Not Much to Plan

This is too weird. With this cruise, we have nothing to plan. Nothing except to research the pre-cruise day and post-cruise afternoon in Guayaquil..

Things to do in Guayaquil include iguana park, the boardwalk, the clock tower, the lighthouse, a local craft market, and the flower market.  All the day trips seem to include a/the chocolate plantation or lunch at the chocolate plantation.

The Offer

We are willing to pay for a Category 1 cabin.

They include airfare from Miami or offer us $450 pp airfare credit. 

LATAM Airlines has direct flights from JFK to Guayaquil,  Ecuador for about $650.

Well, Lindblad had no cabins available that we are willing to pay for.  So we are waitlisted.

Within 24 hours, Nat Geo called and took our offer at the lowest rate for a cabin to be assigned later.

So we are on!!

Who are we going with?

National Geographic / Lindblad

Mainly due to reputation. The ship, National Geographic Endeavour II has only 95 guests.

  There are several naturalist and a photo expert on board.

We cannot figure out what their exact but having spoken with the agents I am confident we will see our highlight list. 

Some more thoughts on the Galapagos

There seem to be many basic cruise choices. The Cardinals: North, East, South, West. Plus center and outer rings and combinations of all the above.

All seem to have similar itineraries. So the choice is going to come down to providers schedules,  availability, and reputations.

Here is a great map to start planning.  

Here is a great map to help plan!! I wish I knew who first published it to give them credit... my version was on a photocopy with scribble!

And here are some of the tour packages and why choosing the right one is so difficult

http://www.wildernesstravel.com

http://www.ecoadventures.com

http://www.go2peru.com

http:\\arctictotheamazon.wordpress.com

Let's look at the Galapagos Island options.

•       December is high tourist season
•       But January is bargain price
•       Having stalled over the idea of when to go it seems no time is bad.
•       The trip looks expensive, but…
•       Airfare is included on some tours
•       All shore excursions are included on most tours
•       There are lots of choices of tours
•       I plotted several of the itineraries on several copies of the map.  I’ve been plotted which birds and animals we expect to see on which Islands, coves, and inlets. Then we made a list of the animals and creatures we wish to see.
•       The animal list is quite easy blue-footed boobies, penguins, and giant tortoises.

Let's Review the SA Cruise

Wow. What a trip to plan.  Let's review:

• Half the days are “At Sea"
• Christmas Day is in a port - what will be open?
• This trip is almost entirely in the roaring 40s and the furious 50s
• The internet of full of stories of missed ports because of weather
• My mother had a story about boarding the ship AFTER one of these cruises
• Airfare is pricey
• Add the shore excursions and bar tab
• We are talking serious money now!!
• We might as well go to the Galapagos Islands for a week.

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

This show is called many things, and the best single descriptive word is "immersive."  Based on a 70-page section of the very long "War and Peace," the show is able to tell a complete story.

Next, let me say that my first, and lasting, impression of any show is my ability to hear and understand the words.  If you think you might have a problem, GET THE LISTENING DEVICES!  At least, listen and understand the Prologue here.

The facts are: There are more than 30 chorus and principles singing all over the theatre, and an orchestra in six locations, a number designed as a raucous drinking song. Very difficult to understand the clever and informative lyrics.  That said, you can view the Tony Award performance below:

As you might get the idea, the show takes place on all levels of the theatre.  The house walls are draped and decorated with period paintings, several seats in the house have been replaced with small tables with lamps.

The show is very entertaining, and even missing the Prologue's vital information the storyline is easy to follow.  The performances are all excellent.

Learn more about the making of this show with this video. 

x

Our Winter 2017-18 Planning

We are planning our Winter Getaway for over the Christmas and New Year holidays!!!

RESERVATION #: ********
NORWEGIAN SUN

SAILING FROM SANTIAGO (VALPARAISO), CHILE

The schedule looks like this:

Santiago (San Antonio), Chile (EMBARK)

At Sea

Puerto Montt, Chile

Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

Cruise Chilean Fjords and Cruise Patagonic Channels

Cruise Strait of Magellan

Punta Arenas, Chile

Cruise Beagle Channel (Glacier Cruising) and Ushuaia, Argentina

Cruise Cape Horn

Stanley, Falkland Islands

At Sea

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

At Sea

Montevideo, Uruguay

Buenos Aires, Argentina (DISEMBARK)

We are SO EXCITED!!

War Paint

This show is excellent.  The performances wonderful.  The use of the scenery and the lighting perfect.

The Trailer:

Some discussions

Drive to Key West

Go West .... Key West!

We had a quick snack at the hotel and headed South to Key West.

Today's map is pretty boring to look at.  There is only one road to Key West:

For our actual breakfast, we stopped at the Green Turtle Inn in Islamorada, FL.

A stop at the local Chamber of Commerce directed us to the Crane Point Museum and Nature Center, and the Marathon Wild Bird Center (both in Marathon, FL)

Then we headed to the Best Western Key Ambassador Resort Inn, out by the airport in Key West.

After enjoying the pool, and watching the ibis who seem to live there, we went for a drive to find a good happy hour.

We drove around looking for parking, finding an old fashion parking meter that actually needed COINS!!

I forgot to take this photo :(

After parking, we walked over to Duval Street.  As we got there we turned the corner, and saw a line for Martin's Happy Hour... We take it as a good sign when there are LOCALS lined up for a restaurant to open at 4pm.

Made a stop at Kirmit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe.  They were very nice, and helped us with more coins to feed our meter -- not to mention having good Key Lime Pie.

We continued to explore Key West on foot.  We ended up at Malory Square, for the nightly sunset party.  Unfortunately - too cloudy for a good sunset, but sponge shopping was good.

A Big Circle Around Miami

This is our map for today.  This hotel was chosen originally because we were planning to head south to Key West the first morning.  With the storm changing our plans, we did not rethink our choice.

Here is the map of what we are doing today.  We organized it well, and we made a big circle.  We put 125 miles on the car today, but had a great time.

The first stop was Oleta State Park in North Miami Beach.  It was pretty deserted this morning, but we walked along the Oleta River.

We the went to lunch at Captain Jim's Seafood Market and Restaurant.  This is exactly what it is, a well stocked fish market with a restaurant attached.

After lunch, we headed East to the barrier island and A1A.  We headed south through many nice neighborhoods and crossed back inland to visit the Wynwood Arts District.  There are many interesting examples of murals covering the entire side of many building in this area.

We visited a food-truck court called The Wynwood Yard.  This would be a great place to eat... if we had not just eaten.

We also found a nice place for ice cream.

Then we took a drive to Virginia Key Beach Park, where we enjoyed a relaxing hour on the beach.

For dinner, we traveled to Coral Gables to Swine, BBQ and house made sausages for Happy Hour.

 

One last stop:  Looking for sunset: Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables