31/3/2016 Mauritius (and Jimmy James)

31/3/2016 Mauritius
We got to beautiful Port Louis, Mauritius at 6 this morning, immigration procedures followed really smoothly at 7 45, breakfast was done by 8:30 and were on our tour bus by 9.  That's what I call efficient.  Well done officials. Our excursion was called Paradise Island and involved just over 1 hour cross country drive to the east coast, water taxi in groups of 20-30 to Ile de Cerfs and a day at a gorgeous white sandy beach, paddling in the lagoon, eating and drinking and generally being tourists. It was quite a big party.  We weren't quick enough to get sunbeds, which was a bit of a disappointment, but we did manage to find a coffee bar playing Bob Marley, and were able to sit in the shade enjoying the music, drinking coffees for quite some time before lunch.

  











Lunch stirred up a bit of bad behaviour in a few passengers, not in us of course, but a few people who couldn't bear queueing, and some others who decided they would police the queueing!!!!  We joined the queue after the fighting had passed, thankfully, and when everyone was back in line.

After the return water taxi trip, we had a lovely sleep on the bus back to the ship, so we were both refreshed and ready to walk some laps round the pool, bobble about in the hot tub, and get ready for dinner, which was, as always, just perfect.

After dinner tonight we went to the Curzon Theatre where the rather special and ever so old Jimmy James was performing. Who else remember Jimmy James and the Vagabonds?  Well if you are old enough, that's the same Jimmy James - all soul and all familiar, "Now is the Time" and "I'll go where the music takes me",  with lots of audience participation and another whole bunch of memories from my youth and beyond!  There's even a photo coming soon!



That's enough for today.  I loved it all.  St Denis highlights tomorrow, so bye for now, more from Reunion tomorrow.

30/3/2016 Sea day 2 to Mauritius

30/3/2016 Just one more sea day to Mauritius.   We are GMT plus 3 I think.  Still sailing south.  The sky is clear again most of the time, and we have had one very gentle cool rain shower.   I don't think I've introduced you to our two pools......, pool bars, hot tubs, sun beds




No sign of sea life though, just one solitary bird accompanying the ship for a few miles (probably hopeful of some scraps, but not getting lucky since throwing anything overboard seems to be outlawed these days).  Yesterday the captain did mention the possibility of seeing an albatross or two.  It hasn't happened yet though.

Interesting how every island has its own way of handling immigrants, in Mauritius all 1800 passengers have to undergo a face to face interview from 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. This is reminiscent of the USA, and Australia, but not many other places in the world.  We have a slot tomorrow morning at 7:45, it's early because we're off on an excursion called Paradise Island (a whole day beach trip with lunch!)

Today's art lesson was an Indian ocean beach scene, with palm trees, sunbeds and parasols, tiny people in the distance and the odd sailing boat.  Thankfully all small enough not to require too much detail.  We're both fairly happy with the outcome.




We learned today there's to be an art exhibition on 2/4/2016, our next sea day.  We need to choose 3 of our best pieces for this and submit them to Tony the teacher on 1/4/2016.

So just to sum up, tomorrow it's Mauritius then the day after is Reunion Island, both just inside the Tropic of Capricorn, so still not too much sitting outside, and then we move south-westwards to South Africa - Port Elizabeth and then Cape Town, where we understand the season is Autumn, and still like a good British summer. But not yet, two port days and three sea days before then.

29/3/2016 Sea day one: Seychelles to Mauritius

29/3/2016 Two sea days to go to Mauritius. in the night it was eerily windy, I woke at 1 with the sound of wind whistling really loudly.  So loud it was hard to sleep afterwards, so I spent the night watching films about Edward 8th and Wallace Simpson, it's ok though, it's always possible to nap during the day.  Today there have been cloudy skies but the temperature is still in the 30sC.  We've been able to sit outside for a little while, but mainly enjoying the entertainment, the naps and the air conditioning!

Today we've enjoyed 2 art classes focussing on portraits, learning a bit about perspective and shading. The first one was a copy of something Tony did in Vietnam before we joined the ship.  The second I decided to do a self portrait.  Both really enjoyable, much more so for me than landscapes.



Then after another black tie dinner this evening a really entertaining Freddie Mercury tribute act, by Dean Richardson,  made all the more enjoyable by the fact that he could very happily take the micky out of himself.  He had a lovely voice, and was wonderful with his audience, lots of Freddie's mannerisms, a few look-alike costumes, even though he didn't look a lot, I should say nothing at all like Freddie! But he performed all the memories, and that's what gave him the appeal, and the audience the feel-good factor.

