repeat!

Here is Nassau, our Room Steward. He keeps our room clean and neat every morning!

Male, Maldives, Wed, March 20, 2024

We wake today with a view of an island covered in buildings. We have signed up for a snorkeling trip at 11:30AM so we have a leisurely breakfast. We even have time for a trivia game in the Purple Turtle. Yes, you read it right, the “Purple Turtle”, a lounge on the ship!

We join the snorkeling group at 11AM and ride the Tender to shore. This island of Male is a bustling city. Nothing tropical to be seen! Except the heat and humidity! We board the snorkeling boat with about 20 other shipmates and they take us to other, less inhabited islands and the snorkeling begins. The first snorkel is just so so and mostly grey over a mostly dead reef. I opt to not go for the second location which the others say is better. But no one is extremely impressed with the trip. Oh well, we went snorkeling in the Maldives! Still a better day than sitting at home!

We come back to the ship and shower off the salt water. Then it is back to the Tender to check out the city. We walk around several blocks and see what there is to see. It’s a random city. There is a Temple that is photogenic and then we find a store to buy a location magnet for our stateroom wall. Back to the ship happy campers. Most of the photos today are cell phone photos for we brought waterproof cell phone cases. I also shot video on my Go Pro. I don’t know if I’ll put up any video here so check my FaceBook Page!

Here is a web image of what this island looks like from the air!

After dinner in the Buffet, we go to the show in the theatre, an “ABBA” tribute. Entertaining as it is the first time we have watched the Entertainment Crew perform! Then it is off to “Raffles” pub for a solo piano player and singer who is very good.

Goodnight all!

At Sea, Thursday, 3/19/2024

Today is a relaxed day At Sea. We have breakfast in the main restaurant and are served by waiters. All is good. I leave the restaurant for the morning Trivia game and meet old friends for the game. We don’t win and that is reminiscent of old times! Fun stuff!

So Trivia, and a trip to Reception to get my internet working and then Lunch in the restaurant. Elee chooses to do a load of laundry. Then it is off to join the Whist Group and play a round. Several old friends are there and several New Friends abound! Such a warm and welcoming group! Here was my hand on my very first day and Clubs was trump!

After Whist, I have a half hour of down time before my new endeavor, Ukulele Lessons! Robert, I can only hope to jam with your soon! Chords to learn and fun stuff to play with!

Then it is off to dinner with our new found friends, Steve, Sandra and Liz! Our table of 5 represents the USA, Australia and the UK! After dinner is the show which is a Broadway Musical Review by a talented singer! Such fun! Then to a lounge to play a Musical Trivia Game where our team leads to the end only to lose to the other side! But all is in fun and we all leave happy!

Goodnight All!

Columbo, Sri Lanka, Monday, 03/18/2024

Today we wake and have Sri Lankan food for breakfast. I order a Sri Lankan Omelette and I am told it is spicy. I say, “Bring it on”. They make it and I eat it, and the Maitre Dei is amazed. I don’t mention that it is not too spicy and that all they did was add serrano peppers. Not impressed but I don’t tell them. We have a Tuk Tuk ride (pronounced took took) scheduled to pick us up at 10AM. They come early but they wait for us.

We check out of the hotel and they hold our luggage for us. We get in the Tuk Tuk and embark on a 4 hour tour of the city. Our guide, Mumbasa, tells us to call him ‘Rikki’. Rikki takes us around the city to various sights, including Budda Temples, the shopping district, Parlament buildings and famous landmarks. Our cameras are in their happy place!

Rikki takes us inside an historical government building where we see where leaders used to meet and make decisions. There are even manikins depicting a meeting of leaders. So Elee sits down and signs the guest book as if she’s signing a law!

When we’re in the marketplace, we marvel at the selection of vegetables, foods and spices! If we could only have something like this at home! We would shop here always! The selections of normal and out of the ordinary fruits and vegetables is amazing! I hope some of these photos do it proud! There are even dried fish available!

Then it’s back in the Tuk Tuk and off to another temple that doesn’t fail to amaze! We even see a Golden Budda that claims to have Budda’s actual hair attached to it! Not sure my camera catches this, but I’ll try!

After countless places to photograph and countless kilometers of Tuk Tuk riding in the exciting crowded streets, hearing the horns blast and being able to reach out and touch the vehicles next to us (but we don’t! Keep your hands, arms and cameras inside the vehicle at all times!), we arrive at a restaurant for lunch. As we walk inside, we hear familiar voices teasing us, “Don’t seat them here!” But they don’t mean it as they are some of our shipmate friends just having a bit of light humor!

We sit with a couple ladies from the ship (there are dozens of ship tours doing the same thing as we are doing on our own)

We are served Sri Lankan dishes that we can’t describe but are delicious! Ship food will be bland compared to this! Our guide tries to tell us what the dishes are but we don’t really comprehend them. All we know is that I say I want spicy (and get it) and Elee says she only wants medium spicy but she says she got more spice than she wanted (but she doesn’t complain and scoffs it down!)

Then it is back to our hotel and Rikki waits for us to get our luggage. He then takes us to our ship, but there is a miscalculation and we end up walking most of a mile (with our bags) to actually get to the ship. But we get there, a little worse for wear and check back onto the ship. Home for a while.

We head to a bar and get cool drinks to offset the 37 degree Celcius (100 degrees F) temperatures of the day. We meet old friends again in the Botanical Bar and visit a while before we all agree we need showers after being out in the heat of the day! So we head our separate ways and agree that anyone that wants to go back into town for dinner will meet in the bar at 6PM.

So Elee and I go to our room and I take a nap while Elee showers. Then I take my shower. I feel invigorated! I tell Elee I plan to go into town for dinner. She thinks about it and says she’ll join us. So we all meet in the bar and we head into town to a restaurant someone has spotted called the ‘Lighthouse Gallery’.

Dinner is fabulous (at least to me!) but a couple people claim it is ‘too spicy’. I end up inhaling a friends soup as it is to die for delicious! It seems I am the only one to truly enjoy the spicy foods. But the cold local beer (kept cold by a bucket of ice brought to us) calms the spicy tones just enough and we all enjoy.

Our taxi takes us back to the ship and we resume our normal activities like bar games. I also step out on deck and get a few shots of the “Lotus Tower” that can be seen from the ship as it changes colors! I join a group with a friend and play a card game called ‘Up or Down’. Fun night. I get eliminated halfway through but it is all fun!

Goodnight all!