Iles du Salut

So yesterday was a sea day and Peter had his art classes.  The film Papillon was shown at the same time as the class yesterday, which was disappointing. Even though we've seen it so many times before, we wanted to see it again.  We've been recommending it to the passengers up until now, and then the Captain did the same thing during the noonday announcement.  Needless to say, Peter's class numbers were down. Apparently there was also an added bit of entertainment during the showing of the film.  Two passengers wanted to sit in the same place, and neither was going to give way.  They where pushing and elbowing, trying to force each other out of the seat.  The ship's Assistant Cruise Director stepped in to try and resolve the problem, but they were having none of it. Both passengers sat and watched the whole film more or less on each other's laps.  Still pushing and elbowing each other throughout the showing.

Peter has also caught a raging cold, and although he managed to get through his lessons, he was absolutely knackered at the end.  We hoped he would be better today, but he is still suffering.  He's determined to get ashore and enjoy the day, so he's doing his best to ignore the symptoms.
And this is because we've arrived at our favourite island, with all day to enjoy it.  Knowing that most of the passengers will be dead keen to get ashore early, we weren't in too much of a rush even though we wanted plenty of time ashore.  But we did get across a little after 10.

Devil's Island from Royal Island

As usual, we set off right, and as usual, we took the low path to walk completely around the outside of the island, taking in views of St Joseph's and Royal island as we went.  As usual, there was a good strong breeze bustling through the palm trees, and as usual waves crashed against the shore.  We looked for turtles in the water, and wildlife along the path as walked.  Definitely one of our favourite places in the world.

We met on the passengers who'd been ashore for an an hour or so, someone we knew from Peter's classes. He'd already been around the island and was now heading back to the pier and the ship, apparently not that impressed with the place.  "Have you not seen the monkeys and agouti's?" I asked, "Macaws?  Hummingbirds?  What about the old penal colony buildings?"  Nothing seemed to have affected him.  "Well, you must have been impressed with the flowers?", I mean, the place was like a botanical garden, full of so many different beautiful flowers, plants and trees.  Nope, he'd not seen those either.

Agouti or Palm Rat

I've heard it so many times in the past.  Voices complaining that the Amazon was disappointing, because you don't see anything.  To many of those voices I would say "Stand still, open your eyes, shut your mouth and listen", because these are people who spend all their time looking out for faults, listening for gossip and thinking about petty issues.  They can't see the wonderful things around them because it takes a little bit of time and concentration.  But not everyone is like that, including the man in front of us.  He isn't ignorant or stupid, he just didn't see the same things that Peter and I did. Is that because we are used to looking for them and he isn't, or is it because we have different interests?  I don't know.  It's weird though.  I wanted him to find the same pleasure in the place that we did, probably because we all want people to like the same things that we do, it confirms that we are correct in our enjoyment.  Thinking about it a little more, it's a shame that he didn't see with the same eyes, I would have liked to see him to enjoy the place more.

We carried on walking around the island, noticing that there was something different from our previous visits.  The noise of the cicadas.  I say noise.  I mean racket!  Normally there is a loud whirring sawing noise that fills the air as soon as you step of the pier on to the island, and that noise was missing.  We walked two thirds of the way around, and all we heard was the wind rustling and bustling throught the leaves of the palms.

We did see other stuff though.  Agouti's, ghecko's and these evil looking wasps.

Then the noise started, as if someone had started a chainsaw, then another chainsaw kicked in, then another.  The cicada's were back and the place felt normal again.  They've not let us down yet.

As we walked on around, we got to see the turtles again.  They must feed in the area and you only see them when they come up for a few moments for air.  This makes it very difficult to get a photograph.

Now nearly back at the pier, we turned inland and walked uphill to the centre of the island where all the buildings are.  There's a restaurant and cafe there, and places to stay if you want to.  On the way, we came across the monkeys.  There are two types on the island, this is a Brown Cappuchin.

On our way to the buildings at the centre of the island, we passed the children's cemetary, the large number of graves a very sad reminder that this place could be nearly as miserable for the prison staff as it was for the prisoners.  Malaria and Yellow Fever make no distinctions.

This is a Soursop.  Apparently it's really nice and sweet when it's ripe. 

At the cafe, which is housed in a building that used to be the prison warders mess, we enjoyed a sandwich, a cold drink and the view of Devil's Island.  The monkeys kept everyone entertained, squabbling with each other and stealing food while peacocks and hens pecked at any crumbs that had been missed.

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Then it was time to have a wander around the old buildings of the penal colony, but not before checking out the gardens and the old pond near to the restaurant, the flowers are beautifu and the trees bear fruit that we would never see in the UK. Iguana's live there too.

As for the penal colony buildings.  They are a cold reminder of the horrific history hidden beneath the beauty of the island.  I've taken loads of pictures in the past and they can be seen on previous blog posts.


Isle De Salut 2012
Isle De Salut 2013 - 1st Post
Isle De Salut 2014


It started to rain as we started back the tenders, which only served to make sure we got back quickly, but it's been a brilliant day and we were more than happy.  Tomorrow is a sea day and then we reach the Caribbean.  Our first port will be Scarborough, on the island of Tobago, and we'll probably be escorting.  I wonder where that will take us?

Monday 29th January - Icoarici

Yesterday was a sea day with very little to comment on except that we went to watch the premier of a new show last night. This one is called Fiesta, and as always, the dancers made it shine.

Today we are at Icoaraci.  According to the ships' write up, there is nothing at Icoaraci, except access to Belem, which is a major city and has a panoramic skyline to match New York or Panama.  Peter and I thought that it looked interesting when we visited last year, so this year we decided we didn't want to do any escorting so that  we could have a look around. It's a tender port, and many passengers were booked on tours in the area.  Trouble was, there was no space on the pier for our tenders.  It was totally full of fishing boats and they weren't going to move just cos a cruise ship had appeared in the middle of the river.

