Atlantic Adventurer Cruise: Day 8, Ponta Delgada, Azores

Saturday, October 28, 2017
Day 8, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Azores

Today we visited Ponta Delgada on the Island of Sao Miguel in the Azores.  Sao Miguel Island is the largest island of the Azores with a size of 290 square miles and a population of 140,000.  Ponta Delgada, where we are docked today, is the largest city and capital of the island and the Azores with a population of 45,000.

We have moved southeast of Faial to Sao Miguel Island which is at the far right of the map.

It was almost 8:00 AM, but it was still dark and overcast.

Today’s arrival time was 8:00 AM and we had a tour scheduled for 9:00 so we had to get up earlier than we have been.  When we arrived in port, the weather was cloudy, but seemed to be clearing up which was encouraging, but would later turn out to be a false hope.  The good thing was the temperature was mild so at least it wasn’t cold.  I went up on deck to watch as we docked and then we went ashore to meet our tour guide.

Our view of Ponta Delgada as we docked.

Our guide was Rui Medeiros who Val found on Trip Advisor and had very high ratings.  As we walked out of the terminal we found Rui waiting for us and we were quickly on our way.  Ponta Delgada is much larger than Horta, where we were yesterday and the tour terminal was also much larger.  Our first impression of Rui was very good as he was very nice and we liked him immediately.

He gave us a quick tour of the city, but said that since we had many things to see today he would give us a more extensive tour if time permitted at the end.  One of the advantages of a private tour is the ability to modify as the weather or our interest dictate and we benefited from that right from the start.  The first planned stop was a pineapple plantation which neither Val nor I were interested in so we skipped that.  We then headed for a viewpoint of the large caldera on the island, but Rui could see it was covered in clouds and we wouldn’t see anything so we postponed that stop.  We continued our drive around the island and it started to pour down rain; we were not off to a very good start.

Downtown Ponta Delgada

 

As we drove, we saw more of these old homes made of volcanic rock.

Once again, Rui adjusted our tour and we drove down into the caldera to visit the small town of Sete Cidades on the edge of twin lakes.  The rain had stopped by this time, so he gave us some time to walk around the town a bit.  We found it very interesting and took many pictures of the local architecture.  Being down in the caldera is interesting as it is a large area, but it is rimmed by steep cliffs which formed the volcano before it erupted.

The architectural styles were quite different than we were used to.

 

The town sat on the edge of one of the twin lakes at the bottom of the caldera.

After our walk around town, we drove across the bridge between the twin lakes and up to a viewpoint looking down at them from the top of the caldera.  Visibility was not very good, but as the clouds blew in and out we did get a look at the lakes and town from above.  Although you couldn’t see it in the fog, we knew from a ship lecture we had attended that one of the lakes was a deep blue and the other was green.  There is a legend as to how the lake was formed and the difference in color, but it is too long to recite here.  Here is a link to the legend and it is worth reading.

Not very clear, but you can see Sete Cidadesin the mist on the far shore to the right of the bridge.

We drove back down from the viewpoint and stopped on the bridge for some photos of the lakes from ground level and then continued on to our next stop on the west end of the island.

Val and Rui

Rui took us to the western most point on the island with a beautiful view of the coastline and surrounding area.  It was still cloudy, but there was no rain and we could see that it was breaking up a little so the weather was definitely improving.  We paid the price for the improving weather as the wind was blowing very hard.  Like Faial Island yesterday, we were amazed at how green and lush things were.  Last year we were in Ireland which is noted for being very green, but we thought that the Azores were equally green.  A very beautiful area.

The western most point on the island.  Beautiful views.

The wind was blowing very hard up here.

 

We left the west end of the island and drove up to another overview of the caldera, this time on the north end of the caldera looking down at the twin lakes.  It was clearer here, but the wind was blowing like a hurricane and you had to be careful not to be blown off the wall we were standing on.

Another viewpoint on the same caldera.  You can see Sete Cidades on the top right and the bridge we crossed at middle of the top.  That's the second lake beyond the bridge.

 

We continued our counterclockwise drive around the island and stopped at a viewpoint that was called “the elephant” and when you look at the picture of the rock formation below you can see why.  Another beautiful spot along the coast.

Elephant rock, you can see his trunk sticking down in the water.

 

Next, we stopped in the second largest city on the island, Rebeira Grande.  One thing we haven’t seen on the islands is rivers, but in Rebeira Grande we saw our first (and the only one on the island) river or stream as they call it.  It flows right through the center of town and out to the ocean.  We walked around town for a while and since we had time to eat lunch we decided to go to a store selling chocolate and have desert for our lunch.  We split a very large, very tasty piece of chocolate cake that filled us up for the rest of the day.

