Btimmer's Almost Live to the Amazon 2019 & Beyond

[cat shepard]

1 minute ago, Btimmer said:

About 8' from the caiman with a nice Zoom on the P900.

perfect, if it were well-fed. Was Angela nervous for you?

[Btimmer]

34 minutes ago, cat shepard said:

perfect, if it were well-fed. Was Angela nervous for you?

Not in the least. There was a wall between the caiman and me.

[cat shepard]

Ahhhh! Great pics!

[iflyrc5]

We will be boarding the Volendam on January 5 for the Grand South America.  My DW asked yesterday if the still have the library area and are there any books?   We realize that the library is not what is was in the past since HAL pulled the plug on this on the ships but just wondering if the area is still there and are there any books.  On the Rotterdam they took out the area where in the past we left books to exchange with other guests.

 

Thanks for checking.

[Btimmer]

The books are on shelves at the Explorations Cafe along with lots of games in what was called the library.  It's a nice quiet place to read or use their computers.

[iflyrc5]

2 hours ago, Btimmer said:

The books are on shelves at the Explorations Cafe along with lots of games in what was called the library.  It's a nice quiet place to read or use their computers.

Thanks for the quick response.  I hope the lemons are getting a little sweeter.

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, iflyrc5 said:

Thanks for the quick response.  I hope the lemons are getting a little sweeter.

We've not seen a lemon tree in quite a few days!

[Btimmer]

Today in Aruba, we met friends from the Maasdam who live here and they showed us around the north end of the island (California Lighthouse,  Casibari Rick, and the collapsed Natural Bridge, before dropping us off just south of Queen Wilhelmina Park where we enjoyed lunch on the beach.

 

There were dozens of iguanas on the lawn at Queen Wilhelmina Park.

 

We then shopped our way back to the ship with a stop at Ft. Zoutman museum & tower.  The Celebrity Reflection arrived late afternoon and is in port overnight. 
 

We're going with them to the Synagogue tonight before the ship leaves.

[Btimmer]

It was a wonderful day in Curaçao.  We visited a plantation house, a national park, another natural bridge, the best beach on the island, an art gallery, and pink flamingoes before walkingcaround Curaçao with its colorful buildings.  We even got to ride the floating bridge while it opened for traffic.  The Volendam got the nicest moorage location compared to the Zuiderdam and a Princess ship.

 

We're off to Jamaica tonight.

[bcummin]

Your new camera is certainly a winner.

Barbara

[Btimmer]

 

Here's a few more pictures from the past few days.  We're on our last sea day with Key West tomorrow.

 

Queen Juliana Bridge

 

Orange party

 

Rev. William Knibb's grave (Jamaican abolitionist)

 

look closely at the painting 

 

 

 

Mike Thompson, comedian extraordinaire 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

Got caught up on your wonderful cruise and pictures!!

Thank you

Denise😊

[Lido deck main]

Hi Tim,

Your pictures are great.  I like reading about your exploits as you really take advantage to have full days of experiences on and off the ship. Great blogging.  I will see you in April as we are on Maasdam as well.

Mary

[Btimmer]

We're just north of Cuba plowing through the roughest seas of the past 28 days.  It's nice to be sailing on the roller coaster we call the sea.

[Btimmer]

I need to make a correction to the name of the comedian pictured above:  It's Mike Robinson.

[cat shepard]

Super pics! Those iguanas certainly know how to strike a pose!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry I got behind with your wonderful pictures and reports.

 

Great job!!

[Btimmer]

Here are food pictures of our Pinnacle Grill dinner tonight. We were the only guests for the first hour as it's gala night and the motion of the ocean caused cancellations.

 

lobster bisque soup

 

 

 

 

beefstake salad

 

Iceberg lettuce salad

 

 

Seafood ciopino 

 

 

Small Lobster & scallops

[VennDiagram]

Thanks for the pics!

 

Uh ..... dessert? 😉

My DH would be all over that lobster and scallop dish.

[DeeniEncinitas]

WOW great pictures of the food! 😋 Yum!

Ciopino looked good. Thank you for taking 

the time for your blog I really appreciated 

reading it. It was probably nice to have a intimate gala dinner at PG with very few people! Smooth Sailings 

Denise😊

Happy Holidays 🎄

[RuthC]

28 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

Uh ..... dessert? 😉

Exactly. Only the most important part of the meal. 😄

[colonialinnkeeper]

Ruth, 

Reminds me of the saying, "life's short, eat dessert first!"

[Btimmer]

 

I'll try to do better on the dessert photos on the next segment.  It was a fruit plate for me and a scoop of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for my wife.

 

Here's a couple pictures of the Jersey Tenors performance tonight.  They are staying on for the next segment. They are among our favorite groups we've seen performing on ships.

 

 

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I wasn’t aware that lobster and scallops was a choose in the Pinnacle. Was it good? 
 

DD

[Btimmer]

2 hours ago, DoggyDaddy said:

I wasn’t aware that lobster and scallops was a choose in the Pinnacle. Was it good? 
 

DD

What one does is order the scallops and a $10 lobster add on.  It was excellent per my wife.  She excluded everything that came with the scallops.