There were regular announcements over the tannoy system, explaining why the tender process hadn't started.  Apparently the local police and port agent had been called to assist, but neither could, since the pier is a public pier, and anyone could tie up to it.  Eventually, the tenders managed to find a space, and then everyone was taken ashore - passengers on tours first of course, since they were already running late.

Peter and I finally got to the little town in the afternoon, and I am pleased to report that the CMV write up is perfectly correct. There is nothing in Icoaraci, except a river shore that seems to have been made up to look nice and then fallen into a state of disrepair, and a few bars. Peter and I turned left off the pier and took a walk along the riverside.  There was nothing of interest, except a load of egrets looking like they were made of stone as they fished on the beach

and the local people doing what local people do.  Hanging around chatting under trees and in the bars.

We got so far along the river front before the police appeared and turned all the passengers back, saying that it was dangerous for us to walk on any further.  As we walked back towards the pier, it seemed like the police kept multiplying, more and more of them appearing to the point where I wondered if they thought we were going to mug the locals.

It wasn't that of course, but they were obviously concerned to make sure we were safe.  Back at the pier site, Peter and I found a bar to use the wi-fi, before taking a short walk in the opposite direction to our stroll earlier (right from the pier, rather than left).  It was a very short walk, because I felt that it didn't look safe and wanted to go back to the ship.

So that was Icoaraci. Although I quite liked it, it's definitely not to everyone's taste, one of the lads that works in the Bistro described it as dirty and smelly.  So there you go.

And that was Brazil. We now head back out to the Atlantic and turn North, heading for the Caribbean.  On the way, we'll visit Royal Island of Iles Du Salut.  It's an amazing place and definitely one of our all time favourites. I can't wait.

Saturday 27th January - Alter do Chao

Today we woke to rain. So much rain that we couldn't even the shoreline as the ship dropped anchor.  Welcome to Alter do Chao!

The ships information sheet describes today's port like this:

"The rustic beach community of Alter do Chao lies on the bank of the Tapajos River... The sandy bay, overlooked by two hills, is not what you would expect to see in the middle of the Amazon...  The beaches of Rio Tapajos are pockets of paradise, and better still, they are mosquito free!... Relax in the shade of a palm tree and watch the locals and tourists go about their day"

I missed out quite a bit of the text, but you get the gist, it's Amazonia's answer to Scarborough.  We've enjoyed a day on the beach here before, watching the Brazilians play volleyball, sunbathing (I got sunburnt), and swimming. It's a tender port, so we had to wait before we were able to get ashore.  We managed to get on a tender about 10 o'clock, just as the rain started to ease off.  Last tender back to the ship was 12.30, so we only had a few hours.

Because we didn't have much time, Peter intended to relax in a bar and use the wi-fi (he always has quite a bit of work to catch up on), and I planned to go looking for wildlife as there are always plenty of birds and insects here.  Last year, we came across a magnificen iguana and since I've not seen one yet on this trip...  Peter settled down in the Mango Bar on the beach front, and I wandered off.

I never have to go far to see something different in Alter Do Chao. I only walked up and down the main beach a couple of times to see these:

Blue-grey Tanager

Oriole Blackbird

Gulf Fritilliary

I kept checking back on Peter, to see if he was ready to leave or anything, but he was beavering away and I left him to it.  As it got closer to the time for him to leave, I started to hang around the bar.  There was some waste ground next door, and I stood on a stage looking over the wall, looking out for birds and butterflies.  Then I saw a long nose and a pair of little black eyes come out of the grass, they looked up at me and the nose was pulled back slowly into the long grass.  I dunno what it was, but the grass stopped moving, and it had gone.

A few minutes later, I saw it again. I tried to take a photograph, but my pictures were so hit and miss I decided that a film would be better.  I am now the proud owner of 45 seconds of video of an Opussum sneaking around the undergrowth and then up over the bar.  David Attenborough eat your heart out!  OK.  Mebbe it won't get me a job on Blue Planet or the like, but I'm dead pleased of it.  This picture is a still taken from the film, which is why it looks a little blurry.

What was amazing was that there were easily 30 or 40 people in the bar, completely oblivious to this amazing little creature.  I showed the film to the bar manager, and even she was surprised that I'd seen it. Now all I have to do is work out what type of Opossum it is, (apart from a wet one).

It was back to the ship shortly after that.  Queueing for the tender, we watched dragonflies, butterflies, and a massive black bee forage through the flowers on a bush beside us.

The entertainment continued as we moved down the beach, but this time it was a musical band of enterprising Brazilians who filled our ears with Brazillian dance music as we waited.

Once we were all back on board, the ship set sail for our next stop.  Weirdly, we will have to exit the mouth of the Amazon, sail south for a little while, and then turn back into the Amazonia but this time we will be sailing up the River Para to Icoaraci.  The journey will take around a day and a half, so tomorrow is a sea day and Peter will run his art classes. Icoaraci here we come. 

26th January - Parintins

So today we arrived about lunchtime to Parintins, home of the Boi Bumbai.   It's a three day dance contest, where the red side competes against the blue side.  Half the population of 100000 people are red supporters, half the town are blue supporters. It seems to be dependant upon where you live as to which side you support, but don't quote me on that.

Peter and I have been to Parintins several times before and there isn't a lot to it. It's a tender port, and this year they have a new pier.    We've watched the Boi Bumbai show that is a tour excursion, and it is fantastic, we recommend it to anyone.  Today though, we are escorting the Highlights of Parintins tour.
As I said, we've been to Parintins before, and we didn't think there would be much to see on the tour, and in a way, there isn't.  Except we got to see the stadium, the training stadium and the old puppet floats from previous Boi Bumbai contests.  Our respective guides were really good, explaining the history, the story and the contest, and we both enjoyed the tour on our separate buses.  My guide got some dancers to go through a routine for us, Peter's guide got them acting out the story.

