our very talented crew...

There are nearly 200 crew aboard the MV Explorer. There are electricians, plumbers, carpenters, people who work in the engine room and around the decks, waiters in the dining rooms, cooks, receptionists, bookkeepers, people who do our laundry, room stewards, the officers -- I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, but we really don't have to lift a finger to look after ourselves because these folks do everything for us. I'm not sure how I will make the adjustment when we get back home. We have come to know many of them over the last several weeks, especially Linda who looks after our cabin, and the guys in the dining room (and they are all guys). Tonight we were treated to a talent show that the crew put together and it was a great time!

I took a bunch of photos and video and am going to try to put some of it up, though it is late now so will not try it tonight. Some of our crew are really very talented performers and it was wonderful to see this side of them and to get to know them better outside their uniforms -- singers and songwriters, dancers, comedians, jugglers and on and on. I was impressed most by the themes of learning, seeing the world, and change of self that were part of their performances, and their obvious understanding of the mission of Semester at Sea and their own roles in making this the best possible experience for students and the rest of us. Indeed they come from all over the world themselves (34 countries!), and many of them have left families behind because they are better able to provide for them by leaving their own countries for the work they do on this ship.

Current location at 0055 ship time:
Latitude: 8 degrees 37.4' N
Longitude: 103 degrees 51.4' E
Course: 141 degrees

on the way to vietnam...

We left Thailand about 2 hours ago and are now moving toward Vietnam. We should be there in two days, which does not leave a lot of time for two full days of classes and all the pre-port sessions for Ho Chi Minh City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_City. Academics we have talked with in the last few days are feeling like John is -- there is not much time left to cover everything in classes and get ready for exams. Hard to believe it is already that time. John started putting his finals together today and others have started as well. Students are still working on assignments and papers and it sounds like they aren't thinking about exams yet. They also have a number of port activities they are trying to manage, since they have a few for each of their classes that they must work in.

We have the usual movies displaying on the tv for the next port. I just finished watching "Heaven & Earth" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107096/, a 1993 Oliver Stone film starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hiep Thi Le. It was very well done and is based on the true story "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" written by Le Ly Hayslip and Jay Wurts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Heaven_and_Earth_Changed_Places, and the sequel "Child of War, Woman of Peace" by Le Ly Hayslip and her son James Hayslip http://www.amazon.com/Child-War-Woman-Peace-Hayslip/dp/0385471475.

Our current location at 2215 ship time:
Latitude: 12 degrees 43.7' N
Longitude: 100 degrees 43.8' E
Course: 175 degrees

elephants!

Today we boarded a bus at the ship around 1:00pm and went to the Pattaya Elephant Village http://www.elephant-village-pattaya.com/index.html. There we learned about Asian elephants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Elephant. Clouds and light rain kept the upper 90's heat that we have been experiencing at bay and it was quite pleasant. Elephant keeper Phairat Chaiyakham and his staff look after 32 former working elephants who are no longer able to work and who cannot be released because their habitat is rapidly disappearing. Elephants require so much food that many of them are now finding their way into the cities in order to look for something to eat. They can wander into markets and create chaos. Elephant Village shelters these animals and allows close interaction with groups like ours in order to help pay the cost of feeding them.

We were introduced to many of the elephants and fed them bananas, then some of our group bathed with them as you can see in the photo. We were treated to demonstrations of the type of logging work they have done and how they were trained. One of them had worked in a circus, but at about 25 years of age now has cataracts and is retired. Elephants live to be 80 years of age or more and usually die because they no longer have teeth and cannot eat the thousands of pounds of food they need daily to survive. In this sanctuary there are 29 females and 3 males and there are attempts to breed them, with limited success.

We each had the opportunity to ride the elephants with the masters. I did ride one and enjoyed the experience very much. We had several children from the ship in our group and it was great fun to watch them with these magical creatures!

John and I had spent some time in Pattaya on Monday. It is an interesting area with beautiful beaches. There are definitely remnants of the days when the city served as an R&R destination for American troops serving in Asia, although much of that has been cleaned up to make this a more attractive tourist destination. One cannot find the ancient buildings and artifacts that make Bangkok so appealing, but the crowds and traffic of Bangkok are not there either.

in laem chabang...

Current location...
Latitude: 13 degrees 3.3' N
Longitude: 100 degrees 54.2' E

We arrived at 8:00 this morning to the cleanest and most orderly port we have seen so far! The port at Laem Chabang is not even 20 years old, and since it is so far from Bangkok it has much clearer air than many of the ports we have experienced. John and I watched a container ship being simultaneously unloaded and loaded today -- something we have been unable to view until now. It was fascinating.

We did not have the usual diplomatic briefing today since it was Sunday and the port is so far from the US Embassy. Immigration did arrive and it was about 11:00am when the ship cleared and we were allowed to disembark. The people who had trips today went off first, for the two hour bus ride to the airport and flights to Phuket in the south and Luang Prabang in Laos. Since John and I didn't have anything scheduled we had a slow morning and left the ship around 1:00pm. We got a cab and went to a mall not far from the port. There was not much there, and what was there was very western, so not much of note to share, except that we did give in to our urge to visit the first Starbucks we have seen since leaving the Bahamas!