28/3/2016 Easter Monday in the Seychelles

28/3/2016 Easter Monday in the Seychelles
We were up and about early enough to watch our morning sail in to Port Victoria on Mahe in the Seychelles. We had our breakfast out on the open deck, and were looked after again by the lovely waiter John, who sings and entertains everyone all the time. This was all at the same time as taking in the lush, green and misty tropical views.

It really is beautiful here.  At first it didn't seem that hot, but by the time we had made our short shuttle in to the town we felt like we were melting away. that will be the humidity then, and possibly the 34C.   We found a lovely cafe, as some of our friends and family will already be aware because we made use of the free wifi, uploading a weeks worth of cruise photos to Facebook, and catching up.

Waiting for the shuttle bus back to the ship gave us some time to sit in the shade and chat with some more passengers. More interesting lives, and things to make us smile, a teacher from Oxfordshire who doesn't like hot weather on a round Africa cruise.  It seems she taught maths, (not geography!)  Then in the evening we enjoyed a buffet meal up on deck 12 instead of our usual sit down meal on deck 6. It was a Mediterranean meal with lots of sea food. After dinner we went to Carmen's, the ballroom to a Bee Gees tribute act. It was quite enjoyable - I was pleasantly surprised - there was a bit of a slide show of the ban in the early days, and a commentary of their lives between the songs. The band was called Caravan (but not the alternative band also called Caravan from my twenties).  This one was made up of four Chinese men, and backed up by the ships resident orchestra. Now and again you could really hear the Bee Gees sound. It was fun, and I think endorphin stimulating.  Sometimes it's a bit of an effort to go to the entertainment when you've got comfortable in the cabin after dinner, so I think the secret is to dine around 7 and then go straight to the theatre.

Bye until our next sea day.

27/3/2016 Easter Sunday - one more day to the Seychelles

Well it's another really hot sunny day on the Indian Ocean and it's the third  and final sea day between Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. Piracy procedures are in place, curtains closed at night and no wandering around the open decks in the dark. To be honest I don't think there's anyone else on the sea.   We've heard the ships horn a few times, so there must be some sea traffic somewhere.

The sea is consistently flat and with very little swell its like walking around on dry land. We can't see any sea life either.  The sound of the ship cutting through the ocean is invigorating, and sunrises and sunsets are absolutely stunningly beautiful.






Considering there are 1800 passengers it's a pretty quiet place to be.  There are families with children of all ages on this one, with night nurseries and children's clubs that go on until midnight for all ages.  There's a dedicated family pool deck with children's pool, everyone seems to move around wherever they want and its all really peaceful.

   

I was bollocked this morning for taking someone's seat in art, but apart from that I've been behaving myself.  I was found guilty of sitting at an empty table, with an invisible reservation.  It appears that the art class elicits such institutionalised behaviour.  That will be me next year!   Anyway, art today was Buddha in meditation under a tree.



The next sea day we are having a portrait lesson, and I am really looking forward to that as I just love studying faces and could probably spend all my time having a go at painting only portraits.

Bye for now, more news from the Seychelles tomorrow

26/3/2016 Easter Saturday

Our second sea day towards the Seychelles, a lunch time barbeque and an evening black tie dinner with a Marco Pierre White menu again, all interspersed with art (a bit of a seascape with an eastern house on stilts), and one in the cabin of elephants



 Other diversions include hot tubs, swimming, gym (only Khachik), and a little bit of rest in the sun.   My resolve not to eat so much, as I can't move about to burn it all off, failed miserably last night.  I will just share my transgression!  Melon slices and mango sorbet, Shellfish Bisque, Pheasant wrapped in pancetta, Blueberry souffle with clotted cream and a fruit sauce, peppermint tea with chocolate covered Turkish delight.  Erm, i really did enjoy it, absolutely everything about it.  There's a smell of hot cross buns in the air too.

This cruise we haven't spent much time in the theatres at night, so perhaps we need to start looking at the evening entertainment as we enjoyed it so much last year.

