Ascension Island / Sat Mar 23

Today we arrived at Ascension Island - an isolated volcanic island located between Africa and Brazil just south of the equator.

The British garrisoned the island in 1815 to prevent a rescue of Napoleon from Saint Helena. During World War II, the UK permitted the US to construct an airfield to support trans-Atlantic flights to Africa and anti-submarine operations in the South Atlantic. In the 1960s the island became an important space tracking station for the US. In 1982, Ascension was an staging area for British forces during the Falklands War.

The island's airport is operated by the US. Its runway was once the longest in the world because it was designed to accommodate the Space Shuttle. NASA tracked the Apollo Moon landings from the island and the European Space Agency monitors rocket launches from here. Hilltops across the island are filled with aerial arrays and satellite dishes but no one is willing to say who is listening or what they're listening to.

Unfortunately we were weren't able to get on to the island. The large waves near the dock made it impossible for the tenders to land. We took pictures of the island as we sailed away.

We have several days at sea until we get to our next stop which is Dakar, Senegal.

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Dakar, Senegal / Wed Mar 27

Today we docked in Dakar which is the capitol of Senegal. We took one of the ship's tours since we weren't sure what to expect safety wise. Surprisingly, the tour bus was pretty modern complete with air conditioning and our local tour guide's English was good. We spent about 4 hours going to some of the highlights of the city. We didn't always stop for photos and the windows of the bus were quite dirty so there aren't that many great photos to share. Dakar has many modern high rise buildings, well paved roads and a decent highway system yet there is so much poverty. People are set up almost everywhere selling their goods and piles of garbage are all around. On one corner we saw someone selling bed frames and in another area, selling refrigerators. There are modern cars on the road as well as horses, wagons and goats. You can see how developed the road system is in the city... We saw a number of small, colorful buses on the roads. T

Busselton / Tue Feb 19

We tendered in Busselton, Australia today. Busselton is best known for the the Busselton Jetty which was built in 1865. It's more than a mile long and is the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. At the end of the jetty is an underwater observatory. You can get to it by walking the length of the jetty or by taking the Jetty Train which looks like a Victorian locomotive but is powered by solar panels. We spent the day in Busselton with two other couples. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours then walked into town to explore. We met Walter who was quite the character. After that we had a snack at a local restaurant then took the train to the end of the jetty and toured the underwater observatory before walking back to the tender. Fun day!

Parting Thoughts and More ...

It didn’t take too long to re-enter our normal lives. Although I did miss having our linens changed daily, Larry was delighted to get back home so he could eat dinner wearing shorts (not long pants) ... which he couldn’t do on the ship. Because I get sea (and motion) sick I used the scopalomine patch on this cruise. Usually Bonine is enough but the cruise started in rough waters (crossing to Hawaii from LA) so I decided to use the patch. It worked really, really well with no side effects so I continued using it. When it was prescribed (by two different doctors) I asked each if using it for almost 3 months would be an issue and both said 'no.' Well, I should have done more research as it turns out you can get addicted and experience withdrawal .... and I did. I wasn't able to get off it until the 3rd time I tried and even then it took about 3 weeks to be free of all symptoms. After going online to find out how to withdraw, I saw that some people have much more trouble t

Opals and Romeos

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