We are planning a trip tomorrow to Pattaya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattaya which is about 30 km south of the port, leaving around 10:00am. I'm not sure why there are no ferries from here to Bangkok, but it seems to me that would be a much more sensible way to travel than the crowded roads. There is a skytrain in Bangkok that should make travel within the city easier, but you have to get there first. Some of our briefings from people who have lived in Bangkok indicated that vehicle travel is faster than in India with less horn, and the only rule seems to be that any empty space must be filled. The jury is still out on whether we will try to make that trip.

arriving in thailand shortly...

Our current location at 2220 ship time:
Latitude: 10 degrees 29.4' N
Longitude: 101 degrees 39.4' E
Course: 344 degrees

In a few hours we will arrive in Laem Chabang, Thailand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laem_Chabang. Laem Chabang is our port of entry; Bangkok is an hour and a half to two hours away.

While bunkering in Singapore, our music professor, Matthew, had arranged an international "drive-by" concert with the National University of Singapore. No one was allowed off the ship, but everyone could participate using computers. While I downloaded the software, I did not download one file that would have allowed me to participate too, however I did observe, and it was fun to watch. This was picked up by a local Singapore radio station. Matthew has done some interesting things with technology in music. Yesterday's activities are written in today's "official" SAS blog at http://semesteratsea-spring2009.blogspot.com/ and you can see Matthew's website at http://www.burtner.net.

If you would like to see some great photos of this voyage by our staff photographer, John Weakley, check out [Sorry - Photos no longer available]. It's hard to believe, but yesterday was the mid-point of the journey since picking up the students in Nassau. We have only 25 sea days and 27 port days left.

bunkering in singapore...

I think I may want to move to this island and manage this lighthouse.

Today we reached Singapore for re-fueling. Location...
Latitude: 1 degree 10.8' N
Longitude: 103 degrees 37.2 E

We arrived about 7:00am and never went into the city. We were met by a ship carrying fuel and were anchored out in the harbor most of the day. We could see the city of Singapore through cloud, fog and smog and also islands in the area. This is a very busy shipping area, so there were many other ships around as well.

The fact that the sun was behind cloud kept the temperatures fairly cool. I went out on the top deck to take some photos after we had finished re-fueling and had started on our way and was stunned by the amount of wind there was at the bow of the ship. I thought I would be blown off the ship -- seriously! I managed to get back in with the help of some of the crew who were doing some cleaning in the area. We went around the islands at the tip of Singapore and have now started up the east coast of Thailand. We will be there day after tomorrow and have just had our cultural pre-port presentation by one of the faculty who lived there for a period of time. Our current location at 2100 ship time...
Latitude: 2 degrees 17.03' N
Longitude: 104 degrees 40.55' E
Course: 0 degrees

our stay in chennai...

It's hard to believe a whole week has gone by since the last writing! Our stay in India was most interesting and as we had been told, India is a country of contrasts. While Chennai is a very dirty city, people are very clean with beautiful colorful clothing. There is stark poverty, and there are areas of great wealth. There is dense crowding and noise, yet many of the people seem able to find quiet and serenity in the middle of it.

Following the diplomatic briefing the morning of our arrival, March 5, John had a yoga demonstration scheduled for his students and that took place on the ship. I was able to see only part of it since I was getting ready for my "Art of Living" trip. John also had a City Orientation trip later that day, and by that time we had left. Our bus loaded at 11:30am and left the harbor with 7 boys, 21 girls, a faculty member (Marquisa) and I. We were questioned by the armed harbor guards about the number of males and females on the bus and our excellent guide, Sushila, told us that security in the area has been greatly increased since the bombing in Mumbai. We certainly found this to be true -- there were armed guards around the ship and to go in or out we had to show shore passes and ID. We felt well looked after.

We headed for Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabalipuram. Mamallapuram is a World Heritage Site because of the ancient monuments and temples there. Under the Pallava dynasty in the 4th - 9th centuries, the art of temple construction was redefined and moved from the use of wood to carving from rock. I was most impressed with the cave temple with its carved bas-reliefs that tell the story of The Descent of the Ganga http://www.anand.to/india/ganga.html. There is a sample in the photo and if you look closely you can see two of the goats that live near this temple climbing around the back legs of the elephant on the right. We also saw the Five Rathas from the 7th - 8th centuries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancha_Rathas and the Shore Temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shore_Temple. We learned that this shoreline was affected by the tsunami in 2004 and we passed through a couple of fishing villages where people are living in dwellings on the beach constructed of palm leaves. We also learned that Madras Harbor, now known as Chennai Harbor, was bombed by the Japanese four months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

We went then to DakshinaChitra village http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshinchitra which I mentioned in my last posting. There we got room assignments and our schedule, then settled in our rooms, which were comfortable although very basic. Marquisa and I shared a room. Most of the women students had six in a room, but it was clear from the schedule we would not be spending that much time in the rooms anyway. We had our first meditation session that evening, met our teacher, Veda Chakra, and learned some of the breathing techniques that would be used in the sessions. Afterward we had a traditional meal served on banana leaves and eaten with our fingers. We had been told that we would be eating vegetarian meals during our stay -- the food was delicious. We went to bed after that and I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!

