The weather yesterday was stormy, wet and very windy, so we decided to get any early ferry, we opted for the 09:35 Red Jet from West cowes.

We drove our car and cases to Jo's house, and then Jo drove us to the ferry and took the car back to hers.

The Red Jet crossing was silky smooth, we needn't have worried about the bad weather at all.

In Southampton we got a taxi to Ocean's terminal, which cost us £10.

At the terminal we found out that there had been a problem with disembarking the ship from the previous cruise and passengers were still getting off the ship.

We had arrived very early, it was only half past ten, so we had to wait out in the cold for the luggage pods to open at 11:00. When the pods opened we dumped our cases there, which left us each with a rucksack and a small wheelie bag each.

We tried to go into check–in, but were turned away because it was 2 hours until out allocated check–in time.

We walked into Southampton, trying Oxford Place and Ocean Village, but there was nothing there, so we headed to the Standing Order, a Weatherspoons pub.

We had a light meal there, fish and chips , and Scampi and chips, coffee and beer. It was freshly cooked and really nice.

We then headed back to the terminal to check in. By this time the check–in queue was quite long but once we got to a check–in desk, we were very quickly given our boarding pass stamp.

We were directed to a waiting area where we had to wait a short while before being directed through security.

We were soon on board, and headed up to our cabin, our cases weren't there yet, so we registered at our muster station and then headed up to the buffet for a light snack, a dalad for steve and spring rolls for Debbie.

We went to meet the Creative Waves team at 16:30 and then sat for a while in the seats outside the Glass House.

A free glass of bubbly was on offer, so we headed up to the Lido Bar, which was relatively quiet and sat a table and drank.

At about 18:30 we went into the buffet for dinner, we both had a rather nice mutton curry. The ship had started reversing out of the dock and by 19:00 was pointing the right way down Southampton Water.

There were fireworks on the quay side to see us off.

We had planned to go to the show , but it had been a long day, so we both decided that we'd rather just go to the cabin. By this time the last of the cases had arrived and we could finish unpacking.

We watched Run Fat Boy Run on the laptop via the cabin TV

We had walked a total of nearly six miles.

Our first sea day

We had breakfast in the buffet,

At 10:00 Debbie went to the Creative Waves watercolour session, painting an Amazon rainforest scene., whilst I sat and read.

Went back to the room as Debbie was feeling a little nauseous due to the motion of the ship.

Debbie was well enough to try some lunch so we headed back to the buffet

After lunch I went back to the room to rest and Debbie went to the piano room to read and do some needlework.

At 16:00 there was another creative Waves get together which Debbie went to, where she made a luggage tag out of wood.

We had dinner in the Medina restaurant, had to wait a bit with a bleeper so went to Andersons for a beer.

Then back to the room, tried to watch a film, but very tired and fell asleep.

A lot of motion on the ship now.

Very rough in the night, quite a disturbed sleep, gale force 8.

Debbie felt nauseous, so took sea sickness pill.

I went to breakfast in the buffet by myself.

After a while Debbie started to feel a bit better, so got dressed and we sent back to the buffet, where she managed a light breakfast.

Creative Waves watercolour at 10:00, painting a lighthouse, while I sat and read.

The sea state was still very rough, with waves breaking sometimes as high as deck 13.

Lunch in the buffet.

Afternoon craft session at 14:00, scrapbooking.

Then afternoon tea in the buffet, while doing some sudokus from a 'fiendish puzzles' book.

Went back to the cabin. Debbie fell asleep for an hour or so before heading back to the buffet for a light dinner.

Sea was a lot calmer last night, so we both slept really well, up, showered and to the buffet for breakfast.

We went up to the crow&apos's nest, I sat and read while Debbie did watercolour , a cottage garden scene.

Afterwards we did a couple of laps of the promenade deck.

There was a special offer at the duty free store, where each passenger could buy a litre of spirit to drink on board at duty free prices, so we queued there to get two bottles of whisky.

We'd booked for a lunch at Sindu's so at just after 12, we went there, three courses for £10 each.

It was a formal night, and captain's party, so we got into our finery and queued to get into the crows nest for 17:30. The fizz was flowing freely, so we took advantage of that, then it was down to the Medina, where we were given a buzzer, went to Andersons for a beer, buzzer went off as the beer arrived.

A quiet day at sea.

Breakfast in the buffet and then up to the crows nest for watercolour and reading.

We did a couple of laps of the deck before lunch.

We had dinner in the buffet.

The ship was docking as we had breakfast, a quick bacon sandwich in the buffet. Before heading down to the quay to join our tour.

The tour buses where just outside the quay, so it was a bit of a walk to get to them.

The coaches were modern, with a good clear sound system and air conditioning.

We set of more or less on time at 08:45, for our first stop in the centre of Aruca.

The coach dropped us by the Neo Gothic church

We were guided along a street which was still decked out for Christmas to the old town hall and Aruca sign.

We were given a bit of free time to look around before meeting back at the coach for a short drive to a small garden.

Some nice flowers, cacti, loads of peacocks and some samples of the local banana liqueur, and a three hundred year old dragon tree

After some time looking around the garden we headed back to the coach for the drive to Teror.

Here we were led to the Basilica

and then given some free time to look around the town.

Then it was time to head back to the ship

Up and shower and then to the buffet for breakfast

Debbie headed up to the crows nest for watercolour and I headed to Masquerades for ukulele

Beginners ukulele followed by improvers ukulele, 09:00 to 10:30.

Then I headed to the Curson theatre for a talk on the early maritime explorers, Magellen, Vasco de Gamma, Columbus, etc. Quite a good talk.

I went up to the crows nest to meet with Debbie, who by this time was doing quilling, I looked at the crossword book for a while until the quilling session finished,

Then to the buffet for lunch, and then another talk in the theatre, this time the life of John Le Measuerer performed by an impressionist. Not bad.

Then back to the room.

We went to the Medina restaurant for dinner, but it was a little disappointing, the paella was very dry.

After dinner we decided to have a flight of wine in the glass house, very pleasant. We asked about forthcoming wine tasting events, to find that there was one in a few days time, so we booked up for that.

Then it was back to the room.

Breakfast in the buffet, and then straight down to ukulele, Debbie headed up to the crows nest for her watercolour.

Ukulele was practising alternate chord pairs.

Then to the talk on maritime terminology that had found its way into everyday language, such 'square meal' and 'piping hot'. Quite good.

Lunch in the restaurant, fish and chips, nice. A few flying fish were in evidence.

Felt a little rough in the afternoon, tummy ache, so lay on the bed for a while. It soon passed

In the evening went to the buffet for dinner, and then looked at the moon and the night sky for a while on the back of deck 11.

Scrambled egg on toast in the buffet for breakfast, before heading down to Ukulele lesson.

Today the possibility of a Scottish themed mini concert on Burn's night was floated, so we practiced 'Dumbarton Drums'. Also tried chord pairs for real. I struggled with that.

Debbie went to watercolour where she painted a flamingo.

Then it was to the theatre for the talk on accidental discoveries, starting with Columbus.

Met Debbie for lunch and went to the Medina restaurant, we both had the deep fried seafood with garlic mayonaisse, it was ok.

After lunch Debbie went to the card making session, I met her at three in the crows nest.

