the road to rio

On October 17, our first full day at sea after Buenos Aires, an announcement was made requesting all the Life Long Learners to attend a meeting, dependents traveling with faculty and staff to attend another meeting, and to check email for details. I didn't catch the room numbers and wasn't sure if the dependent meeting was only for parents who were traveling with children, or if it included people like me as well, so had a look at my email, saw I had not received the email, so assumed my attendance wasn't required. Following this meeting, there was a knock at our cabin door. Two of my buddies, also spouses of faculty, had come by to tell me that Life Long Learners and dependents of faculty and staff had just learned we would not be able to get off the ship in Cuba.

To make a long story short - it turned out the reason I didn't get the email about the meeting is because I am not actually affected by this situation as I am traveling on a Canadian passport. Semester at Sea applied a long time ago for a license to include Cuba in the program for this voyage and for others before it. The license was granted through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Foreign_Assets_Control), a branch of the Department of the Treasury in the United States, shortly before our trip started in August. It isn't clear how many lawyers have had their hands on this license since it was issued, or whom they represent, but apparently they have determined that the license to disembark in Cuba applies, in the case of US citizens, only to degree seeking students and the faculty and staff directly involved in their programs. For me and a a handful of others with foreign passports, the license isn't necessary at all since we are not bound by the US sanctions in Cuba.

Needless to say, the shipboard community has been very disappointed by this news. Emotions have run high, meetings have been held, emails have flown. Appeals were made to OFAC by the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE), but the final decision has been made. Not only will these groups of travelers not be allowed to disembark in Cuba, they will not be allowed to stay on the ship either, so we will be making a side trip to Freeport in the Bahamas to drop them off before going to Cuba. We will then proceed to Cuba and return to pick them up afterward. This has put a bit of a damper on the last several days. I am sad that so many of my friends won't be able to join us for this part of the journey, a place all of us had been looking forward to visiting.

The US sanctions against Cuba have been in effect since 1961, more than 50 years (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/cuba.aspx).

buenos aires

After 13 (or 12, depending on how you count) days at sea, we were excited to arrive in Buenos Aires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires) on November 12. The port in Buenos Aires is a busy container port with lots of large moving equipment, so we were not allowed to walk within it. There were shuttle buses that took us to the port gate, and we got off the ship and out of the port as quickly as we could. It was wonderful to see the sun after having had so many hazy, cloudy and foggy days at sea. Buenos Aires was beautiful and green with lots of areas set aside for parks. There were blue flowering trees all around - I have decided they were jacaranda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacaranda_mimosifolia); we also saw lots of varieties of huge ficus trees. We sat for a couple of hours in a coffee shop, just enjoying the weather and watching people go about their activities before we headed back to the ship. We had plans to move to a hotel on the second day, and spend a couple of days in the city, so packed our bags.

Buenos Aires has 48 barrios, or neighbourhoods, and we visited three of them. Our hotel was near the Plaza San Martín (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_San_Mart%C3%ADn_(Buenos_Aires)) in the Retiro district (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retiro,_Buenos_Aires). John and I walked in the area and beyond, enjoying our time in the city. Whitelock family members might be interested to know that when the British tried to wrest Buenos Aires from the Spanish, they sent General John Whitelocke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whitelocke), no doubt one of our ancestors. He was defeated in 1807 in the attempt. On the third day in Buenos Aires, we went to lunch with friends from the ship in the Recoleta district (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recoleta,_Buenos_Aires). We arrived a little early so we would have some time to walk here as well. We were both finding the heat to be a little challenging, but there was always a breeze in the shade.

On the last day I went with a group from the ship for a walking tour in the La Boca neighbourhood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Boca) of the city. We had a great guide, Matías, who took us to a city bus for the trip across the city. Once there we met with a long time resident of the area, an accordion player who first entertained us with his music. This man's parents had arrived from Italy in the early 1920's and he had lived in the area his whole life, so answered lots of questions about the neighbourhood and its history. Much of it was very tourist oriented, with tango dancers every few steps. It's a great mystery how those women manage their stilettos on cobblestones, but they weren't doing much dancing, mainly posing for photographs. We did visit two museums that I enjoyed. One was the former home of Benito Quinquela Martín (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Quinquela_Mart%C3%ADn) and housed much of his art, mainly marine vessels and port scenes. The other was Proa, a museum of contemporary art (http://www.proa.org/eng/index.php), with an exhibition by Ron Mueck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mueck) that I found very interesting and just a little bit creepy.

After the tour in La Boca we got back on the city bus where we found a restaurant in the barrio of San Telmo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Telmo,_Buenos_Aires). It was a wonderful experience with a great waitress who spoke English very well, but who was willing to play along with anyone in our party who wanted to try out their Spanish. After lunch we made our way back to the ship to get ready for our trip to Rio de Janeiro.

atlantic crossing

Still working on some of the details for this posting. Please check back!

cape town - kirstenbosch and tutu

On October 29 I visited Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden as planned. I went alone, and was so happy to be there. It was a bright and sunny day and the garden was in beautiful bloom with lush green lawns. It wasn't crowded and people were quiet, walking and picnicking on the grounds. I enjoyed a long walk through the garden, though it would take much longer than the two hours I was there to cover all there is. There was an art exhibit to see and I enjoyed wandering through the plants in the Botanical Society Conservatory.

Kirstenbosch is on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Platteklip Gorge that we hiked a few days earlier, is on the north face. (At the risk of confusing everyone by switching the topic for a second, I did find an interesting story of Platteklip Gorge, although it makes the hike sound very easy. See http://www.hiketablemountain.co.za/platteklip-gorge/) The land where Kirstenbosch is, was owned and donated by Cecil Rhodes of Rhodes Scholarship and Rhodes University fame (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_John_Rhodes).

I had taken a bus that followed much of the same route that Maggie and George Thomas and I drove the last time we were in Cape Town (http://muellersatsea.blogspot.ca/2009/02/more-in-cape-town.html). Lots of it was familiar to me: Signal Hill, or the Lion's Rump (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Hill_(Cape_Town))and Lion's Head (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion's_Head_(Cape_Town)) on the way to the Garden, then Hout Bay(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hout_Bay), Camps Bay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camps_Bay) and views of other craggy coasts and sandy beaches on the way back to the port. One place that was new to me was the Imizamo Yethu Township (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(South_Africa)), and although I didn't get off to walk through the area, I was intrigued by a sign I saw concerning Original T-Bag Designs. If you don't read another link I post in this blog, have a look at this one: http://www.tbagdesigns.co.za/about/. I was lucky enough to find a booth right in the port after I got back where the crafts of the people from Imizamo Yethu are sold. If you'd like to get involved and send your used tea bags, details are at http://www.tbagdesigns.co.za/we-need-tea-bags/.

