Tuesday, April 30, 2024

So where do we find our intrepid travelers today? We look out our window and watch as the ship comes into Casablanca, Morocco! A place I have only dreamed about since childhood. We have an early tour scheduled so we find ourselves in the buffet restaurant by 7;15AM.

Back in our room, we load up with the essentials, such as sunscreen, money, passports, cameras, phones and extra batteries. Our pockets laden with our daily necessities and nothing in our back pockets, we head for our meeting point outside of the Paladium Theatre to collect our bus tickets.

What? We’re not on the list? There must be some mistake! We booked this excursion back in February! But no, we are seemingly not on the list. You must be able to find room for us?! Have a seat and wait over there, we are told. Well, over there is out of sight of the organizers and that doesn’t sit well with us. So we hang out just off to the side to keep sight of the goings on.

There are 3 busses scheduled for the tour. We watch, dejected as the first two bus loads head off ship. Then the last straw drops as the third bus load heads off ship. Talk about disappointment? This excursion means more to me than most as it is a bucket list item since childhood! There is some commotion among the organizers and suddenly we are approached and offered two seats on bus three! Yippee! We made it after all!

We hurry off the ship and we have to walk almost 800 yards to the busses. That’s eight football fields away! But we get to the bus and surprisingly, the third row of seats are open. So we take our seats and soon the bus drives away on the excursion of a lifetime! We are off to see the Souq at Marakesh, otherwise known as the Markets of Marakesh! We are giving up the chance to visit the Casbah of Casablanca in order to see Marakesh! The first 20 minutes we at least get to see some sights in Casablanca as our bus leaves town!

Now, for reference, we have a three to three and a half hour drive each way today. Marakesh is inland. We get to see Morocco and the farms of the Western Sahara Desert. Very interesting places indeed! Seems impossible that anything grows here but where they apply water, plants grow! The road is a toll road and in excellent condition. The bus is a modern luxury bus and is very comfortable. Sure glad we don’t have to read the road signs!

We stop for a WC break (that would be Water Closet or Toilet) called a Winston Churchill by our guide, LOL. At the WC stop, there is a Mexican Food Truck, ‘Carmen’s’. Who’d have expected that here? Then it is only two more hours to Marakesh. More farms and desert scenery and then we arrive at buildings and more buildings. Soon, the hustle and bustle of throngs of people slow our bus to a crawl. We disembark the bus and are told to make sure we have what we need for several hours because we won’t see the bus again until it’s time to return to Casablanca.

It is now close to 1PM and it is time for lunch. Our guide leads us through narrow alleys and by many shops to a doorway where we enter and it opens into a very large restaurant room. We sit at tables around the sides and Moroccan breads are served along with plates full of spreads for the bread. Spreads of Aubergine (Also called Zaalouk (eggplant)) and many other spreads are served to us. There is wine on the tables that we partake of.

Then, large tagines of chicken and lamb arrive with sauces both spicy and mild. The food is fabulous and our table soon polishes off the food. Then a large woman comes out dancing to the Moroccan music and she is balancing a large plate on her head that is about a yard (meter) across and on it are lit candles in a chandelier formation. She dances and the candles flicker but not once does the chandelier falter or fall.

Next, a belly dancer comes out and dances with a cloak of blue lights resembling wings. After a bit, she takes off the cloak of blue lights and dances as any belly dancer does for tips and a few patrons dance with her. I even approach her and dance, fitting a couple dollars into her garment to the cheers of the crowd.

I will leave you here until tomorrow when we will finish this day!

Day 54, Saturday, April 27, 2024

Just an uneventful normal day At Sea! Okay, okay, we do see a double rainbow and have good food in Buckingham!

Day 55, Sunday, April 28, 2024

Today we have the White Party where everyone dresses in white. The party begins on Deck 12 outdoors and is a complete flop as it is windy and a little rainy! Finally, they move the party inside to the Observatory and it becomes a hit! Music and dancing galore! New found friends, Paul and Lynda McGregor dance the night away with us and the world is good!

We finally turn in around midnight and we will see you tomorrow!

Day 56, Monday, April 29, 2024

This day is uneventful!

Friday, April 26, 2024

A new day and a new Country! Cape Verde it is! As we pull up to the dock, it is hard to even tell we are at a dock! The dock is only 50ish feet wide and then it is all water again! Unless you’re on top looking straight down, all you see is ocean and harbor!

So we prepare for the day, knowing we have to be back on ship by 1:30PM. That’s right, shortly after noon! Sheesh! Who planned this port? But we get our breakfast and get in the cue to leave as soon as it is announced that we can depart. We hop on the shuttles that take us a mile into town and are assured by Franklin, the shuttle guide, that the guys in the yellow vests are our friends!

We get off the shuttle and are the first to approach the guy in the yellow vest, Liam. Liam negotiates with us for $60 USD for a 3 hour taxi. Several times, he tries to get us to join a group, but we know his price won’t go down and for $60, we want our own private driver. Finally, he pairs us up with a taxi driver that speaks English and off we go!

We drive off out of town and onto the island’s tundra. This is pretty much a desert isle and natural growth is rare. But he brings us to a local farm where we walk down into the farm and get to see the plants and vegetables grow. We also see a windmill as it pumps water out of a well. The people here are very self reliant and it is amazing to see how they prosper.