In the afternoon, after we'd had a cup of tea, we went and sat outside on the back of deck 11, very pleasant.

We had internet today, so caught up on e–mails etc.

Dinner was just cheese and biscuits in the buffet, and then back to the room to take advantage of our internet access.

Bacon sandwich for breakfast in the buffet, at then down to ukulele.

Today's ukulele was more of the rock alternate chords as well as blues ending.

Went to talk on Pirates of the Caribbean, quite good.

Debbie went to watercolour and painted a mountain scene using only one colour.

Lunch was in the buffet, salad, and some very nice mustard herrings.

I went back to the room to rest and then caught up with Debbie on the back of deck 11 where she was chatting to Marlene.

We went for a cup of tea in the buffet, but the tea was only half drunk when the officer of the watch reported whales ahead and that we should be level with them, on the port side, in five minutes. Went back to room to get camera, and then up to lean over the railing on deck 12. Saw nothing, neither did anyone else.

Black tie night so went back to the room to get changed. I had turbot and Debbie had lamb..

Back to the room to watch a film.

The day started off quite normally, breakfast in the buffet, just a bacon sandwich for me.

Then I went to ukulele and Debbie went did a few laps of the deck before heading up to watercolour.

Ukulele we practised rocking chords again, and started on finger picking.

Debbie finished watercolour a bit early, so that she could meet me just before 11 outside the glasshouse.

Today was the day that we had wine tasting booked.

One couple didn't turn up, so there were only 6 of us for the event.

Wine and cheese, because not everyone had turned up, they were quite willing to top up the wine on request. We had 4 wines in total., a San Sarez Pinot Grigio at 13%, a Greyvace Sauvignon blanc at 13.5%, Perez Cruz a Chilean Carbinet Sauvignon at 14% and Colum an Argentian Malbec at 14.5%. All the wines were very nice, and they were very generous with it.

During the course of the tasting we all signed up for the fine wine tasting at a yet to be decided future date.

We had to leave the wine tasting room, but the six of us settled down in the glasshouse proper and Richard and Jo bought a bottle of the malbec to share, Which went down very nicely, so nicely that Gary and Helen bought another bottle for us to share. I was going to buy another bottle, but Helen dissuaded me as she, quite rightly, thought we'd had a little too much. But it was a very nice afternoon.

Went back to the room to sleep it off!

Woke up after 18:00 and went and had something to eat in the buffet, then back to the room to watch a film.

This morning we overslept, didn't get out of bed until nearly half past seven. So a quick shower and then I went to the buffet for breakfast whilst Debbie got ready, she met me in the buffet a little later. Devilled kidneys for breakfast today.

Ukulele, was more rocking chords and finger picking, also given some Scottish songs to practice for a pop up concert in the atrium on Burn's night.

Instead of going to the talk, I went outside with my camera to try and do some photography, failed to capture flying fish. But it was too hot for me, even on the shady side of the ship so came back inside and met Debbie after her watercolour.

We had lunch in the Restaurant, burger for me and light plates for Debbie.

In the afternoon sat outside on deck 11 before having a cup of tea.

Debbie went to the Creative Waves bunting making.

We were booked on a trip today, at 08:45, so we had breakfast in the buffet, and then went back to our room to get our stuff together.

The ship was a little late docking, and then it seemed to take forever for them to get the disembarkation sorted, we stood on deck 7 for a while and watched them trying to maneuvre a boarding ramp from the dock to the ship.

Eventually they got it into place and then the crew could start setting up the secure zone around the ship and get all the safety barriers in place.

We headed down to deck four to disembark and walked along the pier to where the coaches were waiting.

We boarded our coach number 12 with our guide Janin and set off through St. Johns.

The guide was very good and described highlights to see as we travelled.

Our first stop was at the blockhouse, an old military installation which commanded a good view of the surrounding seas

we had ten minutes here to take pictures before getting back onto the coach.

The next stop was Shirley heights, again we only had ten minutes to take pictures and admire the views over the harbour and Nelson's Dockyard.

Then we were driven down to Nelson's Dockyard, where we had a short talk about the site and were given a Rum punch, which was very nice. We then had time to walk around the site by ourselves.

During our Atlantic crossing we had been kept informed of a transatlantic rowing race that was ongoing, The Dutch team was the first to cross the finish line.

When our time was up we returned to the coach and were driven back to St. Johns.

The coach dropped us back at the port in St. Johns, but we didn't go straight back to the ship, instead we walked up to look at the Cathedral. It cost us $5 dollars each to go in. A concrete facade with a wooden interior.

After the cathedral, we walked down towards the museum, dodging the gaping holes in the pavement and took a few pics of the locomotives that had worked on the sugar plantations.

Then we walked back to the ship via the town square.

The ship was docked and ready to disembark by 08:00, but our trip wasn't due to depart until 09:00, nevertheless, we were at the appointed place by 08:30 and had to wait for our guide to arrive. There was a light rain in the air, but nothing significant.

When the guide arrived we were led to our vehicle, an open sided taxi, which seated 20. We both got seats by the edge so we could see out.

The guide and driver, Jack, described the town as we drove through, and how there were only 2 roundabouts on the island, and 2 sets of traffic lights, before we started grinding up the steep slope to the ridge of the island.

We made a stop at a viewpoint on the Ridge Road, there wasn't a lay by or anything, we just stopped by the side of the road, where a few other taxis had also stopped. We got out to take pictures of the views to the north.

Later on we made another stop on the Ridge Road, this time with views to the South, overlooking the harbour.

The taxi also paused at various places for photos, but not long enough to get out of the vehicle.

We were driven up to Sage Mountain, and were given vouchers for a rum punch, but their had been a lot of tourists through that morning, and we had to wait for more punch to be made, I think they forgot to put the rum in it.

The last stop of the trip was at Pusser's landing, a yachting harbour.

The drive back to the ship was along the flat south coast of the island.

Back at the pier head we took advantage of the free WiFi, which worked but was terribly slow.

Breakfast in the buffet, and then down to ukulele

After ukulele I went up on deck to try and take some pictures of birds, there was a small flock of assorted sea birds riding the updraft from the ship.

I didn't stay on deck for long, as it was very windy, it was a force 7. So went up to the crow's nest to meet Debbie at 11:00 when her watercolour finished.

We went to the buffet for a cup of tea, and then arranged when we were going to have special meals in the glass house, Sindhu and the Beach house.

We had lunch in the buffet

Although it was a black tie night, there was nothing on the menu that either of us fancied, so we both decided we didn't want to get dressed up.

So a dinner in the buffet and then a good opportunity to catch up with the laundry,

We were on a tour, meeting at 09:00, but we'd finished breakfast, so decided to go down to the quayside to see of we could get WiFi. There wasn't any, the tourist information, and the shops weren't open yet, but we managed to get a map.

We hung around inside for a bit, and then headed out to see if we could find our tour. A queue for it had already formed, so we joined that.

It rained a bit whilst we were waiting.

We were eventually led to our bus by our guide, Kiki. Our driver was Marcus. Kiki was full of false joviality, she seemed rather jaded by it all.

The roads were awful, huge potholes and in very poor condition generally, so we encountered a lot of roadworks.

We made a brief stop a the top of the hill leading out of the port, so we could take pictures of the ship through the coach windows.