Peter and I have seen the Boi Bumbai show that is put on for cruise ships, and we thought that was fantastic.  Now, having seen the stadium where the real contest is held, and the size of the actual puppets used in the event, we are in awe.  Apparently it costs about $1000 dollars to get a seat in one of the boxes, methinks that if I had the money............

Tomorrow we are in Alter Do Chao.  Another tender port, but no escorting. It's possible to swim there, but we probably won't seeing as it's only a short day, and I'll want to walk around and Peter will want to use the wi-fi.  It's all go this cruising lark.

Thursday 25th January - Manaus Day 2

So today we are escorting one of our favourite tours, "The Amazonian Experience". We had to get up early to be ready on the quay at 8am. The tour has
 changed a little over the years, but basically it goes like this:

First everyone climb aboards one of the medium sized riverboats - they usually have two decks, toilets and a small kitchen area and carry around 80 passengers.
The riverboat takes takes us to see the meeting of the waters - there are nearly always a few dolphins about and today was no different, quite a few sightings were made.

A floating gas station on the Rio Negro

From the meeting of the waters, it's about an hour on the riverboat to Lake January. The guides (we had three today) provide various amounts of information about our surroundings, and point out things such as the floating gas stations, the differences between the waters of the Amazon and the Rio Negro, and info about the floating villages.

One of the most picturesque of the floating houses.

At Lake January, which is an ecological site, the river boat moors at a floating restaurant and we transfer into several smaller motorised canoes which carry 10 people. The motorised canoes travel around the edges of the lake, looking for wildlife. We got to see Egrets, Wattled Jacana, Large Billed Terns and Caciques as well as loads of butterflies and dragonflies that move far to fast for anyone to photograph. Peter managed to get a picture of a Southern Lapwing though, and I got one of this Jacana chick.

Wattled Jacana chick

The canoes head into one of the smaller tributaries of the lake, (called igrapes), where we our surrounded by the jungle proper. We can hear and see the flashes of birds around us. The butterflies are amazing, including the very large and beautiful Morpho. Our guide explains things about the forest, the trees and the way of life for the local people.

Squirrel Monkey at Lake January

After about 30 mins, it's back to the floating restaurant where we disembark the canoes and make our way to the back of the buildings to the edge of the lake and a to a raised walkway. The walkway takes you through the jungle to a pond of lily pads and to a massive kapok tree with it's enormous buttress roots. If you are lucky, the lilypads will be flowering, or you may see a Caiman, or even better still, you'll see the monkeys. If you are unlucky, you'll also get bitten several times by the mosquitoes in the area and get drenched in a downpour. Today was a good day, we got to see monkeys and a caiman, and some more beautiful butterflies.

Cookie Butterfly at Lake January

Back to the restaurant, and everyone tucks in to a locally prepared meal he food is very good, and prepared with clean water (not water taken from the river)and is safe to eat. I tried the local fish, which has a pretty mild taste to be honest - although the bones were hughe.
And then there is a wander around the very large craft hut. I bought a cute little owl, it looks like it's been made out of some sort of seed or nut. The colours have been sanded or polished out, and a little bit of carving has completed it. It's awesome.
Finally, it's a riverboat ride of 40 or 50 mins back to the ship. Everyone is very satisfied and quite tired by now, and watch quietly as the river goes by.
You can see why it's one of our favourite excursions, and we recommend it to everybody.

We arrived back at the ship around 2.30pm, and we decided to take a very quick look at the main square just outside the port gates. I'd thought that it looked different from previous years whilst we were on our bus tour yesterday, and I was right.  The main square has been tidied up and landscaped, and for the first time in several years, we visited the cathedral, which is in need of a little tlc, but is still a nice place to be.

Manaus Cathedral

The ship left Manaus at 5pm and we ended our day in the company of Ian the photography lecturer, and Chris, the Creative Writing teacher.  None of us can play darts, but that didn't stop us having a hilarious evening throwing darts at the board, playing round the clock.

Tomorrow we are in Parintins, home of the Boi Bumbai. A new day and a new city. Class!

Wednesday 24th January - Manaus, Brazil

I was up early and although a few moths and bugs had landed overnight, once again it was a relatively poor turnout, although once again, a couple that I'd not seen before.

So Manaus is the capital of the state of Amazonia. It doesn't sit on the side of the Amazon River itself, (which is called the Solimoes by the Brazilians),  but on Rio Negro, or Black River, one of the massive tributaries into the Amazon.  The Rio Negro and the Solimoes are very different rivers, one black, one milky tea coloured, and they run side by side for several miles. I always find it fascinating the way the two waters can sort of sit on top and beside each other, not mixing, like oil and water, you can spend hours watching it. The ship sailed through the meeting of the two rivers as we approached the port, with all the passengers hanging over the sides taking photographs.

It's the biggest city and port Amazonia with a population of 1.7 million people.  Like all big cities, there are high rise office buildings, department stores and it has it's own international airport.  But it still very much a city of Amazonian Brazil, with hundreds of little boats and houses on stilts along the riverside.  The crumbling pavements and streets are bustling with life and bursting with colour.

Sadly it has earned a reputation of being unsafe, we have been warning people not to take anything ashore that they can't afford to lose, and to watch for pick pockets. We were greeted by carnival music and dancers on the quay when the ship arrived at lunchtime.  Peter and I were to escort the "Manaus, Capital of Amazonas" tour this afternoon so we were on the quayside after lunch, numbered lollipops in hand.

