Continue reading “March 9 – Day 4 of the transatlantic leg to Cape Verde Islands”
Author: Harvey Bennett
An ex-seafarer (first career) and currently a 'digital nomad' enjoying an extended vacation as well as managing a business from a cruise ship.
March 8 – Day 3 of the transatlantic leg to Cape Verde Islands
Yesterday evening was very pleasant. There was the captain’s cocktail evening, so it was a ‘formal night’. I was suitably attired in black to mark the first occasion that Hendry and I have failed to achieve an average score of 50% yesterday afternoon. Must do better – no wine at lunchtime in future!
We then went to the restaurant to join the Hotel Director’s table for dinner. There were 8 of us, Dawn, Annie (Purser) Eric & Linda whom we had met at the Mystery Dinner a couple of weeks ago, and William & Carol McKenna – from Skipton – whom we’ve chatted to previously. William also plays bridge in the afternoon sessions.
Annie Popova, the Purser, is Bulgarian and was born in Sofia but now has an apartment in Varna on the Black Sea coast. Sue and I had lots of things to discuss with her; lots of shared experiences. The difficulty with tables that seat 8 is that conversations tend to split the table into two, so we really didn’t have a lot of conversation with those at the other end of the table. The restaurant can be quite noisy making it difficult to carry out a long range conversation.
As usual for a formal night, the menu was that little extra-special. I had a lovely seafood bisque, and just the turf option for “Surf and Turf” – lobster just doesn’t hit the spot for me. And, of course, the wines were that extra-special too, although not in the quantities that our usual wine waiters, Allen, Marco, Christina and Agnes provide. Sadly, Christina’s dad died last week so she flew back to the Philippines from Salvador on Saturday on compassionate leave.
We crossed the equator during the morning (no bump!) and it has been rainy later on. At breakfast time the staff had set out all the tables on deck ready for an al fresco lunch and then at 9.30 everything was washed out by heavy downpours. How frustrating for them.
We were at breakfast at 8.15, quite the early birds today – but only because Jeffrey had misread his daily work instructions and had mistakenly put out the “clocks advanced one hour tonight” in all his cabins a day to early!
It has now been raining heavily all day….very grey, low clouds and not very good visibility. If it wasn’t so hot and humid you’d think it was a British summer’s day.
It’s now time to get ready for dinner and the evening entertainment (Tom O’Connor)
March 7 – Day 2 of the transatlantic leg to Cape Verde Islands
Today we are a couple of hundred miles south of the equator, and it is really hot and steamy on deck. Thank goodness for air conditioning.
Yesterday was a fun evening and we enjoyed our dinner out on deck. It was a warm and balmy evening with enough breeze to keep us cool yet not strong enough to blow the table cloths away. The food was good – plenty of choice and beautifully presented. The hotel staff work hard to keep the passengers happy and entertained.
After dinner we went along to the evening show, which was ‘Epic Moves, plus guests’
Their dance routines – repeats from the previous show – were excellent, and so were the guest performances. The routine which got the most laughs was when five of ‘the stripes’ – ships officers – performed the strip routine from the film The Full Monty. Despite a great deal of encouragement from the audience, they stopped at the Half Monty!
Shortly afterwards Kurt, a young singer with the dance and show group, gave a very good 45 minute solo performance with the orchestra in Shackletons, and got lots of people onto the dance floor.
This morning I toddled along to listen to a lecture give by Sir Christopher Colville, a current affairs and military historian, on the subject “Is Islam a threat to the west?”. Hendry and I agreed that it was not a particularly informative talk, but we did agree on our opinion that here is a man who likes to talk. 45 minutes of our lives that we cannot re-capture!
Lunch out on deck was very uncomfortable – must be in the nineties – and the card room wasn’t much better either. While at lunch we had a sail-past of the islands of Fernando do Norenho, which are about 220 miles off the coast of Brazil. There are 7 small islands with about 2,700 inhabitants, and formed by two tectonic plates under the sea. It has its own airport and is something of a select holiday resort.
This evening is a formal night and I suspect that it will be uncomfortable all dressed up in a dinner suit. We have an invitation to join Dawn Cartwright, the hotel manager, this evening so if it is like the time we dined with the hotel manager on the Saga Sapphire we can expect some fine wines………although I must say that the complimentary wines aboard the Pearl have been very palatable!