Another stop was made a little later on to take pictures of the Governor General's official residence.

The first stop where we could get out was a small bar, 'Plantation'? With views out to sea.

We drove on through the villages of Canaries and Sourfiere to the Toraille Waterfall

From there it was a short drive to the Diamond waterfall and botanical garden, where the guide led us on a rather hurried walk through some of the gardens.

The last stop was at the Beacon, a cafe with good view of the Pitons. Here we were given a light snack, and a drink of Mango juice.

Then it was back to the ship

Our meet time for our tour was 09:15, but we got there quite early.

The dispatch point for the tours was absolutely heaving, there were three other ships in port, all with tours.

We were told to wait in a particular place, we were the first to arrive for our tour, others came in dribs and drabs. We then ad to go and form a queue ready for when our bus arrived.

When our coach came, we were led to it, we were first on and sat at the front. There was a bit of a delay in leaving, because when they checked the tickets, they found that two people from another ship had got caught up in our group by mistake.

We weren't too late leaving, our guide was Katherine and our driver was Herman

Our first stop was the Sunbury plantation house, here a guide handed us over to the house guide, who guided through the rooms, which were decorated in authentic 18th century decor.

One room was set up as a small museum to optical equipment, cameras and spectacle lenses.

In the basement was a lovely collection of old horse drawn buggies

When we entered the house we'd been given vouchers to exchange for a rum punch at the bar, so that was the next place to visit

We had a little bit of time to look around outside before we had to reboard the coach

Our next stop was the tropical gardens, here both Katherine and Herman showed us around, Herman pounding Almond nuts with a rock to open them.

Here we had another rum punch each.

Our last stop was Gun Hill signal station, a short walk up a hill and a few steps up the tower.

Then we headed back to the ship past old sugar plantations, churches and rum shops

A day at sea today, so ukulele in the morning, followed by a talk on Weird Weapons by Col Dick, it was ok.

Debbie went to watercolour and painted a boat on a beach.

Met Debbie for lunch, we went to the buffet.

In the Afternoon I went to a talk on the Dambusters by Paul Sloane, quite good.

Debbie made a carnival mask

In the evening we had decided to got to the Glass House. So that's what we did, 6 tapas dishes between us, it seemed a little ordinary.

We went to the buffet afterwards to have dessert, lemon tart, and some cheese.

We watched School of Rock back in the room

I went to ukulele as normal.

But there had been a note outside our door saying everybody needed to hand their passports in by noon that day ready for Brazilian immigration, so Debbie spent a frantic hour in the cabin trying to find them. They were in a suitcase under the bed

Passports dealt with,

Went to a talk on Lateral Thinking by Paul Sloane.

Lunch in the buffet

We bought internet for the day.

We had dinner in the restaurant, the service was very slow. Although we were on a table to two, we talked a little with Jan and Steve, who were also on a table for two. We had mixed grill.

After breakfast I went to ukulele, and Debbie went to get the daily puzzles.

After ukulele I went up to the crow's nest, and read for a while until Debbie finished watercolour.

We went together to get a cup of tea in the buffet. After which we moved to the Riviera area and had some freshly cooked pizza and chips for lunch.

During his noon address, the captain gave our total distance travelled so far as 5817 miles.

In the afternoon, Debbie made paper thistles! They look more like feather dusters!

We are expected to cross into the River Amazon at about 18:00.

Being Burn's night, it is a black tie night.

Dinner was very nice, Haggis tart, Cocka–leekie soup, Beef Wellington and Cranachan.

We've turned to the west and have now entered the mouth of the Amazon

Went out early as we were now anchored in Santana, took a few pics from the top deck.

A huge beetle was on the outside stairs.

Went to breakfast and then ukulele as normal. After breakfast we saw a kingfisher perched on the back handrail, but failed to get a picture.

After dropping off ukulele, noticed that the door at the front of our corridor had light coming through it. The front of deck 11 was now open.

Stayed there for some time, expecting the ship to up anchor, but by the time I was due to meet Debbie, we were still stationery.

Took Debbie to the newly opened deck. After lunch we stayed there most of the afternoon, expecting the ship to get underway. It didn't.

It was past 17:00 when the captain finally announced that the Brazilian authorities had cleared us to continue on our way, sunset was at 17:30, so wasn't any point going back outside as the light had gone.

As the ship started to move a swarm of jet skis came to see us off

Dinner in the buffet

Left the cabin early to go up on deck and take some pictures, walked along deck 13 and then down to deck 12, had breakfast in the buffet.

Went back outside to look out for wildlife for a bit before heading down to ukulele, didn't really see much. There were a lot of cattle feeding by the side of the river.

Ukulele was a bit different today, people talking about their ukuleles, so I left early and went outside with the camera

We passed the city of Santarem

There were a few birds to see.

The captain's noon announcement told us we'd sailed 6304 Nautical Miles since leaving Southampton.

Met Debbie in the Crow's nest at 12:30 and went for lunch in the buffet. She'd been to watercolour, and then done envelopes for Chinese new year

After lunch I went back to the cabin for a while to relax and cool off.

Went outside on the front deck for a while, but the sun was now beating down and there was no shade there. So went to find Debbie. She was on the back of deck 11.

Passed the city of Obidos

Sat there for a while, before going in for water and tea.

Captain announced we would be arriving one and a half hours late in Manaus due to our late departure from Santana.

Just before sunset, went out onto the front deck, lovely cooling breeze, really nice.

The ship arrival time had been announced to be 10:30. We'd received an update that our tour would start at 10:30. The ship didn't actually dock until gone 11:00.

When it was finally announced that the gangplanks were clear it was chaos, with everybody trying to get off at the same gangplank at the same time.

Then a ship official started directing people to the forward gangway, we got there and it was virtually guest free. On the quayside it was equally chaotic, we were initially directed to a holding area, and then told to go to some boats at the end of the quay, at those boats we were told to go to some other boats in the opposite direction. We found the right boats eventually.

It was an open sided boat that went at a reasonable speed, it generated quite a spray

When we arrived on the other side of the river, they ran the boat right up onto the beach, so that we could disembark through the front without getting wet.

We were lead a little way from the beach to a large hut on stilts, where we were given a bottle of water to drink.

After we'd all had some water we were lead outside and up a flight of 45 rickety steps to the jungle trail. We walked a little way the guide stopped and described how the wild coffee plants were used to make a drink, and also cloves. We tried a taste of the coffee leaf, and also drank some of both drinks.

We walked on a little further and then stopped to be shown a vile smelling root that they mixed with water to make an evil smelling liquid that they used in fishing.

A bit further on we came to a palm tree, a straight trunk with no branches. A 14 year old boy then demonstrated how they climbed these trees, firstly barefoot and unaided, and then using a loop of palm leaf wrapped round his feet.

We went on a bit further down the trail,where we had a fire making demonstration, using the guides machete and a rock to create a spark to light some wire wool.

By this time, the high heat and humidity was starting to cause some people to feel a bit woozy. One gentleman collapsed onto the ground.

Everyone in the group offered water, a large number of ship's biscuits were also produced by various people to help him.

The boy was sent back to the starting hut to get a chair for him to sit in. Then he was sent back to get a man to carry him down, and then sent back again to get another man. They initially tried to carry him in the chair, but didn't get very far. Eventually resorting to walking him between them, with the chair on standby for him to sit and rest when needed.

