Travel Blog
Tuesday-Wednesday, December 31, 2013 -Jan 1, 2014
Tuesday-Wednesday, December 31, 2013 -Jan 1, 2014
New Years on the Equator
It is traditional to bring in the New Year with chanting,
“Out with the old, in with the new!” The
turn of 2013 Tuesday morning brought us the outer waters of
the Amazon. Land could not been seen,
but the abrupt change in the color of the water from blue to brown signaled that
we were dealing with a flow of fresh water off the land, carrying tons an
sediment and silt with it. We continued
up the north branch of the river all day and were pleased when we could finally
see land. The tremendous flow of this,
the world’s largest river, is almost incomprehensible.
into 2014 was a perfect example of the truth of this.
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| the Lower Amazon |
Our trusty handheld GPS gave us a good idea of our location
and the speed of the ship. At first we
were wondering why the Pacific Princess’ speed
had dropped off and after a bit of thought realized that we were bucking the
current going upstream and our speed would be reduced, of course.
Our afternoon program, a presentation on Brazil
and the ports of the Amazon was packed.
Some members of the audience were forced to stand for the lecture and we
received rave reviews from the guests.
This program was televised the next day for those who were not able to
catch it the first time.
Our ship anchored in the river two miles south of the
Equator, which we had just crossed!
There were no announcements about this in anyplace but our show, since
we had the Crossing the Line ceremony on Monday. We just explained to the audience that King
Neptune doesn’t do rivers!
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| Celebrating New Year's Ever with our tablemates |
Every year in the past, we had watched the ball drop in Times
Square to signal the event.
It almost felt as This year was
different. Due to our time zone, we were
able to start the festivities two hours before the Manhattanites. Take that!
Brazil
and Greenland have got you beat! We turned in at about 12:30.
New York, you don't own New year's Eve!
New York, you don't own New year's Eve!
Wednesday, Jan 1
2014
 | |
| Typical Delta view |
Unlike most revelers, we awoke early on New Years Day. We threw our laundry into the machines on the
way to breakfast on the fantail at about 7:30. Our breakfast was timed perfectly. Our washing was just finishing and ready for
the dryer when we returned. Laundry on a
28 day cruise can be problematic. Timing is essential, if one is to beat the
crowds. We picked the perfect time for
it!
Our final presentation for the first cruise, Voyage of the HMS Beagle, was scheduled
for an early 9:45. Attendance was better than expected and we
had some nice comments.
This was the first afternoon in quite a number of days where
we did not have desk duty in the afternoon, so we decided to kick back for the
afternoon. We retired to the Promenade
Deck lounges for a number of hours and caught up on our reading.
We have missed a few things on board. Internet coverage is slow and expensive, but
better than any other ship we have been on.
We have had trouble following the Seahawks. ESPN has continued to ignore their fantastic
season. We have been able to connect
with Kari and Jim on Skype and are reading important email every few days.
We do not miss Pacific Northwest
weather, but it wasn’t a problem in our winter home of Desert Hot Springs.
After dinner at the buffet, and drinks with friends, we
attended another excellent show by our comic, Tony. He brought tears to ours eyes from laughing
for the second time. He is a real
pro. We turned in tired, but happy at
about 11:00.
What a wonderful day to start a new year!
Tomorrow, Santarem,
our first Amazon port of call.
What a way to bring in the new year!
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