On our last day in Cape Town, we wandered around the Victoria and Alfred waterfront (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_&_Alfred_Waterfront) for the last time, had lunch, then returned to the ship for the reception with Desmond Tutu. There is an excellent story here: http://www.semesteratsea.org/2013/11/07/archbishop-desmond-tutu-inspires-sas-voyagers-young-and-old/, written by our Communications Coordinator, Lucille Renwick with photos by our voyage photographer Bryan Koop. There is also a video at http://vimeo.com/79393550. There was nothing organized in terms of a receiving line, so meeting him was hit or miss, but I did manage to shake hands with him. It was certainly an exciting visit for all of us.

cape town - table mountain

It's hard to believe it's been over a week since we left Cape Town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town). We had a very nice stay there and it remains one of our favourite places. Last time we went (http://muellersatsea.blogspot.ca/2009/02/after-three-days-in-cape-town.html) it was very windy and we were not able to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_Mountain) because it had been shut down, so one of my priorities on this trip was to get to the top. I had also visited Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirstenbosch) last time, but then it was the end of summer, beginning of fall, and not much was in bloom. Since it is now spring in the Southern Hemisphere, Kirstenbosch was on my list as well. We also knew Desmond Tutu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu) was coming on the ship. We were to be at a reception with him at 2:00pm on the last day, and we didn't want to be caught in the lineup of people returning to the ship at the last minute.

I had spoken with a group of shipmates about the possibility of hiking Table Mountain to the top, and four of us decided to do that. One of the women had communicated with a guide, Margaret Curran, who could pick an appropriate trail (she picked Platteklip Gorge) and go with us to the top, and we all agreed to pay her asking price which was very reasonable for transportation to and from Table Mountain, water, snacks and safe hiking. Our plan was to hike to the top and take the cable car down on our first day in Cape Town, meeting Margaret in the port around noon. The person in our group who had found our guide received an email that morning from Margaret saying the wind had come up and the cable car had been shut down, so if we were going to do the hike, it meant we would be walking down as well. We decided to go ahead - after days at sea we were all looking forward to having some physical activity so we didn't mind doing some extra hiking. It was only 3 km (1.86 miles) up the mountain and the elevation gain was something just over 620 meters (2000 feet), so a demanding hike but nothing we couldn't do.

We met Margaret at the assigned location and found that she had added two other hikers to the group, which was fine with us. They were vacationers from elsewhere in South Africa and we were pleased to meet them. After making our way to the trail head, Margaret told us how difficult this trail would be and emphasized that if anyone felt in the early going that they wouldn't be able to make it, or if there was anything that made us unhappy, we should let her know right away. There were definitely times during this hike that I felt I should speak up, but just couldn't do it. The surface of the path was boulders. I have told others, it was like climbing a 3 km stairway with 18 inch risers. It is easily the most challenging hike I have ever done. Although I have climbed that distance and steepness, the surface was so challenging, and the day was so warm, that I began to doubt that I could finish. At some point the sun gave way to the cloud and mist that can so often appear on Table Mountain, and I was relieved that the heat at least would not be a factor for me. The others felt the challenge as well, but I really was the slowest (of course I kept telling myself I am twice the age of the next oldest person on the hike, not counting the guide). The others insisted I was not holding them back; we kept running into our SAS students, and we all encouraged each other. We did lose the other two hikers when they asked Margaret about going ahead on their own. In the end they went down on their own as well. At one point I began to really worry about getting back down again, but then reminded myself that I had to focus on the next step, not the whole climb and descent. And we all made it! We spent quite a lot of time at the top. The mist and cloud had cleared some, but moved around and made for some very interesting and spectacular views. I was so happy to be there and could not believe we had just sailed halfway around the world to see the beauty in this country, and that I have been fortunate enough to do it twice! We saw some beautiful birds and a dassie or rock hyrax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassie), probably waiting around for someone to feed it. We spent about an hour, enjoyed the fabulous views, took lots of photos, ate some snacks, drank some water. We expressed our hopes that the cable car would open since the wind had died down a bit, but Margaret assured us that because of the time of day, it was not likely to do that. So we gathered our reserves and headed down.

The trip down, while daunting, was not a surprise for us. We just put one foot in front of the other and did it. I fell behind again, and walked alone much of the time, but about three quarters of the way down Margaret fell back and walked the rest of the way with me. It was helpful to be able to chat with her as my knees and hips were starting to feel the strain. I was afraid if I slowed down I wouldn't make it the rest of the way, but of course I did make it down and was thrilled to have finished. We made our way back to the ship feeling most triumphant. I was meeting John and one of the other faculty in the area around the port for dinner, and they had already gone. I didn't even go back to the ship for a shower because I thought if I did I would never make it out again. We had a great dinner - the best burger I ever ate in my life I think, and came back for a great night's sleep. I was sore for a couple of days, but recovered quickly. John and I again stayed in a hotel in town, actually quite near one of the beaches, and enjoyed exploring Cape Town. More on Kirstenbosch and Tutu in the next posting.

sea rescue!

John and I have been off the ship while in Cape Town, so missed all this excitement last night. We did hear ship horns in the middle of the night, but will have to wait until we return to the ship to find out if this was related to trying to move the whale along. The press release follows:

NATIONAL SEA RESCUE INSTITUTE (NSRI) MEDIA RELEASE:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEA RESCUE – NSRI – HEADQUARTERS. STATION 3, TABLE BAY. STATION 2, BAKOVEN.

SEA RESCUE – THE PORT OF TABLE BAY – Monday, 28th October, 2013. Trapped whale rescued:

At 23h40 (Sunday, 27th October) The Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) were alerted by the ship MV EXPLORER, docked at E Berth, Duncan Docks, in the Port of Table Bay, of a whale appearing to be trapped between the quayside and the ship.

TNPA activated the Department of Environmental Affairs Oceans and Coasts and Mike Meyer was sent to investigate. TNPA officials were also dispatched and NSRI and TNPA tug boats were placed on alert.

On arrival on the scene Mike found a juvenile Humpback whale, approximately 8 meters in length and estimated to be about 1 years old, trapped between the ships side and the quay side and despite having some room between the ships side and the quay side, and with the whale gradually moving backwards and forwards, it appeared too disorientated to move backwards to where the gap between the ship and the quay widened (towards the front of the boat) and continually appeared to wedge itself up against the ship and the quay side where the ships side was pressed hard against the quay side (towards the back of the ship).

Despite numerous attempts to get the whale to move backwards, towards a widening gap between the ship and the quay side, towards the front of the ship and towards open water, using a pole and torch light, the whale remained trapped between the ship and the quay side, unable to turn around and continuing to nudge against the tyre fenders. The whale also displayed damage to its front mouth which appears to be caused from nudging against the tyre fenders.

Mike requested additional assistance after these efforts to coax the whale backwards, towards open water, failed.

NSRI Headquarters, NSRI Table Bay, NSRI Bakoven, a WC Government Health EMS rescue squad, the Police Dive Unit, Harbour Police and the Police Sea Borderline unit were activated.