There are no photographs from my tour, because I realised almost straight away that I was missing my camera and that I must have left it in the cabin.  We visited an indian museum, the craft market and the legendary Opera House.  Legendary because of it's opulence and beauty, and always worth visiting if you are in the area.  Luckily we had an excellent guide who managed to keep everyone interested during the museum, kept a fatherly eye on them in the craft market, and added exactly the right amount of humour in the Opera House. Everyone enjoyed the tour.

Back at the ship, I realised that I hadn't left the camera in the cabin.  Oh oh!  Maybe I had dropped it on the bus.  I dashed back outside to catch the excursion organiser.  He rang the bus driver to ask him to search the bus.  As I waited to hear if the driver had found it, Peter's tour bus arrived back, so I kept an eye out for him, ready to explain that I had lost a £200 camera. As he walked over to me he lifted something out of his rucksack...... my camera! Phew!  Obviously I'd put it in the wrong one when we getting ready.

It's an overnight stop in Manaus.  We both needed a cold shower to cool off before dinner, and in the evening, we took advantage of the free wi-fi in the terminal building. Many of the passengers went to listen to a jazz band at the theatre, and the crew took advantage of the overnight shore leave and spent a lot of money in the bars.  Everyone had to be careful of course, passengers used taxi's to get about, and the crew maintained safety in numbers, but there were no mishaps and the day ended well.

Tomorrow Peter and I are escorting the Amazonian experience.  Awesome.

Tuesday 23rd January - Boca Do Valeria

I was up dead early today and up on the decks looking for moths n stuff.  Once again I was disappointed that there was very little about.   I’m coming to the conclusion that this ship is different.  Maybe the engines don’t hum in the right way, maybe the lights aren’t as bright.  I don’t know, but whatever the reason, there isn’t a lot for me in the early mornings. But there is still always something new.   I came across a German woman carrying a lovely little moth with zebra stripes, and I found a mangrove flannel moth, which I don’t think I’ve seen since the first cruise.

Now Boca Do Valeria is described as “typical of the thousands of small, isolated communities within the Amazon basin”.   It probably is, except none of the others regularly receive visits by cruise ships carrying several hundred people, which is when the residents of Boca Do Valeria and all the surrounding villages eagerly come out to welcome the visitors

Last year, a passenger described the village as fake, and many passengers can be heard to comment about how it is all just a display.  They are right in a way, because the villagers all leave their normal routines to see the cruise ship passengers and hopefully earn a few dollars from them.

The schools close and entire families climb into their respective little boats, bringing their items for sale, pets, and anything else they think will be of interest , and descend into Boca Do Valeria, which normally only has about 75 residents.  The adults set up stalls and the children rush to greet the visitors, showing off their pets and hoping to be rewarded with sweets or trinkets or dollars.  The children have practised the puppy dog look and can be demanding and ungrateful, but they will leave you alone if firmly refuse to let them hold your hand.  And I discovered during this visit that not all the crafts come from the village, and that they probably go to Manaus or Santarem to get stock.  Even so, there is still some local stuff if you look, such as hand painted table runners, crochet and little cloth dolls, and the people are friendly.  A couple of the women spoke a few words of English, which they learned at school which I thought was nice to hear.

As usual, Peter and I took the little river boat ride that we love, this time we were accompanied by Chris.  Peter took loads of photo’s of the boats and houses on the riverside so that he can paint them later. I just enjoyed the views.   We were taken to the village of Santa Rita again, where we were shown the school and the church.  Peter and I noticed the floor of the church was covered in really nice square wooden tiles, and that there were glass doors that we didn’t remember from previous visits.  We’ve checked old photographs and there weren't any doors at all before, and the floor was black lino.  It looks like our donations have been put to good use.

The visit ended in the bar and a quick walk around the village.  As usual, all the pets were on display, with the hope that people would take photographs for a donation.  The way the sloths and some of the other pets are kept doesn’t seem right to my western, animal right beliefs.  But then parrots and macaws are kept by Europeans in houses back home and at least here they are in an environment with plenty of wildlife and greenery going on around them, and are probably not as bored.

The ship pulled up anchor a little after three in the afternoon, and we set sail for Manaus, once again spending time on the decks, watching the jungle go by.  Such a  privilege.

We ended the day watching guest act Gerry Graham – very entertaining.  Tomorrow we should arrive in Manaus a little before lunch.  I know we’ve visited all these places before, but I always look forward to new experiences at each port every time.  Manaus here we come. 

Monday 22nd January, Santarem

Sadly, I've not had enough internet connection to add pictures to anything yet.  I promise I will as soon as I'm able.  This, and the sea day blogs have been uploaded from the cruise terminal in Manaus.

So we are on the Amazon River in Brazil, and as usual, I am up at the crack of dawn and on the decks to get photographs of the bugs that have landed overnight.  But there aren't any, or at least there are very few.

When I say there aren't any, that isn't strictly true, there are thousands of midges, hundreds and hundreds of scarab beetles and crickets, and quite a few small moths.  But there is nothing big.  The crew are cleaning up, sweeping and hoovering everything away, but they hadn't got everywhere.  I'm disappointed and a little puzzled.  Why are there not any of the bigger moths?  I hunted anyway, and I did find an awesome black witch and a parce sphinx, and someone else spotted an amazing little bat.  So not all was lost.

Peter and I were escorting today and we were going Piranha fishing. The ship was a little late berthing, but we were in the Magellan show lounge at 9.15 ready to go with all the passengers onto the river boats.  But this is Brazil, and we have learnt that nothing ever runs smoothly in Brazil. There seemed to be a problem setting up the gangway.  Out of the window, we could see a crane had been brought in to help, and there were constant announcements telling us that the Brazillian port authorities were not yet on board to clear the ship.  It was well over an hour before it all finally worked out, and my little river boat left to start it's tour an hour and a quarter later than planned. (Peter was on a different river boat).

