This is our on-board Buddhist monk and meditation teacher, Bhante.  He is teaching a very sweet mindfulness practice every morning and usually there’s a pretty good turnout… maybe 40.  I am so happy that he is here!  He is originally from Sri Lanka and now is the head of the Blue Lotus Temple in Chicago.

December 29 & 30, 2011

December 29
We are in the midst of close to 3 days of sailing from Grenada, down the coast of Northeastern South America to the mouth of the Amazon.  Apparently sometime late tomorrow we will be picking up a pilot who is experienced at navigation on the Amazon which, I would guess, is pretty different that navigating on the sea.

Every day at lunchtime the captain updates us… this is some of what he told us this afternoon:
– we have traveled 412 nautical miles since leaving St. George, Grenada and have 594 to go.
– We are currently at 8 degrees 32 minutes North latitude and 55 degrees, 54 minutes West longitude.
– We are 110 miles off the coast of Surinam
– The air and water temperatures are both 82 degrees F.
– The sea swell is 7 feet (and we are all feeling it – but I did notice that walking around the rolling ship has become a little easier)

I ran up to Deck 7 for Yoga at 3 this afternoon but the class was canceled due to rough seas and high winds… what kind of an excuse is that??? 🙂  Oh, well… maybe tomorrow thing’ll be a little calmer.

On all of the days at sea there are non-stop classes and programs around the ship.  Today we have: a talk by Julian Bond on “How I Got in the Civil Rights Movement”; one by Oliver Rioja on “Life on the Upper Amazon” and another by Humberto Sales on “Afro-Caribbean Music”.  Plus a ton more… you can be as busy or as relaxed as you like.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading and writing plus going to a few classes here and there… I actually sat still and looked out the window at the ocean for a whole hour without even moving … I can’t remember the last time I did something like that!

December 30th
It is about 1:30 PM and we are approaching the Delta of the Amazon.  We’ve been told that from 2 PM to 5 PM we will be slowing down a lot as we cross over a sand bar but that we will begin to see land at about 3 PM.  The seas have changed from the deep blue/grey of the deep ocean to a more blue/greenish color of the shallower water (only 70 – 80 ft.).  It has been clear-looking water for the past few hours but as we approach the mouth of the Amazon the water is starting to look a little muddy.

Despite the fact that we are probably 70 – 80 miles from land we are starting to see very small fishing boats.

Tomorrow morning at 7 we will be stopping to pick up our river pilot and clear Brazilian immigration as we head into the River.  I would imagine that navigating the Amazon is pretty different from navigating the wide-open ocean.  We still have thee entire day on the ship tomorrow and don’t arrive at our next destination, Santorem, ’til the next day (Jan 1) at noon.

Since I didn’t know what photos to show you today I decided to go around the ship and take pictures of all the signs… so that’s what you will see just below.  I took a lot of photos of signs when I was in India and I really enjoy looking back at them because they bring up lots of specific memories… so I thought that might be true for this experience as well.

DECEMBER 28

Early this morning we docked in Greneda (West Indies) … the “spice island”. The capitol is St. George and that’s also where the docks are. Today Lois and I went our separate ways… she isn’t back yet from her Island tour. I chose to join up with a whale and dolphin spotting excursion that left right from the pier. Today is a rainy and pretty rough day on the water so I have to admit my tummy was a little unhappy with the 4 hour trip in a small boat. But the good news is that we saw lots of dolphins, tho’ no whales today. It rained on and off all morning which made for some pretty light when the sun peeked thru. I didn’t have a ton of success photographing the fast-moving dolphins but I’m including one photo just to give you an idea of what we saw. There were dozens of them all around our little boat and I think we were maybe 2 or 3 miles off shore.

Wait ’til you see the photos below of our little Semester-at-Sea ship docked next to this gigantic German ocean liner. Until today I thought the Explorer (our ship) was big but now I see we’re just little pip-squeaks on the sea!