The only river

After walking around a little more, we met up with Rui and continued our tour.  Our next stop was the Gorreana tea plantation which held much more interest for Val than a pineapple plantation as she is an avid tea drinker.  There are two tea plantations on the island and they are the only ones in Europe.  The Gorreana Plantation is the oldest and has been in continuous operation since 1883 and run by the same family for five generations.  They even use some of the same original equipment and the other equipment is over eighty years old.  If it still does the job, why replace it?  Even though I’m not a tea drinker, I found our tour very interesting.  The area is beautiful with long hedges of tea plants surrounding the plantation building.  The harvesting season had just ended so the hedges had a very manicured look.

Some of the equipment they used dated back to the early 1900's.  I guess if it does the job, why change it.

 

The fields of tea had a manicured look after harvest.

 

As we drove around the island today, Rui played some Portuguese music which we liked.  He introduced us to Fado music which I guess you could roughly call the Portuguese equivalent of our blues music.  It is about the trials and heartbreaks of everyday life that people suffer through during their lifetime.  He also played us a CD by local guitarist, Rafael Carvalho who we really liked.  I always make a video using the photos and videos we've shot during our trips and Rafael's music sounded perfect for the Azores part of the video for this trip.  I asked Rui if he could stop somewhere so I could buy the CD so we made several stops, but no one had it as it was a new release.  Rui graciously sold me his copy and said he could get a new one later.  That was really nice and another reason that he was such a great tour guide.

It was getting late in the afternoon and our tour was almost over.  We made one more stop at a scenic overlook of the coast line and then back to Ponta Degada and our ship.

We had to be back to the ship by 4:30 and Rui got us back by 4:00 so we had plenty of time to spare.  Rui was a wonderful guide and our tour today was even better than yesterday's.  I would highly recommend Rui as a guide as he was very personable, friendly and allowed us a flexibility to direct our own tour per his suggestions.  If you ever go to the Azores and want to book a tour at a reasonable cost, go to this link for Rui’s website.

Today is our last stop in the Azores and we have found them to be nothing like we expected.  They are a beautiful lush area with a very friendly people, our guides were great and to make it even easier, English is spoken or at least understood by almost everyone.

After getting back on the ship I spent the rest of the afternoon downloading our pictures until it was time for dinner.  We did our usual trivia, dinner and casino routine, but tonight was unusual as I actually had some luck in the casino and left without having spent all of my daily allowance.  Tomorrow is a sea day so we can rest up from our two wonderful days in the Azores.

We say goodbye to the Azores as we sail away.

 

Atlantic Adventurer Cruise: Day 7, Horta, Faial, Azores

Friday, October 27, 2017
Day 7, Horta, Faial, Azores

Today was the first time we set foot on land since we left Fort Lauderdale six days ago.  Our port today is Horta, which is on the island of island of Faial in the Azores.  The Azores are an archipelago made up of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.  They are an autonomous region of Portugal with the closest island being 850 miles west of Portugal.  

This gives you an idea of where the Azores lie in relation to Europe and North America.

Faial is the fifth largest of the 9 islands with a size of 67 square miles and is one of the western most, lying 1,100 miles west of Portugal.  It is considered the western most point in Europe as it is very near the divide between the European and North American tectonic plates.  The island has a population of 15,000 and it's capital is Horta where we are docked today (population 7000). 

A map of the Azores.  Faial is on the left side of the map and Horta is on the southeast corner of the island.

We weren’t scheduled to arrive in Horta until 10:00 AM, but we did want to be up and ready to go so we could be on deck for our arrival.  We were up by 8:00 and when we looked out our window we could see land, but we did have a while until we reached the harbor.  After a quick breakfast in the Neptune Lounge, we went out on our balcony to watch our arrival.

Horta has a small harbor and narrow entrance, which can be difficult for a big ship to enter due to wind and / or high seas.  On the itinerary they always indicate that this port will be visited “weather conditions allowing”.  As we watched our approach to the harbor we realized why as the ship seemed to be too close to one side of the entrance.  Sure enough, the ship circled and tried the approach from another angle.  Still not right so we circled again and tried yet another approach and this one was successful.  Because of the small size and location of the pier, they cannot go straight in, but kind of slide in sideways and then reverse and dock on the pier which is part of the breakwater.  Even though our ship is small for a cruise ship, it is probably the largest ship that can fit in the harbor.

Looking across the breakwater at Horta and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

The pier we were docking at was part of the breakwater.

It is a small harbor better suited for ships of this size.

Our view of Horta as we sailed into the harbor.

By the time we finally got docked it was getting close to 11:00 and we were already overdue for our tour.  Val had booked a guide and private tour so as soon as the ship was cleared, we were off to find our guide and start the tour.  Usually when you book a private tour, the guide will be standing outside the terminal with a sign with your name on it, but when we exited the terminal we didn’t see anybody.  Val walked back through the terminal and looked around and I walked around outside, but still no tour guide.  Val finally called the tour company and they said they would locate the tour guide.  Soon, someone came up and to our relief it was our guide. 

Our guide’s name was Alda and she spoke English very well.  She said the children start learning English in school at an early age so English is widely spoken or at least understood in Portugal.

