A daily diary of our cruise across the Atlantic, continued from last entry. Days 6 to 16
Day 6 – 15th May
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| Antigua harbour from the ship |
It’s not very far from Saint Maarten to Antigua, 164km, so
after waking at around 07:00am and peeking through the curtains we could already
see the hills of Antigua as we entered the narrow harbour. It would be another
hour before the ship had docked and we could get off onto the island and we had
until 17:30 before we needed to be back so no need to rush and we took our time
over breakfast.
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| A photo of a photo. English harbour & Nelsons Dockyard, Antigua |
Antigua was a British colony, still with the Queen as head
of state, her head appearing on the bank notes, cars driving on the left,
English as the official language (British English as opposed to American
English) and even a couple of red telephone boxes and post boxes surviving, how
refreshing!
We liked it, but it was hot, though there was a sea breeze
making it just about bearable and the laid back Afro-Caribbean people were a
delight, always friendly and we felt absolutely safe, with never a thought that
we were going to be ripped off or have our pockets picked.
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| Nelsons Dockyard from our vantage point. The narrow entrance is in the distance to the right |
We took the public bus from the station by the market to
Nelsons Dockyard and English Harbour on the other side of the island. Number 17
they had told us in the tourist information office on the dock and the driver
told us $2 each and we could pay in US dollars. The $2 was Antiguan dollars and
there are just over two to the US dollar so I got a 5 Antiguan dollar note with
a lovely picture of the Queen on and two silver coins making half a dollar as
change from the US$5 note I gave him, worth about US$2 or £1.60. Most people
who got on the bus would say a general ‘good morning everyone’ and the bus
driver would wave and acknowledge people on the way, just like in the ‘Postman
Pat’ children’s TV show.
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| The old capstan yard where ships were tipped over for maintenance |
The houses in the towns on the way were mainly built in wood
in various colours and in states of repair, but there were also larger houses
of wealthier people scattered about along with churches (even a bright pink
one) and community buildings.
English harbour is an almost landlocked body of water with a
single narrow entrance surrounded by high hills and is a natural hurricane
shelter, recognised as such in 1671 when three vessels in the harbour survived
a storm while ships in every other harbour sank. It was developed as dockyard
and refit area in 1745 to allow the British Navy to keep a squadron of ships
permanently in the Caribbean to protect the sugar trade and Admiral Nelson
himself was stationed here from 1784 to 1787.
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| Clarence House is on the hill. Apparently Prince Harry was there last year |
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| On the old fortifications at English Harbour looking out to sea |
It officially closed as a naval dockyard in 1889 after the
decline of the sugar trade and fell into disrepair, but it has since been
restored with some of the buildings now hotels, restaurants, tourist shops and
museums and is still used today as a safe harbour, boat repair centre, yacht centre,
yacht show and trans-Atlantic yacht racing, so it has an upmarket feel about
it. It’s US$8 each to get in and that includes a guided tour, as much time
afterwards as you want with a couple of walks over the hills to do, plus
entrance to the Shirley Heights viewpoint and to another museum, both of which
we couldn’t do as they were on the other side of the harbour and would have
involved a long and expensive taxi ride to get there. We spent a good three
hours there and really enjoyed it.
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| Odd seeing these in the Caribbean |
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| Old building typical of St Johns, Antigua |
Waited ten minutes or so for a bus back, this one being air
conditioned and then went for a walk around the main town of St Johns, which
was only vaguely interesting. The cathedral was closed for renovation, we
decided not to visit the museum, walked through the heritage dockyard and back
on the ship for lunch and an afternoon lazing by the pool drinking cocktails.
More cocktails early evening as we watched the tight manoeuvrings of the ship
getting out of the harbour from the 360
° bar on 14
th floor (very
tight and very impressive to watch), followed by wine with dinner and a Frank
Sinatra tribute show afterwards and we couldn’t quite decide if it was the
ships movement or the alcohol that prevented us walking in a straight line back
to our cabin at midnight!
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| Leaving Antigua at dusk, the last time we will see land for seven days! |
Day 7 – 16th May
(position @ 09:50: 18°
27.199’ N 058° 29.630’W –2621 Nautical miles to Madeira. Speed: 31km/hr.