On arrival on-scene it was agreed that the MV EXPLORER herself would have to be moved aside to make space for a rescue effort and TNPA, together with the ships agent, authorized the operation to move the ship.

Two TNPA tug boats, MERLOT and PINOTAGE, and TNPA harbour pilot Yolisa Tshangela, were dispatched while the ships crew were mustered, along with TNPA shore crews, to carry out the massive task of moving the 24300 ton, 590 foot ship, into the middle of the harbour to make room for a rescue effort to take place.

NSRI Table Bay launched their sea rescue rigid inflatable boat (RIB) ROTARY ENDEAVOR and Sea Borderline Police launched a Police Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB).

Under the guidance of Mike Meyer, once the ship had been moved aside, the two RIB's, with NSRI crews and Police Divers, moved in to attempt to coax the whale and to guide the whale away from the quay side.

The whale stubbornly refused to budge despite the best efforts of the rescue crews, on the two RIB's, to coax the whale away from the quay side and Police Diver Douglas Jones volunteered to get into the water and physically push the whale away from the side.

Once in the water Police Diver Jones managed to push the whale away from the edge of the quay side and then both RIB's were used to guide the whale out towards the Port exit.

Police Diver Jones remained in the water next to the whale and continued to gently push the whale along in conjunction with the two rescue RIB's.

Efforts were then begun to re-berth the ship.

During these efforts (to coax the whale out to sea) the whale attempted to return to its original place next to the quay side but remarkably the whale then decided to follow the tug boat Merlot, which had by now released her lines to the now docked ship.

Mike Meyer estimates that the juvenile whale, distressed and disorientated, may have mistaken the tug boat MERLOT for its mother. The tug boat was instructed to head out to sea and the whale followed MERLOT out of the Port exit to open waters.

Mike Meyer has expressed that he is cautiously optimistic that the whale will survive this ordeal fearing that the whale may be too disorientated, and since it appears to be separated from its mother, to survive.

The Port of Table Bay and beaches in the Table Bay vicinity will be monitored to see if the whale returns into Port or if it beaches along the coastline.

The rescue operation was completed at 04h10 (Monday, 28th October).

Thanks are expressed to Captain Jeremy Kingston, of MV EXPLORER, and to his crew.

MV EXPLORER, a floating University of Semester at Sea, departs Cape Town for Argentina on Wednesday.

Students of the ship gave the whale a number of names during the rescue operation.

All services involved are commended for participating in this rescue operation.

-ENDS- 

Released by: 

Craig Lambinon

Sea Rescue Communications

Cell: +27 823803800 | eMail: communications@searescue.org.za |  www.searescue.org.za

NPO Reg. No: 002-870 | Co. Reg. No: 1967/013618/08 | VAT Reg. No: 4920114818

NSRI is manned by 943 volunteers at 32 bases around the coast and on 3 inland dams.

Donations, bequests and sponsorships cover the annual running cost of R27.5m.

neptune day, bunkering in namibia and a very special guest!!

Lots of internet challenges since we left Ghana. A critical piece of hardware sustained some damage and apparently our ship engineers managed to repair it, but it has been very difficult (and frustrating!) to stay connected to the wireless. I am doing my best to catch up with postings now.

Neptune Day was our first full day at sea after Ghana - October 19. Like last time, King Neptune and his court made their way around the ship, clattering and banging things and waking everyone up to participate in the festivities. This was to celebrate the crossing of the equator on this day, and to turn pollywogs into shellbacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony). It was a fun day with  the usual head shaving, fish kissing, and King Neptune honouring activities. This crossing was made special by the fact that we reached the prime meridian at the same time, giving shellbacks the distinction of becoming emerald shellbacks. We reached 0 degrees latitude and 0 degrees longitude at 2:14pm that day. The captain sounded the ship's horn, and some looking off the starboard side saw a buoy that marks the location where the equator crosses the prime meridian. Apparently this was placed by a research group of some sort, but I have been unable to find anything about that; I will continue to look.

We have been moving quickly since leaving Ghana. I heard this evening on the CNN international news that we now have on the ship that pirates attacked a US ship, carrying oil I believe, in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Nigeria yesterday. The captain and one crew member were taken off the ship and no one knows where they are. We were there only a few days ago. Starting during the night after Neptune Day we had very rough seas and for two and a half days I experienced seasickness from the motion. I was very surprised since I never had this before except a very brief period of time one evening in the Indian Ocean on our last voyage. This time it was quite debilitating and I couldn't go near the dining room since the smells made the nausea much worse. Fortunately, we reached Namibia for bunkering yesterday morning and had about 24 hours off the ocean while we refuelled. Since we left Walvis Bay this morning, the water has been very smooth and we've seen lots of seals playing near the ship. It was unfortunate we couldn't leave the ship during the refuelling - John and I really enjoyed Namibia on our last trip.

We learned today that we have a special treat in store in Cape Town, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu) will be coming on board on our last day in that port, October 30. There will be a reception where we will all have an opportunity to meet him, then he will speak with the students. He has been a friend of Semester at Sea for many years, often sailing for partial or complete voyages. We are very much looking forward to visiting Cape Town again, and also to meeting this special guest!

tema

We arrived in Tema, Ghana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tema) the morning after we left Takoradi. John had again decided to stay on the ship in order to get caught up with some of his class work, and I went ashore on the first day with others from the ship. We took a bus into Accra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accra). Some of these folks had been to this port before, and on their advice we made our way to the Global Mamas store (http://www.globalmamas.org). There we were able to do some shopping without the issues of pressure from the people making the sales and the bargaining that accompanies most purchase transactions in Ghana. Afterward we made our way to a nearby restaurant where we ate traditional Ghanaian dishes in an open air environment that was quite comfortable and relaxing. Although the weather was very hot and humid, the areas we saw in Accra were not as difficult to maneuver as those in Takoradi had been. There were still open sewers, but most of them were covered in a way that it was not likely anyone would fall in. There were still young men who tried to make sales in the streets (some of whom had followed us from Takoradi!), but not in the numbers we had seen before. The bus rides to and from the ship were long and hot, and traffic was heavy, but in all it was a better experience than we'd had in Takoradi. It is interesting that some of the things that bothered me about Ghana were things that the students overlooked. They were able to see past those things that were issues for me and some others, and focus on their interactions with the people in Ghana. We'd had an interport student from Ghana who had joined the ship in Morocco and students had spent lots of time talking with him about the country. They were perhaps better prepared for the experience than I was.

