Nesta and Ian's Travels

Friday 15^th March – Fortaleza, Brazil.

Happy Birthday Nesta!

We arrived off Fortaleza and guess what? The waterfront was a forest of tower blocks (again).

Unfortunately there is no breakwater here and the swell in the harbour was too big for us to dock. (We wondered why there were five other ships at anchor!). Anyway the Captain made the decision to sail on to Devil’s Island but first we were going to wait for a delivery of fresh fruit. This wasn’t as straightforward as it seems as the same swell stopped the delivery boats from leaving the dock. Six hours later we were finally on our way!

On the bright side, there was no excuse for being late to Nesta’s birthday party!

We started at 17:45 with the Mr Bridge welcome party (and the obligatory free drinks) then on to the lookout lounge for canopies and champagne (again kindly paid for by Martin). Then we went to the rear deck of the Veranda Restaurant for a meal. Claire joined us to make up the eighth person as Mary was too busy again!

Nino gave us a bottle of the ship’s red wine. (Still no sign of our Malbec) The Captain wished Nesta a happy birthday and actually gave us a bottle of Malbec, which we didn’t get round to drinking…

Can you spot a theme here?

For her birthday, Nesta got a litre bottle of gin from Rich and Lin and a bottle of Pisco Sour from Glynis and Kevin… What are they all implying??

In all, though, it was a lovely and memorable day.

As near as we got to Fortaleza!

Nesta with some of her presents

Wow! a birthday cake

The party!!

Saturday 16^th March – Day at Sea.

Had a lazy day today – Ian playing Football Manager on the laptop and Nesta playing Plants and Zombies on her DS…

Well you have to make the most of having a nice cabin to relax in!!

We did go to the Bridge seminar and Ian may actually decide to play some afternoons!

Crossing the Equator!

Sunday 17^th March – Day at Sea.

Another day of doing very little. We went to the church service in the morning and then went on a bridge visit to hear Alex’s version of the job compared to Neil’s. Alex regaled us with such tales as trying to dock a ship with the stabilisers still out (not recommended) and also told us of the previous ship’s problems tendering ashore at Devil’s Island… (Gave a bit too much info, and we’ll now see just how big the swell is before we decide to land or not.)

There was a St Patrick’s Day quiz in the evening which we didn’t win. L

The Captain at the bridge - the sea is behind you!

Monday 18^th March – Devil’s Island, French Guiana.

Bizarrely, we are back in the land of the Euro. French Guiana is an overseas Department of France, so the language is French!

Arrived at 8am but it was quite windy with a bit of a swell. Glad we’re not on trip that got tendered ashore and then went on a catamaran to the mainland 8 miles away…it was very “bumpy” on the way back to the island.

Just for a change, there was a problem with using both lifeboats as tenders (good old lifeboat number 2 failing once again… I really hope we don’t have to use it in an emergency.) So this meant that once again it was 12-30pm before our turn to go ashore arrived. We again decided not to bother and spent the day in our cabin. Maybe next time!!

Realised that as there are two more sea days to come until we arrive at Santarem, it will be 6 back to back days without getting off – like crossing the Atlantic again!

Devil's Island

Tuesday 19^th March – Day at Sea.

Nesta is getting a little fed up now. (Not bored, you notice!) The sea remains lumpy and the wind quite strong. Added to this the sun is not shining although it is still 29 degrees.

We are having a “crossing the line party” at 2-15pm even though we don’t cross the equator again until 7am tomorrow morning! Cannot understand why we didn’t have the party on 16^th March when we crossed the equator at 3-30pm on a bright and sunny day! At least it would have really been some of the passengers first time across then… Editor’s note: You will, of course, remember that our first crossing occurred in the middle of the night, courtesy of the Voyages of Discovery scheduling.

The entertainment team put on a really good show and at least the rain held off.

The busy Mary has finally been able to get some time off from Reception and we have invited her to our balcony to help us celebrate our birthdays!