Some of the group continued on with the guide, but we decided to turn back, thinking we didn't want to risk anything happening to us.

The walk down to the hut was uneventful, being able to stop and take pictures as we went.

Back at the hut there where cold drinks waiting for us in the form of beer, water coke and a rum drink. Also some lovely pineapple.

When the group had all got back together, we headed back to the boat in time to avoid the coming rain.

The sides of the boat were pulled down to protect us from the rain.

We arrived back on the ship, and headed straight for a shower, followed by some afternoon tea.

That evening at 19:30, we headed down to the quayside, we boarded a large 2 storey boat and headed out across the river.

We arrived at Lake Januerie and transferred to much smaller boats, 10 per boat, plus driver and guide. As luck would have it we were at the front of one of the boats.

The guide had a powerful head torch that he used to scour the reed beds, looking for the reflection of eyes poking above the water. Directing the driver of the boat by shaking is head up and down when he spotted something. He made a couple of failed attempts to catch a cayman, but then as he approached for the third time the guide lay flat on the front of the boat, we could see the cayman's eyes poking above the surface of the water, The guide caught the cayman by grabbing it just behind it's head.

A number of boats gathered together to compare cayman and to have a little talk about them. Ours was a spectacled cayman of about 2 years old.

Then it was back to the gift shop where we had some time to look around, before boarding the boats back to the ship.

We got back onboard at about 23:15, and headed up to try and get some food, we had quiche and chips. A local dance troupe that had been entertaining in the theatre were also up there.

Today we were booked on the Amazon Experience trip. We Boarded boats on the quayside, the same 2 deck boats that we were on last night.

We sailed out of the quayside, past floating petrol stations.

Birds congregated on the floating debris that was being washed downstream.

We saw quite a few dolphins close to the shore.

The boat took us to where the Rio Negro and the Amazon meet, one river dark, the other muddy and orange,

A gunboat patrolled the river.

We passed a stilted village on the shore.

As we docked another boat on the same tour came in

We left the bigger boats and boarded the same 10 seat boats as we were on last night, this one had quite a lot of water in the bottom. Two people had to get off of our boat because their seat collapsed!

We went up and down various tributaries looking for any wildlife we could find. Mainly birds and a single Iguana. Because the river was lower than it normally is at this time of year, we couldn't go into the trees proper, but had to stay in the bigger tributaries.

When we got back it was time for lunch, quite a selection of fish and chicken, with fresh pineapple and bananas

Then we were taken to sea the giant water lillies, up wooden ramp and along a raised boardwalk.

We boarded our boats and were taken back to the quayside in Manaus

The ship had left Manaus last evening. The clocks had also gone forward by one hour, so we are now GMT+3.

Got up a bit late, had a cooked breakfast in the buffet.

Went to Ukulele then went outside on deck 7 for a while. Not much to see at the moment.

Met Debbie and went to lunch in the buffet.

Rested most of the afternoon and then went for dinner in the restaurant, pheasant breast.

The captain's midday address gave our total distance travelled so far as 6974 miles.

After breakfast we went back to our room to wait, as our trip wasn't due to meet until 09:00 in the Curzon Theatre.

We got to the theatre a little early and had to wait outside for a while before they let us in and gave us stickers (number 15) for our bus, we were then told to sit in the theatre and wait.

At the allotted time we were led out, down to deck 5, where we had to demonstrate that we could step over an 18 inch gap, and then down to deck 3 to board our tender.

There was a floating platform positioned along side the ship that we descended onto, and then we walked across onto a river boat, the same type as we'd used in Manaus. When everybody was on board the boat set off for the shore.

It took a little while for the boat to dock on the quayside as it had to turn around in a relatively confined space, which meant the boat had to shunt backwards and forwards in a multiple point turn manoeuvre.

Once ashore we were directed to our bus, bus #1, which was an ordinary bus, such as one might find about town. There were plenty of spare seats and we were able to spread out a bit.

It was quite a long drive to the forest, about 60 KM, but was interesting to see the Brazilian countryside and the way people lived.

The guide, Jorge, gave us many facts and figures about the Amazon, 380 billion trees, for example, as well as many other facts about the number of species.

Brazil Nut trees are protected by law, and where forest has been cleared for agriculture, the Brazil Nut trees are left standing.

When we got to the entrance to the reserve, we stopped for a short comfort break, before driving deeper into the forest.

We walked a well trodden trail, but there was still a number of fallen logs to negotiate, our stop was at a “Canelon” tree, this tree is impervious to insects and fungus, and doesn't rot even when it dies, due to natural turpines in the sap.

As we walked we passed many termite nests build above the ground on trees.

The next stop was at a Jojoba tree, this had a tap driven into the side, the guide filled his water bottle with some of the sap, and passed it around, to taste and smell. A vinegary musty smelling liquid.

The next stop was at a Brazil nut tree, where the local guide demonstrated how to open the brazil nut pods, that looked like small cannonballs, to reveal the nuts inside.

The guide illustrated how certain species of ant could be rubbed into the skin to protect against insects.

The bus had moved along the road, so we didn't have to retrace our steps to get back to the bus. The bus took us further into the forest, to a point overlooking the Tapajos River.

Here, we walked a short way along a trail to a rubber tree, where the local guide cut it so that we could see the latex oozing out.

The last thing to see was a Kapok tree, which had huge buttresses around the trunk.

On the way back to the bus, the local guide showed us a tarantula that had been goaded out of its hole.

Then it was time to get back on the bus for the drive back to the ship. As we were following a logging truck, there was an almighty bang, one of the truck's tyres had blown. It was very loud.

When we got back to the ship we boarded our river boat that took us back to the ship. A long trip, but very interesting.

This was our last day cruising the Amazon. It was raining quite heavily and the river was getting wider and the banks further away.

The ship stopped at 13:30 at Santana to drop off the pilots. The ship continued on its way, crossing the threshold into salt water at 23:30.

At noon the captain announced that the total miles travelled since Southampton was 7474 Miles.

Ukulele in the morning for me, and watercolour for Debbie.

When we went out of our door for breakfast we saw a ticket in our inbox outside of the door, it was for the fine wine tasting, that was set for 11:15 that morning, not much notice.

I didn't go to ukulele today, as it wasn't a normal session, but an upon rehearsal come Caribbean party. So I sat and read in the crow's nest until Debbie finished her watercolour at 11:00

Went down to the glass house for the wine tasting. We were the only ones there, the other two couples had cancelled. The somelier offered to dur the wine tasting with just the two of us, but we declined.

As compensation, we had a free drink, Me a Jolly Ollie beer and Debbie a Bacchus New Hall white wine.

We looked at the lunch menu in the Medina, but didn't fancy it, so went upstairs to the buffet.

The noon day announcement by the captain gave out total distance so far as 7761 miles.

We got internet so stayed in the room most of the afternoon, venturing downstairs at 16:00 to look at the Creative Waves crafts for sale, didn't buy anything.

Dinner in the buffet, fresh fish, chips and mushy peas.

We had breakfast in the buffet.

I didn't go to ukulele, but went out on deck to watch as we sailed by the Salvation Islands.

It was quite misty and drizzling a bit as we approached the islands, St Joseph's Island on the left, Royal Island in the middle and the notorious Devil's Island on the right. The penal colony's administration buildings on Royal Island were visible above the trees.

