Pandemic Diaries - Mediterranean Cruise - Crossing the Atlantic

13 November 2022 - Crossing the Atlantic Ocean

 

We’re on our second day of the transatlantic crossing portion of our cruise, and, well, it isn’t the smoothest crossing, that’s for sure.  We seem to have hit some low pressure system that isn’t exactly stormy, but also isn’t clear nor sunny.  Grey skies, high clouds, weak sunshine, and 10 to 14 foot swells (that’s about 3 to 4.5 meter swells).

 

I don’t mind rough seas, but there’s something about the rolling swells that gets to me.  I think it’s the repetitive rocking motion of the ship.  In rough seas, it’s bouncy and jouncy and rather like a roller coaster.  But the repetitive rocking gets to my inner ears or vestibular system or whatever it is, and yes, then I do not feel well.

 

However, an early dose of non-drowsy Dramamine is all I need.  Well, plus lots of tea and carbs, somehow.  No idea why the tea and carbs help, but they do.

 

So we’re doing well, just moving around the ship rather like being inside a pinball machine, bouncing from one side of a hallway to the other.   It really isn’t easy to walk in a straight line when the ship is rocking from side to side, and most of us ping pong back and forth.  It’s rather funny, and often makes me laugh as I try to walk around.

 

It’s quite relaxing, though.  There are all sorts of activities planned, talks about naval history or art or even the ship and navigation.  Cooking demonstrations.  Group dance lessons.  Various music activities, trivia or bingo competitions, towel folding and origami.

 

But we’re not big joiners, though we’ll stop and listen to one of the musical performances as we walk around.  I’m fine working on blogs, editing photos, reading in our cabin.  With the occasional art lecture.  As I said, it’s all very relaxed.

 

We’re also crossing through five time zones as we travel westward, so every day or two we set the clocks back an hour.  It’s a gentle way to travel, and we gain an extra hour to sleep every other day or so.  Yes, VERY relaxing!

 

It’s currently sunset, and those clouds of the day are pink, reflecting on the ocean.  People gather on the open decks or at their balconies and windows, to watch the sun setting over the ocean.  The seas often calm a bit at sunset, though sometimes the waves seem to increase again after dark.  The lifeboats outside our window continue to creak, groan, and knock – but the crew seems to check them daily, so we’re assuming they are safe and securely fastened.  They do sound like a haunted house out there throughout the night, though. 

 

Hmmm, maybe our cruise ship is haunted!

 

 

16 November 2022

 

The seas have calmed as we’ve reached a high pressure weather system, and the air has really gotten warmer.  It’s amazing how calm the middle of the Atlantic is!  Though apparently the trade winds and ocean currents in this region are helping with our westward direction, pushing us along a bit more so that the engines and props don’t need to work as hard.  We don’t have sails, but the ship is large enough that the wind at our stern helps.

 

Last night we celebrated our 19^th wedding anniversary, and went to one of the specialty restaurants on board.  They specialize in grilled steaks, and their filet mignon was delicious.  When they heard it was our anniversary, well, we ended up with a small chocolate cake at the end of this sumptuous meal!  (Half the cake is currently in our fridge.  And no, I didn’t eat any of it last night – they had chocolate soufflé on the menu, and we didn’t know this little cake was coming!)

 

It’s hard to believe that this is Day 4 of our ocean crossing.  The time both drags and goes by quickly.  Yesterday, somehow, I was so busy I didn’t have time to catch up on blog writing.  Between a relaxed breakfast in our room, attending a talk on the art of seascapes (featuring Turner’s works), and tea with my friend, the day flew by.  But Friday will be here way too soon, and we’ll need to repack and get ready for disembarkation on Saturday.

 

I also took a photo of the funniest activity that has occurred thus far, how to use an inflatable life boat!  In the water!  No, not off the side of the ship, in the swimming pool!  This really is the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in a long time, because the inflatable boat pretty much fills the width of the swimming pool!  I have no idea if someone is going to get into the life boat as it floats around the pool, or what.  But there isn’t room for very many people in the pool while that boat is in there!  (And is someone going to jump in to deflate the thing?  Inquiring minds want to know!)

 

I can understand why more people joined our ship in Barcelona for this two week cruise – sailing across the Atlantic is so much more relaxing than flying over the ocean.  For those of us who are retired, we have the time.  So why not enjoy the voyage?  It’s SO much more civilized than being crammed into a tight seat and hanging in the sky for eight hours!

