San Diego 29th September 2011

We arrived into San Diego - communications at last and able to call Jimmy and catch up with internet. Unfortunately it was the last stop for Kathy as she disembarked to fly back to San Francisco. Just Charlotte and I to continue into the Pacific, with plans for Jimmy to meet us in Tahiti hopefully on 16th October. We talked about us flying back to join Jimmy but he is adamant that we should stay on the boat and he will soon join us - Brooklyn versus South Pacific......

We rented a car with Kathy. First stop, we met up with Little Charlotte that we had met in Buenos Aires earlier in the year, with Trevor, Sarah and new baby Henry


Next stop Walmart!! One of the upcoming stops will be a very small isolated island, Fanning Island, so we stocked up with school supplies to take to the local primary school that have no electric and have school in huts. We got strange looks as we boarded the ship with all these Walmart bags!!!

It was sad to say goodbye to Kathy, who had been a good pillar of support over the last few days (despite the weather not cooperating!)

(to be continued)

Sea Days 25-29th September 2011

We missed Jimmy not being on the ship, but appreciated Kathy being there, who joined us for the first four days of the cruise, from Vancouver to San Diego. I appreciated her company with Jimmy not being there.

During the first night, we could feel the boat moving more, and lots of strange banging noises. By the morning the seas has grown. We were due to stop at Astoria Oregon for the day. However, the captain made the call to skip this port as we were now in a hurricane!! Waves in excess of 20 feet. We rode out the hurricane at sea ..... (we were expecting a possible hurricane in the Atlantic but not in the Pacific!!)

Monday came and news from Jimmy that he needed to have surgery on his thyroid. Unfortunately the doctor could not do surgery til 6th October. However, Jimmys heard he is the best so worth the wait and pray the doctor doesn't find anything when he opens him up.

Vancouver 25th September 2011

We met up for breakfast with Julian and his father Robert, who Charlotte had met on our Mediterranean cruise, at a nice restaurant over looking the bay.

After that, we checked our bags in, but decided against checking ourselves in yet, due to the lines.  Kathy took us on a whirlwind tour of Vancouver. In Stanley park we saw the totems:

It poured of rain but this didn’t stop us! 

We got back to the cruise ship terminal about 3pm.  There was no one around any more – we definately beat the lines!! – I think we were the last to check in!!

unfortunately without Jimmy

We had a nice sail out of Vancouver, although a little windy.

The Last Disney Day – 24th September

Well all good things must come to an end – up early, as I had to go to immigration for “aliens” at 6am!!

We joked about how we would manage back out in the big world, where we would have to find our own food…… a bit like a wild animal that has been protected in captivity, being set free back into the wild!  Fortunately for us, we only have to last 24 hours, before we are back in the protective cover of the cruise ship again.

Lots of good byes, as everyone’s fantastic 2 week trip was coming to an end


Charlotte had made lots of friends from England, Wales, Canada, Scotland, USA.  We bumped into several people again at Orlando airport - people were surprised when we said we were flying to Vancouver…. – felt a bit embarrassed saying we were getting on another cruise ship again the following day!! 

So a rental car to the airport, a flight from Orlando, to Dallas, where Charlotte was invited up to the cockpit:
and then to Vancouver.  Kathy Zack was there at the airport to meet us and then off to our hotel.

Castaway Cay, Bahamas 23rd September

Disney’s own private island, it's time to spend the day on the beach with Mickey and his Friends.  The Princesses decided to stay on the boat, as it was too hot!

A great setting for some more photos with the characters.

The day started off hot and sunny.  There was lots to do, in particular for the children.


Later on in the afternoon we decided to rent a paddle boat with Nancy and her mum. 


However, we had only been out a few minutes when the heavens opened, and we had a true Caribbean torrential downpour.   This seemed to put the end to the day as everyone started back, soaked, to the boat!

That night, Charlotte and Nancy participated in the Talent Show by doing an acrobatic routine with lots of cart wheels:

Tortola, British Virgin Islands 21st September 2011

Another island we knew well, and actually the island where Jimmy and I first met, back in 1994.