The ship got to within 1.3 miles of Devil's Island, but the rain increased so visibility wasn't any better.

After the sail by I returned to the room, to get our duty free spirit vouchers, valid until the 4th. There was quite a queue outside the duty free shop. But then a ship official came and told us that the voucher wasn't valid until tomorrow.

I went back to the room and awaited Debbie's return from watercolour and cartoon drawings

The captain's announcement at noon gave our total distance travelled at over 8000 miles. He also announced that there was a lot of passengers had reported to the medical centre with gastro problems, and to take particular care of hand washing before meals and ona regular basis.

We had intended to have lunch in the restaurant, but there were a lot of people waiting with bleepers for a table, so we went up to the buffet. Had Chile, quite nice.

Tonight is a black tie night, so got up into best togs and went to the Medina restaurant.

As we walked to breakfast we checked in at the laundry, there were plenty of spare washing machines, so while I “reserved” one, Debbie went back for the dirty washing. We loaded up the machine on the regular cycle, which takes 44 minutes, and headed up to breakfast.

After breakfast we returned to the room to wait for the washing machine cycle to complete. I went to ukulele, and Debbie went to the laundry room to move the washing to a dryer, only to find that someone had pressed the button to restart the cycle, so she had to wait another 44 minutes for it to complete. Which it did, and then to the tumble dryer. The laundry is still manic after it being closed for a week whilst we were in the Amazon.

After ukulele I came back to the room to get our duty free drink vouchers, and went down to join the queue. It took an hour to get to the front of the queue and got 2 bottles of Bell's Whisky.

By which time Debbie was out of watercolour and sitting in the piano bar, watching proceedings. We went for lunch in the buffet.

The Captain's noon announcement gave our total distance as 8342 nautical miles. He also said there would be a navigation by the stars session on deck at 21:30, maybe I'll go!

The afternoon was spent relaxing, Debbie went to quilling in the afternoon.

In the evening we had the Beach House booked, for an Italian meal. The food was quite nice, but because it was less than 10 pound, we couldn't get our meal card stamped.

The ship docked in Scarborough, Tobago, and it was announced that we had been cleared to go ashore at 08:00.

We weren't in any hurry, we planned to wait until the bulk of the shore tours had left. So we had a leisurely breakfast in the buffet.

We made our way ashore at just pat 09:00.

There was a steel band and dancers on the quayside.

We walked past the usual throng of taxi drivers offering tours and crossed the street, we looked in the nearest mall, out of curiosity, but nowhere was really open yet.

Our target was the botanical garden that we knew was only a short walk from the ship. It didn't take us long to get there.

It was a very neatly kept garden, no labels unfortunately, but we spent several hours walking around.

One of the first things we noticed was a lizard running across the grass, it stopped at a bush, not far from were we where.

The trees were amazing, some with spine growing around the base, most of the trees had air plants and orchids growing on them.

Some of the trees had immense root systems, that spread along the surface for many yards.

There were two small ponds, one with water lillies and the other lotus plants.

We spent quite a lot of time sitting and watching the birds.

As we left the gardens a man in business attire spoke to us and asked us where we were from etc.

We headed back to the ship, had a look in another mall on the way, but there wasn't anything we were interested in.

Then it was back to the ship and to our room for a shower to cool off.

Went out on deck at sunset to look at the cloudscape. Sunset was blocked by clouds. The half moon was directly overhead and Venus made an appearance just after sunset.

Last night's star gazing was cancelled due to clouds and has been rescheduled for tonight, so looks pretty cloudy to me!

Breakfast in the buffet, and then down to ukulele, which was mainly practising for the concert on Saturday, which I'm not going to anyway, but still quite a good session.

Debbie went to watercolour and painted a kestrel.

I went to the talk on Women Pirates, which was quite interesting.

I met Debbie in the piano bar shortly before noon.

The captains noon announcement gave 258 nautical miles since leaving Scarborough, with 240 nautical miles to go to Curacao.

He didn't give the distance since leaving Southampton, but instead gave the total lifetime distance sailed by Aurora as 2,483,703 nautical miles.

We went to the Medina restaurant for lunch, very nice haddock and chips.

We had a trip booked starting at 08:45, so went out to the quayside at 08:15. There were dancers on the quayside.

We got on the coach and set of on our tour on time. The guide was very informative and described the Dutch houses and the pontoon bridge as we drover the the town. Wilhemstead itself is a Unesco world heritage site.

Our first stop was the Curacao museum, which had rooms set up with period furnishing.

One room held a glass panel depicting Curacao, that had been displayed at the 19?? Expo in New York.

And an old kitchen display.

Outside there were many modern art sculptures

In a separate building was the preserved front of Snip. A Fokker XVIII that had been the first plane to land in Curacao. After having completed a 56 hour flight (with stops) from Holland to Curacao in 1934.

Back on the coach, we were driven to look at the flamingoes. We couldn't get off the coach so all pictures had to be taken through the window.

We were then taken to the Hato caves, situated in a hillside near the airport. Photos were not allowed in the caves except at 2 specific locations. The caves were very hot and humid. Stalagtites and stalagmites were quite large and some had joined to form columns. We were shown a colony of bats hanging from the roof in part of the cave, we saw the occasional bat flying around.

The last stop of the tour was the Curacao liquor distillery

Then it was back to the ship. We left the berth shortly before sunset.

Didn't go to ukulele today as it was just practice for the concert later today. Instead went to a talk on Pirate's treasure, which was quite interesting.

Went upstairs to meet Debbie as she was finishing watercolour. Then went for a cup of tea in the Horizon.

Tonight was a black tie night, to made an effort to look smartish, and went to the Medina dining room. We were given a bleeper as there weren't any tables for 2 available, it was about 45 minutes before we were called.

Service was a little slow, but he meal was nice, I had Turbot and Debbie had Salmon.

The ship had docked and clearance been given at about 07:30, but we were in no hurry to get off. We hadn't got a trip booked we were just going tot wander around and see how things went.

We went ashore shortly after 09:00, it was a fifteen minute walk from the ship to the cruise terminal.

Before the exit of the cruise terminal was an Eco Park, with walk in aviaries and parrots perching in the trees, and a peccary.

We walked past the taxis waiting in the terminal and went outside the port gate. Here we were talked into getting a taxi to the old town for $15, a little cheaper than they were charging in the terminal.

It was a private car, not an official taxi, but it took us ok to the old town, and dropped us close to the clock tower.

We walked through the entry under the clock tower and into the old town, here some fifties style cars were driving tourists around on a tour.

We hadn't got a map of the town, so we wandered around, through the plazas and up onto the town wall, we followed the wall around for a while, but certainly didn't walk all of it, because it was getting very hot.

We descended down from the walls into the town again, we looked in a few shops, but didn't buy anything as we weren't sure about the pricing, everything seemed very expensive. We walked past statues and churches and eventually stopped a taxi to take us back to the cruise terminal for $10.

Back at the cruise terminal we sat and had a beer and watched the birds and monkeys for a while before heading back to the ship. We had got very hot during our walk.

Today we had breakfast in the buffet as usual, and then went down to the Piano Bar to sit and wait as we had to go to our muster stations. As it turned out we could go to our station early and just show our card and that was it.