Friday morning we were up for hot chocolate at 6:30am, and our first session started at 7:00am. We did some stretches and a few yoga movements and learned more about breathing. We had breakfast at 8:30am then continued with the sessions -- a total of about 8 hours that day, four in the morning and four in the afternoon, on breathing and meditation. There was no air conditioning and temperatures were in the mid-90's in the middle of the day, so we had a break during the hottest part and were able to tour the village and walk through the market. The buildings are designed to let air flow through and at about 4:00pm the temperature starts to cool and a breeze makes things very comfortable. After supper on that second night we had a story teller who came to entertain us. We had learned some stories of the Hindu gods and goddesses on the ship during our Global Studies and cultural pre-port, but there are so many and an endless supply of stories to tell. We all went to bed pleasantly tired from the work we had done that day.

On Saturday morning we had much the same schedule as we had on Friday. This was our last day and there were lots of activities in our classes in the afternoon, mainly games designed to teach life lessons. There was also lots of singing and dancing with a group of Veda's friends. During a break in the middle of the day there was a palm reader and many of the students had their palms read. This was very entertaining for everyone! We ended the day with a final meal together and got back to the ship at about 10:00pm, exhausted. Students were thrilled to have a real shower for the first time in days.

John and I went shopping on Sunday after negotiating a good price with a cab driver. He dropped us at the Taj Hotel and we walked up an alley to the mall. We didn't spend a huge amount of time there since there was not much we wanted to buy, but we did run into a number of the students I had spent the last few days with and it was good to see them all. We went to the Taj for lunch then and it was nice to eat some good western food. We returned to the ship in one of the motorized rickshaws, not realizing that these vehicles are not allowed into the harbor gates, so we had a long walk in high heat to get back to the ship. Chennai is quite dirty with black ash or something in the air. It's hard to think about what you might be breathing. We always have to conserve water while in port since the ship can only produce water while moving, but we sure felt that we needed to clean up after that walk!

Traffic in Chennai reminds me of skiing -- you are responsible for everyone in front of you and you sort of ignore what is going on behind you. It is very important to have a working horn as that is how you signal your location. During a shopping trip on Monday, the last day of our stay, I was in one of the little three wheeled motorized rickshaws with four of my shipmates and my arm was brushed by the handlebar of the motorcycle next to us! Drivers chat with each other through open windows while driving down the road at full speed. I was very impressed by the judgement and reaction time of drivers who manage to share the road -- bicycles, motorcycles (sometimes carrying entire families), rickshaws (both motor and cycle driven), cars, SUV's and oxcarts pulled by sacred cows! Even the pedestrians get into the act. We had been told if we needed to cross a street, find a local and cross with them. I just avoided any street crossings.

We are now on our way to Singapore for bunkering. No one will be allowed off the ship there, but we should be in Thailand on March 15. We have made adjustments in time over the last couple of days, and you have implemented Daylight Savings time, so we are now 11 hours ahead of EDT, 12 hours ahead of CDT, 13 hours ahead of MDT and 14 hours ahead of PDT. We are passing through the area of the earthquake that started the tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake. But we aren't worried about it. Really.

Current location...

Latitude: 6 degrees 35.59' N

Longitude: 96 degrees 9.65' E

Course: 112 degrees

in the morning -- india!

Yesterday was our shipboard daughter Jane's birthday, so this evening we had a family dinner to celebrate, to catch up, and to figure out what everyone is doing in India. The kitchen folks are kind enough to help with birthday cakes, so we had a great ice cream cake and lots of fun conversation at our meal. We have plans to catch up when we all get back, since there will be much less time between countries over the next few weeks.

There is lots of excitement tonight because in a few hours we will be in India. We have just had the logistical pre-port and I am getting ready to pack for a little trip I am taking. I will be offline for 3 days while I attend a program called "Art of Living" which involves a two night stay at Dakshinachitra Heritage Village http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshinchitra. There will be lots of activities which I will tell you all about when I get back. John is going to stay with the ship and look around Chennai. There is a yoga session on board tomorrow morning for his students, and he will be trip leader on a city orientation tour tomorrow afternoon.

I realize I didn't give location information yesterday. I think there is some recorded that I can find and post later for those that are plotting the trip, but the most interesting thing about that is probably that we did go around the east side of Sri Lanka rather than between Sri Lanka and India. We have been in the Bay of Bengal on the north side of Sri Lanka most of today and the speed has been slowed to control our arrival time. Back in a few days...

gearing up for india...

We will be arriving in Chennai, India day after tomorrow. Usually, two evenings prior to arrival, we have a cultural pre-port session at 8:00pm for everyone on the ship, and we have just had the one for India. Our dance professor and her students presented an Indian dance demonstration, then we had presentations by two university students and a political science professor, all from India, who had joined us in Mauritius.

