At Sea in the Gulf of Guinea - Jan 31

Showing off our purchases. Joani bought this parrot shirt in the market in Belém, Brazil:

Bob bought this West African shirt in the Grand Marchée in Lomé, Togo. African styles have changed for men - the younger men especially are wearing tailored close-fitting shirts with matching pants, rather than the old loose and baggy Dashiki style.

The new West African men's clothing style is shown below. Bob passed on the matching pants.

Cotonou Benin – Lake Village on Stilts – Jan 30th

It is the December-January dry season and a hot, dry and dust-laden wind blows down into Benin from the Sahara. Cotonou has several hundred-thousand high emission vehicles: the average age car is 17 and there are a ton of Chinese motorcycles; many running on boot-legged Nigerian leaded gas. Most of the one million inhabitants cook over open wood fires. This all creates a hazy, smoggy, particle-laden inversion of pollution with a heavy wood smoke smell and the sun never quite breaks through. It’s the worst air pollution we’ve ever seen. Nevertheless …

... we were greeted by a dance in traditional garb as we disembarked:

Our excursion was to a “village on stilts” on Nokoue Lake north of Cotonou. Tradition has it the village was founded several hundred years ago when the King of Dahomey (as Benin was formerly known) was about to sell a particular village into slavery. They escaped and moved to the middle of the shallow lake and have been living there ever since. The community uses the lake and passages through its reeds and grasses as their road and highway system. The Ganvie Village community today consists of 30,000 people. Something you don’t see every day – it was very interesting.

Here is Calavi Harbor on the south end of the lake:

Here are Joani and I on our way to Ganvie Village

Typical houses. 50 years ago they would have had thatched roofs; now tin roofs.

Here is a local fisherman casting his net:

Here is the Ganvie Village Marketplace:

Tomorrow is a day at sea, and then on to the Gulf of Guinea island of Sao Tome

Lomé Togo - Jan 29th

Lomé is the capital of Togo and best deep-water harbor in the region. Much of the shipping to and from Ghana, Benin, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso comes through the modern container terminal here and then goes out overland by truck.

We were greeted coming off the ship by traditional dancers on stilts, with the modern port cranes of the container terminal visible behind:

French is the official language but locally Ewe is spoken. We visited a local Ewe village of 1000 people 30 minutes out of town and had an audience with the chief or king, still chosen patrilineally. There was a ceremony with traditional dancing; the king wore traditional ceremonial garb, and he welcomed us, put us under his protection, and answered questions. Below is a video of ceremonial dancing and a photo of the King and Queen:

The main religion is Voudou, which can be and sometimes has been combined and syncretized with other religions, including Christianity. We visited the world’s largest Fetish market, where items are sold that are used in rites and ceremonies. Here are some pictures:

Later we took a shuttle to the Grand Marchée (Grand Market), 10 or 12 blocks of hundreds of shops and stalls, which is not a tourist market so much as a large regional market where people from 5 neighboring countries and all over Togo come for the wide variety and selection available due to the port. Joani, of course, bought fabric, a traditional West African print.

At Sea - Jan 24th - A Great Video

A video of a flock of scarlet ibises in Heron Park (Mangal das Garças) in Belém that was photo-bombed by a male white heron pursuing a female with obvious amorous interest:

All for today as we continue at sea.

Recife - and then Goodbye to the Americas - Jan 23

We took a boat tour of Recife, Venice of the Americas, with many islands, rivers, canals and 40 bridges. Highlight was the art of Francisco Brennand, the most renowned person from Recife and a contemporary and kindred spirit of Picasso and Gaudi. His sculpture graces the stone breakwater (or “reef,” origin of the town name) that protects the harbor:

We visited an old prison, below is a wooden model. It’s now shops and boutiques but still has the prison walls (we saw the same in Natal and Fortaleza). Brazil has high crime and old prisons that used to keep bad guys in now keep them out and busloads of tourists safe from getting into trouble.

Recife is a major city with a metro population of 4 million. It hosts the most famous Carnival in Brazil after Rio but rather than samba they dance “Frevo” (fever), an active and frenetic Capoeira. Recife is where sugar cane was introduced to the Western Hemisphere and capoeira and Frevo come from the West Africans forced to work growing sugar cane.