I sat and read in the crows nest and then went down to the lecture on architecture, which was quite interesting.

Met Debbie in the piano bar afterwards and went to the buffet for lunch.

The sliding roof over the crystal pool has been opened, so we took our cup of tea out there, where there was a bit of a draught.

More tea by the crystal pool in the afternoon and then back to the room to relax.

The advertised tour start time was 09:15, but we had to go through immigration, so allowed some time for that. As it turned out, a simple stamp in the passport and we were through. So we were half an hour early for our tour, nevertheless, one tour bus was already full, and the second bus, number 16, already had people on it. The tour set off at 09:00.

The dancers on the quayside were having a rest.

It was a 90 minute drive to the first stop, but the guide, Giovani (JoJo) kept up a steady stream of dialogue for most of it. Our driver was called Richard. We stopped at the entracnce to the heritage site and boarded a land train.

The land train took us to the old city from the 1500's, a UNESCO world heritage site, here we walked a little and looked at some of the historic buildings, notably a convent.

We then walked down to look at the tower of the old church.

We then went into the little museum there, which was thankfully air conditioned.

The guide gave us some time to look around outside, and to climb the tower if we wanted to, but it was far too hot to do that, so we sat in a shady spot until it was time to return to the coach. As we got on the coach we were given a snack box and a small bottle of water, the water was cold, which was nice. The snack was a cheese and ham roll and a small bun.

The coach took is to the classical town, which was in a style of both Spanish and French, and with views of the new city skyline.

The guide showed us some stalls in the plaza that were selling “handmade” traditional designs.

We then started our walking tour of the centre, trying to stay in the shade as mush as possible, because it was very hot and humid.

Once in the main plaza we were given some free time to look around, we chose to go into the cathedral.

We left the cathedral to go back and meet the guide at the designated time, she was 10 minutes late.

We headed back to our coach and settled in for the drive back to Colon. What was very evident was the immense difference in wealth between the rather run down port of Colon and the fabulous new sky scrapers of Panama City.

We got back to the ship, passport control was there, but they just waved us through. We headed up to our room to shower and cool off.

Went out on to deck 13 at 06:15 as we approached the bridge at the entrance to the Panama Canal

The ship was due to enter the first lock chamber at 07:30, the Don Quixote was ahead of us.

Once the Don Quixote had moved into the second chamber, and the lock gates were open, we moved ahead into the first lock. Our progress was steadied by the onshore “muels”.

We progressed through the three lock chambers to raise us by 95 metres into the lake.

There were vultures and pelicans in evidence on the side of the lock.

On in the lake, the ship, drifted for an hour or two and then made its way down through the locks to sea level.

There was a barbecue on deck, but no other food in the buffet for lunch.

The ship docked in Puerto Limon, and the announcement that we had clearance to go ashore was made at around 07:00.

Our trip wasn't due to start until 08:30, but we went ashore in good time for that and were allocated a coach, it was already half full. A reggae band was playing a welcoming song on the quayside.

The coach filled up and we left the quayside at 08:00, half an hour early. It was a two hour drive to the rainforest, our guide, Marvin, told us about Costa Rica and the rainforest. The roads were good, but there were a lot of roadworks where it was being maintained. It was abusy road, with a lot of large american style trucks. We passed banana plantations, villages and towns.

When we reached our destination we swapped our coach for two smaller mini buses that took us the last mile into the forest.

We formed a queue to board the cable car, but then a group of White Nosed Coatis appeared, so we all went to have a closer look at them.

We went back to the queue for the Aerial Tram, the guide pointed out a couple of frogs that were neary by.

The Aerial Tram was a converted ski lift that used to operate in Canada, converted for tourist use. We were allocated seats so as to keep the car balanced.

The cable car journey took about an hour and a half, just above ground level on the way out and at tree top height on the way back.

We saw birds and insects in the trees, but many of them were to quick to photograph, though some were more obliging.

At the turn round point a lizard was just visible on a tree trunk.

When we got back to the start, it was lunch time, a buffet, with typical Costa Rican food, beans, rice, fish chicken and beef. It was very tasty.

After lunch we had a guided walk through some of the not so wild part of the reserve, firstly into the Orchid Garden.

Then we were taken to see some sloths that had been rescued as babies and raised there.

Then we were taken down to the butterfly house, to see the Blue Morpho butterflies.

We were lead down through the hummingbird garden, lots of flowers but no hummingbirds, to see some frogs in captivity, but the main attraction was a toucan feeding in a tree overhead.

There were also dragonflies flitting around a nearby pond

The last exhibit was the snakes endemic to the region.

We were then lead back towards the mini buses, the guide still pointing out things to see on the way.

The mini buses took us back towards where our coach was waiting by the main road. We boarded the coach and started our journey back to the port. It was quite slow going in places with heavy traffic through the roadworks and a lot of dust from the road construction.

We got back to the port half an hour before the ship was due to leave. A couple of iguanas were on the rocks below the quayside.

Some of the other trips were late getting back so the ship departed later than it should've done.

Debbie did watercolour in the morning, drawing a person's head, she didn't enjoy it much today.

We bough internet access after lunch, so spent the afternoon on our cabin catching up with the news etc.

Being Valentine's day, this was a black tie night. We got tarted up and went down to the Medina. No tables available when we arrived so we were given a bleeper and went to the piano bar to have a drink whilst we waited.

The food was nice, prawn cocktail followed by beef wellington.

Managed to catch up with the laundry today, we'd been checking the laundrette for free washing machines on and off for most of yesterday, managed to get a machine today. Started the machine going then went to have breakfsat.

We still had time left on our internet access so spent some time catching up.

Debbie went to watercolour and I sat and read in the Crow's nest.

We thought that we were in a tender port, but it turned out that the ship docked at Mahogany Bay, the announcement was made that we were clear to go ashore shortly after 07:30

We were booked on the ‘East Island Highlights' tour, which was due to leave at 08:30. We went down to the quayside at 07:45, the queue for the tour was already quite long. Shortly after we joined the queue, we were led off to our bus.

We passed through a few small towns and villages on the way, a mixture of very grand houses and small shacks. We arrived at Arch's Iguana Reserve.

We were passed over to a local guide who gave us a brief intro to the reserve and showed us the baby iguanas

There were a few iguanas visible on the pavements and in the trees

We were taken down to see some of the caged birds

Then it was feeding time for the iguanas, people were given elephant ear leaves with stalks, the iguana came running to get them. There were dozens of them.

We were taken down to a dock, where huge fish were swimming.

Then we were herded back to the bus and taken to a viewpoint, there were also a few local craft stalls there.

The next stop was to a shore side community that demonstrated some traditional dances, talked about traditional medicines. We also had a mini cooking demonstration where casava root was ground into a flour and made into crackers, He gave the latin name for casava as tapioca, are they the same thing?

The last stop was to a view point that overlooked the stilted fishing village of Oakridge

We then returned to Mahogany Bay and our awaiting ship.

Our tour had to meet in the Curzon theatre for 07:45, we arrived 10 minutes early, to find a huge queue of people outside the theatre. We waited for the doors to open, and shuffled inside to get bus stickers and then wait in our groups to be called.

