Final Thoughts - 2013

We’ve been back two weeks and I’m just now taking the time to provide a brief wrap-up. I apologize.

When we hit San Diego the morning of May 16, we hit with a jolt. After 129 days, it was BACK TO REALITY. I'm an American, for better or for worse, and here I was back on U.S. soil. I tuned in a local radio station in Phoenix. The national news came on, and I was horrified by some of the things I heard going on in "Fortress America" since our departure. And the noise…there was noise everywhere. Video screens flicked from every doorway. Cars swooshed. Trucks roared. Everything seemed to be vibrating, as if a large unseen generator running underground was about to blow a piston through its cylinder block. A Jimmy Buffett lyric ran crazily through my head: "Where you gonna be when the volcano blows?" In many respects, I felt like a modern Flying Dutchman, forever to sail without touching the shores of our homeland again.

Now the radar screen was blank on the bridge of the Amsterdam, just an irritating screech of white noise where recently our lives had glowed so magnificently. We'd just experienced a circumnavigation - two years in succession - and now I was suddenly and unexpectedly experiencing the world's worst case of post-vacation blues. I know Cheryl was feeling the same.

I could write a book about every place we stopped: how friendly the Polynesians were, how sweet the gentle Balinese, how gracious the smiling people of Thailand. How long would it be before we sail back to French Polynesia, or Borneo and its orangutan-inhabited rain forests? To Madagascar and its leaping lemurs? To Africa and the naked, smiling drummers? Oh…and the 2-day safari – unsurpassed & almost impossible to describe. Turn on National Geographic, and there you have it. New Zealand was pristine, with virtuous people to match. Australia was mesmerizing – so diverse in culture & landscape - such wonderful people. The beauty of Bali - the food of Thailand, the extremes of Manila, the stench of Bombay. There was the madness of Vietnam, the angelic children in moody Madagascar, the amazing coastlines and mountains of Cape Town, lovely St. Helena, mysterious Devil’s Island.

This may sound corny to you, but I felt so alive while aboard the Amsterdam! As if life itself were a sensuous, delicious electricity embracing my body, as if our engines weren't merely propellers but long magic wands connecting me directly to Mother Ocean. How can I explain what surfing atop the breaking crest of  a 20-40 foot ocean wave feels like such as we experienced off South America? Cape Horn has the reputation of being the most fearsome stretch of water in the world, right up there with the Tasman Sea. Having now done both, I would take the Tasman Sea any day. Cape Horn has earned her reputation. The ocean winds blow easterly across thousands of miles of emptiness with nothing to slow them down. Crossing Drake Passage and rounding the Cape, we're thrown into a force nine to ten gale. The waves break over the bow and the ship rattles with each massive pitch as we climb over the waves and crash down on the other side. Not to mention the yaw is huge, because when you go sideways to the waves instead on head on, we roll. The deck disappears from under your feet and then comes back up to meet you, making you feel like you're climbing a mountain, then running down it by turns. The roll means that when you look out the window one minute you see almost nothing but water, and the next you see almost nothing but sky. That's all part of the experience - it's all good.   

Even the worst moments of our circumnavigations were riveting - the threat of pursuit by pirates in the Strait of Malacca - being surrounded by violent thugs in Southeast Asia - the close encounters with Komodo Dragons.

More than anything, my greatest enjoyment was sharing all the special moments, both good and not, with my wife and best friend, Cheryl, and the many, truly wonderful people we met onboard. Indeed, all friends for life.

Now it’s over…until we sail again in September, 2014. Many new ports, places, people, and amazing life experiences. I’m counting the days.

The Good...The Bad...& The Ugly

Most Beautiful - Most Inspirational

In no particular order, these destinations are a combination of beauty, cleanliness, friendly people, & inspiration.

Richard’s Bay, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Walvis Bay, Namibia

Auckland, New Zealand

Sydney, Australia

Albany, Australia

Hobart, Australia

Adelaide, Australia

Puerto Princessa, Philippines

Hong Kong

Singapore

Nosy Be, Madagascar

Maputo, Mozambique

Easter Island

Bora Bora, Tahiti

Rotorua, New Zealand

Napier, New Zealand

Bali, Indonesia

Perth, Australia

Devil’s Island, French Guiana

St. Lucia

Victoria, Seychelles

Nuku Alofa, Tonga

San Martin, Peru

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Aruba

Langkawi, Malaysia

Nice, But No Desire to Return

In no particular order, these destinations are adequate, and in some cases very nice, but are overshadowed & secondary to the ports listed above.

Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

Corinto, Nicaragua

Ascension Island

Jamestown, St. Helena

Manta, Ecuador

Phuket, Thailand

Durbin, South Africa

Papette, Tahiti

Morea, Tahiti

Wellington, New Zealand

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Picton, New Zealand

Kangaroo Island

Columbo, Sri Lanka

Huatulco, Mexico

Dirty Surroundings, Urban Decay – Security Threat - No Desire to Return

Ujung Padang, Indonesia

Fortaleza, Brazil

Belem, Brazil

Manila, Philippines

Lima, Peru

Cartagena, Columbia

Extremely Rude Residents

Udung Padang, Indonesia

Fortaleza, Brazil

Belem, Brazil