We also prepare for a port in Global Studies class, which meets every class day from 9:20am until 10:30am or so, and which everyone is required to attend. We have readings and lectures on history, geography, language, politics, religion, anthropology and other subjects that are relevant to the upcoming country. Usually there is a visiting interport lecturer who is either from the region, or who otherwise has exceptional knowledge about the area. We often have visiting students as well, as we have this time.

There are also relevant films about the upcoming port that are shown on four of the six closed circuit tv stations in the cabins. These loop several times a day so that everyone has an opportunity to work them into schedules. Other films or cultural activities that are optional are presented in the student union or in the classrooms. Sometimes faculty or staff who have particular expertise present at these sessions.

In addition, there is always a logistical pre-port session the night before we arrive in a port, and usually there is a diplomatic briefing the morning of arrival. Attendance is mandatory, and we receive information concerning emergency phone numbers and procedures, recent issues that might affect travel, advice on things to look out for, and so on.

All of these activities combine to immerse everyone on the ship in the country and the culture we are about to visit. You may recall that we had a significant last minute change to our itinerary, and this meant that putting together the resources for the African countries and Mauritius was quite a challenge for those managing this program. They did a great job for those countries, but we have really seen it come together for India.

mauritius yesterday, more indian ocean today...

Doesn't it look like the ocean is on fire? We had a beautiful sunset tonight. The sea has been very calm. It is currently 2245 ship time, and we are at 13 degrees 46.68' S Latitude and 63 degrees 33.85' E Longitude. I expect we will cross the equator again sometime late tomorrow. We advanced our clocks again last night, but only 30 minutes this time. Today was Sea Olympics day, with lots of competitions between student groups as well as Life Long Learners and some faculty and staff, so there were no classes. John worked on marking the exam he gave Thursday and I did a lot of reading. On the ship during some times of the day there are DVD's that loop on the closed circuit tv, and today one of them was "Slumdog Millionaire". I enjoyed watching that since I had not had an opportunity to see it before leaving home in January.

Yesterday we visited Port Louis, Mauritius http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius (Latitude: 20 degrees 9.19' S, Longitude: 57 degrees 29.7' E). We arrived at about 7:00am, had a diplomatic briefing from US Consulate staff in which students were warned that if they got arrested in Mauritius they could be held for 6 months without being charged (and that there is therefore no bail), and that if they were caught with drugs, whether one joint or several kilos of cocaine, they would be in prison for 40 years. This place is serious about drug control. We were able to leave the ship by 9:00am for a city orientation which included a visit to the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Seewoosagur_Ramgoolam_Botanical_Garden in nearby Pamplemousses. We had a wonderful guide who spoke excellent English. Although English is the official language of Mauritius, many people speak French or Creole. The island has quite a mixture of cultures, with Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and people of Chinese faiths living in harmony over many years. This island is most famous for the now extinct dodo bird http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo. We had a very entertaining lesson on that in Global Studies on Thursday.

We were happy to leave the ship for awhile -- John has been trying to recover from his respiratory ailment, and I'd had the worst seasickness yet the evening before we arrived. It was good to be on solid ground. The weather was warm and humid, but very shady in the garden with some lovely bird sounds. We came back to the ship around 1:00pm, but many of the students and others had taken beach trips and didn't come back until quite a bit later. We left Mauritius around 9:00pm and have had very smooth sailing since.

from the atlantic to the indian ocean, and dinner with officers...

As mentioned in the last post, we left Cape Town (Latitude: 33 degrees 54.20' S; Longitude: 18 degrees 25.38' E) on Monday morning (Sunday night for most of you). It didn't take long to get to Cape Point, and this is a photograph there from the ship. I have gone back to the February 20th post and added some photos, including one of Cape Point from land. As we approached Cape Point, seas became somewhat rougher, but we are all pretty good sailors now, and few people are experiencing the same discomfort we had at first.

I monitored our progress when we got near Cape Agulhas since I wanted to record our southernmost latitude and note the place where we entered the Indian Ocean. We were not near land at that point, but our latitude was 35 degrees 9.4' S and longitude was 20 degrees 53.6' E mid afternoon on February 23. From there we moved closer to the coast and although we did not see land again during daylight, John did not sleep very well and said the next morning that he had seen lots of lights during the night (our cabin is port side). And there were lots of lights to see from the port cities and towns along the southern coast, especially Port Elizabeth and Port Alfred. The continental shelf drops off dramatically from Africa which allowed us to stay very close to shore most of the day yesterday as we sailed up the east coast. We could see East London very well with binoculars and a number of other smaller towns and villages. The shoreline is very beautiful, the sea was calm, the weather was warm and sunny.

John and I went to lunch after his class and while we were sitting in the cafeteria, we looked out and saw very muddy water in the ocean -- something we have never seen before. There was a huge amount of it, and a buzz began as others saw it too. I told John it had to be where a river spills into the ocean, and indeed that's what it turned out to be. It is hard to describe the contrast between extremely muddy river water and the deep blue of the ocean, and I didn't get very good photos of it since I had to run for the camera and by that time much of it was beyond the capability of our camera to capture. We believe the river was the Mtamvuna River near Port Edward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mtamvuna_River given the latitude at the time of 31 degrees 5' S. Many people reported seeing lots of dolphins along the coast, particularly near the point that the river spilled into the ocean. I expect dolphins would have been easier to see in the muddy water.