We have been listening to the talks though.  Today we listened to the Port Victoria talk and decided that it would probably be best to just visit the town, rather than go on an excursion, as most of the excursions from the ship involve quite a lot (for me at the moment) of walking, or they are snorkelling or beach days, and we aren't really cut out for that much exposure to the sun.  We spend a few minutes a day in the direct sun and even that's with a factor 30, so it would be a bit risky I think.  So that's the plan, and if that doesn't work we will just enjoy the views from the port or from the ship.

We appear to have had a part refund for our elephant experience in Sri Lanka.  How strange, as we had no complaints, it was crowded, but we just put that down to it being popular.  However some of the other buses on the same trip had had poor experiences and they had complained, so we all received 40% refund  We returned to the cabin last night to find a letter of apology that the trip wasn't up to the usual standard!  We have, nevertheless, accepted said refund. We can within our budget find something in Cape Verde and the Canaries now :)

As homage to the elephants of Sri Lanka I have sketched something from one of our photos and hope to do that justice with some paint tomorrow.

Bye for now xx

25/3/2016 - Indian Ocean, passing the Maldives

25/3/2016 GOOD FRIDAY - passing by the Maldives

First sea day from Columbo Sri Lanka to Port Victoria in the Seychelles.  The sea is once again completely flat, like being on a pond, sun is shining, there's a very gently breeze.





After yesterday's action packed day it has been a joy to sit all day.  While Khachik spent an hour in the gym I have finshed painting his portrait, a bit out of proportion, brow too wide, but apart from that I'm happy with it.



Late afternoon we sailed past the Maldives, right in the distance and just as promised the highest points on the islands are very near the sea.
Photos coming later, bye for now.

24/3/2016 Columbo, Sri Lanka

24/3/2016 Thursday - Columbo, Sri Lanka
After 3 days of sea, sky and on board diversions, getting off in Columbo felt as though every sense was being reawakened - the very green tropical landscape, banana plantations, rice, coconut palms, busy streets and traffic jams, the sound of car and bus horns, school children in crisp looking, bright white uniforms asking us our names and cheekily saying "hiya" to everyone passing, beautiful traditional dress, three wheeler tuk tuks, shacks and palaces, and then the highlight of our excursion  - Pinawala Elephant Orphanage.  This is where we got up close and personal with several babies and were able to watch them, feed them bananas and see the younger babies being bottle fed formula. I have only ever been in a crowd once that ran forward at an event - it was at the 1976 Reading festival, and the reason for the stampede was in fact Hawkwind.

Today I was quite surprised to have a flashback to that great night when the space in front of us was filled by rows and rows of people who wanted to see the baby elephants as much as we did. We had been sitting really patiently before this, really believing we were on the front row in a first come first served sort of way!  Luckily I didn't need to climb on Khachik's shoulders, but did have to resort to standing up to get a look in!



                 





In between the elephant activities we had lunch, lots of choice, local food only, and the most spicy lunch ever. That's what you get when you mistake a chilli for a ladies finger. My mouth was on fire for some time. It was all lovely food though, and all freshly cooked.

Then we headed back to the ship in our coach and during the journey had an excellent Sri Lankan history and geography lesson from our tour guide. Things I've learned today:Sri Lanka is 75% Buddhist, and the other 25% roughly shared between Islamic, Christian and Hindu faiths. The Tamil minority, the Islamic faith and the Singalese majority are all recognised on the flag, as are the Buddhist 4 noble truths of kindness, compassion, happiness and equanimity (the 4 leaves on the flag)    History has a recurrent theme about spice and tea wars, Dutch and British colonies, majorities and minorities fighting with India and bloodshed right up until 2009. This makes me want to learn more about the history, and I'm sure I will.  We also learned not to refer to the two kinds of elephants as African and Indian, but African and Asian. We learned about the many uses and re-uses of the coconut tree and fruit, and that Sri Lankan coconuts are a distinctive orange colour. And oh yes, that Sri lanka's national sport is Volleyball.

We have another 3 sea days coming up, next stop Port Victoria in the Seychelles, so again I won't be able to put up any of the lovely photos Khachik has taken today or spend much time on line because of the restricted satellite wi-fi.  I promise to catch up properly in Port Victoria, wi-fi permitting. Bye for now xx

23/3/2016 Piracy Drill on the Indian Ocean

23/3/3016 Wednesday - 

As well as being our third and final sea day on the vast, and in our eyes completely empty, Indian Ocean, today is also the day for piracy drill.  We feel as though we might possibly be the only ship on the ocean, but have nevertheless been alerted to a small risk to our security in this region.