Clocks forward 1 hour today – third time, first hour for Panama, second hour
between Cartagena and St Maarten)
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| Jackie with Carol |
First of seven days at sea today. Slightly apprehensive on
how it’s going to go not seeing land for so long and although it’s a large ship
there is only so much space floating in the middle of nowhere. Will I get
bored, will we get further than the Titanic? A few white horses on the ocean,
enough for the boat to creak a little and noticeably pitch about, not enough
for things to fall over, but enough for me to question whether I have a
hangover or seasickness. Maybe a bit of both, got very hot, feeling a bit sick,
headache, had to lie down. It passes, we go out for a coffee, decide to go to
the Spanish language class, but it’s cancelled today as all the crew are on
emergency evacuation training. They announced that passengers were not involved
and to ignore the warning sirens, but it’s a bit off-putting to see all crew
donning life jackets and heading out to the lifeboats (are they going to
abandon us?).
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| The pool area and hot tubs - very busy when the sun was out |
Outside it’s blue skies, very blue sea with little white
wavelets and the odd flying fish and quite a strong warm wind, the two swimming
pools and sun lounging areas are packed with people, loud music, pool bars,
party games and dances (think we want to avoid that most of the time), The bars
and public areas are quite full of people drinking, sitting chatting or just
reading, no English books in the library, shops open and doing business and any
amount of food and drink always available. It’s a strange life, quite unlike
anything I’ve seen before, all contained in a little bubble in the middle of a
big blue ocean – and it’s still pitching and rolling about, I’m not feeling
100%, hope I get used to it!
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| The central area of the ship |
Afternoon sleep on the bed to try to overcome hangover/seasickness,
Jackie upstairs in the bar reading and looking for whales (she didn’t see any).
Evening meal, feeling much better followed by a film (eye in the sky)
Day 8 – 17th May
(position @ 09:50: 20°
43.671’N 052°
07.271’W – 1872 Nautical miles to Madeira. Speed: 31km/hr)
Feeling much better today, was it sea sickness or a
hangover? But sea much calmer today so I’m going for seasickness! Chats with a
few people, Patrick, Victor, the young German, Phil on the cruise with his dad,
gave him our ‘card’ with the blog and trusted housesitters code on for 20%
discount as he was interested in our experiences and the Canadian couple who’ve
just become grandparents for the fourth time whilst on the cruise. He suffers
seasickness too and he offered me one of his pills after we exchanged stories
last night whilst waiting to go in for dinner. I refused, but it was very nice
of him to offer.
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| Jackie and Jimmy saving seats in the theatre for the evening show |
Spent the morning studying Module 2 of the TEFL (teaching
English as a Foreign Language) course we have enrolled for. I downloaded the
whole module before we lost internet connection so we can study offline. It’s
really interesting and taking a break to gaze at the bright blue ocean out to
the horizon and the blue sky above is quite relaxing.
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| The long journey across the Atlantic with nothing in sight |
Lunch in the buffet restaurant on level 4 with proper table cloths
and napkins and waiters that serve wine and like to have a chat, just seems a
bit more pleasant than the self-service café we normally go to for lunch on the
11
th and 12
th floor. However they didn’t have a roast
meat carvery section which wasn’t good enough for Jackie so we went straight up
to the 11
th floor afterwards so she could have a freshly carved
roast lamb slice which she put in a bread roll – I had nothing extra, but took
a cup full of olives to have this evening with a pre-dinner cocktail in the 360
°
bar. Gym in the afternoon at 16:30 (saw Eric and Carol in there), did think
about a swim, but movement of the ship was producing a large circular wave
round both pools so gave it a miss. Pre-dinner G&T’s (ridiculously strong!)
and olives in the 360
° bar, joined by American lady and good chat as sun set. Dinner
with wine and more wine, evening show with Jimmy and Jean. Think it’s going OK!
Day 9 – 18th May
(position @ 10:20: 22°
55.941N 045°
51.011W – 1497 Nautical Miles to Madeira. Clocks forward 1 hour today)
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| Our fellow evening diners. Jimmy & Jean (L), Carol and Eric (R) |
Cloudy grey day today with grey ocean but at least calm.
Woke late (08:45) and needed coffee and half hour to feel human (must be the
alcohol and hour change).
Highlight of the day was the muster drill at 11:00 involving
all crew and passengers but, as it was raining we didn’t have to go outside to
the proper muster station by the lifeboats but instead to the restaurants
(ships obviously don’t sink in bad weather). Came out of our cabin to find
someone had already put a notice outside our door saying that we had already
evacuated (a bit worrying that no-one had even knocked the door or looked
inside, what would have happened in a real emergency?). Got our names ticked
off in the restaurant and sat while chaos prevailed, many people arriving late
and sitting down without getting their names ticked off, others forming a big
queue behind flustered staff. Not sure what would happen in a real emergency
with people in a panic, but let’s hope it doesn’t occur!