 

 

18 November 2022

 

We’ve arrived at the Miami cruise port about 10 or 12 hours early.  Apparently a passenger needed medical care, more than the ship’s medical center could provide.  After some consideration, the ship’s captain and crew decided that the better option would be to speed up and head to Miami.  (The other nearest port was Bermuda, but it seemed that Miami was a better choice.  We passengers don’t know if Miami was closer, or perhaps had the appropriate facilities that were needed.)

 

Of course, rumors were flying all day after the initial announcement of an early arrival was made, each rumor seeming more dire than the previous.  Most of us had no idea what was going on, but the captain finally explained the general situation.  At least it stopped the rumors.  (The rumor mill update is that three people were evacuated and taken to hospitals.  I can see why we needed to come in early!)

 

For whatever reason, at some point during the past several days this medical emergency (or emergencies) occurred, a decision was made, and here we are in Miami.  However, Customs and Immigration is closed, so we’re all enjoying one last night on the ship, and one last breakfast tomorrow morning.

 

We’re all packed, and our rolling luggage is in the hall waiting to be collected.  We’ll board the last bus to the Fort Lauderdale airport tomorrow morning, and will spend one day/night at a hotel as we adjust to being back in the USA.  And then fly back to NJ for Thanksgiving.

 

It’s been a fun cruise.  The Mediterranean is a wonderful area to cruise, with wonderful little towns to explore at each stop.  I had a great time just wandering, and then sampling the cuisine of each port.

 

I’m not sure I’ll do another ocean crossing, but it has been relaxing, and not as boring as one might think.  In fact, it’s been a very UN-boring time on the ship.  Art lectures, and changing art exhibits (with the occasional free glass of champagne).  Afternoon tea with friends I’ve made on board, days spent catching up writing blogs or doing my own little art projects, or just time spent reading.  Plus an extra hour added during the night, five times.  Who can’t use an extra hour in a day?

 

It’s been a great two months of travel.  This has reminded both Richard and myself why we started our life of travel ten years ago.  We’ve both missed travelling during the beginning and height of the pandemic.  But given the number of Covid cases on our ship, as well as the number of Covid tests I’ve had to take over this eight week period (four tests!), I’m not sure we’re going to start travelling internationally full time again.  Covid is definitely still out there, and it still is impacting everyone, travelers or non-travelers alike.

 

But we have a fun winter planned, so we’ll stick with that.  More US travel, including beach time.  Life is always better with a beach!

 

So stay tuned!

 

 

Pandemic Diaries - Mediterranean Cruise - Funchal, Madeira Island, Azores

11 November 2022 – Funchal, Madeira, Azores

 

Richard and I chose to go in to Funchal, the largest town on the island of Madeira in the Azores. We had no idea what to expect, but had always heard that these islands were beautiful and lush, full of flowers, old buildings, and seafood. Turns out that yes, they have all that and more!

 

The Azores Islands were uninhabited until about 600 years ago, when the age of exploration began and Portuguese navigators claimed this group of islands as part of Portugal.  The islands are volcanic, with steep sea cliffs – in fact, the steepest sea cliff in Europe is located here, and the second highest sea cliff in the world is in the Azores, some 1900 feet high (630 or so meters).  There are no natural beaches on Madeira, just these huge dark volcanic sea cliffs plunging into the sea.  Our taxi driver told us that there is now an artificial beach, with the sand brought in periodically and dumped to replenish the beach.

 

There are 260,000 or so inhabitants living on Madeira, the largest island in this group.  Yes, they are known for their Madeira wine, as well as port and rosé.  Also lace, and cork products.  And buildings enhanced by the ubiquitous blue and white Portuguese scenic tile murals.

 

Rather than waiting in line for the shuttle bus to town, we decided to splurge and take a taxi.  This was our last stop in Europe, and we both had more euros than we had expected to have at the end.  So it was worth 10 euros to have a taxi ride rather than waiting 20 minutes for a crowded bus.

 

Our driver was very informative, and answered our many questions about the Azores, with some of the information quoted above.  Traffic was very busy, though, with three cruise ships in port, but he made it through the gridlocked roundabouts and dropped us on the main street in downtown Funchal.