To start our tour, Alda drove us around Horta pointing out various points of interest and filling us in on the local history.  She stopped along the waterfront so we could view the harbor.  The Horta harbor is one of the busiest in the world, for small ships, as it is the last stop before starting on the long voyage across the Atlantic.  As I said, the harbor is not big so it was filled with yachts, fishing boats and small freighters.  Across the street from the harbor there was a very famous café / pub, which has been a gathering place for sailors for many years.  It is called Peter Café Sport and while it is still a gathering spot for sailors, it is now also a tourist attraction.

The view across the harbor looking at our ship.

The Cafe Sport

Inside the Cafe Sport.

Upstairs in the Café Sport there is the Scrimshaw Museum where you can see displays of  carvings and paintings done on whale bones and teeth.  Before whaling was banned, it used to be a big industry in the Azores as it is right in the migration path of many different species of whales.  Sperm whales are considered to be resident and are here year round.  We decided to visit the museum and it was well worth it as the paintings and carvings were amazing.  It is hard to imagine that such fine detail could be done this way, particularly the etchings done on the teeth.

After our tour of Horta, we started our tour of the island.  The weather had been overcast when we arrived, but looked like it might be breaking up. That wasn't the case however, as it became worse and completely covered in heavy clouds.

The fact that the Azores are volcanic is apparent everywhere you look as the island is covered with volcanic rock and many of the buildings are built with volcanic rock.  Due to frequent earthquakes, building only with volcanic rock is no longer allowed unless there is a concrete core for structural strength. 

We made several stops to view the coastline and were amazed at how green everything was on land.  For some reason I expected the island to be drier, but it is very lush and there were flowers everywhere.  Particularly prominent were hydrangeas, which were profuse. Faial is called the "Blue Island" because of the color of their flowers.  They lined the roads and were used in hedges in place of fences in the fields.  The flowers of the hydrangeas are a major export of the island and every year they are harvested from the hedges along the road and in the fields.  We saw a lot of cattle as we drove around and it turns out they are raised for both beef and dairy and both are major exports of the islands.  Cattle will not eat the hydrangeas, which is why they make such excellent fences.

Our next stop was a craft school where traditional crafts are both taught and sold.  After looking over everything, Val bought a few things and then we were back on our tour.  As we continued our tour, it started to rain harder and as we headed up to view a volcanic caldera, it really started to pour.  As we reached the viewpoint, there was very little visibility due to the cloud cover and since it was raining quite hard, we decided not to bother as there was nothing to see at this time.  When you travel, you have to expect and be prepared for any type of weather so even though it was disappointing to have it rain, we didn’t let it spoil our day.

After our ill-fated attempt to view the caldera, we stopped at an old house that had been preserved as a museum depicting life on the island from earlier times.  It was much the same as rural life in our own country before such things as running water and indoor plumbing was common.

An old farmhouse built entirely of blocks of volcanic stone.  This was their main building material, but if it is used now it must be reinforced by concrete.

The pig pen.

There was no indoor plumbing so everyone used the stone outhouse.

Our next stop was a roadside café where we had lunch.  I thought we would see a menu with Portuguese specialties, but the menu looked much like what we would see in the US; sandwiches, burgers, omelets, etc.  I asked Alda whether the menu was because this café catered to tourists and she said no, that this was typical food that they would have for lunch.  There were a few things we wouldn’t see in the US, but mostly it was very familiar.

After lunch, we went to an area where there was a major volcano eruption in 1957 - 1958 that caused widespread damage on this area of the island.  The lava flow was mostly into the sea so the biggest problem was the ash.  There was no loss of life as everyone was evacuated from area, but property losses were extensive.  The ash layer was over 30 feet deep in places and buried whole villages.  We saw a lighthouse that at one point was covered up to the very top, it was very hard to believe that the ash could be that deep.  Near the lighthouse was a fishing village that was completely gone.  In another area we saw only the top of a church steeple as the rest of the church was buried.  After the earthquake, the island of Faial lost almost half of its population as many people migrated to the US and Canada where they were granted green cards because of the disaster.  We saw many deserted shells of home of people that had left the island.  When I asked why they were still standing, Alda said it was because the owners or their heirs stilled owned the land and kept them even though they no longer lived on the island.


This is all ash.  Much of it as been dug away or eroded away by the winds and rain, but it is still deep.

Right after the eruption, ash was pile to the very top of this lighthouse.

Our tour was almost over, but we made one more stop at a viewpoint where we could look down on the harbor and see our ship docked far below.  We had hoped to have time to walk around Horta when we returned, but it was getting late and it had started raining again so Alda brought us straight back to the ship.  She drove us right to bottom of the gangway and we were quickly back on the ship and into our room.

You can see how a ship the size of ours has to do some maneuvering to dock in this small harbor.

Val and our guide, Alda.  She was great and we had a wonderful day despite the bad weather.