Despite the Portuguese fort at Fortaleza, Recife was taken by the Dutch West India Company and held from 1630 to 1654. Parts of the old city have a Dutch influence similar to Curaçao. Modern Recife:

Good-bye to the Americas!!! Here we are leaving Brazil, heading across the South Atlantic towards Africa, and we will not return to the Western Hemisphere til June. Joani is wearing a beach cover-up that she bought at the prison boutique. Bob is wearing a polo shirt that he bought at Walmart.

At Sea

We will be at sea for the next 5 days. This is not a hardship. The gym is well equipped, the restaurants superb, and our favorite piano player Alexei performs each night. At sea Bob takes a bridge lesson each morning and plays duplicate each afternoon with a guy named Glenn from Chicago. Joani has joined a needlework group (aka “stitch & b*&!$”), and a Mah Jong group, and plays ping pong and team trivia for “Big O” points. Points are redeemable for Oceania merchandise and it’s like corporate golf events, everybody always wins something by the end of the cruise.

Until Africa!

Natal - Even Bigger Dunes - Jan 22nd

Approaching Natal, we could see the dunes towering over the small coastal villages under a heavy water-laden sky. It's the rainy season in northeastern Brazil and there's a downpour almost every night.

So it was back to the dune buggies, this time with only 2 passengers in each 4x4:

And the dunes were impressive as advertised:

Q: How do you get beach buggies across a long narrow lagoon to get to the dunes and beaches on the long narrow barrier island on the other side? A: At the Genipabu Dunes and Beach, like this:

Have to admit, we had never experienced anything like that before.

In Brazil, you can see almost anything on the beach:

But the beach was very nice, if a little wind-blown:

The ride was as thrilling as yesterday. Once again, I had trouble holding on to the camera and holding myself inside the 4x4 at the same time (need a GoPro head cam), but once again you can hear Joani screaming:

Joani tried to compliment the drivers by telling them they drove like Schumacher, but this they vehemently denied, strongly preferring comparison with the many Brazilian F1 world champions. Then they posed for a picture with her anyway. Our driver was Edson on Joani's left.

Finally, Brazilians do everything with style and flair, as shown by this Brasileira zip-lining from the top of a big dune into the lagoa below:

Next is a catamaran excursion out of Recife, and then we're at sea for five days, crossing the Atlantic to the west coast of Africa.

Fortaleza – Dunes Dunes Dunes! – Jan 21

Fortaleza, gateway to Brazil’s northeast, was named after the fort built here by the Portuguese to protect northeastern Brazil from British, Dutch and Spanish raiders. It’s an industrial port city of four million and capital of the Brazilian northeast state of Ceará. The Northeast is very poor, even for Brazil, but produces some of Brazil’s best soccer players.

The highlight was Cumbuco Beach and Dunes, where we rode 4x4 beach buggies. Typical of Brazil, on the bus ride from the ship to the dunes, wearing seatbelts was strictly enforced. Then in the beach buggies with three people sitting on the top of the back seat holding on tightly to the roll bar careening down 20 degree grades, there were no seat belts.

But it was fun. Attempting to upload a video of going down a dune. It is a little jerky as halfway down I had to get a hand-hold with with my camera hand to keep from falling out.

Joani and her friend Julie both claim it was the other one screaming.

In this second video, an improvised water-slide down a dune into a lagoon, the guy gets going so fast that when he hits the water he skips like a stone 3 or 4 times on his butt. We were advised by the tour operator that under no circumstances were we allowed to try this.

On flat, staying secure on the back seats is easy (below). We were advised if we did fall out the back, try to avoid touching the muffler or the exhaust pipes, as they get quite hot.

Belém – Birds Birds Birds! – Jan 19

Belém is the gateway to the Amazon, an industrial port city of a couple of million, capital of the Brazilian Amazon state of Pará, about one degree in latitude from the equator and about 50 miles from the mouth of the Amazon itself.

The highlight was the Mangal das Garças, or Heron Park, showcasing some of the native birds and other selected flora and fauna. About a one mile walk from the cruise terminal and with free admission; we spent a couple of hours there.

Totally impressive was the flock of scarlet ibises. Didn’t even know there was such a thing as a scarlet ibis. The view from the top of an old lighthouse in the park was also great.

On the way back Joani found a store called “Tecidolandia” (Fabric Land) but restrained herself.

It doesn’t get much more hot and humid than it was here.

This fishing boat in Belém harbor had my name on it.