Today we can see the horizon as there's a contast between the pale blue and white sky and the deep bluey grey sea. And there's nothing between us, in any direction.  This view reminds me of the yoga nidra visualisation of the unconscious mind - that's "the endless restless sea, waves on the ocean, the endless restless sea".  I wish I could bottle these sounds. 

Since yesterday's blog we remained cocooned in our safe haven, have enjoyed a black tie dinner, sharing a table again with Chris and Keith, which is both relaxed and really good fun, and a welcome cocktail party with the captain. The dinner was one of the special Marco Pierre White menus that appear about once a week, this time with a really delicious lobster main, prosecco poached strawberries dessert, and a port soaked Stilton with cheese and biscuits. It did feel special.  In fact the whole day seemed like a pamper day. But because of the tv ads, I am really trying not to say "This is the life", but you know what, it really is. As the clocks went back again overnight we are now at GMT+6. 

Breakfast this morning was in the open air at the back of the ship. I adore these times, breakfasting together, in the peace and quiet.   

Piracy drill came reassuringly as scheduled at 10:30 a.m.  The arrangements were basically this: get away from the windows, keep the lights off and curtains shut, sit on the corridor if you have an outside cabin, and sit inside if you have an inside cabins. Cabin stewards have to keep a record of everyone present. As our cabin steward is aware of my joint situation he let me back into the cabin after about 5 minutes, but Khachik was able to carry on doing his crossword in the corridor!. I won't be so lucky if it ever becomes something more serious than an exercise. 

The rest of the day has been another beautiful sea day, nothing going on in the sea, but plenty to entertain us on board.

First there was an ice carving demonstration, followed by a beautiful salad lunch, then the port talk about Columbo including all the information we needed for our excursion to the elephant orphanage tomorrow. After that we had a bit of a lie down, because we can, before our art class of figure painting at 3:30, really enjoyable, and we're doing ok.  this one is two African women selling fruit in vibrant colours.

Hopefully there'll be some free wi-fi soon so I can upload photos of all these delights. Then a late afternoon swim and hot tub, and for Khachik an hour in the gym and finally dinner, another lovely five courser with Chris and Keith, the high spot of which for me was a meringue and chocolate swan on sticky toffee cream.

Tomorrow we are in Columbo, so it might be the next day before tomorrow's blog appears. 

Bye for now xx 

22/3/2016 Tuesday - Day 2 on the Indian Ocean

We made our first visit to the Curzon theatre on deck 7 last night, standing room only for Ben Makisi, a Polynesian opera singer from New Zealand who now lives with his family in Portishead near Bristol.  His voice is good, but he also selects popular and familiar pieces so that the audience feels comfortable, maybe even quietly humming along, as in my case. We remember him from last year. He must enjoy the cruise ship circuit, and maybe manages to get home from time to time.

Then came the best sleep ever.  It's Tuesday, so it has taken 6 days to get right back to sleeping at night and staying awake during mealtimes ;).  It really does feel good. I didn't wake up properly until Khachik was on his second cup of coffee.  Even the smell of the first cup didn't do its usual magic. We are situated pretty centrally in the ship, and close to lifts. It means there's not a huge amount of walking to do to get around. I have to say I don't seem to be feeling as much joint pain as usual, and have reduced the codeine component of my pain relief to night time only.  This makes me feel very happy and grateful.  I know this could change, but for now I am just very thankful that I am able to enjoy everything.  I had no idea how this would go, and even wondered at times if it was such a good idea to delay my hip replacements in favour of an already booked (and moreover paid for!) cruise.  I think I can safely say it was ok to prioritise the leisure and pleasure.

Looking around the decks there are some fitties aboard.  Every so often someone will be seen planking, not just in the gym, there too, but also on the poolside, not like I do, for a breath or two, but for ages. I am full of admiration.

After our usual hearty and healthy breakfasts, we were off to the Crow's Nest, a bar on deck 13, where the art class is held.  There we added some colour to yesterday's pagoda and palm tree sunsets, and enjoyed the social side of painting too, getting to know the couple from Cheshire, Chris and Keith, we dined with the night before last.