Despite the weather, we had a great tour today.  Having a private guide is a great way to go as you not only can be flexible in where you go and what you see, but you end up talking to your guide all day long and get a real feel for life on the island.  Alda not only told us about the geography, history and culture of the island, she gave a real insight into her life and what life was like on the island.  We felt like we really got to know her and very much enjoyed our time with her today.  I would highly recommend Alda and this tour to anyone visiting the island.  We booked this tour through Viator and the tour company is Aerohorta (ask for Alda when you book).

After returning to the ship we relaxed for a while and then I downloaded the pictures to the computer.  It was almost time for trivia and I hadn’t quite finished so Val went on by herself while I wrapped things up and then joined her for dinner and the casino.

Tomorrow we will be visiting another island of the Azores, this time San Miguel Island.  We will be docking at 8:00 tomorrow morning so we will have to be up early.

Atlantic Adventurer Cruise: Day 1-6 Sailing Across the Atlantic

Saturday, October 21, 2017
Day 1, At Sea

We woke up around 8:00, but I guess we were both more tired than we thought, because we dozed off again and didn’t wake up again until 9:15.  There was a Cruise Critic Roll Call Meet and Greet in the Crow's Nest at 10:00 so we really had to scramble to get ready and get there on time.  We made it, but had to skip breakfast in order to get there on time.  Cruise Critic is a web forum for cruising and they have a roll call section where you find your cruise line, ship and cruise, and then you can make contact with others who are on the same cruise.  It is a good way to meet some of the people you will be cruising with and arrange group tours and ship activities.

After the Meet and Greet, there was a lecture on the history of Portugal by guest lecturer, Milton Keiles, that we wanted to attend so we headed to the showroom to wait for that to start.  Our first ports of call on the cruise will be the Azore Islands, Portugal so there will be a series of lectures about the history and culture of Portugal before we arrive.

Val had found a trivia team to join at the Meet and Greet so after the lecture she was off to Team Trivia in the Crow’s Nest and I returned to the room to catch up on the blog.  Val returned from her team trivia and said her team did very well tying for first place, but unfortunately lost the tie breaker.  We were hungry so headed off to the Lido for lunch and then went down to participate in round 1 of a slot tournament.  I didn’t do very well, but Val is on the leader board at the bottom in sixth place.  Our past experience says that sixth is a precarious spot and will probably not hold up through the next two rounds.

After the slot tournament, we went back to our room and spent most of the rest of the afternoon reading out on our balcony.  The weather was very nice with a mild temperature, but still a little humid.  By late afternoon we were getting a little antsy and decided to go for a walk on the promenade deck.  The promenade deck circles the entire ship and makes it a popular spot for walkers; four times around equals one mile.  We did our four laps and Val decided she’d had enough, but I decided to push on for another couple of laps.

After our walking, we relaxed a while and then it was time to start our evening activities.  I gave in and joined Val for the pub trivia tonight (and every night I suppose) at the Mix Lounge.  Besides Val and I, we had Roy and Gabriella, and Charles and Judy on our team.  Like me, Roy's wife Gabriella wasn't a big trivia fan, but participated anyway.  Our team did pretty well, but not well enough to win.  After trivia, it was off to dinner where we enjoyed another excellent meal.  After dinner we headed to the casino where we had another disappointingly short night.

Tonight we are losing an hour's sleep as the time zone changes as we sail east.  Unfortunately, this is the first of quite a few hours lost, but we’ll make up the lost hours on the way back with extra hours of sleep.
 
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Day 2, At Sea

This morning got off to a slow start as it was almost 10:00 when we woke up.  I guess the time change really affected us.  We headed to the Neptune Lounge for our usual continental breakfast and made it just in time before they cleared out the breakfast offerings.  The Neptune Lounge is an area reserved for guests in the Neptune or Pinnacle (penthouse) Suites and has food available all day as well as a concierge who takes care of any problems, reservation or anything else you might need, a very nice perk.  The concierge on this cruise is Fatima who remembered us from our Inca Empire cruise to South America several years ago.  We hung around the Neptune Lounge for a bit while our room was being cleaned and then spent what was left of the morning reading on the balcony.  It was less humid and a little cooler, but still comfortable.

The Neptune Lounge with tables on both sides in the foreground and the concierge's desk in the background.  There is food and drink selections available on both sides of the concierge's desk.

One of the lounge areas.

Another lounge area.  Val is drinking her tea and watching the news while we wait for our room to be cleaned.

Some of the food selection available for breakfast.

Breads, muffins, pastries and fruit is available.

More breakfast solutions.

Juices and ice tea are available.  On the right is the coffee machine which in addition to coffee has espresso and cappuccino.  Hot water and hot milk are also available, this is where Val gets her hot water for her tea.

Our concierge Fatima and the steward that takes care of the food during the day.  Both are great.

The captain made an announcement this morning that we were diverting our course to Bermuda because of a medical emergency.  Evidently a passenger had become ill and treatment was beyond the capabilities of the medical facilities on board so the patient would have to be evacuated and hence the stop in Bermuda.  The captain said that they still anticipated getting to our first port in the Azores on time, but the well-being of the passengers always came first which is reassuring.