It's an excellent excursion and everyone who goes on it loves the fact that you get to go up the tributary to see the jungle proper. It's not really thick in this area, but there is an awful lot of wildlife about. I got to see this amazing dragonfly, ringed kingfishers, a sloth and river dolphins.  I heard the parrots, but I never saw one, although Peter managed to get a photo (I'm jealous).

Because the excursion had started late, it was twenty past two by the time we got back, so it was a quick lunch and then a walk into Santarem.  We were hoping to be able to wander around the area we'd visited last year which was filled with butterflies, but sadly it seemed to be all burned away.  No matter, we walked on and I got some good pictures of a Wattled Jacana, (which I've never managed before), as well as of a Kiskadee and an Egret. We also got to see the pink dolphins at the back of the fish market.

The heat was draining though, and we turned back from there.  Back at the ship I managed to get this picture of a Fork tailed flycatcher taking off (very pleased). Then it was into the cabin and a cold shower.  We'll be taking several of those whilst we are here, it's the best way to cool off in this heat.

Tomorrow we are at Boca do Valeria.  Another favourite.  More news to come, and hopefully pictures too.

Sunday 21st December - First day on the river

I was up with the sun this morning and out on deck.  There were a few others, like me, bug hunting, as well as the birders on the front deck.  I wasn't expecting much this morning, since we weren't in the river proper, and very little had landed on the ship.  I did come across a bird that turned out to be Azure Gallinule. Very exotic sounding name, and in the books, it is very pretty, but in the early morning light, my photo is not so.  We got a few moths too, but nothing I haven't seen before.

We spent quite a bit of time on deck, watching the Amazon go by, but it's hot out there.  Peter is losing his voice, and at the end of his second class, he was down to a husky squeak.

The day ended with thousands and thousands of little insects of all types landing on the ship, quite unpleasant for anyone out on the lighted decks.  Peter and I went to the front of the ship where there are no lights and very few bugs.  There was very little wind either. Maybe that was why there where so many of the little critters at the back.  Still, it bodes well for my bug hunting plan in the morning. Oh, and we were back at the dart throwing again. I think we might be getting better, it didn't take us anywhere near as long to get all the way round this time. AND I beat Peter.

It's the first of our Amazon River stops tomorrow, when we'll be in Santarem. We've had some brilliant days there in the past so we are really looking forward to it. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Saturday 20th January - Crossing the Equator

So what can I say about the last four days at sea?  Well. Peter and I have not spent quite so much time on the decks as we have in the past.  Maybe it's because we have seen it all before, or maybe it's because the cabin is so comfortable we are happy to spend hours here, me working on all my moth and bird pictures, trying to identify them, Peter just working, or maybe it's because it's getting really hot out there.

As always, there are loads of flying fish.  I tried to get some photographs, but they are just too fast.  I even tried through the port hole, because we are at the front of the ship very low down.  I set my camera up on the tripod, sports setting and on burst, so that it would take loads of photo's at once.  The porthole is quite high, and I had to sort of climb up into it to see out.  I must have sat there for half an hour, getting a crick in me neck and stiff joints.  Nothing!  Nada!  I gave up because it was time for lunch, and of course they all started leaping out of the water again.

And, as I said earlier, it's just got hotter and hotter outside.  It got to 33 degrees C yesterday, and this morning, at 8.30, it was already getting to unbearably hot. The ship is air conditioned, so it's nice to come into the cool, and I suspect most people will do just that. There are already quite a few red faces because of yesterday's sun, and maybe we'll get a few more today.  Not me I hope, because I know how easy it is to misjudge the sun and how painful that can be.

Peter's classes have continued as usual.  He's been getting anywhere between 45 and 60 people attend, which is good.  We had to move teaching location yesterday though, because the ceiling sprang a leak, (or the pipes just above it did).  There was a bit of a waterfall going on apparently.

We had the equator ceremony this morning, I have to admit that we did't go to watch it, and Peter had his class as usual in the afternoon, and the sea changed colour, going from blue black to dark green to bright green to muddy, tea coloured brown.  No sign of land, and there won't be for some time, but the fresh water of the Amazon can be detected a long way out.

The sea has gone muddy brown.  And we won't see land for many hours yet.

Peter and I have been throwing darts at the dart board in the evening.  I won't say playing darts, cos that involves aiming at things.  We've simply been going around the board, 1-20.  Peter is better at it than me.  Humph.

Tomorrow we will reach the mouth of the Amazon and Macapa pilot station.  I'm hoping for the first set of moths to land on board. I wonder what we will get?

Friday 19th January - three days crossing the Atlantic

So my last blog lacked photos, and I haven't done one for a few days.  This is because the last time I connected my laptop to the internet, it used up 10% of our internet connection in just a few minutes, so I disconnected.  I think it may be something to do with Google Chrome, so I've decided to try writing the blog on my tablet.  This is because it's smaller and I can carry it ashore to use free wi-fi in the towns that we visit.  Hopefully.

It also means that the blog might be a bit sporadic, especially in Brazil, cos there isn't free wi-fi in many places. I'll keep writing it anyway, like a diary, and upload when I can.  I was going to write a little bit about what it's like to be on board, so herewith.

The ship is very comfortable.  There are loads of little things and small inprovements that I like about it and little things mean a lot.  For instance, it never feels full, even when it is, there is always loads of space on the decks and in the lounges. CMV have just put tea and coffee making facilities into all the cabins, which means you don't have to go blurry eyed up to the coffee stations first thing in the morning or last thing at night and the coffee and water machines have recently been replaced too, for the better.