Tortola is a mountainous island and we have always said that we think the BVIs are some of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean.  In addition to Tortola, (which is about 20 square miles and a population of about 20,000) there are more than 50 other islands, rocks and crags in the BVI chain, most fairly small and uninhabited.  Tortola is a British Colony, just like Bermuda, with the main commerce being banking, insurance and tourism.

I was up on deck early as we sailed through the BVIs into Tortola, and it brought back memories of arriving on Heat Wave after an overnight sail from St Martin.

We rented a car for the day and, as experts on Tortola, played travel guide to some friends of ours from the ship, stopping at various places around the island including the Bomba Shack:


and Cane Garden Bay, where the children had fun snorkeling.


It was strange to see so few boats (if any) in the bays.  Normally this is such a busy place for boaters, but not in hurricane season!!  Without the cruise ship in town, a lot of the tourist places would have been shut.

We dropped Jimmy at the airport to fly back to NY, hoping that he would soon be back with us, before heading back to the ship and sailing out of the Virgin Islands, minus one passenger.  We were getting to be experts at signing Jimmy off cruise ships…….

St Martin 20th September 2011

An island we know well after spending a lot of time here on Heat Wave!  Half the island is French and the other half Dutch, with a population of about 75,000, plus about a million tourists per year.  The ship arrived in Philipsburg.

Charlotte got to see her good South African friend Harmony, who lives in St Martin.  They played on the beach for a lot of the day.

Jimmy went to an ENT doctor to get a better opinion on what was growing on his neck.  The verdict was that he should get it biopsied and probably removed sooner rather than later.  Bearing in mind our future travel plans, he made the decision to fly back to NY the following day, to hopefully get it all sorted out before we head out into the Pacific Ocean.

Sea Days 15th -19th September 2011

Despite crossing the Atlantic in hurricane season, the seas were very calm – at one point we could have water-skied on the ocean, it was so calm!

There were lots of activities to keep us busy during the sea days (in addition to the home school:-)). 
For Charlotte, there was:

Afternoon Tea Party with Alice and the Mad Hatter:

Afternoon Tea Party with the Princesses:

Breakfast with Mickey and Friends:

The were plenty of photo opportunities and Charlotte soon had her autograph book full of signatures from the various Disney characters.  It’s surprising how soon you get used to bumping into Mickey and Friends around the boat, and it all starts to seem quite normal!!

Disney provide 2 “wayphones” to let you keep in contact so Charlotte has finally got her longed after phone, in her element carrying it around and busy texting all her friends on the ship…. (I guess a taste of what’s to come)

Funchal, Madeira 14th September 2011

Madeira is a Portuguese island located on a string of islands, in the Atlantic Ocean between Portugal and Africa.  Located off the coast of Africa, it is eternally spring on this small peaceful volcanic island. Soaring cliffs, clear blue water, stunning mountains and deep canyons, beautiful flowers and vast vineyards beckon.  It was stumbled upon by chance when part of a fleet, exploring the west coast of Africa, was blown off course.  The island is famous for its sweet Madeira wine, and embroidery.

Jimmy took a full day tour organised by the boat.  The island was not what he was expecting at all (and defiantly on the list to get back to), beautiful with spectacular mountain ranges in the interior and the coast, reminiscent of Hawaii and Tahiti.


Some of the sheer drops that go right into the ocean were spectacular, one in particular, Cabo Girao, which, at 1,935 feet, is the second highest ocean cliff in the world.  There are very few beaches, and they are all black sand.

Charlotte and I took a Hop-On-Hop-Off 1.5 hour sightseeing bus around the town (about the 4^th of our trip so far! – great way to see the place).


We rode the cable car (also the 4^th of this trip!) to the top of one of the mountains, with a great view over the capital of Funchal.

