Circumnavigation South America Mariner Jan 6

[cwisleman]

We are also enjoying your posts and photos as we are booked on this same cruise next January. I guess we are a bit old fashioned, but we really enjoy the formal nights on the other cruises we take (primarily Seabourn). Have there been many passengers that have donned the Tuxes and Gowns on Formal Optional nights, and do they usually dine in CR or one of the specialty restaurants?

[s2000drvr]

Day 63 Santarem, Brazil

 

We decided to walk this morning around 7a on Deck 12. We finished one hour later and thank goodness we walked when we did. The sky opened up and it started raining very hard with the wind blowing.

 

Regent offered a shuttle to town and we were to meet Michael between 9a and 9:30a, however, with the rain coming down like it was, we decided it was better to do laundry. We talked with people that had gone into town, and they said the shopping was just as good on the pier.

 

Just outside the ship there were venders set up with all their wares. So after lunch we grabbed our umbrellas and headed for the short walk to see what the venders had. By this time it was just drizzling.

 

Also, along side the pier were the ferry boats, some loaded with potatoes and some with bananas. One of the ferries was going to Manaus which was a two night trip. The hammocks were very colorful and there were many of them. I cannot imagine sleeping in such tight quarters. There is a bathroom onboard of course and also a shower. You supply your own food. The price was $50 each to take this ferry, plus the cost of rental for the hammock.

 

Getting back to the venders, they were selling masks, jewelry, some blow pipes, tshirts. One of the venders recognized me from a previous port. It seems they just follow the ship. We did some great shopping here.

 

Last night we dined in CR by ourselves, seems like it has been a long time since we had a table for two.

[s2000drvr]

We are also enjoying your posts and photos as we are booked on this same cruise next January. I guess we are a bit old fashioned, but we really enjoy the formal nights on the other cruises we take (primarily Seabourn). Have there been many passengers that have donned the Tuxes and Gowns on Formal Optional nights, and do they usually dine in CR or one of the specialty restaurants?

 

There have only been a few formal nights on this cruise. I have seen a few tuxes on formal nights, but not many. As far as ladies in their gowns, I do not recall seeing any, but I am not that observant if we are eating/dining with others as I am too interested in the food! Ladies do wear long dresses, but I would not call them evening ware. I did see some shorter cocktail type dresses but it was not on formal nights.

 

As far as dining in the alternative restaurants on formal evenings, maybe that is where they do dine. I think there may be one more formal evening, and I will pay particular attention and report back to you!

[s2000drvr]

Day 64 Enroute (Sea Day) to Devil's Island

 

Today was a very strange morning. Rich looked out to see if we could do our walk and he said it was just foggy out there. I asked him to check it out better, so out he went on the veranda to really see what it was doing and it was raining again. No walk for us.

 

We are now leaving the Amazon behind us. The water is slowly turning away from coffee colored to blue. The seas are making it known that we are not in the Amazon. Do not like the rolling from side to side at all, but have taken Bonine early so it will help. We will miss the Amazon and the very slow way of life, but I think a hard life for some. We would like to come back and do a river cruise and go from Manaus to the border of Peru. Some day.............

 

After breakfast, the weather started clearing up a bit in that the sun was trying to come out and it was a bit hazy. We grabbed our swimsuits and headed up to catch what we could.

 

Terry Breen spoke about Devil's Island, but unfortunately, we were sunning ourselves and missed her live presentation. We can catch it later on the tv.

 

Lunch was with Jane and Graham in CR. It was a delightful time as we really enjoy their company. I think I ate too much (bbq pork sandwich with French fries).

 

We played trivia and I am really getting annoyed with Harry Potter questions! I guess I will have to either watch the movies or read the books. What year was Grace Kelly married to Prince Ranier? We were off by one year. Also, which is the fastest: horse, greyhound or hare? We are not doing well at all!!

 

This afternoon we spent a very lazy one, reading and watching the waves go by. Our trip will be ending soon and we want to do all the relaxing we can now.

 

Dinner was in CR with just the two of us. Very nice by the window and the food was excellent. We are doing the cheese tray again as we found the ice cream, even though it is sugar free, bothers me at night. The cheeses are very good.

 

Tomorrow we will be at Devil's Island.

[Two Happy Cruisers]

Day 64 Enroute (Sea Day) to Devil's Island

 

This afternoon we spent a very lazy one, reading and watching the waves go by. Our trip will be ending soon and we want to do all the relaxing we can now.