Our group was called and we trogged down to the tender platform. They were locally supplied tenders, double deck affairs, and quite fast, but it still took half an hour to cover the 4 nm to the shore. Lots of seabirds were around, many of them pelicans.

Once on shore we formed a queue for our bus, and were led through the modern port facilities to our bus.

We soon discovered that the microphone wasn't working in the bus, the guides introduced themselves, Shelly, Louise and the driver was Luther. But before we'd gone very far they decided that we needed to swap buses to one with a working microphone. This was quickly arranged and we met another bus not far from the port. We got out and moved to the other bus, this driver's name was Ernesto.

The bus headed out of the city, narrow streets and a mix of shacks and smart houses.

Once out of the city the land opened up and the houses had more space, although some were little more than shacks. The guide explained that when someone turned 18, they were given a piece of land, and they then had 2 years to develop it, or it would be taken back, so simple shacks were often put up to secure the land.

There had ben a lot of rain in the past days, and the savannah was unusually wet

We passed through several small villages and towns, some with unusual names.

During our drive, our guide, Shelley, received some bad news by phone, she had to retreat to the front of the bus and was frantically calling people. Louise took over talking for a while.

When we arrived we all got of the bus, and waited for a hand cranked ferry to take us across the river.

Trees were overhanging the river and birds were flying above the water catching insects.

On the over side of the river, minibuses took us up to the visitor centre and main entrance.

From here we walked up a fairly steep incline and then up some steps to get the the site.

Normally at this point we would have had a talk and introduction to the site from the local guide, but rain was in the air, we had already driven through several heavy rain showers to get here, and as it s only permitted to climb the monument when it is dry we were told that if we wanted to climb it we should do it now before the rain came.

There were large wide steps leading up to a terrace.

We went up a little further, around the corner was a wide terrace where we could look up at the inscriptions on the side.

We then continued climbing, passing in front of the inscriptions and up some more steps built into the back of the monument. From the top the views were spectacular. One of the guides pointer out where the border with Guatamala could be seen. There were no handrails and not much room on the top.

A one way system is in operation, and we started our descent using a different set of steps. Iguanas were warming themselves on the stones.

A second set of inscriptions was visible on this side of the monument.

We made it down to ground level via one more set of steps, and here the local guide gave us a brief introduction to the site.

Then it was time to walk back down to be picked up by the minibuses to take us back to the ferry.

We were taken to lunch, a set meal of rice and beans, chicken and macaroni salad, plus a soft drink. The meal was very nice. The local beer was also available at the bar at a very reasonable price. Checking the Revolut card later it worked out as £3.38 for 2 bottles.

We were herded back on to the bus and started the long drive back to the port. We got back at gone 16:00. Shelley said she was going straight to the hospital. We headed to the tender.

The tender was very full, so we didn't have to wait long for it to leave. It was nearly 17:00 by the time we got back aboard the ship.

Ukulele today, John and Trish on board. Nice to see them again.

Went up to Crow's nest to meet Debbie after watercolour, and then went back to the room as we had internet.

Went to buffet for lunch, saw John and Trish, so chattered to them for a while.

The ship berthed in Cozumel at 19:30. But before anyone could go ashore, the ship suffered a total blackout. It took half an hour to restore lights.

We had docked in Cozumel the night before, so there were no queues at the gangplanks to go ashore.

We went ashore a little bit early, because we weren't sure how long it would take to walk to the meeting point, as it turned out we had plenty of time, even though there were a sizable number of people waiting for our tour.

We had to go by ferry to the mainland. The ferries were modern and quite comfortable. The journey took about 45 minutes.

The crossing was a little bit bumpy, but not too bad. We arrived in Playa de Carman

We formed a queue for our tour on the pier, which was then divided into bus loads. We were fortunate to be the first couple on the second bus. We were led to the bus and as we climbed aboard were given our snack packs. A ham sandwich, pack of crisps, marshmallow biscuit and a bottle of water. It was a long drive, about two and a half hours along a new toll road, build with tunnels for the jaguars to cross and suspended rope ladders for the monkeys to cross.

We arrived at Chichen Itza, and left the coach. We were handed entry tickets and filed into the site through turnstyle gates. The frst sight is the main stepped pyramid, aligned North South, so that at sunrise on the equinox, exactly half the pyramid is illuminated. Because of the steps in the pyramid, any sharp noise produces multiple echos, so a loud clap echoes back as a kind of chirping. There was a lot of clapping going on.

We were then shown the temple were the sun was worshipped

And then round to an area where traders would have been.

Then back round to the reverse side of the pyramid and then on to the ball court.

Then to look at the wall of skulls. By this time to intense heat was getting to us, but we managed to hang on.

We were given a bit of time to take some pictures, and then it was back to the bus for the long drive back to Playa de Carmen. Most people snoozed on the way back, including the guide.

Then it was back on to the ferry for the journey back to Comuzel. Getting of the ferry was a bit of a scrum, single file gangplank, but once off we walked back to the ship and had a shower and then dinner, it was nearly 19:00.

It was a black tie night, so got dressed up and went to the Medina restaurant. Surf and Turf, very nice.

Afterwards we went to the glass house and had a glass of wine each.

The ship anchored off Georgetown. We had an early start, we had to be in the Curzon theatre for 07:15, to get stickers for our bus.

Our sticker number was called and we headed down to the tender pontoon. The tender took us to the quayside and we disembarked and were led to our bus.

The bus took us through the streets of Georgetown and then out onto the road along the South coast of the island.

Our first stop was Pedro St. James. Here we had a 20 minute Film about the history of the building, before being given a whistle stop tour.

We didn't have long at Pedro St. James. And were soon on our way further east along the south coast road.

The bus took us to The Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. Home to the conservation effort of the rare Blue Iguana. Even whilst we were still in the carpark we saw an Iguana

We went into the park, here, two bus loads combined, one guide led the way, and the other brought up the rear. We paused at a silver thatch palm, a tree indiginous to Grnad Cayman, that grows at the rate of one inch per year.

Another iguana was spotted sun bathing on the rocks.

We were led down to the pond, where the water lillies were in flower.

As we were looking at the lillies, I heard the other guide call out that there was a snake, I went back to have a look. There was a woodpecker too.

On our walk round, we came across a tree that had a number of parrots in it, the guide got quite excited.

Then another iguana appeared.

As well as the wildlife, there were many plant that were of interest. We only had time to see a small fraction of the garden.

Then it was time to get back onto the bus and head back to the quayside. It had been a relatively short stop in Grand Cayman, but an interesting one.

The ship docked in Montego Bay at around 08:00. We were in no hurry to get off as we hadn't got anything booked.

When we did get off, we walked into the arrivals hall, a huge empty space, there was meant to be WiFi available, but it was very intermittent.

After we'd looked around the “local” craft stalls in the port area, we ventured outside, through the throngs of waiting taxi drivers and down the road into the freeport shopping area, it was very run down, nothing was open.

It didn't take long for us to decide to turn around and head back to the ship, we were only out for just over an hour.

A quiet day at sea, ukulele in the morning and then met Deb up in the Crow's Nest when she had finished her watercolour session.

We went for a cup of tea in the Horizon buffet, and stayed in there until lunch time.

At noon, the officer of the watch made the mid–day announcement, the total distance travelled since leaving Southampton is 12205 nautical miles.

Lunch was a barbecue on deck, quite nice.

