The Cruising Life

On the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean

February 16, 2025

After saying Goodbye to Trinidad and Tobago, we headed out to sea.  And over the last few days we have transitioned from the bright blue, warm waters of the Caribbean Sea to the blue/grey waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.  The weather has varied between cloudy, rainy, or sunny.  And almost always windy.  The waves varied from gentle to rock-and-roll, but never too bad.  On occasion, a bird flying by provided a momentary diversion.

Ocean Waves as seen from the port side

A Brown Booby at Sea

Luckily ship-board life provided us with lots of fun and entertainment.

Cruising with the Cruz’s - most days we eat breakfast and dinner with Tom and Katie.  And if it isn’t raining Tom and Karen play pickle ball in the morning (just like home).

Our group of friends has our own spot by the pool where we meet during the day to read, play cards (Ralph and Marilyn), knit (Katie) and chat.

Katie crochets beautiful blankets to give away to crew members or children/families in need, through charitable organizations such as Project Linus.

Water Splashing in the Pool on the Ship during rough seas

Our room stewards make cute towel decorations each night.  Can you identify the animals?

Sometimes in the evening we go to musical shows in the theater.

 The ship does a nice job of decorating for special occasions. These are some of the Valentine's Day decorations.

For Karen's Birthday she received a towel birthday cake (created by our two room stewards - Budhi and Riri), and a chocolate cupcake from the ship captain. Then we went to dinner at the onboard steakhouse, Pinnacle Grill.

Happy Birthday Karen!! (Ralph and Marilyn were also there, but left to see the show before we took the picture)

Later tonight we will move in closer to the coast of South America and the mouth of the Amazon.  We can already see the water we are sailing through taking on a brown tint from all the dirt that flows with the Amazon water. Can’t wait to wake up in the morning to the sights and sounds of the Amazon River and Rainforest.

And speaking of the Amazon – did you know that:

No-one actually knows how long the Amazon River is. This is because there are several theories about where the source of the river begins.  It is probably the longest river in the world, but because of the uncertainty the Nile may actually be the longest.

The Amazon River is actually made up of over 1,100 tributaries, which feed in from all over South America. Some of these tributaries are over 1,000 miles long and are impressive in and of themselves.  Hence, the question about the length of the Amazon - Which tributary is the “source?”

Beneath the waters of the Amazon River swims the pink river dolphin, also known as the boto, a creature shrouded in mystery and legend. These majestic mammals are rare and mostly found in the Peruvian section of the Amazon Rainforest.

Tomorrow, we'll keep you posted with our Amazon adventures! Take care everyone!