Hi Everyone!!
I’m now well into the second half of my contract now!!
Saying goodbye to Chris in Manaus was the worst! The day before he left we went on a 15 hour tour down the Amazon that started at 10am with a quick bus tour of the city… see the photo of me on the steps of the famous Manaus Opera House. We then headed to the Amazon River where we boarded a boat for a 2 hour journey down the river past the meetings of the waters to an Amazon Village Resort. This became our base for the day. We had lunch before heading out for a trek through the jungle where we learnt a lot about the natural remedies available from the many trees in the jungle. We then boarded a canoe where we headed further down the river to a village, this is where Chris and I got to hold a sloth and I met the Monkey in the photo. After travelling down various inlets of the river (where I so wanted to see an Anaconda) we then headed back to base for dinner… see the photo of Dan, Dave, Me, Chris, Hayley & Brett back at the resort. When it got dark we boarded the canoes again to go Crocodile watching. Our guide caught one that was estimated as be 7 years old. Chris got to hold one… see photo.
After a very teary goodbye the next morning, Brett, Tara and I went shopping and to the movies. We managed to find a movie in English (A Night in the Museum). Leaving Manaus we head back down the Amazon where we once again stopped at Santarem. This time Dave and I did another tour where we got to visit a village and taste some traditional foods… one of them being piranha… see photo of cooked piranha.
Before we knew it it was time to cross the equator again which meant we had to do the equator crossing ceremony again. This ceremony is the same on all the ships, King Neptune and his Queen hold a trial of various crimes …. I.e. gluttony, lust or whatever and people end up gunked… the whole thing is pretty gross but is good fun. See photo from the first one when Chris was on.
Back in open waters our next port was Devils Island. Some of you may remember the Steve McQueen movie Pappion. It was set and filmed there. We had rehearsals the day we stopped there so when Dave and I got off we only had about an hour to explore the place. I’m so glad we got to see what we did. The island was once a jail and is filled with old buildings and ruins, it was really interesting. See photo of me on the pier waiting to catch the last tender back to the ship.
The next 5 ports we were back in the Caribbean Islands. Starting with Trinidad where Tara and I did a hike to the Maraca’s waterfalls. In Grenada, Dave and I did a tour that visited an old fort, a rum distillery and Grand Anse beach which was beautiful… see photo. Grenada is soon to host one of the World Cup Cricket games.
In St Vincent, Tara and I did an all day Catamaran tour that saw me see too much sun. My tan is coming along nicely. On our tour we visited Bequia an neighbouring island and Princess Margaret beach... it's named after her as she once took a dip there and owned a house near by.
In Dominica, Dave and I did a river to ocean kayak tour which was fun. We went back to the Layou River where we went river tubing last time, but this time we were further down the river and kayaked in a duel kayak through rapids before paddling out to the ocean.
In St Kitts in the West Indies, Brett and I did a tour in an old British Army Troop Carrier… see photo. We got to see some beautiful scenery and spend time at the beach. It was a nice port to finish the Caribbean part of our itinerary. We are now back to our usual itinerary for two cruises before embarking on our Peru & Ecuador Itinerary.... half way through that itinerary is when Mum and Annette get on.
One of the highlights of our last cruise was that Dave and I go to do our own show for one night in the show lounge. We had so much fun. It went way better than we expected. We got a standing ovation from the entire audience and both shows were packed. We each performed about 4 solos each and did 6 duets together finishing on our favourite song we love singing together ‘Please Don’t Ask Me’. To give you an idea of Dave’s voice just imagine John Farnham… they are so similar! I’ve included some photos that the onboard Comedian at the time took for us.
Talk about ‘what a small world’ Sandy Pedley one of the Children’s workers on board and I were chatting the other day. She is Australian and lives in the Blue Mountains, I told her my brother works in the Blue Mountains at John Wycliffe Christian School and she said "That’s where I went to school". Only those of you who are familiar with my days of going to the Hawkesbury Christian Centre will appreciate this but Sandy and I realised we once new many of the same people. Most notably my sister in law Kylie with whom she was in the same year as in school there. What a spin out! See photo of Sandy and I in St Kitts.
I’ve also included a couple of photos’ of our Australia Day celebrations.
I’m now well into the second half of my contract now!!