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| Jean & Jimmy |
Pool and swimming pools virtually deserted due to wet and
windy weather, where have they all gone? No point in trying to get a drink
after the muster drill as everyone else had the same idea so went upstairs to
the 360
°
bar and read. Reading a very good book at the moment, which is fortunate as
there is little else to do!
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| Carol and Eric |
Starting to feel that it seems like we’re just marking time
whilst crossing the vast expanse of the Atlantic, some people are throwing
themselves into it, finding partners to play various card and board games,
visiting the casino, but many others sitting around reading or chatting. For
us, using it as a means of getting home is still infinitely better than flying,
but I’m wondering why people would choose this as their main holiday as there’s
not that much to do. There is nothing to see other than the same old ocean
disappearing off to the horizon and the day is punctuated by meal times and
drinks, dinner in the evening becomes a highlight and then a show in the
theatre which range from average to poor (maybe reasonably good to below
average) with the high spirited MC only talking and cracking jokes in Spanish.
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| Our Spanish diners, Andre and Natalie |
Jackie is enjoying it and the relaxation is quite nice, but
it’s starting to become a bit mind-numbing, getting back into real life might
be difficult! We’re on a news blackout as the BBC World News and CNN TV
channels don’t operate this far from land and, as we haven’t paid vast money
for what we are told is an extremely slow satellite internet connection we have
no idea what’s happening outside of our bubble. They say seven days is a long
time in politics, well, it’s a long time on a boat without land visible too!
Day 10 – 19th May
(position @ 10:25: 25°
02.669’ N 039° 44.646’W – 1123 Nautical miles to Madeira)
Jackie’s birthday!
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| We did see some nice sunsets (usually watched with a cocktail!) |
He’s right, I’m loving it, perhaps not if it was the long
awaited holiday of the year, but as a mode of transport, it’s great. We have a
good little routine, whereby Oscar does our cabin while we are at breakfast, so
once it’s done we can come and go as we please without feeling guilty about
getting in his way as they do all work very hard, then they have hour long
lifeboat drills just for crew, and then the all passenger drill that must have
taken an hour and a half from his day, but still with the same amount of cabins
to do. Then awkward people want the daily diary sheet, in English, and then
they actually want one with the information for the day printed on the inside!
Some people!
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| The climbing wall on board |
I had been offered a birthday spa treatment, on closer
inspection though it was $15 off a $50 spend, so not really a good deal. I did
ask a guy on reception if I could change it for a free go on the wall, but
sadly that was above his pay grade, plus he obviously thought I was mad! So
standard morning, up to the 360 lounge, this does mean we are not having our
three layer coffee of foam, coffee and condensed milk, but perhaps that’s a
good thing. With scrabble, puzzles and books. B spent a long time talking to
the ‘Canadian’ , Chuck, an ex army man from Alaska, but he seems to have
decided everyone is from Canada, with me on one side doing puzzles and Mary,
Chuck’s wife, on the other, doing puzzles, both chipping in when our husbands
went blank!
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| Jackie getting ready to climb |
We finally got our game of scrabble after lunch, but it wasn’t
a high scoring game. A doze may have been better, as apparently we had to party
for my birthday. Arrived at dinner to a very sweet postcard, bought in St
Maarten from Jean and Jimmy. It’s Jimmy’s birthday on the 23rd, so
we will have to find something in Madeira, followed by normal dinner and huge,
chocolate birthday cake, organised by Brian. It was lovely, it was brought by a
huge group of waiters who sang and then vanished, with no photographic
evidence, so chocolate overdose completed, we were last out of the restaurant,
again!
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| Off she goes - with ease! |
Full works tonight, Beatles tribute (much better than the
Frank Sinatra tribute) with dancers, found that the Spanish couple from our
table had saved a balcony box for all of us, not the best view, but how sweet,
as we have barely spoken, then 70’s/80’s disco where we couldn’t get near the
dance floor but found our own patch of carpet behind the singers, so used it to
full advantage, and through then next band too, before finally going to the
disco. J&J called it a night before that, but had been strutting their
stuff at full strength, not bad for a 78 year old who is in the gym every
morning before breakfast. I lasted 10 minutes in the disco, but it was hideous,
I had to go, shortly followed by Brian and Carol, leaving only the Spaniards….
Day 11 – 20th May
(position@ 11:00: 27°
06.424’ N 033° 40.677’ W – 748 Nautical miles to Madeira, clocks forward
one hour)
Woke up feeling remarkably good, but very tired. Only just
made breakfast, so very quiet, though I am tempted by the climbing wall, it may
be gym today and wall tomorrow.
So it was, gym followed by 15 minutes each side in the sun,
sometime after 17.00 so I felt I could get away without sunblock. On leaving
dinner, last as usual, I had to stop Brian running to the assistance of a guy
who had fallen down the stairs, something about it just didn’t look right, it
was a joy when it turned into a flash mob, a lovely little treat. Early night
with a movie, but by the time we’ve had dinner, and moved the clocks on an hour
it’s midnight.
Day 12 – 21st May
(position @ 09:50: 29°
02.637’ N 027° 52.686’ W – 498 Nautical miles to Madeira, clocks forward
one hour)
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| Attaching an extra hold |
Although there is not much to write, time is going
remarkably quickly, eating, sleeping, reading, chatting. No emails or Facebook,
am I missing it? Not as much as I thought, though it would have been nice to
have a look on my birthday, but it will all still be there. What if someone is
trying to get hold of us is always in the back of the mind, but what could we
do if they were?
Up at a much more sensible time today, to find breakfast
virtually empty. I passed by at 10.15 to see it rammed, half the ship trying to
eat in the last 15 minutes. I’m almost not bothering, lunch food being much
more interesting than breakfast food, so I’m always ready for lunch way before
Brian, but we don’t have to go together….
OK, is today the day for the climbing wall? After watching a
rubbish movie on the TV, I thought it was, but instead of getting quieter as
time has gone on as the staff predicted, it’s got busier, oh well B was
enjoying the OK Sandra Bullock movie set in Bolivia so he can watch the end of
that.
The table group, less the Spaniards sat together to watch
the show which is nice, and the show wasn’t bad.
Day 13 – 22nd May
(position@ 09:50: 30°
58.386’N 021°
59.461’W – 249 Nautical miles to Madeira, clocks forward one hour)
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| The day of the incredibly calm ocean, only ripples from our ship |
Again up at a sensible time for the last of our seven sea
days, today I had a definite date at the climbing wall, only to find I hadn’t
got it to myself, but with a couple of Spaniards who have climbed at least
once, possibly twice over the last few days, and their small son, in charge of
dishing out the climbing chalk. The instructor didn’t know what to make of me,
‘yes I’ve climbed before, but not for at least eight months’ he asked what
level, and grades obviously meant nothing to him, ‘I will see you climb!’ OK,
so I nipped up his normal first wall, actually doing a route, rather than the
rainbow of colours everyone else has done. With that stake in the ground at
least he had some idea what he was dealing with. So a quick traverse, and
another couple of routes before we were at his most challenging route. For some
reason, there was now an audience, so I had to look cool despite the
‘interesting’ bit in the middle. I’ve never been a climbing superstar before,
but then I’ve never been the only one who has ever climbed before either! All
in all I enjoyed my 10 mins for $6 that taking it in turns with the other
couple lasted a good hour and a half. I just really wanted to be able to say
I’ve been climbing in the middle of the Atlantic!
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| Land for the first time in a week. This is Funchal on Madeira. That's our ship in the distance on the left |
The water is like a mill pond today, it’s so calm it’s
amazing. At lunch we saw our first dolphins, a small group of three, is this
because we are getting closer, to a small amount of land, or because it’s so
calm? Along with a couple of flying fish, it’s been a good day so far.
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| Gardens in Funchal centre |
Evening show was an Abba tribute which was actually fairly
good. Mostly the cast sang in English, with some interesting pronunciation and
odd missing words, some were sung in Spanish where, in their native language
they got much more into it and some in French, so an interesting mix. Costumes
were good and, for the final number all the cast, including the male members
who are at least 90% gay appeared in white costumes with silver bits, big head
gear and all waving around silver capes. I’m sure they all loved it, but it
seemed a bit weird! Jimmy and Jean saved good seats, Carol joined us (but not
Eric), which was as well as the place was packed.
Day 14 – 23rd May
(position: Port of Funchal,
Madeira)
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| Not sure what happened to that tree |
The boat docked at 08:00, so we were up at 06:30 for early
breakfast and waiting for Carol and Eric on deck 7 stairs as we’d arranged to
walk the town together. At 08:45 they hadn’t turned up so we headed out on our
own for a walk round the historic city.