 

The sidewalks and even some streets in Portugal and Brazil, that former Portuguese colony, tend to be made in black and white stone, creating all kinds of designs.  Here in downtown Funchal, the sidewalks were pure white with black flourishes and medallions, lined with more black stones creating a border with an occasional criss-cross effect.  Really meticulously crafted sidewalks, adding to the beauty of this old city!

 

And benches along the street (and it the park) were painted with local flowers!  Not all the benches, but enough benches that it was noticeable.  Really, very pretty touches that just made Funchal a very lovely place to visit!

 

We found a nice outdoor café and had coffee and apple pie.  I know, we tend to say things like “as American as apple pie.”  It really isn’t, and we’ve had delicious apple pie all around the world.  So, this was a lovely pie without a top crust, and the apples slightly glazed.  Also raisins added in.  Quite the tasty pie.

 

We both wandered around a bit, once we were fortified with our pie.  I walked through the public gardens in town, full of huge trees and flowering plants.  There were various vendors selling homemade items, but I really wasn’t planning to shop, so I just wandered around enjoying the park.  There was a fair-sized concrete arena built into the far corner of the park, maybe for musical events or something.  Not large enough to hold all the island’s citizens, but large enough for maybe 1000 people or so.

 

The gardens also had a lovely fountain toward the front, creating pretty rainbows in the mist.  It was a very relaxing place to wander for a bit, right in town.  (There are terraced gardens out in the valleys that are supposed to be gorgeous, but we chose to have a very low key day on Madeira.)

 

A block or two down the street from the gardens I found the old fort or castle, which seemed to take up at least one square block, if not more.  It was huge, and painted white.  The best information I’ve found is that this is a castle (which is more like a defensive home for royalty – less than a palace, but more than a fort), and dates back to the 16^th century.  This 500 year old building (or so) once dominated the town of Funchal, and the official name is the Palácio de São Lourenço – maybe the Palace of Saint Laurence in English.   Some sources also refer to it as the Forteleza, definitely a fort or fortress in addition to being a palace.  It now houses the military museum, although it was closed when I went by.  There were workers moving all kinds of dividers, so perhaps they were changing exhibits.

 

I have to add that the side street along one side of the fort, coming up from the waterfront, is a very narrow and winding one-way street.  Drivers actually need to drive across the sidewalk along the main road, navigate around a few stanchions preventing vehicles from driving down into the one-way street, and then turn onto that main two-way street in order to keep going.  It was a crazy obstacle course of a road!

 

Another block or two beyond the fort was the old Bank of Portugal in an absolutely gorgeous chocolate brown trimmed éclair of a building!  Really, it was one of those ornate Victorian buildings with embellishments and pillars and all kinds of architectural details.  In stark white, but with dark brown columns and pediments and whatnot.  Definitely looked like some pure white pastry decorated in dark chocolate!  I couldn’t quite figure out the finial on top of the building, it almost looked like a ship curving around a globe sort of structure, but I can’t quite tell.

 

I also found a church toward the end of this street, with an interesting campanile made of brick, but the steep roof was covered in diagonal rows of colored tile, forming a diagonal stripe pattern!  The church itself was more traditional, but that bell tower just stood out, it was so different! 

 

My favorite building, though, was some café or restaurant with large panels of cobalt blue scenes painted on white tiles.  These murals showed what I guess were scenes of life in pastoral Funchal – people fishing, or working in the fields, or showing off their produce.  Definitely bucolic and idyllic, and not realistically portraying the hardships that people faced 100 or so years ago.  But very pretty, and a very Portuguese way of decorating the building.  (One of the panels is an image of that church bell tower!)

 

By this time, we were both ready for lunch.  Richard had the traditional Portuguese hamburguesa, while I had garlic shrimp.  They weren’t as good as the incredible prawns I had at Cabo de Roca years ago on our first trip to Portugal, but they were really delicious.  What can I say, certain local foods are just wonderful, and shrimp eaten on an island in the ocean are almost always amazing.

 

We took another turn around Funchal, but couldn’t find anything we just couldn’t live without.  So, we found another taxi, and headed back to our ship.

 

It’s strange knowing we’ve finished the Europe portion of our cruise, but that we still have another week before the cruise itself ends.  Yes, a week at sea.  Crossing the Atlantic will be a new experience for both of us, and we aren’t sure exactly what to expect.  Other than a relaxing time.  I’m hoping for calm seas, or at least no storms!  (Given Richard and my history with hurricanes and tropical storms, well, there are no guarantees!)