The second day in Tema I joined a SAS trip with a couple of friends. We took a bus ride northeast of Accra to bead making place called Cedi Beads (http://www.africancraft.com), named after the man who built this family business. Cedi has figured out how to use recycled bottles and other materials to make traditional African beads. We first had a lesson in the types of beads and how each is made, then were guided in making some of our own beads using the techniques we had been shown. While they were fired in a kiln, then cooled, we ate our lunch under the palm trees in a cool breeze, and got further lessons in glass bead making. Our guide for the trip, Stephen, provided information about palm trees and some of their uses in African culture. Once the beads had cooled, some of the workers polished them for us, using concrete blocks, sand and water. It was great to see the creative beads that came from our group. We boarded our bus and headed back to the ship, enjoying the views of the countryside, such a relief from the crowded cities we had seen. There were some areas with heavy trees and undergrowth, some small villages and lots of rocky hills. On the way back Stephen was answering questions and offering information about the country he clearly loves. When we got back to the ship, he reminded us that when you travel to far places, sometimes you have positive experiences and sometimes you have negative ones. He hoped that we would forget any negative experiences in Ghana, and concentrate on the positive ones. I came away feeling that it is very hard to make judgements about a country in four days, and that there is likely much more that Ghana has to offer than what I was able to take in in the limited time and area that I covered. 

takoradi

We awoke yesterday to the smell of smoke as we arrived in Takoradi, Ghana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekondi-Takoradi) around 7:30am. There apparently are not many passenger ships that arrive in Takoradi Harbour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoradi_Harbour); it is mainly for container ships and is very industrial, almost hazardous to walk. We had been warned of a couple of things in Takoradi - the persistence of the young men who are trying to sell their wares (bracelets, bookmarks, key rings, paintings, various articles of clothing), and the gutters and gaping holes in the sidewalks that are full of raw sewage. We were advised to use mosquito spray (we were already taking our malaria medications), to carry no more "stuff" than we absolutely needed, and that we would absolutely need toilet paper and hand sanitizer. John had decided he would stay on the ship and use the time to get some work done, and I went out with one of the other women on the ship whose husband was off on a field lab with his students.

A shuttle bus had been arranged from the ship to the port gate and we got on it after talking with some of the young men at the market that had been set up just off the ship. They were indeed persistent, but very warm and welcoming, calling me and my friend "mama", as they did with all women our age. As we approached the port gate, we could see another, much larger gathering of these fellows. They are all selling the same things, but introduce themselves as famous artists in Takoradi. As the bus doors opened, we were absolutely overwhelmed by this group. We had been told that if you don't make eye contact and just keep walking saying "no thank you", they will eventually leave you to find someone else and this does work, although having them all invading personal space and grabbing at your arms is a bit disconcerting! We were planning to walk to Market Circle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Circle,_Takoradi,_Ghana) and met up to walk together with one of our Life Long Learner couples and three students.

The whole experience is not one I will soon forget and one that I am still trying to process. It would be difficult to overstate the amount of filth in this city. The open raw sewage is real, the market area is packed with people and full of food. The smell is impossible to imagine and difficult to tolerate. There were lots of vegetables, fish both raw and dried, snails the size of your fist (my companion said later they looked like something out of a Disney movie and should have had names), some textiles and other items. We stayed on the outside of the market because we were afraid what we might find or how we might react if we went inside, and it was very hot and humid outside, worse inside. But then we began to look at the people there, mainly women and children. They had radiant smiles and words of welcome for us. They tried using their limited English. Young mothers showed us their babies. There are not a lot of tourists in Takoradi and they seemed genuinely happy to see us. Children carrying trays of items on their heads followed us. These children work as hard as their mothers do. As dirty as the city is, they are clean and so are their clothes.

After walking the entire circle, we decided it was time to head back to the ship, so we started back the way we had come. We split up - the students got a cab to go to the beach, and the LLL couple decided to stop at a grocery store. My friend and I walked back to the shuttle, occasionally stopped by the young "artists". It was a very hot walk back; taxis drove by and honked and asked if we wanted to ride (this is the only place I have ever been where the taxis call YOU), but we continued walking were relieved to get back to the port and the ship. I have felt no need to go out again, but am very glad we had a little adventure in Takoradi.

In an hour or so we will be leaving for our next port, Tema. It is not far away and we will be there in the morning. This port is close to Ghana's largest city, Accra. Some of us have plans to go to a market tomorrow and eat lunch off the ship. Can hardly wait to see what our next adventure will be!

flying fish, dolphins and whales

We have sailed for many days to arrive in Ghana, and have had numerous issues with Internet access along the way, thus the length of time since the last entry.

The waters have been smooth from Casablanca and there have been several days when it was lovely to sit outside and enjoy the sun and look at the beautiful turquoise water. We have seen silver flying fish, their wings shining in the sun (do they travel in flocks or schools?), and dolphins playing in the water. Some people, including John, have seen whales further from the ship. I did enjoy these days on the water so much, spending lots of time on our balcony reading, knitting or just watching the sea.

Unfortunately lots of people got sick in Morocco and were very sick for a few days. At first it appeared that the cause was food poisoning on one of the camel treks, and although that may have been one cause, others who had not been on that trip became ill. In the end there were so many sick our medical staff had to report the outbreak to the CDC, triggering a health classification of the ship which required the staff to do sanitizing at a high level. I think we are still in this situation because we smell bleach wherever we go. A number of people were in quarantine  (tricky for student roommates who remained healthy) and the cabin stewards were very busy delivering meal trays and helping to clean up cabins. Our cabin stewards are wonderful and hard-working individuals who care for us as if we were family. Most people have now recovered and have learned not to use local water in some of these places for brushing teeth, not to eat fruits and vegetables that may have been washed in contaminated water, and so on. Everyone had been warned about this, but there is nothing like first hand experience to enhance learning!

Our many days at sea gave us time to get to know some of our shipmates better. I know I have told some of you we are traveling with two former astronauts, one of whom is Academic Dean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_C._Thornton). The other teaches astronomy on the ship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Nelson_(astronaut)). We also have a couple of Life Long Learners who have had solid academic careers and who have collaborated in both academic and fiction writing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Hatfield, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rapson). Of course we have many talented faculty, staff, and Life Long Learners, and our students are a delight.

We have spent more time with our extended family, and as expected it is fun getting to know these young people. We had a chance to have a more formal dinner in the "special" dining room and it was a fun evening. Cody took some great photos, and if you keep an eye on http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/fall-2013/, you should see one of his photos of our family published on the Fall 2013 Voyage Blog in an entry about the extended family program. We have been told the photo will be in the article, but the article is not there as of this writing. There are other very interesting entries in the voyage blog that you might find interesting as well.

We hope all of our Canadian friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

lisbon, cádiz and casablanca

We have been moving so quickly from one port to another that it's a bit challenging to keep up. This will not be the case in the ports coming up; it will take us longer to get to the upcoming stops and we will have longer stretches at sea and more classroom days for the students.

