Santorini, Greek Sm...isles

Take the most beautiful view you have ever seen, multiply by2, add in a splash of greek cooking, a bottle of iced greek wine(not retsina) and mix toegether over a 4 hour split shift break.

Santorini, one of the hundreds of islands in the Agean sea off the coast of Greece, has to be the most beautiful. It has been earmarked as one of the possibles sights for the lost civilization of Atlantis and they are uncovering the mysteries to this day. Picture sheer cliffs plunging from dizzying heights into the ocean. White washed villages perching precariously and looking down at the world passing by in cruise ships and ferrys from the mainland.

This is a fascinating place... and as always my photos.

The view from up high.

Spot the greek dog!

"Your table is ready sir!"

Guaranteed to wake you up on a Sunday morning

The Cliche Santorini pic

The future home of "Cabin boys Mojito bar and grill"

Coordinates
36°24′N, 25°24′E

Well thats all for this week. Have the weekend off, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I am willing to be bribed and corrupted to go out. Have a great week.

CB

"Where everybody knows your name..."

You walking around Antigua, been away from home for 6 months. Missing friends, good times and moms cooking... and then you see

Alas alack, nobody knew my name, nobody was glad I came, but hey, it was the Jolly Roger, and thats all that mattered, it even looks like the original! Pizza was good(Not Jolly good, buut decent).

The Jolly Roger is a pub in Parkhurst, Johannesburg, that everyone north of Commisioner street knows about. A place where legends are made and destroyed. Names are swept up off the ash strewn carpets the next morning, and many... many a young lady has lost her sense of wrong and right.

The Jolly Roger in Antigua is by no means as legendary as the the original in Jozi, but when in Rome, one tends to do as the Antiguans do... MON! Drink a Red Stripe and fell Ayrie, and then go back to work...EEEEISH!

"Oh Happy days..."

"Do you like Pina Colada's..."

There is no possible way or reason to demystify the Caribbean; it will always be a mysterious and exciting destination. The mere mention of the word conjures up visions of yachts, white serene beaches, bikinis, cocktails, bananas, beautiful vistas(the list goes on and on)

I was lucky enough to travel to many of the islands and experience the many wonders that they have to offer. (Bikini's, Tequila and RED STRIPE beer being in the top ten:-)

My first post on the Caribbean may as well be topical as well as tropical(mmmmph), this island is playing host to the South African cricket team at the moment during the first leg of the world cup. It’s the one and only... St. Kitts.

Lina from Sweden

Rocks-Connected

What a cool place, everything you could require from a Tropical Island. Beaches, Margaritas and splendid weather abound. We always docked at St. Basseterre. We had a special place that none else knew about, THE SHIPWRECK.

Days off...time well spent

Life was tough at times, but we were survivors.

Me-Shell, one of the locals!

Ashleigh, Juanita and Tyler

Have a great weekend and good luck to the Proteas against Australia. Give em hell...

Viva La Venezia...

Don't get me wrong, Venice is an awesome place....

For two days.

I really enjoyed getting lost in its maze of alleys and canals, wondering around munching on a panini, drinking good coffee, sipping prosecco in the square, not forgetting the gorgeous drink invented in Venice at Joe's Bar...the Bellini(Champagne and white peach puree.)




The ancient Venetians built the city in the lagoon to get away from the barbarians and the raiding hordes. They also left their ancestors a legacy, to sell cheap souveniers and charge small fortunes for meals and drinks to stupid tourists who visit this floating theme park of a city. And boy do they visit. Tourism is a contributing factor towards the sinking of Venice. They flock their en masse.

We docked in Venice for three days at a time and it was cool cause the middle day was normally a day when new passengers boarded, dropped their suitcases and ran into town for their sightseeing, so we did have a bit of time off. Now don't brand me as a unromantic boor but the more time you spend in this city the more you realise that the only thing Venice is there for is tourism. Yes people live there but the shopowners have to live somewhere...

St Mark's cathedral

I took a date out for dinner once and we sat in a quaint little restaurant next to the grand canal. The restaurant closed at 22:00 and we sat down at 21:15, ordered a bottle of Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio(Awesome wine to the wine lovers out there).
The waiter opened it and we placed our order. I ordered a spaghetti Carbonara(when in Rome) and it came in not even 5 minutes and the glutenous glump of glop I got was pitiful. The Waiter then goes back inside and starts closing up the shop, putting umbrellas inside etc.
Once we had finished he rushed out and offered us the dessert menu and coffee. We hadnt finished our first glass of wine yet. Half a bottle was still left.
Don't get me wrong, we were sitting in the most beautiful city in the world next to beautiful canal with gondolas gliding past us, so the whole experience did not put us off. We just sat and sipped wine and chatted the good chat. I still didnt mind paying the 80 Euro bill and tipping the waiter. It was magical, like an adult disney world(Did I just call myself an adult). Its only in hindsight that I realize I was so taken in by the place, the culture, the smells and sounds. And thats why those *&^%'s make a shitload of cash of the tourists.