One of the penalties of sleeping late is getting your eating schedule out whack and that is what happened to us.  We ate a late breakfast and when lunch time rolled around we were not at all hungry.  Val had her team trivia at 1:30 today and the second lecture on Portugal is at 2:00 so we decided to just have a snack in the Neptune Lounge mid-afternoon for our lunch.  Tomorrow we have vowed to set our alarm so we don’t sleep away the morning.

While Val was at her team trivia I attended the lecture on the culture of Portugal, which was very interesting.  After the lecture I met Val in the casino for the second round of the slot tournament.  As expected, Val had fallen off the leader board so we both tried once again to qualify.  I once again fell woefully short, but Val shot straight to the top with an amazing 1,400,000 points; that was almost 500,000 points above the former top point getter.  She is almost certain to compete in the finals for the $500 prize with that many points.

After that it was back to the room for a little reading before it was time for our afternoon walk around the deck.  Val and I once again did a mile and then I did another half mile on my own.

Tonight is a formal night so we started getting ready a little earlier for dinner and then head off to the evening trivia.  It looks like I am once again going to spend my pre-dinner time playing trivia.  After trivia, it was off to dinner and then the casino.  Tonight, the casino was a little kinder to us and although I didn’t win anything, at least I got to play for a while.  Val on the other hand actually came out ahead tonight so she had a very good night.

When we returned to the room we went out on the balcony and saw that the boat for the medical evacuation had just arrived so we watched that take place.  It was very sad to watch as someone who started out happy and excited to be going on a cruise was now facing a critical situation.  It sobered us up and made us realize that could have one of us.  Tomorrow is another sea day and we have vowed to get up at a reasonable time and get back on a better schedule.
 
Monday, October 23, 2017
Day 3, At Sea

We set our alarm for 8:00 this morning so we didn’t sleep late again and although we would have preferred to stay in bed, we did get up.  It’s time we started getting our internal clocks out of west coast time.  We had our breakfast in the Neptune Lounge and then stayed a little longer while they cleaned our room.

We attended a lecture that gave us a short history of Spain, which we enjoyed and then decided to go to the Neptune Lounge for lunch.  After lunch Val was off to her team trivia and I went back to our room and read for a while.  There was a lecture on the life of Ferdinand Magellan that we wanted to hear so we decided to meet there after Val’s trivia.  This was presented by Jim McParland, another guest lecturer on the cruise.

Before heading to the lecture, I went to the casino to try one more time to qualify for the finals, but once again I fell woefully short.  Val was still in the number one spot so she would have to return to casino after the lecture and compete for the $500 prize. 

When I got to the showroom, where the lecture would take place, Val was already there waiting for me.  It was a really interesting lecture, but Val and I had to rush off at the end to get to the slot tournament finals on time.  Val had stayed on top and even though someone else had cracked the 1,000,000 point mark, Val was by far the top point getter.  Unfortunately, being the top point getter doesn’t mean anything in the finals so except for getting to choose the machine she wanted, everyone started even.  Val fell behind early, but made a strong comeback at the end, but unfortunately fell just short and ended up in second place.  Oh well, it was fun, but that $500 prize would have been nice.

Val's at the top of the leader and qualified for the slot tournament finals.

She's all set to go, wearing the casino cap they had the contestants wear, but in the end she fell just short and finished second.

After the slot tournament we returned to our room and while Val relaxed and read, I decided to take my afternoon walk.  I did my mile and a half walk around the deck and returned to relax until dinner.  After our usual routine of trivia, dinner and the casino we returned to the room and went right to bed as we again lost an hour as we continued our journey east.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Day 4, At Sea

Neither Val nor I slept very well last night as our west coast time lag continues to give us trouble.  We did get up without sleeping too late as we had a busy schedule today.

After a quick bite we headed to the showroom for a talk on our next two ports in the Azores.  That was followed by a continuation of yesterday’s talk on the life of Magellan so we stayed and listened to that.  Very interesting and we learned a lot more than we ever knew about Magellan.  There was a suite luncheon today in the Pinnacle Grill (a specialty restaurant) so after the lecture we had to hurry off to that.

The suite lunch was very good, but lasted for almost two hours so Val missed her trivia today.  From the suite lunch we headed directly to the showroom to hear a lecture on the culture and people of Spain which was a follow up to yesterday’s history of Spain.

We had made an appointment with the Future Cruise Consultant so after a short respite we met her in the Neptune Lounge where we discussed future cruise options.  We are not going to take such a long cruise next year so we are leaning towards a 14-day Alaskan cruise, but we have to think about it.  There are a couple of other cruises we are interested in, but they are just too long for next year.

Late in the afternoon I received an e-mail regarding an investment that we had made before we left.  There were some papers we had to sign and return. I had to scramble to get it printed, but the concierge in the Neptune Lounge came through and got it done so we will be able to sign and e-mail it tomorrow.  A problem averted thanks to Fatima in the Neptune Lounge.