We continued along the coast, changing course away from the continent at 3:45pm yesterday, latitude 31 degrees 13' S, longitude 30 degrees 23' E as we move closer to Mauritius.

On Monday we had received an invitation to dinner with the captain and his officers, along with several other people. The dinner was last night and all of us met in the Faculty/Staff lounge at 7:30pm for drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Around 8:00 the captain and officers joined us, and a few minutes later we made our way to the dining room. Tables were set for a formal meal with 3 of everything -- forks, knives, spoons and glasses. Information about the two crews who work for Semester at Sea can be found at http://www.semesteratsea.org/our-ship/ship-management/. The captain on our voyage is Jeremy Kingston, Staff Captain is Mats Nelson, Hotel Director is Stephan Heuser, and Chief Purser is Angelito Untivero. We were seated last night with Mats Nelson, along with 5 other faculty and staff. Although we were all a bit daunted by the table setting, it was a very nice 5 course meal with lovely food and lively conversation. Mats is from Sweden, now married to a woman from Thailand and awaiting the birth of his first child. We had some questions about the operation of the ship, and he was happy to enlighten us on issues of taking on fuel, disposing of gray water, and the relationship of those two things (believe it or not!). He says this is the best group of students they have seen on Semester at Sea (and emphasizes they do not say this about every group), but that this group uses more water on board than any other group they have seen. It was a every enjoyable evening, although difficult for the people who are not night owls since it went on until 11:00pm. Since some people teach at 8:00am, and since we were losing an hour last night, this was a long evening.

Today seas have been a bit rough, but we are currently just south of Madagascar and making good time, having averaged about 27 knots all day. We will only be in Mauritius a day, arriving in the morning and leaving in the evening, and we need to re-fuel while there before the last leg to India.

Current time: 2312 Feb25 (but advancing another hour tonight)

Latitude: 27 degrees 21.86' S

Longitude: 45 degrees 31.77' E

Course: 73 degrees

more in cape town

I must apologize to those of you that have been reading that several days have gone by. Internet is challenging in this part of the southern hemisphere, and the number of activities in Cape Town and time changes since returning to sea have also been factors. Our current time is 9:15pm, 9 hours ahead of EST, 10 ahead of CST, 11 ahead of MST and 12 ahead of PST. And we will be advancing clocks an hour again tonight, so will be even further ahead of all of you.

On February 20 in Cape Town, our friends Maggie and George, who have spent quite a bit of time in Cape Town (Maggie went to school here as a child), rented a car and invited us along to see parts of the city. John was still feeling under the weather so he stayed back and I went with them. We started with a visit to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. It is rather late in the season here, so many of the blooming plants are past their prime, but the gardens are quite beautiful nonetheless. The photo at the top is one I took that day of a protea. There are several varieties, but most bloom in winter or spring rather than summer. This is such a quiet, peaceful place to walk or sit, and the sounds of the song birds are lovely.

From Kirstenbosch we had planned to visit Constantia, home of Groot Constantia, the oldest grape growing estate in South Africa. However, the road was closed and we were unable to get there. We also found the Chapman's Peak drive closed and were only able to see the beautiful views from partway up. There is a lot of contruction going on in Cape Town right now, including a new stadium, in preparation for World Cup 2010 http://www.worldcup2010southafrica.com/.

We had a long drive through several areas in and around the city, including Camps Bay and the top of Signal Hill. It was a beautiful day and the views were fantastic. We had good views of Lion's Head, although I never could see the lion's head until the following day from a different angle.

The following day John was feeling a little bit better, so we caught the Hop On Hop Off bus near the port so that he would not have to do much walking. We viewed other parts of the city and we had hoped to do the Table Mountain gondola to the top, but the day was cloudy and we knew the views would be obscured. We were able to get some lovely views from the lower gondola station, and I was finally able to see the lion in Lion's Head.

Our last day in Cape Town dawned sunny and bright, but very windy. We decided to go to the Table Bay Hotel, next to where the ship was docked, for brunch. We soon learned that Robben Island http://www.freedom.co.za/ trips were being cancelled due to wind and strong currents. We knew that the gondola on Table Mountain would also be shut down because of the wind, so we never did make that trip, unfortunately. We will have to do it the next time around!

We were scheduled to leave Cape Town at 8:00pm on Sunday evening, however the opening to the port is quite narrow and winds continued to be very strong. We were told we would be leaving sometime after 11:00pm. We did not actually depart until 8:00am on Monday and the water was very calm as we left.

after three days in cape town...

Cape Town is beautiful! We did arrive three days ago, and it has been a very busy time. I have had some internet challenges, so was unable to update yesterday, but hope to fill you in tonight while I have connectivity.