It’s a short day for us here… we were allowed to go ashore beginning about 7:45 this morning but everyone has to be on board by 5 PM for a 6 PM departure. Next stop… Santarem on the Amazon Rive. I think we have about 2 1/2 days of sailing ahead of us now.

When we are at sea we are kept extremely busy (or as busy as you’d want to be) with all sorts of educational lectures (geography, ornithology, ethnology, etc.) plus meditation, Portuguese lessons, Bridge tournaments, 12-step meetings, Yoga, Art and Writing classes and, and, and… you get the idea. Before each port we get a “pre-port briefing” where we’re told a bit about what to expect, how to stay safe, what to try and what to avoid. It’s usually pretty informative and often pretty funny too when we hear some of the past experiences people have had.

So, today we say goodbye to the Caribbean and head towards South America!

look how tiny the Explorer is (left)!

St. George's

Going dolphin-spotting!

Dolphins!

Happy Boxing Day and a belated Merry Christmas!

We sallied from San Juan yesterday afternoon and this morning arrived at Bassaterre, St. Kitts in the Caribbean.  It’s a small volcanic island… population about 15000.  There was a very raucous festival of some sort going on beginning very early this morning so when Lois and I tried to walk through the part of town near the pier we didn’t really get far as there were hundreds of people in the street and lots of crazy-loud music going on.  I’m not really sure what the significance of all that was but it was a little overwhelming and intimidating as there were lots of obviously intoxicated people roaming about.

But this afternoon we went on a little outing to see some of St. Kitts and I’ve included a few photos to show you just a little bit.  I have to admit the group excursions are not something I love but sometimes it’s a good way to see a few things easily with a guide who knows their way around!

So far we are healthy and extremely well fed.  Tonight we sail for Grenada.

I’ve discovered that the ship’s internet access restricts not only the time allotted (which is quite expensive) but also the MB of data transfer.  This makes blogging challenging.  Tonight I am at a little cafe right near where the ship is docked so that I can upload photos without using up my data limit on my ship account.  All this really means is I may not be posting as often as I would have otherwise and will be looking for internet cafes and wifi spots near the piers when I can.

I love all your comments… helps me feel a bit more connected.  I have to admit I have been struggling with some big home sickness the past few days.  I’m hoping it’ll get easier as time goes by.  Not that I’m not enjoying the experience but I am just a home body and being so far away with only limited contact is a big stretch for me.  I miss my husband and son and friends and cats!

entering the San Juan harbor

docked in San Juan

Old town San Juan

rainbow over the ocean

docked at St. Kitts

St. Kitts

After our emergency procedures test yesterday that required everyone onto the deck in their life jackets on we headed out to sea leaving Nassau behind. We are supposed to arrive in Puerto Rico tomorrow around noon so I guess we’re a bit more than half way there. According to the info. around the ship we are traveling at an average of about 20 nautical miles per hour and the seas are not exactly calm. In fact everyone is kind of swaying around today, trying to get used to the roll of the ocean beneath us. Fortunately I have not gotten sea sick but I know there are a fair number of people who are not feeling too well today.

Lois at the Emergency Drill yesterday

There are an amazing number of programs available onboard… today there were three lectures; a writing class; Portuguese workshop, Scrabble Tournament, 12-Step meeting, Zumba, Bingo, a visual arts workshop… and quite a few more. But the BIG news is that there’s a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk on board (Bhante) and he is offering morning meditation instruction AND, there’s also a morning Yoga class… I didn’t get there today but I plan on being there tomorrow. I have to say that having Yoga and Meditation available brings a huge smile to my face and is helping me relax into being with so many people (most of you know that I’m not a lover of big groups) for so many days.

Ship's central area...upstairs is library & computer lab. Downstairs is Purser's desk and general info. center.

It should be interesting to be in Puerto Rico at Christmastime. Our group leader said that they’d had quite a difficult time finding an on-site person to work with because Christmas is a really important holiday there… in a religious way, not a commercial way. She’s hoping that the person she got to commit to us will come through!