Not far from the top, was the start of the famous Madeirean traditional toboggan ride – basically 2 or 3 people sit in a wicker sleigh with two guys on the side, steering, breaking, and pulling the sleigh down the steep streets.   I was here about 11 years ago with mum, when we stopped here on the QE2 as we sailed across the Atlantic from UK to Bermuda.  On that trip we did ride the toboggan:

That night, there was a great “Sail Away / Leaving Europe / Entering the Atlantic Ocean” party up on the top pool deck.  It was a lot of fun, although in some respects, quite a bazaar scene, as we sailed out of the relatively quiet island of Madeira, with the music blaring, watching Mickey and Minnie grooving away together on the dance floor, and all the characters partying and dancing with everyone!

Gibraltar 12th September 2011

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory, perched on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, (Spain), at the entrance to the Mediterranean. It is a mere 2.6 sq miles (and we thought Bermuda was small at 22 sq. miles). We had the same initial thoughts that we had had for Guernsey “How on earth did the British get this land?” (this time from Spain and not France.)


Gibraltar is at the narrow neck that separates Europe from Africa, and it is the only place where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Ocean. Its geographic location makes it the “Gateway to the Mediterranean”. The Rock of Gibraltar, is the major landmark of the region and dominates most of the territory.  About 30,000 people live in the area. It is a tax free port with the main economies being financial services, internet gambling, shipping and tourism.

We rode the cable car up to the top of the 1,400 foot Rock of Gibraltar.


Most of the upper portion is a nature reserve, which provides sanctuary and protection for 230 native Macaques (Barbary Macaques), the only wild monkeys found in Europe. They look kind of cute until they start attacking you and ripping your bag out of your hands! (which happened to two people while we were there.) However, in general they seemed pretty peaceful, just walking amongst the crowd.

 From the top, we could see Morocco, in Africa.

It was a hot day so Charlotte and I took the cable car back down (we haven’t experience any rain since we left England almost a month ago!) Jimmy did a nice easy walk down the rock, about 2 miles, past the tunnels from the wars, most of which are still operated by the military and closed to the general public.
Back down, we took a ride to Europa point, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and from where the coast of Africa can be seen.

There were a lot of ships in the ocean, many just stationary, probably waiting to dock / pick up or deliver. It is a very busy shipping lane.

That night our dinner table was by the window and we had a great view of Gibraltar as the ship sailed out, and into the Atlantic.

Cruising with Mickey and Donald – Saturday 10th September 2011

Two nights in a hotel and then back to the Port of Barcelona, to join the Disney Magic, for our 14-day cruise to Florida, across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of hurricane season!  Mickey and Minnie were there to greet us while we waited to board!

A cruise originally more for Charlotte, we have been very impressed with the ship so far, and can now understand why there are quite a few adults on the cruise without children.  There are plenty of adult activities / areas on the boat and the children are kept busy (elsewhere).  There is one area of the boat that, at night is like “Downtown Disney” with bars and clubs, with bands and dancing (child free after 9pm). While Charlotte enjoyed the great kids club, Jimmy and I enjoyed the champagne and martini tasting!

On deck there are 3 pools – the shallow Mickey’s Pool for the youngest, including a big slide, deeper Goofy Pool for families, with a big screen showing movies, and an adult only pool.  As we left Barcelona, there was a great sail away party up on deck.

Once again, we won a prize at the Spa raffle – not sure if this had something to do with Charlotte pulling out the tickets, or the multiple entries!!

At dinner, we are rotated each night (with the same table and waiters), through 3 themed restaurants.  We share a table with a similar aged American couple, living in Hong Kong, who have also traveled a lot, and have an 8 year old boy that they also home school. Needless to say, we have all found a lot in common and have great dinner conversations.  (I don’t think this is a coincidence and shows how much effort Disney put into matching people up). 

Often at dinner, Disney characters turn up (Beauty and the Beast did a dance one night).  After dinner there are great shows in the theatre that seats about 1,000 people.

Our initial impressions of the Disney Magic have been very favourable, and below are some of our initial observations on the Disney Magic (when naturally comparing the Disney cruise line with Holland America)

-                There are many more young people! (and not just the children!). 

-                Life exists after 11pm!

-                The writing on the Daily Navigator is a lot smaller than that on the HAL Daily Navigator!! (I guess less “sight/age impaired” guests!)