We arrived as planned on Wednesday, sailing into the harbor and were greeted by US Consulate personnel. There was so much presented on safety and security that several of us were wondering if we should even get off the ship! John and I had a city orientation tour scheduled for the afternoon and did get to the bus along with several others. In spite of the fact that it was a cloudy, chilly, sometimes rainy day (could not see Table Mountain as we arrived as it was completely covered in cloud -- the tablecloth as the locals say), it was easy to see how beautiful the city is. We left around 1pm on a bus and went through city streets to the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest building in South Africa. The castle was built in the 1600's in the shape of a pentagon with a moat and bastions at each corner. We strolled around the grounds for about 45 minutes, then went to Adderly Street, a principal thoroughfare of Cape Town. We took a walk in the Company Gardens. This is the oldest garden in South Africa originally established by Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 to provide vegetables to Dutch sailors on passing ships. There are no vegetables there now, but it is a tranquil place where people can sit and enjoy the plants and trees, and there is an open cafe to get light refreshments. I recommend the scones with jam and cream! We ended the city tour with a visit to the South African Museum, a natural history museum with an extensive collection, and currently displaying some exceptional photography exhibits.

John has not been feeling well and has symptoms of the cold and sore throat I had a couple of weeks ago. This is not surprising or unusual -- many people on the ship have it, and the virus exchange is something we were warned about early in the trip. In spite of frequent handwashing, hand sanitizing solution in many locations around the ship, and almost compulsive cleanliness on the part of the wonderful ship's crew, the bugs make the rounds. So when we got up on day 2 in Cape Town and John said he did not think he could manage our planned daytrip that day, I was not surprised. He was supposed to be the trip leader so we scrambled to notify appropriate people and find someone to take his place, then I went on the trip without him, knowing he would probably want to sleep most of the day. The trip on this day was to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and Cape Point.

Twenty-four of us left the ship around 8:00am and went by bus down the Atlantic coast scenic route. There was lots to see, but I will limit my commentary of the bus ride except to say that I found it interesting that there are actually 18 peaks of the Twelve Apostles. Curious. One other highlight was seeing a troop of baboons on the road. We hadn't expected that even though we saw signs about them -- I had just assumed it would be like seeing bears in the rockies. It just doesn't happen very often. But the bus driver did stop so we could take some photos.

We arrived at Cape Point (Latitude 34 degrees, 21'24"S; Longitude 18 degrees, 29'51"E) where several students and I decided to walk to the point rather than take the funicular railway. It did not take long, perhaps 40 minutes, and we were rewarded with the most breathtaking view of the ocean and cliffs. Although the day had started cloudy, skies were clear and blue and the sun was shining by the time we reached the point. On the west side of the point, the ocean waters are cold. On the east side they are warm. Although it is all Atlantic Ocean, many people say that this is the point where two oceans meet. Actually the geographic meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean is at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa several kilometers away. At Cape Point is the "new" lighthouse, built after the Lusitania, a Portuguese liner (not to be confused with the RMS Lusitania, the German U-boat sunk in WWI), hit Bellows rock and sank off the coast of Cape Point in 1911. Both Bellows Rock and the tip of the Lusitania are visible from the point.

When we left Cape Point, we headed to Boulders in False Bay, where we saw South African Penguins. These used to be known as Jackass Penguins because of the braying sound they made, until people realized that almost all penguins make this braying sound. The South African Penguins are quite small, and there are about 2500 of them in this location.

We had another great day today, but I think I will leave it until tomorrow, given that it is nearly 10:30 now and my laptop battery is nearly gone.

sea, salt and sand

Ship time: 2350
Latitude: 31 degrees 41.1 S
Longitude: 16 degrees 53.5 E
Course: 155 degrees

And I forgot to mention the last time...
Walvis Bay Latitude: 22 degrees 57.3 S
Walvis Bay Longitude: 14 degrees 29.3 E

Some may also be interested to know that time in Namibia and in Cape Town is 7 hours ahead of Eastern, 8 hours ahead of Central, 9 hours ahead of Mountain, and 10 hours ahead of Pacific time.

Yesterday we went with a group of 25 people to the Walvis Bay Lagoon. This area is a huge feeding ground for flamingos and pelicans, as well as egrets, terns and other birds. Most of the flamingos appear white until they spread their wings which are bright pink with black edges. They are spectacular to see, whether flying low over the water or walking forward in large groups.

Near the feeding grounds is a salt field where large lagoons are built and filled with sea water through a system of canals and pumping stations. Once most of the water evaporates and turns a beautiful pink color, salt crystallizes and is harvested. We had a tour of the grounds and a presentation of the process.

The lagoon also contains an oyster farm and the process of growing oysters was also explained. The seed oysters come from Chile and are allowed to grow for nine to twelve months. Here we ate the freshest oysters I ever hope to experience, served with champagne.

We did return to Dune 7 and due to the time constraints I decided not to try climbing it again, although four of the students managed to make it to the top in short order. Several of the students had gone sandboarding on an earlier trip, and said that it was very similar to snowboarding and not as painful to fall down (although some of them did have some pretty impressive scrapes!).