Saying goodbye to Chris in Manaus was the worst! The day before he left we went on a 15 hour tour down the Amazon that started at 10am with a quick bus tour of the city… see the photo of me on the steps of the famous Manaus Opera House. We then headed to the Amazon River where we boarded a boat for a 2 hour journey down the river past the meetings of the waters to an Amazon Village Resort. This became our base for the day. We had lunch before heading out for a trek through the jungle where we learnt a lot about the natural remedies available from the many trees in the jungle. We then boarded a canoe where we headed further down the river to a village, this is where Chris and I got to hold a sloth and I met the Monkey in the photo. After travelling down various inlets of the river (where I so wanted to see an Anaconda) we then headed back to base for dinner… see the photo of Dan, Dave, Me, Chris, Hayley & Brett back at the resort. When it got dark we boarded the canoes again to go Crocodile watching. Our guide caught one that was estimated as be 7 years old. Chris got to hold one… see photo.
After a very teary goodbye the next morning, Brett, Tara and I went shopping and to the movies. We managed to find a movie in English (A Night in the Museum). Leaving Manaus we head back down the Amazon where we once again stopped at Santarem. This time Dave and I did another tour where we got to visit a village and taste some traditional foods… one of them being piranha… see photo of cooked piranha.
Before we knew it it was time to cross the equator again which meant we had to do the equator crossing ceremony again. This ceremony is the same on all the ships, King Neptune and his Queen hold a trial of various crimes …. I.e. gluttony, lust or whatever and people end up gunked… the whole thing is pretty gross but is good fun. See photo from the first one when Chris was on.
Back in open waters our next port was Devils Island. Some of you may remember the Steve McQueen movie Pappion. It was set and filmed there. We had rehearsals the day we stopped there so when Dave and I got off we only had about an hour to explore the place. I’m so glad we got to see what we did. The island was once a jail and is filled with old buildings and ruins, it was really interesting. See photo of me on the pier waiting to catch the last tender back to the ship.
The next 5 ports we were back in the Caribbean Islands. Starting with Trinidad where Tara and I did a hike to the Maraca’s waterfalls. In Grenada, Dave and I did a tour that visited an old fort, a rum distillery and Grand Anse beach which was beautiful… see photo. Grenada is soon to host one of the World Cup Cricket games.
In St Vincent, Tara and I did an all day Catamaran tour that saw me see too much sun. My tan is coming along nicely. On our tour we visited Bequia an neighbouring island and Princess Margaret beach... it's named after her as she once took a dip there and owned a house near by.
In Dominica, Dave and I did a river to ocean kayak tour which was fun. We went back to the Layou River where we went river tubing last time, but this time we were further down the river and kayaked in a duel kayak through rapids before paddling out to the ocean.
In St Kitts in the West Indies, Brett and I did a tour in an old British Army Troop Carrier… see photo. We got to see some beautiful scenery and spend time at the beach. It was a nice port to finish the Caribbean part of our itinerary. We are now back to our usual itinerary for two cruises before embarking on our Peru & Ecuador Itinerary.... half way through that itinerary is when Mum and Annette get on.
One of the highlights of our last cruise was that Dave and I go to do our own show for one night in the show lounge. We had so much fun. It went way better than we expected. We got a standing ovation from the entire audience and both shows were packed. We each performed about 4 solos each and did 6 duets together finishing on our favourite song we love singing together ‘Please Don’t Ask Me’. To give you an idea of Dave’s voice just imagine John Farnham… they are so similar! I’ve included some photos that the onboard Comedian at the time took for us.
Talk about ‘what a small world’ Sandy Pedley one of the Children’s workers on board and I were chatting the other day. She is Australian and lives in the Blue Mountains, I told her my brother works in the Blue Mountains at John Wycliffe Christian School and she said "That’s where I went to school". Only those of you who are familiar with my days of going to the Hawkesbury Christian Centre will appreciate this but Sandy and I realised we once new many of the same people. Most notably my sister in law Kylie with whom she was in the same year as in school there. What a spin out! See photo of Sandy and I in St Kitts.
I’ve also included a couple of photos’ of our Australia Day celebrations.
Today we're back in Aruba back to our normal itinerary for two cruises. Today Danielle and I did a Catarmaran Snorkeling tour. Can you believe... I was bitten by a damn Jellyfish again!!! Last month when that happened in stung a little but this time... OMG!!!! It really hurt me :( ... and once again I was the only stung on the boat!!
Well that’s it from me. Till my next update, take care and keep in touch.
Lots of love Jess xx
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