Shops (on left & right) and hallway to the classrooms and one of the dining areas.

Well, we are headed down for dinner (I will have to write a whole post just on the food here… so far it’s mostly good and extremely plentiful.) More later.

Ship's borrowing library.

One of the ship's stairways.

Strong winds today...

We arrived without any travel drama then found ourselves in a snail’s paced line at immigration… oh, well… time to relax and get on Island time! Our taxi drive from the airport to Prince George Wharf where our ship, the MV Explorer, was docked took about 20 minutes through lots of winding roads and round-a-abouts. I hadn’t realized that Bahamians drive on the “wrong” side of the road… so happy I wasn’t the one driving!

Our Ship: the MV Explorer in Nassau

Our ship is pretty amazing (not that I have much to compare it to) The staff is very friendly and seem to be relatively happy to be here… I think that many of them have worked on cruise lines of various types for many years. The ship, which is completely outfitted to be an educational vessel has a library, computer lab, 9 classrooms plus a formal dining room as well as an informal serve-yourself type of facility. There’s a spa which I plan on checking out tomorrow and exercise equipment outside on one of the decks… and lots more I haven’t even discovered yet.

Street scene in Nassau

As I write Lois has gone down to find out where the Health Clinic is so that we’ll know where to get the motion sickness meds if we need them… in about 30 minutes we are supposed to have a safety drill where we take our life vests and go out on deck next to the Life Boat we are assigned to so that we can learn what to do in the event of an emergency. Should be interesting.

Today Lois and I walked around Nassau on our own… the area nearest the ships is extremely commercial… kind of like the strip at Virginia Beach only with a bit of Bahama flair. Tons of diamond and other jewelry shops… lots of rum, designer shops and brand names. Bob Marley is a big deal here… we even passed a shop devoted exclusively to him. We did see a few artisans here and there but they are far outnumbered by the high-end commercial shops (well, at least that is the case near the wharf). It’s fun feeling the warm air and seeing palm trees and tropical flowers (hibiscus, bougainvillea, etc.) Most of the buildings are painted brightly… yellows, pinks and greens. Can’t say that I’m too sad that we only have 1 day here… I’m ready to head out!

My favorite sign! I love it!

We leave Nassau for San Juan at 5 PM today and will be at sea all day tomorrow. Tomorrow the lectures and classes begin, I can’t wait to see what will be offered. There are approximately 700 passengers on the trip representing maybe 10 (?)different groups… all ages from all over the country. I hope that you enjoy these few pics. Internet access and data transfer limits are super tight and expensive so I am experimenting with what I can do. I am writing my posts off line and then cutting and pasting.

many ships in the harbor at Nassau

Oh, I almost forgot… today is my birthday… a really different way to spend it! Lois gave me a cute book mark and the ship folks gave me a couple of cards… nice! Oh, and I did buy a really amazing turquoise-colored sea shell in town today… for myself 🙂 … my one and only purchase so far.

Well, wish us luck on our emergency drill which should start in about 5 minutes.
More soon!

Nassau

Love the palm trees!

Tomorrow I leave for a 3 week adventure to the Amazon… I’ve been so busy getting ready to be away that until today I really haven’t been excited… but now it’s finally setting in… OMG!!  I’ll be traveling with my wonderful friend, Lois for whom this is the trip of a lifetime… it is certainly my honor to be accompanying her!

You can click on the map to the left to enlarge it and see the route we’ll be taking.

Our ship, the MV Explorer, is outfitted for education so our journey will include lectures and guided walks as well as lots of downtime and, hopefully blogging time so that I can keep you posted.

My wonderful friends, Anne and Bill Holland, lent me a “real” camera for my trip so, hopefully I will have lots of lovely images to share with you.  I am especially looking forward to seeing dolphins and monkeys… and lots of 4-leggeds, swimmers and creepy-crawlies (no shortage in that department, I’ve heard).

Thanks, everyone… Claire