And the food?  Well we always eat in the Bistro, but the menu is very similar to what is available in the restaurants, and I think there is a definite improvement.  Whoever is in charge of baking the bread is fantastic; the various rolls, breads and pastries are becoming a bit of a highlight, and the rest of the menu is good too.  A little thing like not moving the bread and butter pudding from the afternoon tea slot to dessert for the evening meal is just better.  There is always something to eat, with the pizza station open from 11 til 5, as well as breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and late night stacks. And if you are not happy with the standard menu's, you can treat yourself to icecream out on the pool deck, or pay a little extra for and speciality meal like an indian or lobster of an
evening, or treat yourself to a luxury coffee and a delicious cake.

There are the usual facilities, like the pool, the gym and the spa, and the usual dress codes for the evening.  Last night was formal, so me n Peter got togged up. As with most cruises, there is something going on in the show lounge every night. Tonight we will watch the "From Russia with Love" show.  I don't know how many times we've seen it before, but we really enjoy it each time, mostly because the male dancers are extraordinary.  CMV have also taken care to make sure there are loads of guest acts and we are on our 4th at the moment so there is little chance of getting bored of any particular one.

The ship isn't that big, about 1200 passengers I think, and there aren't any facilities for children.  I reckon the average age of the passengers on this cruise is around 65/70, although I could be wrong, cos I am rubbish at guessing ages, but unlike our last cruise on board, Norway last November, there are very few people under the age of 40.  My guess is that six weeks away at this time of year is difficult for many in that age group

Anyway, I think I've rambled enough for one day.  I'll write a little more tomorrow.

Tuesday 16th January. Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands and mixed fortunes

There are several people on board that are part of the “Passenger Enrichment Program”.  There is my Peter, with his art classes, Peter Counsell, who provides paint, designs and wooden boxes for people to decorate.  Then there is another Peter, Pete Crush, running ukulele classes every morning and Christine Robinson runs creative writing classes every afternoon.  The two lecturers on board (there should have been three, but one couldn’t make it), are Lena Mookerjee and Ian Butterfield.

We did have another crafter lady, Jan, but she had to leave the ship at Madeira.  She fell a few days ago as we crossed the Bay of Biscay, and x-rays in Vigo confirmed that she had broken her shoulder.  She’s had to have an operation in Madeira and isn’t able to continue the cruise.  Both her and her husband are very disappointed, and I am sorry for them.  My Peter, and Peter Counsell will now both run their craft classes every sea day to fill her schedule.

We’ve had a couple of uneventful sea days with Peter running his classes in the afternoon.  And then yesterday we learnt that Jan was not the only person to leave the ship at Madeira.  Lena one of the Shore Excursions team also had to leave because of something at home. 

And today we are in Mindelo.  We arrived much earlier than scheduled, because there was a medical emergency on board, and the Captain had put his foot down to get the ship here as quickly as possible.   We seem to be having a lot of medical situations at the moment.  Hopefully whoever it was has been treated, and is back on board ship.  But, if it was that much of an emergency, there is a good chance they would have had to remain in a hospital in Mindelo. 

View of Mindelo and the Magellan from Mont Verde, the highest peak on Mindelo.

Peter and I were asked to escort “A glimpse of the island” tours, so this morning, we were on the quay at 8.30 waiting for the buses.  It’s quite a good tour, you get to go to the top of Mont Verde and see the fantastic views, as well as a little truckle around the sights of Mindelo.   The excursions had finished by 12.30, so Peter and I decided to go back into town to get a few more photographs, particularly of the fishing boats, as Peter wanted to paint them.  Whilst in town, I messaged my oldest daughter, asking about an interview that she’d attended, and it turns out she’s got the job.  I was feeling pleased for her good news as we got back on board.  Not the case for Peter Crush and his wife.  We met them as we walked back to our cabin and unfortunately the news they’d received when they contacted home was very different.  So much so, they were packing to leave the ship immediately.

After hearing this, Peter and I sat in the cabin drinking tea, mulling over how easy it is to have the tables completely turned as you travel through life.  Jan and her fall, the emergency medical cases, messages from home........   It could so easily have been us, one minute chatting and laughing at the dinner table, looking forward to the adventures of Brazil, and the next, rushing home to face whatever trouble that had come about.  We are resolved to appreciate our good health and good fortune and enjoy it while it lasts. We also sincerely hope that everything ends well for our friends and colleagues.  Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is a sea day, the first of four before we reach the mouth of the mighty Amazon, we expect flying fish, and I will make a concerted effort to photograph some.   Watch this space.

Saturday 13th January – Funchal, Madeira

We like it here.  It’s a lovely place, lush and green with flowers everywhere. We’ve been loads of times before, and we’ve been up on the cable car, around the church at Monte, visited the gardens up there and come back down to Funchal on the sledges.  We’ve walked the main streets, have spent hours looking for Tourist Information, visited the cathedral and viewed the city from the tower of the university church.  We’ve sat in the cafe on the main street, indulging in over rich cakes and watching the taxi drivers pushing their cabs along in the queue.  We’ve photographed the terrapins live in the fountain of the council buildings, listened to folk bands during New Year celebrations and walked the sea front through several periods of building work.  Each year has seen the city change bit by bit, all for the better.

And today we were going to take it easy.  No excursions to escort, just a bit of free time to take a walk into town, have a look around, and pick up a few bits n pieces from the Spar.  Even though we’ve been to Funchal many times before, there are loads of streets and places we’ve not seen.  One of them was a little park on top the cliff which could be seen from the deck of our cruise ship, so that’s where we headed.