The ship docked in Grand Turk at the cruise centre. A dedicated area of the island, with a large duty free and plenty of shops. Also a nice little display dedicated to the Mercury astronauts. Two of which, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter splashed down close to the island and where brought ashore here.

We walked out of the cruise terminal, with the idea of walking into town, about two miles, but sand in sandals caused a blister to develop, so we only made it as far as the airport. Which had a replica of John Glenn's capsule, Friendship 7, outside.

We headed back to the ship, stopping to look at the fish swimming under the pier

In the afternoon a plate of cake was delivered to everyone's room, no explanation as to why. Nice cake though.

Tonight, the buffet was an Indian theme night. A good selection of Indian food, that was very nice. Ate rather too much!

A day at sea.

A late start, so skipped breakfast and went straight down to ukulele.

We had been given vouchers for in cabin spirits at duty free prices, so after ukulele, went to get vouchers from the room and headed down to the duty free ship.

I was expecting a long queue like there had been on the previous occasions when we'd had this offer, but there where only half a dozen people waiting, It didn't take long at all so was able to meet Debbie in the Crow's Nest at 11 after her watercolour.

We had a cup of tea sat outside, the crystal dome was open and it was nice and cool.

We stayed there until lunch time and had lunch in the same spot.

It was a black tie night, but we didn't feel like dressing up so went to the buffet instead before heading back to our room.

A normal sea day, ukulele in the morning for one and a half hours, and then up to meet Debbie in the Crow's Nest after her watercolour.

Tea in the buffet.

Today we were docked in Freeport in the Bahamas. The Foreign Office advice for here is for extreme caution due to violent crime being common, with that warning in mind we didn't venture out of the port area.

There weren't any trips we fancied either, they were all going to beach resorts and various water activities.

The port area has quite a few shops and stalls, all at grossly inflated prices, so didn't buy anything, but contented ourselves with a quite day on the ship, watching the comings and goings of the container port. There were 2 other cruise liners in port at the same time as us.

Breakfast in the Horizon, Devilled Kidneys. Followed by ukulele, as usual. Met Debbie in the Crow's Nest at 11, after watercolour and went to the Horizon for a cup of tea.

Paid for 24 hours of internet.

In the evening went out on deck to observe the planetary alignment, good clear skies.

Dinner in the Horizon.

The clocks had changed last night, so we'd lost one hour, now GMT+4.

Breakfast in the buffet, followed by ukulele.

It was an Indian night in the buffet, so went there. Had a puffed rice dish ( rice crispies with onion and cumin) for a starter, and then a prawn curry.

Watched “What we did on our holidays” on the cabin tv.

The ship was due to dock at eight. Shortly before eight, the captain came on the speakers and told us it was too rough for us to dock. So an unscheduled day at sea.

Poked my head into Masqerade to see if any ukulele was going on, but it was just an impromptu gathering of a few of the advanced players.

A new “Horizon” was issued at 09:30, with an updated list of events around the ship, which included watercolour for Debbie at 10:00. So I sat in the Crow's Nest and read whilst Debbie painted.

Lunch in the buffet, seafood salad.

Overslept, didn't wake up until 08:30, quick cup of tea and then down to ukulele.

Met Debbie in the crow's nest after watercolour at 11:00.

Decided to buy internet for the rest of the voyage.

Lunch in the buffet.

During afternoon tea, did Guardian crosswords online.

It was a black tie night, but neither of us felt like dressing up, so went to buffet, tandoori seafood, quite nice.

Today in ukulele, John introduced sliding chords, an alternative way of playing C, then B and Bflat finished by A.

Tonight in the buffet was Indian night.

Ukulele as usual. Selected the songs to play in the end of cruise concert.

Debbie had quilling after watercolour, so didn't meet her in the Crow's Nest until 12:30.

Tonight in the buffet it was middle east night. A good selection of oriental food, which was all very nice.

Ukulele was the first combined practice for the concert, ran through all songs twice.

The Captain addressed the ship and warned that we were heading for a storm. The Sea is noticeably rougher, currently the wind is force 6.

Lots of speculation that we may not be able to make the final stop.

Tonight in the buffet was Italian night, nice lasagne.

Breakfast in the buffet, devilled kidneys today.

Ukulele was second rehearsal for the concert, everyone made to sit closer together, sounded alright.

Met Debbie after watercolour at 11:00 and then went for a cup of tea in the buffet, stayed for lunch.

Lunch time address from the bridge gave the wind as force 9. There is quite a lot of movement of the ship.

Debbie went off to Creative waves between 14:00 and 16:00

We weren't sure that we'd be able to dock, due to the strong winds, but we got in okay and tied up at around 08:00. It took a little while for clearance to be granted but we were allowed ashore at around 09:00

Debbie and I were on different trips, both scheduled for 09:30.

I was directed to one of three minibuses for the Lajes airbase tour.

First stop was a viewpoint out to the Goat Islands

The second stop was the harbour in Angra, where there was a monument commemorating the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the British in World War 2.

Then a visit to the fort where the British were housed.

To the top of the island, so we could look down into where the old caldera was.

A little further on, a stop to look down on the airbase, and over to the port area.

The British war cemetery

Then we were taken to a viewpoint overlooking the runway.

The last stop was outside the fence, looking over to where a couple of P8s were parked.

There was a lot of discontented people on my trip because it was stated that we would go onto the airbase, which we did not. As a result P&O refunded the total cost of the trip!

Debbie's trip was very different, and took in the Unesco city of Angra

Botanical gardens

Mount Brasil

A lot of ship movement during the night, the wind was force 9, and stayed that way.

We had ordered breakfast for the room the night before, it was delivered at 08:00.

I went to ukulele, it was supposed to be final practice before the concert later on today. But Phee came in and asked us if we'd rather postpone, because standing on stage would be quite unstable. Everyone agreed that it should be postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday.

Debbie is staying in the cabin all day.

Winds have calmed down, force 6/7, and decreased throughout the day.

Bacon sandwich n the buffet for breakfast. Then down to ukulele. Four new songs today, including Let It Be and Uptown Girl, which was particularly difficult because of the chord sequence.

Went up to Crow's Nest to tell Debbie that I'd been in the room, which had been done. Started packing, camera gear first.

Then went to have tea in the buffet, followed by lunch.

Came back to the room and continued packing.

It's a black tie night, but we not dressing up, it's all packed now!

During the noonday address, the officer of the watch gave the following statistics for the voyage so far:

158400 Eggs used

30 Tons of Potatoes

16 tons of beer, or 28000 pints

18000 bottles of wine

300000 tea bags

200000 rolls of toilet paper

Overslept because I'd forgotten to put the clock forward by one hour. So didn't have time for breakfast before heading down to ukulele at nine.

It was quite a short lesson, just one run through of the concert songs. I was out by 10:00, so went up to have a late breakfast.

Back to the room, did some more packing, before heading down to the theatre for 11:30 for the sound check.

Salad for lunch in the buffet, and then down for the concert at 13:15, for a 13:30 start.

Concert went quite well.

With the concert over I could pack the ukulele away and get everything but a few odds and ends in to the cases ready for tomorrow.

The midday address gave us the following statistics for the voyage:

We've visited 4 continents,

21 ports in 19 countries

and sailed 16866 miles.