Last Day

We are a day away from home. It was the Chefs' parade last night which is always an excuse for lots of clapping and cheering in the restaurant. After all, those guys have been cooking 12,500 meals per day. I am pleased to report that we are still on the sun deck in fact, in 23 days we have had sun every day which is very fortunate and pretty much unheard of on any of our cruises. The sea has been very calm too so we are so lucky (apart from that damn swell on its way to Biscay).

The Captain mentioned in his speech last night that he hasn't lost his No Claims Bonus despite us bumping the ship's sides in a lock in the Panama Canal - blame the Panamanians - it was their job! All evidence is now removed via lots of white paint. He assures us we will see him in Poundland when we arrive at Southampton; most of the crew will be in West Quay - it is their favourite shopping stop off - I hope they have good stocks of Toblerone!

Highlight for us have been the Panama Canal (we bought the DVD of our transit - it isn't that good a production and in some respects amusing but will do to remind us of that day) and the airport/Maho beach at St Marteen. Mexico also goes down in our memories as the time Spencer took to the stage - very funny indeed. We have met some really nice people and made some good friends. Spencer walked 180 miles but there's still some work to do on our return home to lose some calories.

It is now midday and I have just heard the clapping and cheering of the World cruisers as it was announced that the 40,000 nautical mile barrier has just been broken. That's a lot of miles! Here are some last day piccies including Suresh the wine waiter and Melody who gets us our hot chocs and Cointreau plus pre dinner drinks in the evening.













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Location:Nearing the UK

Last 2 days

So, as we travel ever closer to Southampton the seas are lovely and calm which is a godsend. In fact the weather has been overall superb the whole way. I am just watching the ship produced Panama Canal video - it is very interesting but you needed to be there to truly understand what it is like.

So here's our route map. We will have covered 8218 nautical miles when we arrive home. The whole world cruise is about 40000 nautical miles which is a very long way indeed.





And here are a couple more Panama Canal transit pictures I purchased. Very cool indeed and a great momento.







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Location:North Atlantic - 600 miles of coast of Portugal

Ponta Delgada

After 5 sea days, we made it here. It is about 17 degrees which seems a bit chilly now for shorts. We had a walk around town and bought a few more bits for our souvenir collection. Time seems to have flown. Casting our minds back to Aruba we saw a strange ship which seemed to have nobody aboard or at least they were all hiding and emerged at night en masse. The ship was called Freewinds and we just looked it up; it is the Church of Scientology's ship. It all stacks up.

Anyway, we have three days now until we return to Southampton. Weather should be getting warmer in the UK which is a bonus. Overall it has been an amazing trip and we have enjoyed every minute of it.







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Location:Avenida Infante Dom Henrique,Ponta Delgada,Portugal