We arrived in Lisbon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon) on Friday morning, September 27. We had beautiful weather for exploring the city. The port is very near the old downtown area, making it very easy to get into the city quickly. Many of our shipmates left Lisbon for overland trips, planning to meet the ship in Cádiz a few days later, but we have never been to Portugal so decided to stay. We enjoyed our short time there, walking around the city and using the hop on, hop off bus to get around. We found the Bélem (http://www.travel-in-portugal.com/Lisbon/belem.htm) area to be particularly interesting. Many Portuguese explorers left for their voyages from this part of the port. We also enjoyed walking in the area of the Parque Eduardo VII (http://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/edward-park.html); the view looking down the long hill to the port is spectacular.

Although we had to be back on the ship the evening of the 28th, we didn't actually leave the port until the next day. The trip to Cádiz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadiz) was quick and we arrived the morning of Monday the 30th. We enjoyed Cádiz as much as we had on our first Semester at Sea trip, this time doing a bus tour to see more of the beaches and outskirts of the town. The area around the port has undergone some change since our last visit, so we were a little disoriented at first and had trouble locating the plaza near the Cathedral and the market that we enjoyed so much the first time, but it didn't take long to figure it out. We had only one night in this port as well, and had to be back on the ship and ready to go on Tuesday evening, even though we didn't leave until Wednesday. As happened last time (http://muellersatsea.blogspot.com/2009/02/leaving-spain-and-refueling-in.html, http://muellersatsea.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-casablanca.html) we were warned that the waters on the way to Casablanca could be "violent" and that we should put everything in the cabin away. We were believers after our last trip (although it was the departure that was so bad last time http://muellersatsea.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html), so spent some time finding a place for every little thing, but this time, while there was some rolling during the night, we didn't have the extreme movement of the ship that we had last time. I was awake around 4am anticipating it, but was happy when it never happened. I hope our departure will be as calm!

We are now in Casablanca (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca) and enjoyed a bus tour our first day here, visiting again the Hassan II Mosque (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_II_Mosque) and other areas of the city. We actually were able to visit the inside of the Mosque this time, and it is an amazing structure. Fifteen thousand people are employed for its upkeep. We have spent a quiet couple of days, once again finding a hotel so that we could have a break from the ship and catch up with some things on internet. We are overlooking a tramway stop and the Place des Nations Unies (United Nations Plaza), a great location for sitting, drinking coffee and people watching. We will be returning to the ship tomorrow afternoon to be on board for our departure to Ghana.

dublin and transit to lisbon

The evening before we arrived in Dublin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin) there was a full moon reflecting off a beautifully calm Irish Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea), one of the loveliest nights on the water this trip. It was the beginning of a wonderful visit to Ireland. After arriving on Friday morning (the 20th) we took the provided shuttle from the port into the city where we spent the day walking around Dublin. We decided to go to a hotel downtown near Dublin Castle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Castle) and Saint Patrick's Cathedral (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick%27s_Cathedral,_Dublin) in order to be closer to the action. It was a perfect location for walking around the city and seeing the sights. Sunday we did what we often do when arriving in a new place, and found a hop on, hop off bus. There were several wonderful stops; one outstanding one was Phoenix Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Park). This urban park contains two residences: Áras an Uachtaráin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Áras_an_Uachtaráin), which is the official residence of the President of Ireland and which is said to have been the model for the White House, and Deerfield Residence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Secretary%27s_Lodge), the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland since 1927. Phoenix Park is also home to the Dublin Zoo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Zoo), a herd of deer, and a number of interesting monuments.

The driver on our bus was so entertaining we didn't want to get off, which was good because traffic was moving so slowly it was hard to make much progress, and the streets and sidewalks were packed. It turned out Sunday was the annual All Ireland Senior Football Championship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_All-Ireland_Senior_Football_Championship) for Gaelic football (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football, http://www.gaa.ie), and the city was full of fans from both Dublin and Mayo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Mayo) making their way to Croke Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croke_Park) for the match. People were shoulder to shoulder in the streets and we had a good view of the festivities, fans dressed in team colours (two shades of blue for Dublin, green and orange for Mayo), music, singing, dancing everywhere, food and drink flowing. The driver had more time in traffic than he had commentary to fill it, so at one point burst into a chorus of "Molly Malone". He did recommend that we find a place to watch the match, since it is different from  other sports we might have seen. He said the fans sit mixed together in the stands rather than on opposite sides of the stadium, and that there are never fights as there are at some European soccer matches, fans preferring to go for drinks together after the game instead. We did watch some of the game on tv and it appears to be some combination of soccer and rugby, though I am sure there is more to it than that. Dublin won the match, by the way. We found the people in Ireland very friendly and accommodating wherever we went, and will surely put it on our list of places to which we might return. 

One of the best parts of a trip like this is meeting people who come from all over the world, and sometimes through presentations and lectures, but mainly through personal conversations, learning more about the world as others have experienced it. The situation in Kenya came on the news while we were in Dublin. We have one faculty member, now an American citizen, originally from Kenya, who is travelling with two children. We were horrified as we watched the happenings in Kenya and were relieved to learn when we returned to the ship that this faculty member's family was not directly affected by what happened in Nairobi. Had we not had this contact, we probably would have viewed the Kenyan situation as just another terrorist incident. It's important to see these things more personally.

We returned to the ship on Monday afternoon and sailed out of the port that evening on calm waters. As we approached the Celtic Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Sea) the water became more rough. We had our second lifeboat drill of the trip on Tuesday. The procedure around these drills has changed somewhat since we were on the Explorer in 2009, and we have heard that the new regulations came about after the Costa Concordia disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster). For one thing, the captain and crew now insist on complete silence throughout the drill, and for another, more aspects of safety procedures are demonstrated by crew (e.g. donning a life jacket, climbing ladders). So it was amid this silence that dolphins appeared in the Celtic Sea in view of half of the voyagers on the ship gathered with us on the port side beneath the hanging lifeboats. The students couldn't help themselves; we heard their whispered exclamations, small gasps of excitement at the spectacle, the sound swelling but still so quiet, and everyone looking at each other with wide eyes and expressions of delight. For me, it was such a perfect moment. Even the crew had to smile and one of them said the dolphins were performing because they knew we were there. They stayed with us until the drill ended, then could be seen from the dining rooms during dinner. 