Meanwhile, Val didn’t think she would be hungry for a full dinner in the dining room, but decided to go up to the Lido Buffet and get a salad before it was time for evening trivia.  I wasn’t really hungry yet and was busy with trying to get our papers printed so I didn’t get anything.  By the time I finished with our business, the trivia was already underway and I joined our team in progress.

After trivia, we went straight to the casino as we were not going to the dining room tonight.  As usual, my money was quickly gone, but Val was once again having success.  I grew tired of watching her win and decided to go back to our room and read until bedtime.  I was starting to get hungry and noticed the Neptune Lounge was still open so I stopped by and had a few snacks.

Val returned a little later and had ended up ahead for the night.  We lose another hour of sleep tonight so we again went to bed early.  I am getting tired of this, but I think we still have two or three more hours to lose before we’re finished with it.
 
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Day 5, At Sea

The alarm went off this morning and I thought it had been set wrong as it still seemed dark outside.  When I opened the curtains, it turned out it wasn’t dark, but very overcast and gloomy outside with pretty rough seas.  The captain had been warning us that the seas would get rough and he was right.  Val had put on a patch for seasickness last night so she was prepared.  Neither one of us is prone to seasickness, but it happened to her once on one of our first cruises so she wasn’t going to take any chances.

After looking at the weather, we decided to sleep in a little longer since we didn’t have anything to do this morning.  We got up around 9:00 and after getting cleaned up, we headed to the Neptune Lounge for a light breakfast.  I had to finish up the papers we had to e-mail and spent the rest of the morning doing that while Val read.

Since we had a light breakfast we headed up to the Lido early for lunch and decided to have pizza and salad for lunch.  They have a pizza place on the Lido outside pool deck and it is quite good.  After lunch, Val was off to her trivia and as usual, I spent the time writing the blog.

When Val returned from trivia we headed to the showroom to hear a lecture on the Catalonia area of Spain, which includes Barcelona.  Catalonia is the area where there has been so much trouble lately because of their desire to secede from Spain. 

Every day on the ship they show a movie, which is often surprisingly current.  Today the movie was “The Big Sick” which Val and I had wanted to see, but missed when it was in the theater.  They have three showings and we decided to go to the afternoon showing as that fit our schedule the best so that was our next activity.  We really enjoyed the movie and were glad we took the time to see it.

After the movie it was almost time for our dinner activities.  After trivia it was the usual dinner and casino and then off to bed.  Tomorrow is our last sea day before we reach our first port in the Azores.
 
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Day 6, At Sea

I thought yesterday I had finally adjusted to the time change, but unfortunately not.  I once again woke up in the night and couldn’t get back to sleep and woke up feeling very tired.  We slept late and then had to rush around as there was a talk by the port guide on what to do and see in Lisbon, Portugal, our stop after the Azores.

After the port talk we stayed on in the showroom to hear a talk on the history of Italy and then headed off to lunch.  We shared a table with a nice couple from Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada and enjoyed talking to them until it was time for Val to head off to trivia.  I returned to the room to do the daily blog and rest a little.

Val returned from trivia and we left to attend another lecture, this one was on the geography and natural history of the Azores.  After the lecture it was back to the room for a little reading before another appointment with the future cruise consultant.  Although I had originally told Val that we shouldn’t book another cruise on this trip, we ended up booking two.  For next year we booked a fourteen day Alaskan cruise, and for 2019 we booked a thirty day cruise called the Amazon Explorer which actually sails up the Amazon.

After our meeting with the future cruise consultant it was time to get ready for dinner.  We followed our routine of trivia, dinner and the casino and then called it a night.  Tomorrow we will arrive in Horta on the island of Faial in the Azores, our first port on the cruise.

Atlantic Adventurer Cruise: Embarkation Day

Friday, October 20, 2017
Embarkation Day

After a year and a half of waiting, today we finally boarded the ship and began our 49 day cruise to the Mediterranean and back.  Our ship is the Holland American Veendam and we sailed away at 4:00 PM today.

We were up by 8:00 AM as we wanted to have time to eat breakfast before we left for Port Everglades where we would embark on our cruise.  We actually had plenty of time as the earliest we could start boarding was 11:00, so after breakfast we did some final packing and then read and watched TV for a while until it was time to leave.

Finally, at 10:30 we gathered our luggage and went downstairs to catch the hotel shuttle to the nearby Port Everglades.  There were many of our fellow cruisers waiting to depart, but the hotel had several shuttles running and we were quickly on our way to the port.  Security and check-in went quickly without problems, but they weren’t quite ready to board yet so we waited a bit until they finally let us get on the ship.

We once again opted for a Neptune Suite, which is a large room with a very large balcony.  It is a bit of an extravagance, but we have been spoiled over the years and hate to give it up.  Our luggage hadn’t been delivered yet so after putting away the things in our carry-ons, we decided to take a tour of the ship.