We had a bit of job working out the best way to get to it though.  I knew there was a path and stairs from the main road near the sea front, but we thought we could see a quicker way.  This was not quite the case, and we ended up walking uphill with no way through.  We got to the top, and thought we had found a route.

But  the route involved a wander around the gardens of the Pestana Casino Park, which turns out to be a very nice looking hotel.  I would say classy and expensive, but I’m not entirely sure it was, because when we nosed through the windows at the restaurant, it didn’t look any more classy and expensive than the Bistro here on the ship.   The gardens and the pool were stunning though, definitely classy and expensive looking, and we thought it might be a nice place to stay.  If we could afford it!

View of the Magellan and Madeira from the hotel grounds.  The sun did come out later

After trespassing around the grounds for a while though, we worked out we couldn’t get to the park we wanted to, so we had to leave and walk along the road, and find the right park entrance.

Statue in the park

As I said, Funchal is lovely.  Lush and green with flowers everywhere, which also encourages  birds and insects. 

From the park we took a little walk through the town, finishing up at the Spar just next to the shuttle bus.  We loaded up on teabags, water and coffee and made our way back to the ship.  Lunch today was a hot dog and chips, out on deck in the warm sunshine of Madeira.

The ship is about to sail, so I’ll finish up and get this blog uploaded.  We have two sea days until Mindelo in the Cape Verde islands.  As Peter says, “Bring it on”.

Friday 12th January - Sea day

First I should say that the sea has been quite calm all day, which makes me feel so much better, thankfully, because Peter and I turned up at the craft area this morning expecting a difficult couple of hours.  Housekeeping turned up, tables were arranged, the dividers were set up, we stretched the equipment out to allow 32 spaces and the passengers started  to arrive.

Much to our surprise, it all worked perfectly.  The passengers queued “in an orderly fashion”, and when the tables were ready and they all sat down, we didn’t have to turn more than a couple away, and that was for the first class.  On the second class we even had free seats.

So the morning went well, we had a lovely quiet afternoon just chilling (although Peter worked on his online students), and we spent the evening in the pub.  We are back to everything going smoothly again.............

Tomorrow we get to Funchal, Madeira.  Excellent. 

Thursday 11th January. Vigo, Spain

We’d agreed with the shorex team that we would be happy to escort on various days, and Peter got a call yesterday asking if we would escort in Vigo.  There were two excursions planned.  One was to “the stunning medieval city of Santiago De Composteia” starting at 8 am and taking 5 ½ hours, and the other was “Leisurely Vigo”, starting at 10am and lasting 3 hours.   Feeling lazy, we chose the shorter one.  Bus tours tend to be the least interesting and the least preferred for escort duties as a rule, and normally nobody wants them.  Surprisingly, the Shorex team tried to talk Peter into the longer excursion.  “Do you not want to go to Santiogo De Composteia?  It’s beautiful there, the cathedral is fantastic? It’s a wonderful tour”

He politely refused, slightly bemused.  Surely someone else would want to do that tour if it was so wonderful?  It turns out that none of the other crafters/lecturers had offered to escort and Shorex themselves had to cover it.  It was obviously a lot of time out of their day.

So today, 10 o’clock this morning, I climbed on a bus and set out with 40 something passengers on a tour around Vigo.  At 10.25, I sat with 40 something passengers in a bus on hill overlooking Vigo wondering what was going to happen next. 

This lovely little church sat at the top of the hill.  We didn't go inside because we thought we didn't have time.  Hmmm.

The guide had had problems with the microphone, and the driver had spent a bit of time trying to fix it.  Finally, they thought they had it sussed, but as soon as the bus set off, it all went to pot again.  The passengers were getting a little fed up and wishing it would hurry up and get resolved, but no-one expected that a replacement bus was the answer.  But that is exactly what happened.  The driver pulled over to the side of the road, and we waited there until another bus arrived.

It seemed like a hammer to crack a nut, but the tour company were obviously determined to provide the service they had promised.  The passengers were still a bit tetchy once we were on the new bus, thinking that their excursion would be shortened due to the amount of time it had all taken, and they’d be short changed.  But the guide told them that it wasn’t the case, we’d just take a bit longer to get back to the ship.

A lovely copy of the mansion we were visiting, in the duck pond on it's grounds.  We know about duck houses don't we?

The tour went well after that, especially since the last stop involved a five star hotel where we were provided with tapas and liberal quantities of wine.   By the time we left, everyone was in a good mood and completely forgot their earlier frustrations.  We got back to the ship 50 minutes later than scheduled and  ten minutes before all aboard time.  Phew!

Except that I needn’t have worried about all aboard time.  The ship wasn’t going anywhere.  There have been a few medical cases that needed treatment ashore, and the ship was waiting for five people to return from the hospital.  Sadly, one of them was one of the crafters.  She had a really bad fall during the rough weather and it turns out she has broken a couple of bones in the shoulder and will need an operation which will happen in Maderia.   She must have been in a lot of pain, poor lady.  Fingers crossed for her.

The ship left Vigo a couple of hours behind schedule, and we are now on our way to Madeira.  Tomorrow is a sea day and Peter will run his classes in the morning.  He’s been to the Entertainments office to agree wording in the daily program that should help us control things.  Are we going to have another couple of stressful sessions, or will everybody have calmed down by now?  Only the morning will tell. 

Wednesday 10th January. An eventful couple of sea days.

Well, it was all going so smoothly.  And I mean, smoothly.   On Tuesday we woke to a calm sea, and after a leisurely breakfast, had a chat with the cruise director and housekeeping  about setting up tables and such in the craft area.  We knew we’d have to shuffle things about a bit, but all the CMV staff were being dead helpful and we didn’t think we’d have any more problems than usual.  We knew Peter would probably have to run a second class, so the first one was scheduled to allow us to fit another one in the afternoon.

