Sunday, January 11, 2026 At Sea – Crossing the Equator

The day you cross the equator for the first time is an experience and this was Joanne’s first time.  The ship used the comedian, Paul Adams, as King Neptune and he was a hoot.  They made the usual mess of the crew first timers, dubbed “polliwogs” and then pronounced them “shellbacks”.  They left the passengers alone, which pleased Joanne.  She took this picture:

At Office hour, we got a nice offer from a couple, who had sailed around the world on a Cal 35 from 1988 to 1997, and had a bunch of pictures and stories to tell.  We’ll do it.

We dealt with a HAL problem and took a few sign ups, got the tipping list for our Cocktail Party,  made up the envelopes and gave them to the sommelier, who was delighted.  I had put them in Chinese red and gold LaiSee packets and they looked swell.

Pat and I played Bridge again and this time we came in the top 3 N-S and earned a third of a master point. Imagine that.

A couple of  our people came to our table for dinner, and we saw Isabel Commandeur on the world stage.  We waited, after the show, and invited her and her boyfriend to dinner, shamelessly dropping Nancy Gustafson’s name as our Opera Singer connection. 

Monday, January 12,        Icoaraci (Belem), Brazil

I was getting behind in my correspondence, paperwork, logging and blogging , so I took the morning to work. Around 12:30pm, Dee and I went out in Icoaraci.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this old boat, still in the water:

We didn’t think we’d have time to go to Belem, but the onshore shorex staff were sure we could do it and seemed to really want us to go.  Maybe it wasn’t safe to walk around Icoaraci.

We drove past the saddest real estate I had ever seen, and I have seen a lot of third world countries.  This was really bad.  But when we got to Belem, they had a few nice modern buildings to browse, and some entertainment.  As usual, I just wanted some good local food and thoroughly enjoyed the Pasteles with Guarana, a soft drink found only in Brazil and a favorite of Dee’s.:

There was a local market to go to, but we didn’t have time and it turned out to be a good thing.  When we got back, Pat told us she had seen a lady in front of her pushed to the ground, and her HAL tote bag ripped from her.  Pat turned right around and went back to the bus. So much for that shopping day.

Joanne went on a shore excursion up the Amazon and had a wonderful day.  This is the real estate she saw:

And sailaway was very nice.  Paul Adams was on the World Stage after dinner, and we all enjoyed him.

Tuesday, January 13, 2026   At Sea

We met with our contact from Shorex to give her an updated count and discuss how Pat, Dee and I were going to rejoin our tour in Buenos Aires, after Iguassu Falls.  We weren’t going to be able to board a ship that docks at 8:00am for an 8:00am meeting.  Ships let all the tours off the ship before they let anyone come on.  We will have full coordinates for our bus so we will be on board before our group even leaves the ship. 

Pat and I managed to squeeze another game of Duplicate Bridge in and won another quarter of a master point. We had dinner on the balcony of Dee’s Neptune Suite, to discuss our tour to Iguassu Falls, just the four of us.  We felt very special and Joanne talked us through the whole thing so we know what we are doing. It looks great.

Wednesday, January 14 – At Sea

I did some work for one of my DV people, greeted a few more at the Desk, and did some work for a travel client. Pat and I played Bridge again and did not finish with any master points.  Oh dear.  I had a cruise to sell to keep me busy until dinnertime, and what a dinner.

We had such a wonderful dinner with Isabel Commandeur and her boyfriend, Ralph, that we talked right through the show.  They are Dutch and I’m now Facebook friends with Isabel.  If she’s in Amsterdam, when I go in the fall of 2027, we’ll get together. That’ll be a Rhine River Cruise.  Watch for it to appear in my signature.