-                Where as a lot of the crew on HAL are from Indonesia, on Disney Magic quite a few are from India – plus a lot more European and American crew.

-                Kids club is about 5 times the size of Club HAL, with many more activities.

-                While service and food on HAL was great, here it is even better

-                Jimmy is still looking for casino – the best he can find is a kids arcade!!

-                Waking up to an alarm call from Mickey Mouse takes some getting used to!

Last but not least, we have also learnt that clothes shrink in salt air environment! (nothing to do with the food consumption!)

Barcelona, Spain 8th September 2011 – End of the cruise

Back in Barcelona, the 25 day Med Cruise is over.  It is incredible looking back at the blog over the last 25 days, at all the different and diverse places that we have stopped at.

Lisa and Haley left early in the morning to catch their flight back to New York.  We caught a taxi, (just managing to fit in all our ever expanding luggage), to a hotel in Barcelona for 2 nights.  I have been enjoying fast non-stop Internet in the comfort of the room all day (and all night while Jimmy and Charlotte sleep!!),  catching up with a lot, and making arrangements for future parts of our trip.

We went to a great fountain display: 

Palma De Mallorca, Spain 7th September 2011

Palma is the capital and a major port city of Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands, off the east coast of Spanish.  Half the population of Mallorca lives in Palma (about 300,000).  It is a big, bustling place, with most of the tourist action in the old part of town around the Cathedral.  It is one of Europe’s major holiday destinations, a city of modern hotel chains and flashy shops, combined with the old architecture of the Old Town.

We rented a car for the day and went exploring the island.  First, we drove north to Validemossa, a beautiful ancient old mountaintop village.

Then we headed along the twisty, winding, mountainous coast road across the north coast of Mallorca.  This rivaled the Amalfi coast, without all of the population.

We stopped down at a beach in Port Soller for a quick swim and lunch


and then continued on our drive.  It took well over 2 hours of driving plus stops to reach the headland of Formentor, at the most northeastern point of the island.  Jimmy had been here 40 years ago and remembered it to be beautiful so wanted to visit again.  It was already 5pm when we arrived. 



We went to a beautiful beach but unfortunately could not stay long as we had to be back on the boat by 8.30pm, and had a lot of driving to do on the return leg (although we were taking the main high way back, which we knew would be a lot quicker.)

Palma has a beautiful waterfront, with a huge marina, that has thousands of boats and hundreds of mega yachts.  They say the nightlife along the waterfront starts at midnight and ends at sunrise!  After dropping the rental car back in Palma, and starting our brisk walk back to the boat, we were surprised to bump into a couple we met 10 years ago, when we all sailed together through the Gulf of Aden and up the Red Sea to Egypt!   They were still working on the same mega yacht, an old wooden classic design that was built 20 years ago.  Too much catching up meant that we had to sacrifice our exercise walk back to the boat (got to keep trying to offset the food intake!!)  and jump in a taxi, to avoid missing the boat!

Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy 6th September 2011

An Ancient city with a long history, Cagliari has seen the rule of several civerlisations.  It is Sardinia’s economic and industrial hub, having one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean.   The old part of the city lies on top of a hill, with a wonderful view of the Gulf of Cagliari.  The Poetto beach stretches for 13km and was famous for its white fine-grained sand.

We were in Sardinia about 5 years ago, in the north of the island, when we got to see a lot of this large, picturesque island.  This time we only had a short stop here – all aboard by 1.30pm. 

The day we arrived there was a large protest march, that was part of a nationwide strike in Italy.

After the last few hectic days, we decided to take it easy here – Jimmy got a haircut and admired all the boats in the harbour, I spent most of the time in an internet café and Charlotte decided to stay on the boat and play at Club HAL. 

That night we all went to Formal Night.

Naples, Italy 5th September 2011

The night before arriving in Naples, the boat went through the Straits of Messina, which is about a mile wide, and separates Sicily from the mainland.  A couple of hours later, those who were still awake, were able to see the glow of the volcano on the island of Stromboli, which has been continuously erupting for years. 

