Other Adventures

As we were leaving Athens last night, the captain announced that our next scheduled port, the island of Patmos, Greece, was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions and we would be diverting to Herkalion on the island of Crete. Herkalion is said to have some very nice attractions worthy of exploring, such as the old […]

We are in Athens, one of the world’s oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years,[9] and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. The city just oozes history and culture. With such amazing sites as the Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Temple of Hephaestus, and the Temple of Zues just to name a few,

Day 68 finds us docked in Siracusa on the Italian island of Sicily. The city is notable for its rich Greek and Roman history, culture, amphitheaters, architecture, and as the birthplace and home of the pre-eminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. We were still inflicted with the shipboard “respiratory crud” so were taking it fairly slow. We had a […]

Our next stop on this 117 day journey is the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Located in the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea exits into the Atlantic Ocean, Gibraltar was established as a permanent watchtower in the year 1160. Follow the links for the fascinating history of this area. We met our pilot […]

Today we visited the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. The island region is located in the Atlantic Ocean about 320 miles west of Morocco. You can use the links to learn more of the history of Funchal and Madeira, Our pilot and tug met us at 7AM […]

We’ve been at sea for 7 days since leaving Namibia, cruising North up the West African coast, so we were excited to be making landfall in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente in the Republic of Cabo Verde. Check another country off our list. We were awake early and toasted the sunrise and watched as […]

Today we land at the coastal city of Walvis Bay, Namibia, the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, We picked our pilot up just before 8AM and were secured to the dock by 9AM. Today’s adventure would be a 4WD romp through Namib Naukluft Park including coastal beaches and sand dunes of Sandwich Harbour, The 4WD […]

This is our second day in Cape Town and today we embarked on the local Hop On Hop Off bus tour. We frequently use the HOHO tours to get an overview of a new city and to discover sites we may want to return to again. Today’s tour took us to though the major neighborhoods, […]

Following 5 days at sea, we were anticipating an early morning landing in Cape Town, South Africa, but the weather had other plans. The ships foghorn had been sounding most of the night and, as we approached Cape Town our singular horn was joined by a chorus of other ships also making their presence known […]

After 7 days at sea on a rocking ship, we were ready to feel dry land under our feet. Today we arrived in Mauritius, a tiny island nation located in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar. We picked up our pilot around 7:15AM and were secured to our berth at 8AM. Even at this […]

Our pilot tug met us at 6:30AM to guide us to our Victoria Quay berth located just beyond the maritime museum in Fremantle Harbor. It was another warm, clear Australian summer day, perfect for an e-bike ride around the city. The ships shuttle bus deposited us in the center of town, and we made the […]

It’s February 18th so it must be Melbourne! We arrived at the port of this capital city just after 10AM and secured directly across from the Viking Orion. Today was another picture-perfect weather day. Our original plan was to do an e-bike tour of the city, but it turns out the tour was oversold, and […]

Sunday, February 16th had us pulling into the familiar harbor of Sydney Australia. This is our 4th time here in 3 years with our last visit being November 2024 when we crossed over to Sydney from Japan. The morning was clear and warm, and the city was just waking up to the sunrise as the […]

Our journey through the South Island of New Zealand concludes with a scenic day of cruising through the Fiordland National Park, This is the largest national park in New Zealand covering just over 4,800 square miles and is a major part of the Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage Site. The area contains 14 majestic glacier carved fiords (sounds) […]

Today we find ourselves in the charming little town of Port Chalmers, the gateway to Dunedin New Zealand. Dunedin is the second most populous city in on the Soth Island and is also one of the most Scottish, having been modeled after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. The Crown Princess was also in port on […]

Today we docked in Picton, New Zealand. Picton is located on the South Island near the head of the Queen Charlotte Sound. It serves as the major transportation hub between the North and South Islands of New Zealand connecting roads and rails by a series of ferries that traverse the Cook Strait. It is also […]

We arrived at Hawke’s Bays, in the wonderful city of Napier, New Zealand in the early this morning on day 20 of our 116 day world cruise. Once again, we docked an industrial dock so had to take a mandatory shuttle bus into town (about a 10 min drive). Unfortunately, this was a very quick […]

Thursday morning found us at anchor in the amazing Bay of Islands, an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. This beautiful region boasts no less then 144 islands within the confines of the bay. Because we were anchored in the bay, passengers make their way to shore […]

After 6 days at sea (7 if you count crossing the date line) we docked in Suva, Fiji. The weather was very warm with 90+% humidity. It rained on and off our entire stay. We were last here in November 2023 and had to cut our visit short due to tropical cyclone Mal. We were […]

Today we crossed both the equator and the international date line as we sailed Southwest from Hawaii on our way to Fiji. We completely skipped January 31, 2025 and went from Jan 30 to Feb 1, 2025. The clocks were also set back 1 hour (or is that ahead 23 hours?). As is his tradition […]