As we left the Celtic Sea and entered the Bay of Biscay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Biscay) the water became even more turbulent. We were leaving the continental shelf for the first time in this voyage so the water was much deeper. We passed through a weather system that resulted in lots of waves and sea swell for a couple of days. Night before last (when I was originally trying to compose this entry) was quite uncomfortable, and while we don't usually have trouble sleeping during nights at sea, even finding the rocking helps sleep, the motion of the ship in the water did interrupt our night. It was a relief to get to Lisbon yesterday (more on our stay there very soon) and we are hoping for smoother water as we leave tomorrow morning for Cadiz. 

shipboard family, more on ireland later

Latitude: 40 degrees, 3.6 N
Longitude: 10 degrees 6.39W
Course: 182 degrees
Ship time: 21:30

Looks like there is a lot of catching up to do. We met with our shipboard family while en route from Le Havre to Ireland and were happy to meet the four students who will be "siblings" to Victoria, Monica, Jane and Sarah from our Spring 2009 voyage. This time we have three young women and a young man in our family. Abbey is from Tempe, Arizona and attends Arizona State, majoring in Global Studies (among other things). Allei is from Lincoln, Massachusetts and is a Marketing major at Bentley College. Kelly is from La Jolla, California (via Taiwan) and is studying Communication Arts at De Anza College (which is very close to where Clark works). Cody is from Bronx, New York and is in Management at Pace University. Our dinner was very nice with everyone making introductions and getting to know one another. We will try to get together again after Spain and make other plans about what we will do as a family. We have one birthday coming up in the family, so will plan to celebrate that.

We did have a "special" dinner with some of the other faculty and spouses on the ship another evening on the way to Ireland. This is a dinner in a separate small dining room and very different food from that we normally get in the main dining rooms. It was a lovely evening with good company and great food.

It would be nice to catch up with Ireland tonight, but we are having such rough seas since leaving there. Tonight is especially rough, and I really can't sit up and write any more. We will be docking in Lisbon in the morning and I will post more then.

antwerp and le havre

We have just come back on the ship after spending the night at a hotel in Le Havre. After assessing our options and the amount of time we had, we decided our interests would be best served finding a hotel with good wifi where we could update and sync all our devices, since that has been the greatest challenge on the ship. Although communication with others is part of the issue, John's ability to get information for his classes has been a bit of a concern as well, in spite of setting a lot of that up ahead of time.

John did have his third and last field lab in Belgium, leaving Antwerp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp) early Thursday the 12th with a busload of students in his Stress class. They visited the World Health Organization in Brussels and also met with an alumna of Semester at Sea who is working in Brussels and who was instrumental in helping to set up the WHO visit. All agreed this was a very successful trip and the students enjoyed the opportunity to talk with someone who had been a SAS student and discuss the doors that were opened for her as a result of that experience. I went out that morning with a couple from the ship on a hop on, hop off tour of the city. We got off at the central train station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp_central_station), a magnificent building in the center of town that has a 75 meter high dome and is visible throughout the city. There are three levels from which trains depart and it's easy to get anywhere in Belgium and surrounding countries in a short time. There is also lots of shopping inside the station, and a Starbucks - the only one in Antwerp (though we did find better coffee shops in the city and no free wifi at Starbucks). Antwerp is smaller than Hamburg, and very industrial with about 20% of the population working around the port area. Government and service sectors are located in Brussels.

The main part of Antwerp is located on the right bank of the Scheldt river; development is beginning on the left bank, and that is the view we had from our cabin while we were in port, seeing what looked like a park used by families for picnicking and so on. There are six tunnels that lead from one side of the river to the other - one for pedestrians and cyclists, one for trains, one for the subway, and three for cars. I wanted to try the pedestrian tunnel, but never got there and might not have been able to make myself walk under the river anyway! John and I did some walking around in the city on Friday, our second day there, giving John a chance to unwind from his long day with students.

On our last day we had a short walk and then I went to the Rubens House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubens_House), where Peter Paul Rubens and his wife Isabella Brant lived, and where Rubens worked until his death in 1640. The pieces in the collection there are very nice, and the house itself is well worth the visit. I stopped at a small Belgian waffle spot on the way back to the ship for a treat, and if you think they are anything like what passes for Belgian waffles in North America, you'd be very wrong! Here they are made with yeast instead of baking powder as well as a special form of sugar not found anywhere else, and are served unadorned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_waffles). The dough is much more like bread dough than pancake batter.

"On-ship" time on Saturday was early - 1pm. We left Antwerp a bit late while several people were running around trying to locate two students who had not come back to this ship. It turned out they had missed a train connection and would have to meet the ship in Le Havre, so we departed around 3:30 without them. The weather in Antwerp on Saturday had been quite rainy and chilly, and as we sailed back down the Scheldt and into the North Sea, heading for the English Channel and Le Havre, the weather cleared and we had a beautiful night, with visible stars and the almost three quarter moon shining on the water. We arrived at Le Havre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Havre) and its port (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_le_havre) at 8am yesterday, and were able to leave the ship around 9am. I went into the city and walked around, particularly in a very large market area. By the time I returned to the ship it was becoming cloudy and windy, and although we considered taking a couple of short train trips from here, in the end we did decide to spend the time at a nearby hotel. We had a chance to walk around for awhile. Like other ports we have seen on this trip, bombing in 1944 destroyed many of the old buildings in Le Havre, so there is a mix of old and new architecture, and the city was named a World Heritage Site in 2005 because of the restoration work of Auguste Perret (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Perret).

When we returned to the ship an hour or so ago, we were in the midst of a downpour and since then have had bright sunshine and now clouds, very high winds, and rain starting. From our balcony we can see lots of our students in the cruise terminal, taking advantage of wifi there. "On-ship" time today is at 6pm, when everyone will need to be back on the ship with passports turned in to the purser's desk. Lots of people will be returning this afternoon from overland trips they took from Antwerp. We will not actually leave this port until 5am on Wednesday morning, even though we will not be allowed off the ship again; it's one of those times that we need some classroom days and don't need much time to get to our next port, Dublin at 8am on the 20th. John and I are hoping to meet with our extended family tomorrow evening, and on the 18th we are having a special dinner in a separate dining room with some friends from the faculty. This should help the time to pass very quickly until we get to the next port.

And now the sun has returned...

field lab in st petersburg - some links

John's trip with students in St Petersburg got some press. Here are the links. The first is translated from a Russian article so reads a little strangely:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://www.psy.spbu.ru/news/948-13-09-2013-2

http://www.semesteratsea.org/2013/09/04/sas-clinical-psychology-students-visit-st-petersburg-university/

We are leaving Antwerp in about 15 minutes and should be in Le Havre by morning. I'll write more about our stay in Antwerp after we are underway.

hamburg

Although we are currently in the Port of Antwerp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_antwerp) and have been since yesterday around 6pm local time, we won't be allowed off the ship until tomorrow morning. So I will try to catch up a bit and post something about our stay in Hamburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg), and our trip to this new port. I am sitting on our balcony during a sunny break in what has been a very rainy and cloudy couple of days. This is a beautiful port, which is nice since we have to be on board. Incidentally, the reason we need to be on board is that another "sea day" (meaning "classroom day") is required right now. The European ports have been so close together that sometimes when we are not moving, class activities are still going on in order to meet the strict academic requirements of the program.