So we turned up at one o’clock.  The housekeeping lads shoved and pushed tables and chairs about for us until we were happy, the craft area was cordoned off and we started to put out the equipment.  We were ready by 1.30, and there was already a large queue waiting to coming in.  Better to let them sit down I thought, rather than keep them all waiting.

BIG mistake.  There must easily have been another 60 people come in, and I had to keep explaining that there would be another class later in the afternoon.  Some hung around, many were cross, all accused us of starting early.   I had to explain that the class had not started, it was simply that the people sitting down had arrived earlier.  One guy was incredibly angry, would not listen, and kept shouting at us that it shouldn’t be allowed.  It was absolute chaos.

Once the class started, it all started to calm a little.  Eventually it was time for the second class.  A crowd had gathered and it was as much as we could do to keep them out until the tables were set up.  Once again, it was chaos, but it settled down, with 32 people painting, and another 15 or so watching.  Peter was slightly  hoarse by the end of it, having had to shout across the room for the 2 hours solid.

It turns out that it wasn’t just us that had too many passengers try to get into a class.  Jan, who ran the crafts class in the morning had had a terrible time of it, and Peter who ran the Ukulele class had 100+ passengers turn up when he only has 40 places on his course.

So that was Tuesday.  Tuesday night, the ship began to move about a bit, so I went to bed early, feeling a little nauseous.  Wednesday morning I stayed there.  According to the Assistant Cruise Director, Wednesday was the roughest crossing of the bay that they had in a long time.  And I felt it.

So I spent Wednesday morning in bed, dozing.  But to be honest, if I spend too much time in bed, I get a headache.  I did try to get up a couple of times, but felt too nauseous.  I eventually got up about 1pm, thinking I should get up to the top deck.  From there, it was easy to see how much the ship was pitching, and how terrible the weather was.  Gale force 9 apparently, with 8 metre high waves.   It was the first time I’ve felt seasick on the Magellan, but it turns out there was good reason.

So I was up, but I now had a headache.  Peter and I sat in the Tavern Pub, which was probably one of the most level places on the ship until my nausea passed, and we ended up trying our hand at the dart board.  I am absolutely rubbish.

Because the sea has been so rough, the Bistro at the back of the ship has been closed and everyone has had to eat in the restaurant.  Most of the other crafters preferred the Bistro, so effectively we all got together last night and ate in the restaurant.  My head still hurt, but it ended up a quite a good night, with Peter the Ukulele teacher and my Peter singing on the Karaoke, and a couple of games of table football.  All good fun.

Partly because we left Amsterdam late, and partly because the rough seas have slowed down the ship, we will not be able to get Lisbon by Thursday. Vigo has been chosen as an alternative port, so Spain here we come!

Day 2 on the Magellan. Amsterdam.

Amsterdam flower market on the left.  Just about every variety of tulip bulb you can imagine. 

According to Peter, it was quite rough last night.  I have to say I didn’t notice, I slept like a log through the uppy down stuff.  And this morning we woke up (dead early), in Holland and the ship berthed in Amsterdam just after 8.30.

Everything has gone swimmingly up until now, and today promised to continue the trend.  Both Peter and I were escorting, although on different tours, so we were breakfasted and queuing to be the first ones off the boat  9am.  My tour was due to start at 9.30, but Shorex likes the escorts to be down at the bus park ahead of the passengers.  I have to say we only just made it, and the queue started more less immediately we got there! 

We could have stayed in the warm of the ship another half hour to be honest.  There had been a traffic accident on the road into the port, and the buses were delayed.  When one did arrive, we hurriedly got all the passengers on board, and left the port at ten to ten. 

Looking at another canal boat from a canal boat

It’s the guide that makes or breaks these tours, and fortunately, I had a very good guide.  So even though we were late starting, had another 15min wait for the bus later in the tour, had to divert due to a police incident and got stuck in the road as a fire engine attended to another problem, everybody seemed to have a really good morning out.  The canal boat ride was very pleasant, and I learnt loads about Amsterdam, like it would  take only three days to flood the city entirely if you switched all the water pumps off.   There was one guy at the front being snarky about the 2 waits for the bus, and a very loud couple were told in no uncertain terms to SSSSSHHHHHHHH! (by other passengers, not me), when they chatted over the tour guide, but generally everyone was very well behaved and made my life easy.

Views from our canal boat tour

I got back to the ship to find Peter had beat me to the cabin, and  he’d had a good tour too.  All bodes well for this cruise.  We’ve earnt brownie points with Shorex already, we love our cabin (there are downsides, which make it unsuitable for paying passengers, but we are perfectly happy), and Peter seems to have worked out his timetable for the cruise and got the workspace he wants.  All is good. 

So we joined the other crafters and lecturers in the conference room at 3pm today in fine spirits.  We didn’t leave quite so happy.  Peter’s blog will explain it better, but essentially he’s not working in the conference room as he’d hoped.  He’s going to be in the more open plan “craft area”, which, to be honest, doesn’t really suit the way he runs his classes.   It’s going to take a bit of time, effort and rethinking, but he’ll find a way of making it work, he always does.  On the up side though, it does mean that he will get more time off because of the way it’s all been scheduled.

The only other thing to note is that we should have left Amsterdam at 2pm. It’s 6.45pm as I write and we are still here. It seems that there have been a few problems with refuelling (or bunkering as they call it on ships). Because the bunkering was late, the Magellan has lost it’s pilot slot, so had to wait until another one became available. The pilot has just got on board, the engines have just started, and we’ll be setting sail soon. The Captain has just announced that sailing tomorrow should be quite good, which is handy because it’s Peter’s first class........... Next stop Lisbon. Watch this space.