 

Tomorrow we will be at Devil's Island.

 

Yes, all good things have to end someday, so do enjoy the last couple weeks of your cruise! :)

 

My DH and I did the very first segment from Ft.Lauderdale to Lima and while onboard befriended a lovely couple from Sweden, Ingvar and Margareta. Do you by any chance know them? If so, please tell them that Benita and Michael send them our best, and we will see them in June on the Voyager from Reykjavik to Copenhagen. Thanks so much!;)

[s2000drvr]

Yes, all good things have to end someday, so do enjoy the last couple weeks of your cruise! :)

 

My DH and I did the very first segment from Ft.Lauderdale to Lima and while onboard befriended a lovely couple from Sweden, Ingvar and Margareta. Do you by any chance know them? If so, please tell them that Benita and Michael send them our best, and we will see them in June on the Voyager from Reykjavik to Copenhagen. Thanks so much!;)

 

Yes, we know this wonderful couple and have had dinner with them. I will relay your message today when I see Margareta!

[RachelG]

Which is fastest, horse, greyhound or hare? This is the sort of question I hate because it depends. Are they talking about maximum speed in a short burst or are they talking about over a sustained period of time??

[s2000drvr]

Which is fastest, horse, greyhound or hare? This is the sort of question I hate because it depends. Are they talking about maximum speed in a short burst or are they talking about over a sustained period of time??

 

They did not specify! They only asked which was the fastest! and your answer is?!!!

 

Also, they asked which planet is the hottest?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Well then they must have meant the animal that could achieve the greatest speed, period. Could be the hare. Mercury must be the hottest, although second guess would be Jupiter.

[rallydave]

Well then they must have meant the animal that could achieve the greatest speed, period. Could be the hare. Mercury must be the hottest, although second guess would be Jupiter.

 

The hottest planet is Venus. While Mercury is closest to the sun, it has no atmosphere so the heat escapes into space while Venus has a significant atmosphere and the CO2 in the atmosphere heats up significantly. Hope you meant Venus and not Jupiter which is way further from the sun and extremely colder than earth, mars, etc.

 

As for the fastest, think the greyhound is fastest while the hare is more maneuverable but, not faster in a straight line but, not totally sure on speed.

[RachelG]

I am pretty sure greyhound is fastest at a sprint. We have a half greyhound half great Dane, and he is super fast. Can definitely outrun our horses and can catch rabbits with ease.

[Hambagahle]

I think the cheetah is the fastest land animal - for a sprint....see! I am practising my trivia...

[Travelcat2]

I believe you are correct:)

[RachelG]

You are correct but that wasn't one of the choices given.

[s2000drvr]

The hottest planet is Venus. While Mercury is closest to the sun, it has no atmosphere so the heat escapes into space while Venus has a significant atmosphere and the CO2 in the atmosphere heats up significantly. Hope you meant Venus and not Jupiter which is way further from the sun and extremely colder than earth, mars, etc.

 

As for the fastest, think the greyhound is fastest while the hare is more maneuverable but, not faster in a straight line but, not totally sure on speed.

 

The answers are:

 

1. The hare

2. Venus

[OrpingtonT]

The answers are:

 

1. The hare

2. Venus

 

Those answers show why I never win at Trivia (unless Hambagahle partners us)

[rallydave]

The answers are:

 

1. The hare

2. Venus

 

While Venus is correct, The hare comes in third when googling the answer. Actually the Horse (Quarter Horse) is the fastest of the three and the Greyhound comes in second from every site I found via Google. Know we can't Google during the game and Ray's answers are the gospel but, can't believe hare in any case. We'll have to have a talk with Ray on Sunday.

[OrpingtonT]

While Venus is correct, The hare comes in third when googling the answer. Actually the Horse (Quarter Horse) is the fastest of the three and the Greyhound comes in second from every site I found via Google.

 

How did a horse get into this?

[rallydave]

How did a horse get into this?

 

Tom,

 

The question was, which is faster, a horse, a greyhound, or a hare.

[OrpingtonT]

Tom,

 

The question was, which is faster, a horse, a greyhound, or a hare.

 

So it was. Even more proof that I can't get the answers right when I can't even get the questions right either.

[Two Happy Cruisers]

Yes, we know this wonderful couple and have had dinner with them. I will relay your message today when I see Margareta!

 

Great - thanks so much for your kindness!