Like St Petersburg, John had a field lab with one of his classes that required him to be with the students in port for the first day in Hamburg. While he did this, I participated in a bus tour of Hamburg that provided a pretty good orientation to the city, in spite of the fact that the guide was often difficult to understand. Much of Hamburg was destroyed during World War II, so many of the buildings in the city have been erected since then. One of the highlights of the tour was a stop at St Michael's Church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael%27s_Church,_Hamburg) where we were told we would hear an organ recital. It turned out to be a prayer service that lasted about 20 minutes, and most of us came away disappointed that the organ parts didn't take advantage of the magnificent pipe organ there. Several of us were happy to find a news stand along the way with English newspapers. (News has been hard to come by on the ship and we are hoping to convince the powers that be to restore the news station that was on the TV when we first boarded.) There is a nice Portuguese area near the port and following the bus tour I went with some others from the tour to one of the restaurants in this part of the city for lunch. We  had some lovely fish dishes and there was so much food we couldn't eat it all; one of the members of our party reminded us that Germans tend to have their big meal at noon. 

The second day, John and I decided to get on a hop on, hop off bus and do another tour of the city. We have done this in several places over the years, and usually there are headphones and channels where other languages are available. This particular bus only had live German delivery, and the woman giving the commentary occasionally translated into English for us. Apparently we were the only English speakers on the bus, but with 3 or 4 minutes of German to only 30 seconds of English, I suspect we weren't getting the whole story. In any case it was very similar to what I had seen the day before, and also covered many of the places John had seen. We gave in to an urge for Starbucks, one of the very few places John can find brewed coffee and I can get something other than black tea, and spent some time on the Internet updating our devices. Lots of students were there using Skype to phone home and eating up the bandwidth, but we managed.

When we bought the hop on, hop off tickets, we purchased tickets to a harbour and canal tour as well, so on Saturday we got in a little ferry and toured the Port of Hamburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Hamburg). That tour was entirely in German, but we were given a sheaf of papers in English and left to try to figure out where we were in the commentary. We did fairly well with it, following some of the signs in the port. We found a lovely place for dinner in the Portuguese area that was actually Italian and made the best pizza we have ever eaten.

As in St Petersburg, we were scheduled to leave on Sunday, so decided not to stray too far from the ship in order to avoid the long lines of students coming back that day from trips to Amsterdam and Berlin. We took a bit of a walk and found a small restaurant where English was not spoken, but where we tried out what little German we have and managed to order a very nice breakfast. Although we re-boarded well before "on ship" time of 6pm, we never actually left this Port until about 12 hours later. 

After having been moderate and mainly sunny during our stay in Hamburg, the weather turned chilly and cloudy and sometimes rainy, and has been that way since. We saw some pretty spectacular lightening after sailing back down the Elbe River to the North Sea, gray-green sea punctuated with whitecaps, and rolling clouds that occasionally opened to driving rain. Water was a bit choppy and there was some seasickness, but John and I have found it fairly calm compared to some of the turmoil on the first trip. We were back to sighting land very quickly as we entered the Netherlands at the Scheldt River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheldt) leading to Antwerp.

We have been notified of the names of the four students who will be our extended family on this trip. Although I emailed them this morning, we don't expect to see them until after this port and the next one, since we have no "sea days" between Antwerp and Le Havre and many people are doing overland travel to France. This port will be John's last field lab, so we will stay with the ship during travel, though we might stay on shore a night or two during the time. In any case, more on our extended family next time!

kiel canal

Latitude: 54 degrees 22.110N

Longitude: 10 degrees 7.420E

Course: 260 degrees

Ship (and Hamburg) time: 10:55am

We are currently entering the Kiel Canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_canal), leaving the Baltic Sea and making our way across the Jutland Peninsula from Kiel to Brunsbüttel and the North Sea. We will be in the North Sea only a short time before heading up the Elbe River to Hamburg. Our arrival is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8am.

German immigration is on the ship right now, and we will shortly be making our way to Deck 7 to meet them and pick up our passports. That will make leaving the ship in the morning much more efficient since the ship will already have been cleared. 

 The channel in this canal is much more open than that of the Panama Canal which we transited in 2009. We are now past the first lock and it appears to be more of a lake than a canal; there are other vessels around us. I see a family picnicking on the shore and a couple walking on what seems to be a path along the canal. Our ship is so quiet I can hear them talking. The countryside is beautiful and green and it's a sunny day with few clouds. We are told the transit will take six hours, so we are looking forward to more sights like these as we go.

Off to get passports now.

housekeeping...

A couple of things - if you try to post a comment, it won't appear immediately as I have to approve comments to prevent spam. You also have to verify those funny letters/numbers for the same reason. You wouldn't believe the junk that comes in.

Also, when I first post something, given the Internet situation, I am having to take a second step in order to make the links live. If you happen to see the posting before I have completed this step, you might not see live links the first time you look. Tonight it took over an hour before I got it done. I'm sure everyone on the ship is updating blogs tonight!

Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments, the ones posted on the blog and the ones emailed directly! John and I love hearing from everyone!

st petersburg

Latitude: 59 degrees 55.870N

Longitude: 30 degrees 16.460E

Local time: 5:10 pm

We will be leaving St Petersburg at 8 pm this evening, which will be mid-morning Sunday for most of you. We can see from our balcony the return of the students, some stopping for last minute purchases at the souvenir stand across from the ship, all going through Passport Control and ship security to return immigration departure forms and have their bags and bodies checked. There are lots of smiles as they share stories and experiences with each other; tonight there will be noisy, happy chatter at dinner! There are about 40 lined up right now - one reason John and I came back early today. 

St Petersburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg) is a beautiful city, particularly in the areas where tourists are likely to visit, and very European in appearance. We were told at some point that it only has 35 sunny days a year, a fact I have yet to check, but we have just had four of them! There are lots of G20 Summit signs around, since that is happening here in just a few days. There have been helicopters circling and visible military everywhere. Those of you who grew up in the 50's and 60's (and earlier and later) as we did will understand when I say that several times during our stay here, we stopped and said, "Can you believe it? We are in Russia!"

John's field lab went very well on Thursday. He and the students enjoyed their visit to the University and were treated to a very nice lunch before finally visiting a Freud museum. Unfortunately the Pavlov museum, which might have been a bit better to visit, was closed for the summer. It was a long day, but everyone seemed to agree it was a successful trip. I went on a long walk that day with others from the ship to Nevsky Prospekt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevsky_Prospect), the Hermitage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermitage_Museum) and the Church on the Spilled Blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Savior_on_Blood). We also spent time in a couple of beautiful parks where there were other monuments to view. 

Along our walk from the ship, we began to see wedding parties and limousines, brides in their long white dresses carrying bouquets and surrounded by others in the wedding party and other guests, walking through the city and the parks. We have since been told that the weddings go on for three days, with the long walk in wedding gear the first day, a party with lots of drinking hosted by the bride's family on the second day, and another day of drinking hosted by the groom's family on the third day. It turns out there is a wedding pavilion between where the ship is docked and Nevsky Prospekt, and this is why we saw so many.