St Mark's Square(Note the water puddles everywhere)

St. Marks Square from the ship when we sailed in, the tower is called La Camapanile

Hope you all have an awesome weekend... I am out of here till Saturday night

Be safe

C.B

The Corcovado

So once we had whiled away a few hours on the Copacabana our merry group went their seperate ways. The soccer enthusiasts had organised some tickets for the afternoon match at the Maracana stadium, which used to be the biggest soccer stadium in the world. The biggest now being in Belo Horizonte. I have no interest in soccer so I made my way back to the ship and picked up my tour bus to0 The Corcovado. This is the mountain with the famous statue of Jesus on it.

It was a beautiful afternoon and I was looking forward to taking some magic photos from the top. We met up with another group of mates from the ship and waited in the que. We got our coach and started the trek to the top. There is some awesome tropical forests which are part of a national park in Rio surrounding the mountain.

When we got to the top the unthinkable had happened

J.C

A lone cloud had gathered over the top and completely obliterated our view of the statue and of the city of Rio De Janeiro. We were all gutted. Spent an hour waiting for the clouds to clear and just when we were waiting on line for the coach down there was a break in the clouds and We got a few hurried photos...

So we did manage to get a few good shots and all in all was a great day. I reckon is Rio is right behind Cape Town in the beauty stakes.

Her name was Lola...

SO, we were in Rio for 3 days, dropped off the old passengers on the first day and picked up the new ones on the 3rd day. So yes geniuses, we had one full day off in Rio. I had organised a tour up the Corcovado(With the statue of Jesus on top) in the afternoon so I had the morning to do some serious touristy stuff, there was only one place to go...

"We went to the Copa..."

"Copacabana"

We piled into a taxi and off we went. Got warned in the taxi about crime and pick pockets and the likes. It is bad in Rio. The one thing I noticed about Rio was the Soccer, every single available open space is taken up by a soccer field.

Got to the Copacabana and it is as good as it sounds. Sun, sand, people and lots of soccer. We hit the beach and met up with a bunch of girls from the ship as we got there. We drank the local beer and watched the Brazilian People do what they do best... Have fun, play soccer and look darn good ( the girls anyway), enjoy the pics.

Days off-Deserved

Being a perfect gentlemen and helping the lady out.

Oookay, One for the girls then...

All hardcore sailors get henna tattoos

Che

Looking right towards Ipanema

Well suffice to say that it was an awesome day, will let you know what the rest of the day was like another time. Time for me to go to work. Probably wont post for the next few days. Its my days off ( Gotta love the restaurant business). I shall leave you with a quote for the day

"It is better to die standing, than to live on your knees"

Che. Guevarra

That pretty much sums it up for me

Later...

Free as a bird

I'll never forget this day, a cruise going from Costa Rica, the Pacific side, to Chile in 2o04. The west coast of Peru is very similair to that of Namibia with deserts going all the way to the sea. We had been at sea for two days and before that I hadn't been able to get off the ship because of work. Serious cabin fever had set in...

My mate Dean and I decided that today was the day to go out. We were docked in Salaverry, a really underdeveloped town in Peru. All the guests were out on a day tour to see some ruins. The town was walkable so off we went. As we walked we saw this beach which was covered with seagulls, and I knew that there was only one thing to do...




I caused havoc, good for the soul sometimes.

Thats all kiddies, got to get to work and will carry on the story with photos from the dodgiest town in the world.

The Land of the Midnight Sun

Coordinates

This was one of the highlights of my entire time at sea.

Midsummer night at the North Cape (or Nordkapp) in Norway. This incidentally is the northern most point in Europe sticks quite far up into the Arctic circle. Summers are sunny for three months and winters are dark for three months giving it a high suicide rate. And obviously midsummers day being the longest day of the year makes it the most spectacular day to see it (Not the suicides...Hah you see, I'm not a writer).

The sun hits the horizon and starts coming up again, absolutely fantastic.

Midnight- Shade

It' s something you have to see to actually appreciate properly. I had worked a full day and was exhausted, but the more you stand out there the more energised you feel. It took me an hour to fall asleep that night.

There was a huge gathering of people and photographers, all die hards that had travelled from all over the world to witness this spectacular event.

We then headed home at about two in the morning, and saw reindeers on the way and a bit of snow, we had to stop and the rest of Europe laughed whilst seven South Africans played with "hard ice".

Ice in mid summer shows how cold it must be in mid winter.

Reindeer

Incidentally this is were you can see awesome Aurora Borealis's (huh) in mid winter, thats still on my to do once in my life list.

I am off to bed soon and will carry on soon. I am getting hooked..

Have a great week.