We left Namibia last night at 8:15 and have been cruising on fairly smooth water to Cape Town. Today was full of sessions to prepare for our arrival there tomorrow morning, but we had plenty of time to see porpoises, seals and birds from the decks of the ship, particularly during the life boat drill this afternoon. The porpoises in this area are quite small and in fairly large numbers -- that was really a treat!

arrival in namibia...

We arrived in Namibia this morning at 8:00 -- right on schedule. It took a bit of time to clear the ship so that we could disembark, but we were entertained by a children's choir for a time while we waited. I've included a short video clip of them here.

As soon as we got off the ship we boarded buses for our scheduled orientation tour of Walvis Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walvis_Bay and Swakopmund http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swakopmund. Walvis Bay is the small area just around the port and Swakopmund is a bit larger and about a half hour drive up the coast. Both communities have the Atlantic on the west side and large sand dunes on the east. Most of our time was spent in Swakopmund, visiting the Karakulia Weavers http://www.karakulia.com.na, the Kristall Galerie http://www.kristallgalerie.com, and walking around the town on our own. The shop of the Karakulia Weavers was my favorite. It was fascinating to see the preparation and spinning of the wool, and the weavers are experienced and talented, creating rugs and wall hangings from original photographs and drawings. The area has a heavy German influence, and although the official language in Namibia is English, only about 7% of the population speak it. Namibia is a very young country and sparsely populated since most of it is desert.

On the way back to the ship we drove through the sand dunes, which are numbered from 1 to 99. We stopped at Dune 7, the highest in the area. Although it is possible to sandboard http://www.namibweb.com/dune7sandboarding.htm many of us attempted to walk up the dune. A few made it all the way to the top, including 4-1/2 year old Christopher and his dad Ted, but alas, I made it just past halfway to the top. John and I are doing a trip on Wednesday that provides another opportunity to try, and I will have to think about whether to go for it again.

and this evening, the prime meridian...

It passed without notice on the ship, but at 8:50pm ship time (GMT) we crossed the prime meridian. Location was:

Latitude: 8 degrees, 29.7 S
Longitude: 0 degrees 0
Course: 135 degrees
Speed: 25.7 knots

It has been a fairly routine day. We were invited, along with half a dozen or so other faculty families, to the Dean's cabin for hors d'oeuvres and drinks tonight. It was a nice gathering and we met some people we had not yet had an opportunity to meet. John and I have been suffering a bit from the time change today, even though it was the first in a week or more, so we will have an early night.

our shipboard family, flying fish, crossing the equator...

A few postings ago I mentioned that John and I would have an extended family on the ship, and I am happy to say we are "parents" to four beautiful "daughters". In the photo, Victoria is on my right, Jane is on John's left, Sarah on Jane's left, and Monica on Sarah's left. We enjoyed dinner tonight with lively conversation and learned that our shipboard family is from all over the country. Victoria is from the Philadelphia area and is going to school in Florida. Jane is from Louisiana and is in school in New York. Sarah is from upstate New York and in school in Massachusetts, and Monica is from the San Francisco area, in school in Santa Clara. John and I are looking forward to getting to know each of these young women better and sharing our shipboard and shore experiences with them.

I looked out the window earlier today and saw what I thought was a small bird, and thought we were a bit far off shore to see a bird that size. Then I thought for a moment it looked like a fish. Then it disappeared and I didn't know what to think. Later today's Dean's Memo said that we would see flying fish in this area, and that they fly away from the ship when they perceive it as a huge predator. John and I saw -- what can you say? a flock? a school? -- a dozen or so anyway, later this afternoon. It was really a sight!

At 3:23pm ship time this afternoon we finally crossed the equator. Longitude was 8 degrees, 15.1W, Course was 134 degrees, and our speed at the time was 24.3 knots. The ship's horn was sounded, and the captain announced we would not be able to see the line because of the swell, but that we would probably feel a bit of a bump as the drains began swirling the opposite direction. ;-)

Current time is just after 10:00pm. We will advance clocks one hour tonight and will be on Greenwich Mean Time. Our location right now is

Latitude: 1 degree, 59.1 SOUTH

Longitude: 6 degrees, 20.1 W

Course: 136 degrees

Speed: 24.7 knots

neptune day came and went, but...

Early this morning King Neptune and his court made their way around the ship waking everyone to shouting, tambourines and drums, and the celebration began. Heads were shaved and people were in the pool. There were games and activities much of the day and a special barbeque for supper. But we didn't make it to the equator!

It's not clear, but perhaps because the refueling took so long yesterday, we didn't quite make it today. Current ship time is 11:25pm and our location is:

Latitude: 4 degrees, 52.3N
Longitude: 12 degrees, 58.64W
Course: 136 degrees

Speed right now is 25.4 knots, which is the greatest speed we've had since we started. We may make the equator by noon tomorrow.

Anyone interested in reading up on pollywogs and shellbacks and "crossing the line" might enjoy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony.

bunkering in dakar...

Current time on the ship is 9:00pm. We are still 6 hours ahead of Central time, 7 hours ahead of Mountain, 8 hours ahead of Pacific.