On Friday, John and I had an easy day since we had both had such a long day on Thursday. We did spend some time walking around and managed to find the nearest subway station, about a 20 minute walk from the ship. The subway maps were easy to read and use and we succeeded in making a short trip back to Nevsky Prospekt where we found a nice café to eat lunch. Yesterday we did a hop-on, hop-off bus tour and spent some time at the Russian Museum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Museum). One of our interport lecturers had told us that if you really want to understand Russia, this museum would provide more insight than the Hermitage. It does indeed have more from Russian artists and it is easy to get through in a couple of hours. The Hermitage would take days to see properly.

So we are leaving, very happy we had the opportunity to visit, and knowing we have barely scratched the surface. We look forward to hearing what the students have to say.

st petersburg in a few hours

Latitude: 60 degrees, 4.9N

Longitude: .027 degrees, 27.43 E

Course: 63 degrees

Ship time: 00:04

We have been making our way slowly from the North Sea (where we saw a German submarine), threading through the small bits of land between Sweden and Denmark, passing under the Øresund Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Øresund_Bridge) and finally entering the Baltic Sea. Tonight we are in the Gulf of Finland and we will be in St Petersburg by morning. The days have been so beautiful, the water so calm. Nights are clear with lots of stars and moderate temperatures. We've seen some beautiful sunsets and some interesting vessels.

John has a field activity in the morning with his Cognitive Psychology class. They will be going to the University of St Petersburg where Pavlov did much of his research, and will meet with faculty and students there. I am going to explore St Petersburg with the other psych prof on the ship, who is here from UCLA. 

I have some photos I'd like to share, but am not terribly optimistic I'll find a place to upload them. May have to wait for Hamburg. It is late and I need to go to bed. More in a day or two.

underway!

Latitude: 55 degrees 41.630 N

Longitude: 6 degrees 18.280E

Course: 30 degrees

Ship time: 20:05

I will say at the outset that Internet on this voyage is more challenging than it was in 2009. I'm not sure if it's actually worse, or if we have just become so accustomed to consistently good Internet that it seems more of an issue, but I am trying to find alternate ways of doing things. I may not be posting photos until we are in port with good wifi. It seems a small problem as I sit on our little balcony in the sun traveling the North Sea and watching the birds who follow the ship while I peck away on my iPad!

As we boarded on August 22nd it was exciting to see the ship once again, and the sounds and smells were pleasantly familiar. We were also lucky enough to see the Queen Mary 2 in port in Southampton. Our little MV Explorer was dwarfed by her presence! It would have been interesting to see them side by side. We have had a flurry of activity since boarding; John and other faculty have had loads of orientation meetings and all seem ready to get on with it and start teaching. It has been good getting to know our fellow travelers. The evening of the 23rd there was a reception for parents and other relatives of the students, though students were not invited. Many of the parents sailed themselves as students - this is, after all, the 50th anniversary year of the program. As with our last voyage, the energy changed with the embarkation of the students on August 24th. It's great to have them here - fewer in number than on our last voyage, 579 compared to 725, so the corridors are a bit less crowded even though the food lines seem just as long. Students were in orientation sessions all day today, and classes start tomorrow. 

We are looking forward to our first stop in St Petersburg the morning of August 29th with departure scheduled for the evening of September 1st. John has a student field activity there, so we haven't made other plans yet for that stop. The seas have been very calm since we left Southampton. We leave our balcony door open at night to hear the water and experience the fresh air as we get rocked to sleep. 

arrival, and departure...

We arrived in Southampton on Monday after a trip that could not have gone more smoothly! We had four bags to check, two of them overweight, and when I explained to the British Airways reception person that we were travelling for four months and that John was teaching and the books are just heavy, blah, blah, blah... she said that since he was a teacher, and since the weight was from books, she would not charge the overweight charge, only the extra bag charge, but could not guarantee the same on the return trip. Take that, Air Canada!!! We were so anxious at that point to end preparations and just get going, and it was lovely to be treated so well by an airline.

After an early arrival at LHR, we were met by our driver and had an hour and 15 minute car ride to Southampton. After check-in we set about trying to stay awake and managed to do that until about 8pm, and have had the usual time adjustment since then.

Southampton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southampton) is an interesting mix of old and new. There are pieces of castle walls surrounding the old part of the city and new buildings and shopping centres that abut those walls. Inside the walls are neat and tidy buildings of flats with lovely gardens and window boxes. Southampton hosts many families on their way to cruises that leave from the docks across from our hotel, and we have seen many of them as we have wandered through the town and shopping areas.

Last night there was a reception for Semester at Sea where we met many of our new shipmates. John and I both came away feeling very positive about those we were able to meet, a couple of whom were on our last voyage. This morning we had an orientation session starting at 8am and met others. We have some large families sailing this time - one couple bringing three children, another with five and another with seven! There are several others who have one or two, so we will have lots of young ones, something we really enjoyed last time. There will be 23 lifelong learners on this trip and 579 students, about 150 fewer than last time, which will be nice. The ship was fairly crowded last time.

Our bags are downstairs waiting to be loaded and we will be shuttled to the ship starting in a couple of hours. (Although there are docks across from our hotel, the dock from which we are leaving is further down.) John and the other faculty and staff are still in orientation meetings - they let family members go after the introductions were made this morning.

So I will sign off for now, and be back on later once we have internet access on the ship. Until later.

endings... and beginnings!

As written in the header to this blog, we have recently learned that we will again be sailing on the MV Explorer with another group of students and the faculty, staff and crew who will be supporting them in what for many will be the most exciting semester of their lives. I have re-read some of the posts of our first voyage, particularly the last one. I wrote that I would be posting once more after we left the ship. I never did write that last post - could not write it - perhaps because I did not really want the journey to end.

It was hard to summarize the feelings we had leaving the Explorer in May 2009, remembering the places we visited, the people in our shipboard community who became our family, the experiences we shared on and off the ship during that four months. Before we disembarked, we were told by others who had done it before us that it would be difficult to talk about the trip, that we would find it hard to put into words that could be understood by those at home, the things that had become so much a part of us on the trip. And it was true. We could tell the stories, but it was very hard to convey the feelings and the ways we felt changed - the things that were so much more personal than the stories. It is still difficult. It was so much more than a "cruise".

So with this post we continue the voyage that we didn't want to end. Although we have just over six months before we again board the ship that will be our home for close to four months, we know the time will fly by with all there is to do. We have known for just over a week that we will be going, and John has been frantically working on his courses so that materials can be posted online for the students to see. We are coming late to this trip, added to the roster with a few others because enrolment numbers are larger than expected, so the deadlines are looming. This time we have a better idea of what we are moving toward, and we know that the memory of the preparation activities of the next few months will fade quickly once we board the Explorer to continue our voyage and enrich our lives. We hope you come along with us; we hope you find it worthwhile.