Driving on, we travel along the shore where the contrasting volcanic rock and sand dunes paint a picture with the azure seas and turquoise waters in the background. We arrive at a fishing village and our cameras are assaulted with views of fishermen and their boats and colorful houses. We walk along and come to a sea turtle rehabilitation center and even see a sea turtle with a missing flipper (leg). We are told the flipper will grow back but we wonder how long that will take.

Interesting shore scenes abound as we make our way back to our taxi.. Then it is off to head up the mountain to get some panoramic views. We get about two-thirds way up the mountain and are told the road is closed. (little do we know that other passengers make it to the top) But the views are worth it and our cameras steal the show and go a bit crazy with the views!

We work our way back down and back across the island to where the ship is and all is well. We still have some time to walk about town and we find a local pub where we have a local beer and even a local white wine! We’re told that a volcano wiped out the vineyards in 2014 and had to be replanted. But the wine was better than any on our ship! We even get a taste of Grogue, a local alcohol that turns out to be grain alcohol!

So off it is to find a few souvenirs including a magnet for our map wall in our cabin. Shopping and browsing here was fun and we were not overwhelmed with vendors chasing us like in other ports. We acquire more photos and then it is back to the ship. All in all, a fun day!

Back on board, we take part in some games and trivia, dinner and a show, consisting of random crew showing their talent! Even one security guard performing as Elvis which we have heard about and he definitely stole the show!

Goodnight All!

Day 48, Sunday, April 21, 2024

We turn our clocks ‘ahead’ tonight for the first time since Singapore! We have been going back for the last 6 weeks. Now we are traveling East to Africa and we will change 3 hours in the next 4 days! Here are a few interesting places on the ship!

Day 49, Monday, April 22, 2024

Today we had a ‘Crossing the Equator Party on deck. I’ve been across the equator more time than I can count, but it was fun for photos!

Day 50, Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Today the Officers had a Drink Mixing Party on deck! I tried them all and chose my favorites. Unfortunately, My winner lost! So did my runner up! So much for people’s palates!

Day 51, Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Today there is an ice Carving display on the pool deck. The member of the kitchen staff was quite the artiste!

Day 52, Thursday, April 25, 2024

Today, my camera informed me that it had not been allowed to shoot all of the fabulous artwork all over the ship! I said, “Let’s get a drink first!” It flat out said no! The nerve of my camera! Okay, so off around the ship we go to share with you all the art we saw every day!

And you thought At Sea Days were boring! Goodnight all!

Saturday, April 20, 2024

We arrive today in Recife, Brazil (pronounced Es-e-fee) in the rain and fog. The shoreline is interesting as this place has its own harbor. We get breakfast and don’t stress over time. We are only in port for 8 hours but we are basically convinced we only need 4. Add to that my Bronchitis and I don’t want to over exert myself. We are told, though, that this is not a place to wander around on your own and we take heed! Need I tell you that Brazil has more crime than all the other countries on earth combined!

When we get off the ship, there are busses waiting to take us to the terminal (we are not allowed to walk through the port!). This a good thing for most ports have almost a mile to walk to get to the taxi stands. We have no excursion planned for the day and we negotiate with the taxis and agree on a rate of $100 USD for 3 hours. We probably could have done better, but hey, these people need money too!

So off we go with our driver, Franklin, cruising through Recife! He doesn’t speak a single word of English and we don’t speak Portuguese (How many of you thought Brazil spoke Spanish? You’d be incorrect!) We never find anyone today that speaks English! So we defer to our uncle. And our driver’s uncle! Uncle Google! We chat all day with Franklin via Google Translate! Such a marvelous modern tool!

Franklin takes us up the hill to the next town of Olinda where colorful buildings and houses are everywhere! We visit Cathedrals and churches and photograph them to our cameras delight! We get ocean and harbor views in the rain and fog! At times the rain is heavier. But it is a warm rain and at no time do we feel uncomfortable! Soaking wet, the only thing i attempt to do is keep the camera dry. I am mostly successful at that. I am carrying a dry cloth in my back pocket that I use to occasionally wipe down the camera.

Franklin takes us to the Mercado and finds us a lunch restaurant called ‘Cafe de Mercado where they have an upstairs buffet of local foods, most of which we don’t recognize! But it all looks delicious, including some sushi. Franklin assures us that all the food is made fresh! We buy Franklin his lunch and we all have a good time, all the while chatting with Franklin via Google Translate!

Franklin tells me to put my camera away until we get back to the cab. I have no place to put it except hold it close to my body so that is what I do! You think this is foreshadowing? It’s not, LOL we arrive back at the cab even with me still taking photos and all is well!

We then drive back down into Recife which turns out to be a bit disappointing as it is no where as photogenic as Olinda. But we see some sights and Franklin takes us to a prison that is now a marketplace. We decline to go inside and from shipmates later, we discover that this was a mistake! The photos we see of the Marketplace are spectacular!

Back to the ship, we go to our cabin and change into dry clothes and go to the bar for a drink. The ship leaves the dock at 4 PM and we are on our way back across the Atlantic towards Africa!

We go to dinner and then to the show where Davey McCaulley entertains us as an Escape Artist, Comedian, and Sleight of Hand Artist.

Now it’s off to bed! Goodnight All!