Sailing the Ocean Blue...

Well now I'm on my way to a homeport of New York City. Funny to come full circle since November 2006 and pulling into New York Harbor on a ship. Now that's something I've never done before. Since I last wrote about my travels I just left Valetta, Malta and was on my way to Tunisia. Little did I know when we arrived that it would be for the last time. This was an unscheduled stop since we were originally supposed to stop in Tripoli, Libya. However for whatever reason the country of Libya does not allow Americans. Obviously since most of our clientele is American, we couldn't go. We re-routed to La Goulette, Tunisia. Next time we will re-route to Naples, Italy (nice) and then again we will be revisiting Katakolon in Greece. I didn't know this until a few days later when I received the updated itinerary under my door. At the time I thought all the Libya stops would be replaced with Tunisia. It was kind of gloomy that day and it was a hassle getting out of the port area so we decided to just go into the city. Only 2 of us with the group that got off. The rest went back on the ship and for a moment I thought of it. We only had a few hours since we had rehearsal that day. I wish I had experienced it more since it was our last visit, which just goes to show you should take advantage of what's put in front of you as if it were never happening again. I don't know now when I'll be back in Tunisia. It was a fabulous place with a French feel. Everything was in French and I loved it. Good practice. We left La Goulette for Palma de Mallorca in the Spanish Isles. We will see this place again and good thing since it was a Sunday when we got there. Everything was closed up for the day. There were tons of cute shops and little side streets. The Spanish artist and architect Gaudi had his influence in various buildings around town including the main cathedral in the heart of the old town. We just took in the sights most of the day exploring all the little nooks and crannies eventually landing us at a seaside café to take in some sangria and eats. It was expensive because it was on the shoreline, but later on we found a nice little English pub that was cheaper. Although we didn't have traditional English dinner there since it closed up early on a Sunday. Instead we had some tapas and sangria at a local street café for the evening. The sangria was fabulous and came with these overly long straws so everyone could share. A gimmick, but a hilarious one. This little town is actually an English vacation hot spot. I can't wait to get back. We cruised on stopping in the African port of Ceuta, Spanish Morocco. We also would only be here once and I technically had in port manning to cover, but I got off around siesta time to take a walk. Siesta time in these Mediterranean ports is not the best time to walk around since all the shops are closed, but probably better for my pocket book. It was a cute place and very much like Palma in style. A definite Spanish influence as the name would indicate. Although the locals still call it Moroccan. After leaving here we sailed onward into the Azores. It was a bumpy ride getting there since the Azores are just off the European coast in the Atlantic Ocean. Our lead singer had some trouble with the seas since this ship gets tossed quite a bit in inclement weather. This was a lovely place. We walked all around town despite the rainy day. It was cool and the place we were told to see was the two lakes up in the hills. Evidently there are two lakes side by side that are two different colors. One has a blue tint (natural cool water) and the other green due to the algae growing in the overheated sulfuric water. No one really wanted to go and a cab ride would be very expensive with the fewer people that went. The clouds were low as well so the sight lines from higher up were dismal. We just walked around town and enjoyed the Portuguese flair of the city. I actually found a mall out there and we shopped around for a bit. Later on we all got together and enjoyed some cappuccino and beer at a local café. I separated from the group and just walked through all the narrow cobblestone paved streets. It was a mixture of the Falkland Islands and the city of Lisbon. Then we headed on our 4-day trek that landed us in the city of Hamilton in Bermuda. I got up at sunrise to see us sail into the Bermuda region. After all, we were sailing into the Bermuda triangle known for ships and planes getting lost apparently caused by paranormal activity. It's a sailor's legend of course. We made it just fine. I did get out today for a bit. It was supposed to be my IPM day as well, but I just walked around this cute little town very similar to Grand Cayman Islands. The city near the port is filled with cruise ship tourist traps like jewelry and trinket shops. It's a British colony so everything was a tad more expensive here. The houses were all Caribbean colorful. Pink being the predominant one. Supposedly there's a pink beach here. I didn't get to go to any beach (it was too cold anyway), but I didn't see any on the sail in. The whole colony is hook shaped, so it was a very interesting sail in getting close to various reefs nearby. The sail out was just as nice although I wish we could've stayed longer and I wish we didn't have a show to do tonight. We've been so fortunate so far that we've only had shows on sea days and with the plethora of sea days on the way over, I thought for sure we'd luck out. Alas, we had one on a day we left port early AND we have early shows. As far as the Bermuda Triangle goes, I'm still here. At least I think I am or is this another space-time zone in the universe? Hmmm. Supposedly there's a legend by Christopher Columbus that he saw light dancing on the water, which in turn sparked the whole theory of paranormal or alien activity in the Bermuda Triangle region. The only light I saw that evening was the bright moon shining down on the water as we sailed away. Shortly I'll have the absolute pleasure of taking the trip so many of our ancestor's have as they entered this country. We'll be sailing into New York Harbor bright and early and sailing past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It will be an experience to behold.