drron29

Not for me. It was fun. i did the Arctic Polar plunge and 5 months later the Antarctic polar plunge. The Best was the Arctic plunge as my rope came adrift and I was able to go for a bit of a swim.

The Adelies are my favourite penguins.We landed on the Antarctic Continent back in 2011.No problem then to lie down on the ice which always intrigued the Adelies so in a short time you had several andelies inspecting you. On one occasion I was taking a photo of a dead penguin. You could sense that they thought me stupid taking a picture of a dead penguin rather than the live ones.

We are on our last flight for the year on a cheap business class fare on Japan Airlines. The business class line was quite long at Haneda. A JAL employee pulled us and another couple out of the line and took us to the first class check in which was empty. Thought nothing more about it even though our boarding passes were for Row 2 and given a lounge pass for the first class lounge as many of their Asian flights don’t have a first class. But on boarding we found we were in first class. Enjoyed a glass of Salon 2013 pre departure.

Well Silversea has a dress code a lot more sensible than some. The Inside Chess F ed has fined a woman player for wea sports shoes in an international chess tournament. She was wearing Burberry sneakers. Unlike the SilverSea dress code that is truly nonsensical.

We went on the SilverSea cruise around Cuba as someone couldn’t tell us what to do. But just over 60% of the passengers were on a Captain’s Choice cruise and they thought they had first choice of everything. However I reached my breaking point on the classic cars tour when they were taken to the front of the queue. I became known as the leader of the Group of 19. To placate me they sent a member of the Expedition staff in our car who spoke Spanish so we learnt a lot. Rojaan asked the driver if he was appointed President for a day what would be the first thing that he would change. His answer- everything.

Here's a question for all the mind readers out there.

I am obviously an outlier as I have arrived and left Barbados twice flying AA. Breezed in twice even the first time when part of a group. Didn't have a long wait for bags. And I loved Barbados.

And now to something not so serious or philosophical.

Last week there were suspected cases of Avian flu in the South Orkney Islands. They are about half way between South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. https://scar.org/scar-news/life-sciences/awhn-news/hpai-antarctic-treaty-area https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Orkney+Islands/@-58.3547396,-60.9967184,4z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0xbbff1e86cc4c6591:0x130ae719f859b714!8m2!3d-60.6402942!4d-45.2419342!16zL20vMDJfcHFo?authuser=0&entry=ttu If it gets to the Peninsula it will really affect Next seasons Antarctic cruises.

We were in South Georgia late in the season. By then the male seal pups were trying to assert themselves and they charged at most of us. I was extremely lucky and had a personal guide to shield me from the seals. And here he is- I thought he was indicating that I should follow him so I did.He proceeded to move everyone out of the way including humans- So for the next 500 metres he dealt with all the seals.He left when I was insight of the destination and seal free. An absolutely fabulous time.

The icebergs have probably broken off from A23a the largest iceberg ever which has recently started to move north.

We have already been sent changes to our May 2025 cruise. We were sailing from Singapore to Athens on the Muse. Now sailing Singapore to Doha arriving 2 days earlier but the Doha to Athens segment leaves 4 days later than originally scheduled. So we have 6 days in Doha. Methinks this has nothing to do with the current problems but has been done to make a 6 day charter possible. I will suggest that they should put us up in a suitable luxury hotel at no charge.

When we visited we were on the Explorer so anchored in the harbour at about the second wiggle of your zodiac course in the harbour. An easy zodiac ride to shore.

All the very best for your stem cell transplant. May it be successful so you can do many more cruises.