March 6 – Day 1 of the transatlantic leg to Cape Verde Islands
Sadly it is “Goodbye, South America” with a sail away party as we left Salvador yesterday evening. It was lovely to sit out on rhe afterdeck in the Coolidge air at sunset. Earlier in the afternoon, we were told, the temperature had risen to 44C or 118F in old money. Surely that can’t have been the temperature in the shade? But whatever, it was seriously hot!
The Saga orchestra was doing its thing providing music on deck for those who had the energy to dance (not many), while the waiters were providing complimentary cocktails – pineapple juice, dark rum and angostura bitters. It was a bit like a bun fight out on deck……Sue compared some folks to magpies. Anyway, once we’d left the harbour breakwaters and guests had gone to their cabins to change for dinner, Sue and I retired to the Sundowner bar where Willie, the bar tender, let us help him demolish the leftovers while we waited for “the gang” to join us.
The evening show was pretty good, a male singer who had played Marius in Les Miserables in London for a couple of years. He could hit all the notes without straining and had a good repertoire. However, I was fading rapidly – must have been the effect of the heat! – so we crashed out immediately the show ended.
Today we are heading in a north-westerly direction along the Brazilian coastline. The 9.00 bridge report was that the air temperature is 31C, a low swell, and gentle winds with clear skies. So we are all set for a pleasant Sunday at sea, beginning with a Mothering Sunday service at sea. That began with the Filipino choir, comprised of 14 of the (mainly) housekeeping staff, including our cabin steward Jeffrey, singing two hymns. Towards the end of the service all the ladies received a Mothers Day card from the Archdeacon….a nice touch.
I went to one of Brian Orys’s bridge improvers class to learn about the Hugo 3 Step system, a useful one that I will incorporate into my bridge classes.
Sue noticed from the daily programme that Ben Williams, a member of the Magic Circle, was performing his table magic at Shackleton’s. He was excellent…..one might even say, MAGIC!
It will be the usual afternoon bridge session this afternoon (joint second, abysmal 53%) and then hopefully, if we can get a table, we’ll have an al fresco dinner this evening.
March 5 – At Salvador do Bahia, Brazil
An earlier start to the day than planned, with the captain using the public address system to do a Captain Mainwaring broadcast – don’t panic! The air conditioning system has broke down and the humid air is setting off the fire alarms in some parts of the ship. That was at around 6.00. So we rolled over back to sleep for his next announcement at 8.20 to say that we had arrived at Salvador
We had a ride into town courtesy of H Stern, a jewellers, where Sue bought a very nice ring. Then we wandered around the centre of town, which is World Heritage centre, with lots of old Portuguese architecture and cobbled streets.
It was hot, 80 when we berthed, and around 90 while we were in town. Three hours were ample and we were back for lunch and an afternoon of bridge.
Here are some snaps from our visit.
We will be sailing shortly, probably following the two Costa passenger ships that are also here in port today. A sail away party too, at 5.45.
March 3 & 4 – At sea en route to Salvador, Brazil
Two days are being rolled in to one blog. Just a bit like the guy sitting in the café window at Rio, I have gotten a little behind!
The two days have been fairly uneventful. although there have been lots of grumblings about the Rio visit from some quarters, especially about the fact that some passengers had paid £100 each to go to the Samba Show in town, and then found out that we’d had something very similar (if not better) on board for no charge.
Sue was at “stitch and bitch” and apparently there was consensus that of the five girl dancers four of them had plastic surgery enhancements!
Hendry and I had a bad afternoon at bridge the day we left (7th at 45%). The ladies at bridge were asking if he had enjoyed the show, which he had, so they blamed the poor performance on the belief that his mind was on the show and not on the bridge!
More later………
Clearly Hendry has recovered and his mind was back on the game this afternoon – a top spot with 73% today. No doubt he’ll be ragged by some of the ladies at bridge.
Our evening entertainment was provided by Tom O’Connor this evening. 50 minutes of pure laughter. He brought the house down with his repertoire of gags, all of them as clean as the driven snow.
Isn’t it funny that whenever you watch a comedy show you almost always struggle to remember more then 5 or 6 of the gags?
Salvador tomorrow morning.
And so to bed.
March 2 – A memorable day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
We woke up to a very promising, sunny-ish day, and at 10 o’clock the four of us were on the shuttle bus to the Copacabana district, with the plan of taking a taxi to the train station for Christ the Redeemer. It was very busy at the station and the earliest timed ticket we could get was for the 13.20 train, giving us an hour and a half to while away.