First stop was the Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceicao
at the head of the pier on which we had docked. It’s a 17th century
fort that served as a checkpoint for all ships entering. We didn’t go in but
went through the tunnel underneath which is the main access to the island.
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| That building (or pile of rocks) is a separate country, Pontinha, the smallest country in the world and also the oldest building in Madeira, visited by Christopher Columbus and Captain Cook (not at the same time!) |
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| Prince Renato II of the country Pontinha! |
Second stop, also at the head of the pier was the Forte de
Sao Jose or, as it is now known, Pontinha Island, The Principality Atlantis.
It’s the oldest building on the island, built in the 15
th century as
a shelter for the first explorers who arrived on the island. Among the
important guests who have visited the fort are Christopher Columbus and Captain
Cook so, for me it was a ‘must see’. Unbelievably it is now recognised in the
Guinness Book of Records as the world’s smallest country after it was bought in
1998 for £25,000 and declared a separate country by its owner, who now calls
himself Prince Renato II, of the country Pontinha. He was the son of a taxi
driver and sold everything he had to buy it and spotted that when it was
originally sold by the King of Portugal in 1903 a document was signed selling
all the “possessions and the dominions”, which apparently meant he could do
with it what he liked, including declaring it as a separate country. He was
told he wouldn’t be able to connect to the islands electricity but, as long as
he didn’t interfere with the port they would leave him alone. He doesn’t live
there full time as he sometimes gets grief from the Portugese authorities, but
he does allow anyone to visit asking only for a donation (mainly to feed the
many cats who live there). Interesting story, interesting history, a great view
from the top and lots of cats for Jackie to stroke, what’s not to like!
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| And the official recognition |
We strolled round the city, enjoying the old narrow streets,
cathedral, churches, lovely gardens, and beautifully maintained colonial
buildings following a route and app I had downloaded off the internet showing
us all the sights. After visiting the Tourist Information and finding they had
free, very fast internet and catching up on our emails (and the latest sad news
of a terrorist attack at Manchester Arena last night killing 23), we headed out
to see the fish market and a walk round the old fort Sao Tiago, built in the
1600’s to prevent pirate attacks on the city. Saw Carol and Eric from the top
and called to them to join us, but they didn’t want to pay the €3 entrance fee.
Had lunch at a nice restaurant, walked up to the Forte de
Sao Joao Baptista at 111m above sea level to find it closed, but we still got
the view of the city and our ship dwarfed by the huge cruise ship docked
alongside – and I thought our ship was big!
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| And plenty of cats for Jackie to stroke |
Back on board at 15:45, up in the 360 lounge with cocktails
at 16:45 ready to watch us sail out of Madeira at 17:00 and off into the
setting sun. Dinner was a celebration of Jimmy’s 78
th birthday, we
had bought a VW campervan fridge magnet with Madeira written on it so he could
remember his youth of driving round in one and of us in Madeira. Unfortunately
he wasn’t in the best of spirits as he had raging toothache, so we went to the
evening Flamenco show with only Jean. The dancers were very accomplished and
talented, but it was a bit ‘samey’.
Day 15 – 24th May
(position @ 10:15: 35°
24.704’N, 013° 11.220’W – 264 Nautical miles to Lisbon)
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| The fish market |
Last day at sea today, time to pay our bill and collect our
passports. Jackie’s sad and I’ll miss the food, alcohol, the good friends we’ve
met, but I can’t get away from feeling it’s all a bit weird! The 16 days have
flown by, so I suppose that must mean I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s difficult to
remember what we did for each of the seven continuous days we had at sea. Only
by looking back through this diary can I remember and it really was only
punctuated by meal times, watching the ocean, reading and chatting. It’s a very
strange way of life and is guilt free relaxation. There is nothing much to do
and nothing anyone should be doing, so it’s no problem to just sit and strike
up a conversation with someone knowing they are not in the middle of something
important or urgent, which is quite unlike any other environment I’m used to.
It’s weird, but quite nice. Would I want to do it again? Certainly using it as
a means to get somewhere in comfort, but as a holiday in its own right? I don’t
think so, but Jackie on the other hand…..
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| More market photos |
Tomorrow we dock at 06:00, we have to leave our luggage
outside our room at 01:00 in the morning, meet at 07:15 in one of the public
rooms and wait to be shown off the ship and to customs to collect our luggage.
We then get a taxi to a hotel we’ve booked near the airport, too early to get
in a room, but at least we’ll be able to check in for our flight home the next
day and hopefully post this on our blog, before we head into the city for an
afternoon city tour of Lisbon.
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