 

~Benita

[s2000drvr]

Day 65 Devil's Island

 

We woke up our normal time of 6:45a to do our walk around and noticed that we were already at Devil's Island. We were not to arrive until 12 or 1p. An announcement came over the speaker that we arrived early due to a medical emergency and someone had to be tended to this port. We had a quick breakfast as we wanted to be on one of the first tenders.

 

We got off the ship and onto the tender around 9a for the short ride over to the island. This is not Devil's Island but Ile Royale which is one of three islands off the coast of French Guiana. The sun was out and the humidity was right up there.

 

Once we got ashore we had a few choices as how to see this island. We chose the left side which was the longest side that trails along the outskirts of the island. There is a hotel and prison ruins here, along with a church, hospital, solitary confinement cells, cemetery. This area is part of the prison system. Ile Royale was the administrative center, Ile Joseph was where the most troublesome convicts were held, and Devil's Island held political prisoners in isolation.

 

The trail is very easy to walk, hard, packed dirt with some stones and is quite wide. We saw those rodents that have stilt type legs every where. They do run when they saw us. We saw 2 macaws fighting as they flew above us. They were squawking about something. Other people saw monkeys, caimans.

 

The life of a prisoner here was very unpleasant. At the time they had cut down all the trees so that the prisoners would not be able to make rafts and float away. The ocean here is full of riptides so swimming was not a solution. Also the guards made sure that they tossed meat into the ocean to feed the sharks so that if someone decided to swim for an out, they would be eaten up.

 

The movie Papillon gives an example of how life was here.

 

There is a very small gift shop here, but it was just too small to maneuver in, but it did have a/c.

 

From Passages: “A visit to the island can be a sobering experience, as you're bombarded with prison relics that remind you that his hellish place existed alongside the islands' rich flora and fauna.”

 

Because we anchored here a bit earlier than expected, we left around 3:30p to head to Barbados.

 

We lost again in Trivia, so what else is new?

 

We had a nice dinner in CR with Dorothy and George and got caught up with them for the last few days. It is amazing as we do not see much of one another, then when we gather for dinner, it is non-stop talking!!

 

Tomorrow will be a sea day!! Hope the sun will be shining!

[s2000drvr]

Day 66 At Sea En Route to Barbados

 

Today it was a hot one! Did our 4 miles and was finished by 8a. The seas were kind to us, just the up and down motion, no rolling side to side. There was not much of a breeze while walking so we really took the sun and heat.

 

Trivia was at 11a today. Another downer for us. Okay, you trivia gurus, try and get these: What organization's publication is Watch Tower (this one is an easy one, seeing we got it right). What was the 48th state? What city in Morocco is associated with the color red? (we did manage to get that one).

How many letters in the Hawaiian alphabet? (we did get this one right).

 

I am hoping that questions will be repeated on subsequent Regent cruises, if not, then I am saving way too much info in my head.

 

Lunch was in CR and very relaxing. We are beyond being spoiled. Will have to face reality too soon.

 

By the way, I forgot to mention that yesterday Tom (Konagolfer's husband) had a blind vodka tasting for 10 of us in the Observation Lounge. I can tell you now that I do not like vodka. I do not know how anyone can just drink/sip that vodka. It is fire water. I like vodka mixed with something, anything.

 

We had a drink up in Observation with Tom and Karen. Karen had mentioned Black Russian to me and seeing I never had one, just had to give it a try. After a few sips it kind of grew on me. Not sure I would order another one.

 

At 4p it was the Old Country Fair on the pool deck. There were many, many games to play and the ship's staff were all manning the games! For every game that you would win, you would be given a ticket for the raffling of door prizes. It was a lot of fun for both the passengers and the staff!

 

We are now thinking, and only thinking, of packing. We just cannot get out the suitcases, way too many excuses here. Time is really going in 6th gear now and there are no brakes............

 

Dinner was in CR, just the two of us.

 

Tomorrow: Barbados!!

[RachelG]

48th state is Arizona. Watch tower is Jehovah's witnesses. Not sure about the morocco city but would guess Marrakech. Noel would know the Hawaiian alphabet answer so I don't have to.

[Ka Honu]

So did they say 12 or 13 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet? There are 12 from the English alphabet (a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, & w) but there's also a glottal stop common to many Polynesian languages (called the 'okina in Hawaiian and usually printed as sort of a backwards apostrophe) which is often considered the 8th consonant/13th letter.