The Veendam is one of the smaller Holland America ships and holds only 1,251 passengers.  The layout was familiar to us as it was the same class of ship as the Ryndam, which we took our first cruise on to The Sea of Cortez and the Statendam, which we took on our Alaskan and South American Cruises.  Both of those ships have been sold by Holland America so there is only one more ship of this size besides the Veendam in the Holland America fleet.

After our ship exploration the first of our luggage was delivered so we were able to start settling in.  This luggage is what we carried with us and checked on the plane.  The luggage we had shipped last week still hadn’t arrived and I was getting a little worried, but Val said to just be patient and it will arrive.

As sail-away time drew nearer, we had to attend a mandatory muster drill where everyone had to go to their lifeboat station and receive instructions on what we should do if there was a real emergency.  These drills are tedious and a bit of a pain, but very important and we would certainly want to be prepared if something really were to happen.  This muster drill took a very short time as our ID cards were scanned as we arrived instead of the roll-call that we had always had in the past.

Soon after the muster drill it was time to depart and Val and I watched as we sailed away from Fort Lauderdale and out into the Atlantic from our balcony.  It wasn’t long after that, that the last of our luggage arrived; Val was of course right again – nothing to worry about.

Sailing away from Fort Lauderdale

After getting unpacked and relaxing for a while, it was time to get ready for dinner.  As is our habit now, we had chosen a late seating at 8:00.  Val wanted to once again participate in the Pub Trivia in the Mix Lounge before dinner so we headed down to the Upper Promenade Deck for that.  I really didn’t feel like joining in so I spent the time in the library area reading until it was time for dinner.

Our first dinner of the cruise was an excellent one; we both had prime rib and it was very, very good.  After dinner we continued our routine of going to the casino and gambling a bit.  As usual, we lost our meager daily gambling allotment in a hurry and were back in our room by 10:00.  We were both very tired and went straight to bed.  We attempted to read for a while, but couldn’t keep our eyes open and we were both quickly asleep.  Tomorrow is the first of six sea days before we arrive at our first port in the Azores.

Atlantic Adventurer Cruise: Coast to Coast

Tuesday, October 17
Granada Hills, CA

We are flying to Fort Lauderdale from LAX in Los Angeles so my brother Doug and his wife Janis graciously offered to let us leave our car at their house while we are gone and drive us to catch our shuttle to the airport.  It’s only a four hour drive to my brother’s home in Granada Hills so we spent the morning doing some last-minute packing and making sure everything was taken care of around the house before we left.  It’s a bit scary leaving the house unattended for almost two months, but Simone, the young girl who lives across the street, will be getting our mail and keeping an eye on things so hopefully everything will be just as we left them when we return.  Her dad, Josh, will also keep an eye on things so we feel that we have left everything in good hands and are thankful to have such good neighbors.

We left just after lunch, but due to a series of accidents causing long traffic delays, the normal four-hour drive turned  into a five and a half hour drive.  We drive this route often and this was by far the worst traffic we have encountered, but there were no deadlines today do it didn’t matter.

We arrived at Doug’s around 5:30 and after catching up for a bit, we went out to a very good Mexican dinner.  After dinner we came back and talked and watched the baseball playoffs, but called it an early night as we have to get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning.  I don’t know whether Doug and Janis thought this out when they offered to take us to the shuttle.

Wednesday, October 18 – We fly to Fort Lauderdale

We were up bright and early (well, maybe not so bright) as we had to leave at 6:00 to get to the shuttle.  Our flight isn’t until 9:00, but it takes an hour to get to the airport and we wanted to get there two hours early hence the early departure.

It turned out Doug stayed in bed and Janis took us to the Flyaway bus terminal in Van Nuys, which is the shuttle service that will get us to LAX.  We were there early enough to catch the 6:15 shuttle and we were on our way.  Thanks so much Janis for getting us there despite the early hour.

The shuttle took almost exactly an hour to get us to the airport through the morning Los Angeles commute traffic, but we still had plenty of time.  I am always worried about having enough time, but this morning my worries were completely unfounded.  We were flying Virgin America for the first time and when we went to check our bags and check in, we found a very short line and we were quickly on our way to security.

Earlier this summer, Val and I signed up for the Global Entry pass which includes the TSA Pre-Check so we were through security in a very short time and found we had an hour and a half to kill before our flight boarded.  We spent some time eating a pretty good, but very expensive breakfast, and spent the remaining time reading and browsing the web on our phones.

Time passed quickly and we were soon boarding the plane and finding our seats.  We had upgraded to Economy Select which gave us some extra leg room and it was worth it.  We don’t fly very much and this was our first time on Virgin America.  It seemed that not only did we have more leg room, but the seats were just a little bit wider.  I’m not sure whether this is true or not, but it just seemed that way compared to our flight to Hawaii on United last spring.

Everything seemed to be going well, but we ended up sitting on the tarmac for just over an hour before we took off.  That wasn’t a good start, but we finally did get in the air and were on our way.  There are video screens on the back of each seat and you can order food, watch movies or TV and a few other things which helped pass the time.  One of the other advantages of Select Seating is you get free movies and food so we were able to eat whatever we wanted and watch movies to help the time pass.  The food wasn’t great, but was good enough so we did enjoy our snacks and meal.

