Madagascar / Sun Mar 3

Today we're docked in Taolanaro, Madagascar. We took a private tour with two other couples.

It was shocking and sobering to see the poverty on this island. As we drove along certain parts of the road (hard to call it a road since it was dirt with HUGE potholes) children would come up to the car with lizards and birds perched on sticks. They wanted us to take pictures and then give them money. In the villages the homes were made of sticks and it wasn't much better in the 'city.'

We first went to the Nahampoana Reserve to look for lemurs which are native to Madagascar. We saw both white and ring tailed lemurs.

Also at the reserve we saw a Nile crocodile, women working in the field and there were some locals who danced for us.

Next we went to a pretty waterfall where we could enjoy the sun and take a dip.

All along the way we saw so much poverty. People were working in the fields and we came upon a group who had gotten together with their cattle to help prepare the area for planting rice which is a staple of their diet.

Local church

Before heading back to the ship we drove through the town and saw the market as well as the beaches. It's a scenic island but the poverty is hard to see.

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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

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