The Bay of Naples, extending from Cumea to Sorrento, has a rich history and is one of the most beautiful Italian bays.  Naples (Napolini) is a city bustling with activity, noisy, crowded with traffic.

We rented a car for the day (despite all the website posts about crazy drivers etc, warning you that its not a good idea…).



We managed to navigate out of the busy city of Naples and, with only a couple of wrong turns (one put us on the motorway on our way to Rome!!) first stop was Pompeii.

Pompeii is the most important historic site in this part of Italy.  At one time, it was a prosperous city with 20,000 residents.  The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. buried the town for some 1,700 plus years.  It was rediscovered in the mid-18th century, as a result of excavations, and visitors can now wander the cobble-stoned streets of this ancient, doomed city.  The ruins were vast and quite incredible (but it was hot walking around this vast area).

After that, we drove along the beautiful Amalfi coast past Sorrento and Positano, (the town made famous by the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley”).  Restaurants, hotels and towns were built into the steep slopes.  The views over the cliffs that we were driving along were breathtaking, as the road wound its way along the coast. 

Time got the better of us and so unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to stop anywhere.  Jimmy drove like the Italians and we were all glad to get back alive!  By 4.30pm we were back on the boat heading for Sardinia.

Dubrovnik, Croatia 3rd September 2011

Founded in the 7^th Century, Dubrovnik is an old city in southeastern Croatia, located on the Dalmation coast of the Adriatic Sea. A historic and picturesque town, Dubrovnik has long been known as a major tourist resort.  The town faces the sea at the foot of rugged limestone mountains and is notable for its medieval double wall and fortifications along with historical buildings.

Dubrovnik is an amazingly beautiful city, with many islands around it.  The old town is free of traffic and full of narrow cobblestone streets and alleyways with restaurants and shops. It is possible to walk the 2km along the top of the wall that surrounds the city. 

After exploring the walled town, we took a local ferry to one of the islands and spent a lot of the day there, exploring and swimming.


Later we took the cable car to the top of the mountain and had a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains.


Most of the town was destroyed by bombs, in the Croatian War of independence in the early 1990s.  They did a fantastic job of rebuilding the city.

Kerkira, Corfu Greece 2nd September 2011

Corfu Island, northwestern Greece, is the most northerly of the Ionian Islands. It is 40 miles long and 20 miles wide and is separated from Greece and the Albanian mainland by a narrow channel.  The northern part of the island is mountainous and the southern part low-lying.  Olive oil, citrus fruit figs and textiles are the principle products.

First we headed to Corfu Town, an old walled fort town, built by the Venetians in the 1300s, full of winding, narrow Venice-like alleyways of shops and restaurants. 

Then we took a 30 minute trip out to Dasia and spent the afternoon on the beach.  The highlight for Charlotte and Haley was the paragliding:

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece 1st September 2011

Katakalon is at the western edge of Greece's Peloponnese Peninsula, and is close to the archeological site of Olympia, where the ancient Olympic Games were held.  The first Olympics were staged here in 776 BC and every four years there after until 394 AD when Emperor Theodosius banned them.

Lisa and Haley headed out to the ruins at Olympia, the main attraction at this port.  Jimmy and I just spent time in the small town of Katakolon, which consists of just the oceanfront walkway and one main street, plus a beach.  The oceanfront is full of open air cafes, where we enjoyed some Ozzo, the local Greek drink.

Valletta, Malta 31st August 2011

Valletta is the chief town, port and capital city, on the northeastern coast of Malta (which went independent from the British in 1964).  It is a harbour city, built on a ridge that is steep in parts, which preserves much of its 16^th century architectural heritage.  The Valletta peninsular is only a couple of kilometers in length, so much of the Old Town can be seen on foot.

As we approached the city, the orangy brick was very evident.

We got on the hop-on-hop-off bus which took us all around the northern part of Malta




The tour was supposed to be two and a half hours (without getting off) but ended up being three and a half hours.  It was another half-day stop and towards the end we were starting to get a little worried about being back on board in time – lucky we hadn’t got off ay any of the stops and waited for the next bus!

We left early afternoon, with an awesome sight of the harbour as we sailed out.