It was getting rather hot so we found a vegetarian cafe close by, which had an awning, bench and tables outside, and parked ourselves there each with a bottle of Jeffrey, a local artisanal beer. We bought one for our cabin steward, Jeffrey, too 😄.
Sue captured this shot at the cafe…….a bit of window-shopping? The Brazilian folks sharing the table with us were in fits of laughter!
We did a little shopping at a Japanese-owned gift shop next door; only small, low value items, but each one was meticulously gift-wrapped. A very pleasant 20 minutes was whiled away.
Then it was time to join the train to the top of the mountain. At some points the gradient was quite steep – I’d estimate 30 degrees – and as we progressed through the jungle we would get an interesting preview of what we would see once we reached the top.
We were very fortunate; there was very little cloud during the hour that we were there, unlike the morning tour from the ship when the cloud shad closed in. I’m also glad that I had slapped on factor 50; the sun was fierce up there.
We took a local bus back in to town. Sue and Maggie took seats towards the rear whereas Ray and I were in the kamikazi seats right at the front. Shall we say that the experience was quite exciting. Busy roads, everyone jostling for road space, and the odd running of red lights at junctions! Ray was relieved to get off.
We were back on board, suitably cream-crackered end by 5.00, sharing experiences with other passengers. Stanley and Jennifer had taken a taxi back to the ship but had been caught up in a demonstration. After sitting in the taxi for a long time the taxi driver said that he couldn’t get them any closer so turfed them out. They are getting on a bit (87 and 80) but the demonstrators, who they think were civil servants, escorted them through the crowds and shepherded them most of the way back to the ship. 😌
A welcome shower and then we met up with Graham, Frances, Maggie and Ray for a pre-dinner drink, although G&F were dashing off for a quick bite before heading of for their Samba Show in town. We stopped on board for an al fresco dinner and the onboard show.
I have to say that the show was brilliant. A local group, Samba Rio, came on board to give a really stunning performance. We had the drummers, the acrobatic male dancers (amazing), the carnival costumes, and five young ladies who did their thing in costumes with lots of feathers (and very little else!).
The girls engaged in audience participation in the final part of the show. Ray was the third male to be dragged out on to the dance floor (well, not exactly dragged and certainly not screaming) to strut his stuff on stage. I believe the ship’s doctor was on stand-by with the defibrillator, just in case. As Ray later said, she made an old man feel very happy…………….and a happy man feel very old!
I, too, joined the party on stage when I joined the conga line. It was very difficult to know what to hang on too, but Sue came along as well to keep me in line!
Our on-board chaplain. Archdeacon Arthur Hawes, also came to the samba show. This photo below captures him on his knees – the first occasion I have seen this since 7th January. I’m not sure whether he was praying for a wardrobe malfunction, or whether it was in consideration for the many other guests who were taking photographs.
All in all, this was a truly memorable day.
And so to bed, very late.
March 1 – St David’s Day arrival at Rio de Janiero (UPDATED)
I’ve spent the morning catching up with survey projects and at 11.30 we are slowing moving past Copacabana and Iponema beaches on a very dull and overcast day. At breakfast we wore our daffodils and leeks, intriguing the waiters.
The plan for today is to hire a cab for the afternoon and hit the high spots (altitude-wise) with Ray and Maggie……but maybe not. More anon…..
Here are some views taken from the sun deck as we came into harbour. The sugar loaf mountain was clear, but Christ the Redeemer was shrouded in cloud so a visit there is a definite no-no today.
Whilst on the sun deck Sue and I bumped into Sybil and got the real story. She was stretched out on a sun bed on the promenade deck after breakfast yesterday when she saw a small snake (no more than 12 inches in length) fall from a balcony on the deck above, landing at her side on the deck. Moving away quietly and slowly, she then went inside to the verandah restaurant to notify a member of staff – who did not believe her at first. Quite natural, I suppose, as it is not often that you get snakes aboard.
The variety of snake was unidentifiable, even though the guest lecturer, a natural sciences expert, was called to see it. And that was it. Snake disposed; no fuss.
I don’t know whether or not the graffiti artist on our tour in Valparaiso had organised this but I had a personal welcome to Rio de Janeiro (see below)!