We got into Fort Lauderdale just after 6:30 PM so despite the hour delay taking off we ended up getting in only half an hour late.  We gathered our bags, found a taxi and were at the hotel just after 7:00.  Val and I were both exhausted; I’m not sure why, maybe it was getting up at 5:00 AM and all the hassle of getting around, or maybe it was just because we’re getting old, but we were ready for some rest and sleep.

We opted to eat dinner at the hotel which doesn’t have much of a restaurant, but it was enough for us and after dinner we called it a night.  We thought we might do some sightseeing around Fort Lauderdale tomorrow, but our plan now is to sleep in and just hang around the area adjacent to the hotel.

Thursday, October 19, 2017 - Fort Lauderdale

I guess our internal clocks are still on West Coast time as we really slept in this morning and didn’t get up until after ten.  After showering and fussing around we were finally ready to be out and about and decided to look for a place to eat breakfast / lunch.  We walked to a nearby shopping center and found a lot of choices for eating and decided on a café that was serving both lunch and dinner.

After we ate, we checked on getting a shuttle to the ship tomorrow morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the hotel reading and catching up on the blog.

We saw a gourmet hamburger place in the shopping center earlier in the day and decided to return there for a last hamburger before heading to Europe.  The burgers were good, but the delicious cookies they made were even better for dessert. 

While we were eating it started pouring rain outside so we ate slowly and waited it out and sure enough by the time we left, it had stopped.  After dinner we wanted to go to a nearby market and pick up some water to take with us on the ship so we headed over there.  When we came out of the market with our purchases it had started raining again and it was really pouring.  We stood under the market cover and tried to wait it out, but finally we started dashing from awning to awning in the shopping center to avoid the rain, but we were only partially successful. 

When we got back, we packed away our water and shifted some things around in our luggage, but that was about it.  The rest of our evening we spent relaxing.  The cruise port is very close so we don’t have to leave the hotel until around 10:30 AM so we will have plenty of time to get ready in the morning.  The big day is almost here, we thought it would never arrive.  The next time I write we’ll be on the ship and hopefully out to sea.

Note:  As I said in the first blog post of this cruise, it may take a while to get this blog fully posted, but circumstances have occurred since we got home may delay it even longer.  First off, the cold I came home with turned into bronchitis so that put me out of commission for a few days.  Next Christmas is rapidly approaching and we have a lot to do so there is not much time to work on the blog.

The third and worst thing that happened is my home computer that I use for all my photo and video editing, failed a day after I got home.  I did what I could to get it going again, but my efforts failed so I swallowed my pride and took it to a shop to (hopefully) get fixed.  If there is a serious problem and I have to rebuild and reinstall my software, there may be a lengthy delay before I publish the rest of the blog.

I do have my laptop which I have used to publish the first two blog posts since they don't have any video or pictures, but I can't easily do my photo and video editing on it so it may be a week or two or it may be a month or more before I publish anything else.  If you are interested in the blog for our trip, be patient and it will eventually get done.  My apologies for the delay.

Atlantic Adventurer Cruise: Almost Time to Go

October 15, 2017

Val and I are off on another adventure, this time it’s the Atlantic Adventurer Cruise, our longest yet.  The cruise starts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and crosses the Atlantic to the Mediterranean where we will visit ports in the Azores, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Malta, Morocco, Gibraltar and Madeira before returning to Fort Lauderdale 49 days later.  There will be long periods at sea coming and going with a very intensive port schedule in between.

Val has spent months researching each port and booking various tours and activities for each one.  It will be a mix of ship excursions, tours with Cruise Critic Role Call members as well as some private tours for just Val and I.  This is our first time in this area so we are very excited about the trip and hope to see and do everything we can and hopefully not get too exhausted doing it.  Below is a map of the cruise.

Here is a spreadsheet Val made with our itinerary and the various tours we have scheduled for the cruise.  She did a great job putting it together and it will be our daily guide throughout the cruise. 

Page 1 - Day 1 through 11

Page 2 - Day 12 through 24

Page 3 - Day 25 through 31

Page 4 - Day 32 through 41

Page 5 - Day 42 through 50

As is now my habit, I will not be posting any of this until we return home.  As I have said before, as much as I would like to post this as it is happening, it is just not possible due to a very slow internet and the limitations of my time during the cruise.  I really enjoy putting these blog posts together, but I also like to enjoy my vacation time and like to spend some of my free time just relaxing.  I do write the blog every day so what you read is done live, but I wait until we get home to process the pictures and post the blog.  The fact that we won’t be home until two weeks before Christmas means that some or most of this won’t be published until after New Year’s.

It's almost time to leave, and like last year we have shipped our main luggage, which left last week and we won’t see again until we are on the ship.  That means we only have to pack our carry-ons and a bag with a few days of clothes and we are ready to go.  We leave tomorrow for my brother’s house in the Los Angeles area where our journey will begin.