The Living Journey

This morning we arrived in Gdansk, Poland on a cool, dreary and chilly day. There were many locals out and about despite the rain to welcome us to their country…a hearty group.
Outside the harbor entrance there is a huge memorial known as the Westerplatte Monument.

This morning we arrived in Wismar, Germany which is located on the Baltic Sea. It is a small city of about 45,000 and we were last here with the Ship in 2016.

Wismar retains much of its charm and many reminders of its days as a member of the Hanseatic League and over more than 250 years of Swedish control (1648-1903).

Today we visited the Barren Islands which are a small group of 9 coral islands about 15 miles off the coast of mainland Madagascar. We specifically visited Nosy (Island) Andrano (water).
 
 
 
Today the sea was a bit calmer,

This morning we arrived at Toliara located on the Southwest portion of Madagascar. It is the capital of the Atsimo-Andrefana region founded in 1895. They have a reef barrier offshore, which provides one of the few natural bays in the southern part of Madagascar. 

Because of its strategic location and safe harbor, Cartagena has been a major seaport throughout history, being occupied by Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, and Barbary Coast pirates. Today the population is about 220,000 and the city, along with the rest of Spain,

We were at sea for part of the day arriving in Natal around 1:00 pm.  The sail-in was beautiful with a magnificent bridge, beautiful skyline, and simply incredible sand dunes.
 
Magnificent bridge at the entrance to the port in Natal.

Early in the morning, we weighed anchor and headed back in the direction of Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio, a resort community of about 200,000. This town is less than 100 miles from Rio and is a mecca for those who want to escape the big city for the beach.

We had an uneventful but long journey to Rio. The time difference to California was 5 hours, now 4 since the US changed to Daylight Savings time. Not too challenging for jetlag, but still present.
We arrived and were shocked by the difference from our last visit in Rio two years ago. 

We spent a day and a half traveling from Port Townsend to Vancouver due to some local environmental duties – so we headed out the Strait of Juan De Fuca and into the Pacific. This was fine with us as it was a good chance to get caught up on the day to day responsibilities of life plus a little rest. 

Hualien (pronounced Who Lane) is located on the Eastern side of Taiwan and the largest city on this Pacific Coast. The population is about 275,000. The eastern side of the country is far more scenic than the western side.

We arrived in Hong Kong on April 29, 2017. It’s a National Holiday weekend in Hong Kong so the city is super busy with Monday a Holiday making for a nice long weekend for the city’s inhabitants, but a really busy city.

After our first day of exploration in St. Petersburg, we arrived back to the Ship about 4:30 pm, rushed an early dinner as we had to meet again at 6 pm for an evening at the Hermitage Museum for an after-hours tour and a concert in Catherine the Great’s private theater.

We arrived to the entrance of the Dam of St. Petersburg around 7:30 this morning. This is a fantastic 16 mile long harbor wall capable of holding back the storm surge in inclement weather. It was intended to protect St.

We docked in Wismar about 9 am to a warm welcome from this community of around 45,000 people. Their fireboat saluted us with their water cannons shooting powerful streams of water in a traditional maritime salute.

Wismar retains much of its charm and many reminders of its days as a member of the Hanseatic League and over more than 250 years of Swedish control (1648-1903).