Latitude: 14 degrees, 0.5 N
Longitude: 17 degrees, 33.09 W
Course: 197 degrees

We have just left Dakar after spending several hours refueling. We were not allowed off the ship, but it was a beautiful sunny day, waters were calm and spirits high. Dakar is on the Cape Verde Peninsula, the westernmost tip of Africa. You can read more about this large city in Senegal at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakar.

Also visible was Goree Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor%C3%A9e, which is known for its involvement in the slave trade. It looks like a beautiful place from a distance. There were lots of fishing boats as we approached the port. The boats looked like long bass boats, and each one contained four or five people fishing in a standing position -- it looked terribly unstable to me but they were managing fine in spite of waves and currents.

Sea Olympics will be part of Neptune Day tomorrow, as will head shaving, dousing with fish guts, all sorts of interesting rituals to turn pollywogs (those who have never crossed the equator) into shellbacks (those who have). I'm sure there will be lots of opportunity for stories tomorrow!

casablanca and points beyond...

Starting this entry at 9:30pm ship time (6 hours ahead of Central time, 7 hours ahead of Mountain time, 8 hours ahead of Pacific), our position is:

Latitude: 27 degrees, 52.77 N

Longitude: 13 degrees 51.13 W

Course: 218 degrees

We passed the Canary Islands a couple of hours ago and got these photos. It was spectacular!

Our stay in Casablanca was very memorable. Many on the ship took trips to other places, including Marrakech, Berber villages in the High Atlas Mountains, Ourika Valley and Rabat, and hearing their stories when they returned was lots of fun. Since we had arrived a day late, our city orientation tour was moved to Wednesday, and many of those who had planned to participate had conflicts with overnight trips. Nonetheless, we went on a bus with a group of 24 and had a wonderful guide, a Muslim woman named Naima.

Naima explained there were four quarters in the city and proceeded to show us all of them. We drove around the French quarter first, where one can easily see in the buildings the influence of the days of French colonization. The administration quarter contains a beautiful city hall building that has tiles in the colors of Islam and beautiful stucco carving. The royal quarter has a palace for the use of current King Mohammed VI and his family when they are in Casablanca (the main palace is in nearby Rabat). And the old city is just that -- the original parts of the city that are close to the port. The port itself is huge -- John and I attempted to walk into the city from the ship when we first arrived, and it was an experience that we could have done without!

Naima talked about many Muslim traditions as the bus was taking us to see the grand Mosque Hassan II. The Mosque was magnificent and is able to accommodate 25,000 people on the inside and 80,000 on the plaza around the outside. It took only 6 years to build and was completed in 1993. (John and I were noting that it seems to have taken much longer than 6 years to extend the LRT in Calgary -- maybe we should suggest to the mayor where he might get some advice...) There is still work being done in the area on further buildings that will accommodate libraries. Two thirds of the Mosque has been built over the sea -- it is quite a sight!

And who could come to Casablanca and not see Rick's Cafe Americain? Of course, the scenes at Rick's in the movie were not filmed anywhere near Casablanca, but there is a restaurant here run by an American woman. (I understand there is one in Cape Town as well.) The website is http://www.rickscafe.ma/. Bob Balsley, one of our fellow travellers, is a jazz guitarist and had a gig there on Thursday afternoon. He said that in the evenings the owner will only allow a piano player, but she is a bit more flexible at lunchtime as long as the musician sticks to 40's music. So we enjoyed Bob's music and had a great chicken curry while sampling a local beer.

After our lunch at Rick's we had an unforgettable cab ride -- a really nice cab driver who asked if John was a teacher and asked him to "read my mind" when he learned John was a psychologist. We discussed the traffic, which is as bad as any I have ever seen in any European city. John commented that the lane markers seemed to be "suggestions" to the drivers. Our cab driver laughed and said that the reason it works is because everyone thinks alike. He pointed to the driver in front of us who had a right turn signal on. He said, "Look, he is signaling that he will go right, but he will go left." And sure enough...

We left Casablanca last night, and just as when we came into the port, we had to leave with the stabilizers up. This time the captain warned us twice that the ship would be rolling, that everything should be packed away, and that it was best to be seated during this time. We had been watching strong waves all afternoon. The rolling of the ship was frightening this time. I heard things falling and people shouting, but we fared pretty well -- our table fell over and we had a stack of books that fell (I really thought they were secure, but the table had been part of my plan). I heard an announcement "Code Blue in 5020" and recognized that as the room next to ours, so opened the door to learn that the fellow in the next room had hit his head and required stitches. We lost part of the power in our room for a time, and it was apparently related to the damage in his room. I learned this morning that a friend down the hall was thrown across her room with the chair in which she was sitting landing on top of her. Then the tv broke loose and flew over her and the chair and hit the door. Fortunately she escaped major injury. We heard other stories this morning of minor injuries and tv's and in some cases the small refrigerators breaking loose. The amazing thing -- John slept through the whole thing!

We did finally get through the worst of it, although it was rocky all night. We were all glad to see daylight today. Things are much calmer now. We are now headed for Dakar where we will refuel and not get off the ship, similar to our Gibraltar stop. Monday should be Neptune Day, when we cross the equator. We've heard there will be lots happening that day -- and no classes!