Joani with a flock of scarlet ibis

Scarlet ibis up close

Pink flamingoes, herons and Amazon river ducks

River turtles

Butterflies on a tropical flower in Borboletaria (butterfly house)

We have wood storks like this in Florida

Pink famingoes looking down from the lighthouse

Devil's Island, French Guiana - Jan 17th

Devil's Island is a hot, humid, rain-forested island inhabited mainly by capybaras (the largest rodent in the world), macaws and monkeys. And snakes. And cutter ants. We saw capybaras running around and they look like this:



It's kind of a cross bwteeen a rat and a rabbit only bigger than both and they hop around like rabbits.

We saw the prisoner cells on Île Royale and yes they do have those little pass-through tunnels under the bars for getting food to the prisoners' food. 

The high security inmates were kept on the more isolated Devil's Island (Île du Diable) which you can see behind Joani:

 Looks like an easy swim, but the currents are treacheous due to the tides rushing through the channel between the islands (swimming was prohibited because it was too dangerous). And you would have to swim ashore over these rocks:

A macaw screeched at Joani right after a capybara ran right across our path and she jumped about 3 feet. The macaws are big, blue and red:



None of the three former prison islands are inhabited because the French satellite launches from the Arianne space center in French Guiana passed directly overhead. People come from the mainland to work at the tourist center on Île Royale, which is now a park. Visitors also came by catamaran from the mainland while we were there to have a Sunday afternoon picnic.

On to Belem in Brazil, very near the mouth of the Amazon.

Tobago - Jan 15

Well, you can’t win them all. Our last Caribbean stop on Tobago ("To-bay-go") was nothing to write home about. Buccoo Reef and Pigeon Point Beach are allegedly normally superb but rain the previous night and high winds kept the water murky, the currents swift and the snorkeling dodgy. “Only strong and experienced swimmers should go off the boat.” Bob saw a black and yellow speckled parrotfish with a bright scarlet red belly underneath, which is why it is also called a “stoplight parrrotfish.” Picture below is from the Internet but that is exactly what it looks like.

Our next stop is Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana, site of the “Papillion” book and movie with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. We will tender ashore to visit the abandoned prison.

Barbados - Jan 14

Barbados is our new favorite Caribbean Island. Crystal clear water, easy to get around and unpretentious. Bob had two great dives, a reef and a wreck at 50 and 30 feet. Only 5 divers with a great dive master and 51 and 58 minutes of bottom time. The pictures below taken by new diving friends from the ship my new ship Thom and Becky capture what we saw. Joani was seeing the same sea life while snorkeling from a different boat with a group of three. As advertised, lots of giant sea turtles.

This guy was enjoyng the bottom of the reef about 45 feet down.

Tropical fish milling around the hull of a wreck at 30 feet

Have to look closely to see this guy hiding on the bottom

This flounder also blends into the bottom coloring really well

Dive Master under the hull of a wreck

Here's Becky

Trumpetfish. Needlefish are similar but white-translucent and everywhere.

And I'll try uploading a video. You may or may not get this:

Bat Cave & Giant Sea Turtles - Martinique Jan 13

Fort de France is on the northern shore of the large, protected and Caribbean-facing Fort de France Bay:

We first went snorkeling in a bat cave across the bay on its sparsely populated southern shore:

Then more snorkeling off a white sandy beach a little further south, where a giant sea turtle swam among us, quite unperturbed by the humans. We still don't have an underwater camera, but luckily had friends (Chris & Julie Carter of Hull, England) who do:

Off for Barbados, known for being a great spot to see more giant sea turtles

Zip-Lining in St. Lucia Jan 12

A canopy zip-line with 12 stations in the St. Lucia rain forest was out-of-this-world. Joani has vertigo (less and less as the years go by) and still had a blast. Thumbs-up to the local Piton Beer, the St. Lucia post zip-lining drink of choice.

Grenada Jan 11th

We asked how the name of the island is pronounced. It’s Gre-nay-da. The locals say Gre-nah-da is a fort in Spain.

Everyone will be pleased to know that the medical school where US students were kept safe by Reagan’s invasion is thriving and educating more US-born medical students.

We went on a nature hike up Mount Gazo, 1100 feet above the St. George harbor; and then swimming at a white-white sandy beach.

A square-rigger anchored next to our stern in the harbor