We looked at the excursions offered by the ship and decided against buying. A visit to see penguins on Magdalena Is. USD $299 / person, but we had already booked to see hundreds of penguins on the Falkland Islands, because it was much cheaper. We could have booked to explore Torres del Paine National park, […]

While in Lisbon we had a day out to Estoril, a beautiful area on the Atlantic coast, which is a forty-minute local train ride from Lisbon. This was my second visit having been to Estoril in 1965, and I was keen to see any changes. I didn’t, the overall feel of the place was just as […]

Approaching Napier. NAPIER – So named after Sir Charles Napier 1782 to 1853. The Hawks Bay earthquake of 1931 flattened Napier, and killed 161 people and injured thousands. The local newspaper at the time wrote that the town had been wiped off the map. I took a photograph and this photograph, which was on a large […]

Approaching the entrance of the first fjord that we visited  – Dusky Sound – at 8.15 am. The following few hours saw us cruising through Breaksea Sound and Doubtful Sound. The mist hung around the peaks. The deck was a favourite place for most of the passengers – stereo clicking of cameras never stopped. We were aiming […]

Yorkeys Knob George Lawson was from Yorkshire in the UK but by 1886 he was a well-known as a beche-de-mer (sea cucumbers, but aka sea slug) fisherman. During the off-fishing season he farmed a plot of land on a area known as the Knob where he raised pumpkins, sweet potatoes and paddy melons, which the […]

The old and the new – Golden Princess can be seen with a sailing ship along side. We berthed close to the town, which allowed for a short walk to many places of interest. A touch of yesteryear where ever we looked. Many of the streets and homes reminded me of New Zealand, quiet and […]

Cast off, the voyage has started as we make our way from the dock area to the open sea. Some just like to sit in the spa, with little interest in our sailing, but that is their choice A pleasant warm day with clear sky, but not all are interested in the passing scenery. Even […]

I’d been out East for just over a year and the Company decided that I should start making my way home. I signed off the Chanda (black & white picture above) and made my way to a hotel in Karachi  called the Beach Luxury Hotel. This hotel was much better than the Bristol Hotel in […]

While researching Prince of Wales Island (now called Penang) for the sequel to Ice King (aka Triangle Trade) I came across details of the German cruiser SMS Emden, which had links to Penang. Maureen often says that I am more interested in the research than the act of writing, which to an extent is correct. Little […]

On board we have a choice of a number of restaurants – Any time dining, a time for dinner which we choose – the restaurants to which we could visit were Santa Fe, Pacific Moon or Savoy Dining. Santa Fe Restaurant All had the same menu, but a different ambiance from light and airy to […]

I have been asked about the assessor that I used to advise me if I could write, and if my book was entertaining and worth reading. After all writing is a branch of the entertainment industry and fiction has to be entertaining if you wish to keep the reader’s attention so that he or she […]

Ceylon did not become Sri Lanka until 1972. The country has had a chequered  history, from the Portuguese arriving in 1505, followed by the Dutch, when the king of Sri Lanka signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company, in the hope that the Dutch would get rid of the Portuguese. It was during […]

Some months after Ollie’s weather forecast incident I was again on nights, but this time with another colleague, when we received a message from the inbound aircraft that they had an emergency. We asked for details, and it was not an emergency of the aircraft, but a passenger problem. Knowing the aircraft was a freighter, […]

Fjords, drama & cold This blog will be mainly pictures, with a limited amount of description. After leaving Puerto Chacabuco it was Chilean fjords all the way. I’ve tried to capture the grandeur of the scenery. The mist added, rather than distracted from the scenery. Flat calm and loneliness . . . While cruising through […]