This afternoon we are going to listen to one of the speakers, this time the life of Agatha Christie - A Woman of Mystery. (Women are definitely top of the bill in the speaking sector - Polar exhibitions, English drama, history of language)

A word about the sea and the weather.  In the middle of the Indian Ocean the sea is totally flat, there is hardly any difference between the colour of the sea and the sky, and you can hardly tell where the horizon is, no waves or choppiness on the surface.  However there are currents which have their effect on walking in a straight line and the opening or not of the pools, where the water is rolling from side to side and splashing around a lot. It's hot, 29C today. The skies are clear and it seems a lot less humid on the in breath than it was in the straights of Malacca. We seem to be travelling at a steady 18 nots per hour round the clock.

Khachik is being really consistent and mindful of his blood sugar levels by walking every day. That's where he is now. I am staying with my daily yoga, some days more restorative, and also walking laps in the water, though that's when the pools are open.  There are quite a few free fitness classes too, like fab abs, body conditioning, bootcamp, circuit training.  A bit intense for me (I observe rather than participate!).

Stop press - Khachik is very very happy to announce that satellite telly is back, so we have BBC world news, Sky sports and Sky news along with the films and info channels that are on DVD. There's also a cinema and this afternoon they're showing the Danish Girl, but I saw that on the plane coming over, so its a bit too soon to see it again. I'm not ready to cry that much again.

It now appears that at 10:30 a.m tomorrow we will be having Piracy Drill, (return to cabins, sit outside the cabin on the corridor) and from 24th-26th we have to follow a drill at night, when in our cabins keep the curtains closed with the lights off, stay off the open decks.  The instructions arrived last night. We had this drill on Arcadia last year around north East Africa, the Suez Canal and Egypt. I remember how it felt very interesting and reassuring.  We noticed changes on the Promenade deck, the surveillance and the water hoses, and heard about "reinforcements" coming on board.  I'm guessing it will be the same. So that's a bit of excitement to share from an otherwise empty and uneventful journey on a warm sunny day on a very flat sea.

Goodbye for today.  Back again after tomorrow after the drill!

21/3/2016 At Sea, in the Indian Ocean

21/3/2016
Overnight we sailed up the straights of Malacca towards the Indian Ocean, and at about 12 midday today we were in it, and will stay in it until we reach Sri Lanka in 3 days time.  It's about 30C and humid. There are a lot of sunbathers and swimmers.  We've both spent a little bit of time in the gym/water today, meeting new people and chatting in the hot tub. It's where all the idle gossip about errant passengers seems to get shared too. It's hard to know how accurate it is but rumour has it that there have already been three evictees!  One woman was said to have been found stealing clothes from ships'shop and the launderette.  Two people were reportedly removed for fighting. I haven't seen anything like that, and here I am extolling the virtues of the cruise!

Sea days are all about keeping us customers occupied and satisfied, and the daily Horizon is packed with activities for everyone, some really do interest me, and some would drive me to distration.  This ship, Aurora, is a family ship, which feels so much more normal than the oldies only variety (Arcadia last year was oldies only).  So Aurora has children's pools and children's clubs too, and some normal family noises. For adults yoga, Pilates, craft, singing, Spanish, various lectures, photography competitions, pub quizzes and full range of musical entertainment most of the day.  But my highlight was art, watercolour painting.  Today's subject pagodas. Khachik came too. We'd brought all our art materials from home. So we sketched a pagoda landscape at sunset, and laid down our background colours ready for detail to be added tomorrow.

There are art classes twice a day, but for now I think we will just do one in the morning.  Let's see.  The art teacher is very different from Easa, our art teacher last year.  His name is Tony Westmore. He is friendly and accessible, moving around the class all the time, offering advice and making suggestions. I like that a lot. He is said to specialise in maritime scenes, rather than the animals and people we first learned with. I have an open mind and because we are going to learn something new, and I feel so glad of the opportunity to paint every day again.

  

Of course, I forgot to say again we could eat all day and night if we wanted.

Unfortunately for Khachik the satellite telly has gone down, meaning that the two football matches scheduled yesterday (Newcastle v Sunderland and Manchester United v Manchester City) weren't shown, and the scores remained unknown until a couple of hours ago, 24 hours later.  I think there are some disgruntled football fans around, but I am quite happy with the loops of chick flics we have instead today, there appears to be a young Tom Hanks channel - Splash, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, and old travel programmes selected especially for us as they either mention or detail places we'll be visiting.

To be honest I could just sit on the balcony watching, smelling, tasting and listening to the sea, and be very happy.



Until tomorrow....bye for now