Btimmer's Almost Live to the Amazon 2019 & Beyond

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just got caught up.

 

Wonderful reports and great pictures.

[CruiseMGM]

Loving the reports and pictures! We have a friend on your voyage and he doesn't have internet, so we get to follow along, by way of your reporting, even so!

 

Best wishes, hope your cruise is wonderful!

 

[cat shepard]

Thank you, for letting us share another journey with you!

[seeriteR]

Following your blog. We are booked for this cruise in 2020. Thanks for posting extra info here and your willingness to answer questions.

 

I have two: 1) What is there to do/see at Devil's Island? and 2) The 2020 itinerary shows Macapa as a "service stop". What is that?

 

Safe travels!

 

Jim

[Btimmer]

18 minutes ago, seeriteR said:

Following your blog. We are booked for this cruise in 2020. Thanks for posting extra info here and your willingness to answer questions.

 

I have two: 1) What is there to do/see at Devil's Island? and 2) The 2020 itinerary shows Macapa as a "service stop". What is that?

 

Safe travels!

 

Jim

Thanks for following along.

 

Devil's Island is a self-guided tender stop.  There are no tours here.  My blog post for tomorrow will describe it in detail.

 

Macapa is a required stop for the Brazilian authorities to board to check paperwork and to have two River pilots board.  Guests cannot get off the ship.  
 

[seeriteR]

Wow! That was almost an instant response! Thank you!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We loved Devil's Island.  It is a steep climb to get to the top but worth it.  We also got and paid for our official papers saying that we were there.

 

Hope you enjoy the island.

 

Take suntan lotion.  It was very hot when we were there.

[Btimmer]

The captain just announced that due to a nearby rocket launch, we cannot tender to Devil's Island.  So it's a sea day today.

[Wehwalt]

I'm aboard as well. The launch window seems to be from 6:08 our time tonight. I'm thinking something might be visible aft.

[Btimmer]

The Captain just announced we have been rescheduled for a visit to Devil's Island on December 9, Monday.  Good news!  It won't affect our other port schedules.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you won't be missing Devil's Island.

[Btimmer]

The Captain just announced we have been rescheduled for a visit to Devil's Island on December 9, Monday.  Good news!  It won't affect our other port schedules.

[Btimmer]

Tonight's MDR dinner was a Prisoner themed dinner honoring Devil's Island and the prison colony it once was.  This was our first meal in the MDR this cruise.

 

 

 

Served on a steel tray.

 

 

 

[bcummin]

9 hours ago, Btimmer said:

The captain just announced that due to a nearby rocket launch, we cannot tender to Devil's Island.  So it's a sea day today.

 

What is the nearby rocket launch?

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Barbara

[Btimmer]

5 minutes ago, bcummin said:

 

What is the nearby rocket launch?

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Barbara

There's a nearby French launch site and the rocket was launched around 6:40pm tonight about 40 miles astern.  A number of passengers saw it.  Below is a map.

 

[bcummin]

Thank you very much.

Barbara

[colbe]

We got an amazing view from the back of the MDR.

[seeriteR]

There is a link to the launch video HERE. 

 

250 launches for Ariane!

After two postponements and a temporary halt in the timeline due to weather conditions, Ariane 5 was finally able to fly this Tuesday, November 26 to carry out its mission and put into orbit its two passengers of the day, the telecommunications satellites TIBA- 1 (Egypt) and inmarsat GX5 (United Kingdom).

A mission with a particular flavor since it was the 250th launch of the Ariane family, which comes almost 40 years after the launch of the first launch Ariane, December 24, 1979 at the Guiana Space Center!

Edited November 27, 2019 by seeriteR
Added link to Guinana Space Centre homepage

[Wehwalt]

It was very visible on Deck 9 to those who went outside aft of the Crow's Nest. Starting from starboard and eventually overhead. You could see the expended portions of the rocket separate. Somewhat brighter than shown in the pic.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Wehwalt

[Krazy Kruizers]

5 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

It was very visible on Deck 9 to those who went outside aft of the Crow's Nest. Starting from starboard and eventually overhead. You could see the expended portions of the rocket separate. Somewhat brighter than shown in the pic.

 

Great picture of the rocket!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Clever about dinner being served on a metal tray.

[Btimmer]

11 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Clever about dinner being served on a metal tray.

It also made for a fast dinner!

[erewhon]

On 11/27/2019 at 12:35 PM, colbe said:

We got an amazing view from the back of the MDR.

 

Hope you are having a great cruise on the Volendam.

Summer is arriving here in the south of the South Island.

[erewhon]

17 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

It was very visible on Deck 9 to those who went outside aft of the Crow's Nest. Starting from starboard and eventually overhead. You could see the expended portions of the rocket separate. Somewhat brighter than shown in the pic.

 

 

Thank  you forsharing your great photo.

[Sir PMP]

On 11/26/2019 at 2:07 PM, Btimmer said:

Tonight's MDR dinner was a Prisoner themed dinner honoring Devil's Island and the prison colony it once was.  This was our first meal in the MDR this cruise.

 

 

 

Served on a steel tray.

 

 

 

How is the food on board and who is the chef?