We were ashore by 1.45 and we decided that we would visit the Museum of the Fure, many half a mile away, as the crow flies. However there is lots of construction work in readiness for the Olympics, so double the distance with diversions. Ray struggled so we had frequent stops so he could catch his breath.
Sue and I popped into the Museo de Artes de Rio for a flying visit – see photo from the sixth floor – and the we went to the Future Museum. As you will have seen from photos above, it is a very new and very impressive building. Entrance is free and there were lots of locals there. The use of technology at the museum is very impressive.
On our return journey we walked directly towards the ship, trudging through the construction site and following the new metro tram lines, and nobody was particularly bothered!
The evening was a relatively quiet one. All walked-out so we had an early night, ready for a hopefully busy day on Wednesday.
Feb 29 – At sea en route to Rio de Janeiro
Another relaxing sea day with moderate seas and following winds, so gentle movements aboard and it was very relaxing sitting in the shade with Maggie and Ray in the naughty (nicotine) corner. It was also rather nice that, during the morning, four people accosted me to say how much they enjoyed my quiz last night. I have one more that I can do, probably on the transatlantic leg from Salvador to Cape Verde.
So a quiet day today, a game of cards with cup cakes at 3.00 to celebrate the arrival of one of the player’s first grandchild (and no cakes at teatime) and we’ve both just got spruced up for the captain’s cocktail party. Hendry and I were delighted that we got another “top” today – 68%.
There’s a story going around the ship about a snake falling on deck from one of the lifeboats and landing by a passenger – Sybil, one of the German ladies. I shall have to find her at the party and hear if it is true or not. Maybe it is fanciful imagination at work.
LATER: The cocktail party was enjoyable, but no sign of Sybil. However, Tina – the captain’s wife – mentioned it to me so it must be gospel. I’d guess that the snake came up a mooring rope. Rat-guards are put on each rope when in post but they certainly would stop a snake.
As usual on captain’s evenings the food was excellent. Lobster, Angus steak plus one other option are always on offer as the main courses. The Angus steaks are always superb, and tonight was no different. We stayed chatting in the bar after dinner and a rubbish quiz.
Feb 28 – Rolling down to Rio
Rudyard Kipling – Rolling down to Rio (from Just So Stories)
I’ve never sailed the Amazon,
I’ve never reached Brazil;
But the Saga Pearl and Sapphire,
They can go there when they will!
Yes, weekly from Southampton,
Great steamers, white and gold,
Go rolling down to Rio
(Roll down – roll down to Rio!)
And I’d like to roll to Rio
Some day before I’m old!
I’ve never seen a Jaguar
Nor yet an Armadill–
O dilloing in his armour,
And I s’pose I never will,
Unless I go to Rio
These wonders to behold–
Roll down – roll down to Rio –
Roll really down to Rio!
Oh, I’d love to roll to Rio
Some day before I’m old!
Well, the good news at breakfast this morning is that we’ll be arriving at Rio de Janeira at lunchtime on Tuesday so we get an “over-nighter”. It takes the time pressure off trips ashore.
The weather has been very favourable, following winds and seas both yesterday and today, with lots of sunshine. The was a magnificent sunset yesterday evening around 7.15, which we watched from the appropriately-named Sundowner Bar, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Even better was a n ok bridge result, 2nd with 58% yesterday.
The laundry services aboard were restricted whilst we were in River Plate waters (all ‘grey water’ has to be kept on board and not released) so it was a Dhobi day this morning. We don’t qualify for the free on-board laundry service 😟 – you have to be a Saga Gold Member.
Cards this afternoon, and then we’ll all be meeting up for an early dinner in readiness for me running the quiz at 8.45 this evening……
The evening draws to a close. We attended a concert by the Champagne Quartet at 6.15, with the theme Tangos of Argentina. It was very good. That was followed by a very nice dinner – simple fish and chips, and bakewell tart with custard, and then the quiz.
The Archdeacon was spectating – usually he takes part – and cottoned on to the theme of my Sunday quiz. Big smile, and a drink for Sue sitting at the bar! First 4 answers: The Saints, Fletcher Christian, Jew or dew claw, Muslim calendar…..can you see it, yet? The winning score was 16 1/2, and there was a tie-break.
Bridge result for today was disappointing – pipped by Rena and Godfrey by 3 points – and we were 2nd with 63%.
So after a nightcap at the Sundowner Bar, a Brazilian sugar cane (rum) spirit with lots of ice and lime, it is time to crash out.
Our South American Adventure 