Madiera and Home

21st February - Madeira

Today we arrived at one of our favourite stopovers, Funchal in Madeira.  We decided to walk up the hill from the port past Reid's Hotel to the Lido Area to visit Doreen's favourite shoe shop, however being a Sunday it was closed.  So we found a nice cafe and had coffee and muffins.

As our ship was leaving fairly early and time was short, we jumped in a cab to take us down to the Old Town area, where we looked at all the new sea defences before finding a nice restaurant for a light lunch.  As it had started to drizzle we chose a restaurant with a large outside canopy and we had two steak sandwiches (plus beer) and chatted to a very nice Scottish couple, who were on holiday in Madeira.  They told us that the weather had not been good all week and some of the flights were cancelled and they were hoping that theirs for tomorrow would take off.

After a pleasant lunch the rain had stopped so we strolled back through the Old Town admiring all the painted door fronts before walking along the Promenade back towards our ship.

We returned to the ship to admire Funchal from the top deck, where we could see the snow laying on the top of the mountain, an unusual sight for Madeira.  We then joined in the sail away party at 5.00pm to end another nice day in Funchal and set sail back home to Southampton.

There was just enough time before we had to get ready for dinner for us to catch the last sunlight of the day.

No journey back to Southampton would be complete without the traditional Chocoholics Tea.  I am pleased to say that Doreen chose a selection from the Diabetic table, although she was envious of Geoffrey's calorie filled collection of chocolate goodies.

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On Monday evening we had our art exhibition, which was visited by the Captain, where the art class had displayed their paintings created through the cruise.

We have continued our painting whilst crossing the Atlantic and are quite pleased with our amateur efforts.  This time we may continue to paint when we return to the UK!!!!

This will be our last Blog from this cruise as we are now fast approaching what we hope will be a calm Bay of Biscay and we really must start packing our six cases (or maybe seven).

This has been another successful cruise with fantastic ports of call.  

Doreen and Geoffrey in the Caribbean and USA

Just a few pictures of us enjoying ourselves on this fantastic cruise.

Below we are having our afternoon tea on the back deck overlooking the swimming pool and the sea.

I wonder if Geoffrey is trying to find a plot for us!!!!!

On each cruise we get a free glass of champagne at a sail away, which we are enjoying here.

In Cartagena I bought a loose jacket type top, which fluttered in the breeze.  This was mainly to keep those mosquitos at bay.

There are many nooks and crannies around the ship.

Several photos of Geoffrey relaxing.

Dressed up for a semi formal night - smart jacket.

Trying to find a little bit of shade around the Mayan ruins.

The SUDDEN CHANGE IN THE WEATHER was a bit of a shock to the system.

It was freezing in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras.

The weather had improved slightly in Bermuda.

Oh Dear, its afternoon tea again.

Trying to grab a little bit of sunshine crossing the Atlantic.

Wildlife and Flowers of the Caribbean

We are at the moment cruising from Bermuda to Madeira, which gives us six nights at sea, so I am sending just a few extra photographs of flowers and wildlife seen on this cruise.

In Tenerife we saw the beautiful flowers above at the various gardens we visited and also the fascinating roots of a tree, which we found all over the Caribbean.

In Antigua we went around a very large market that has some wonderful fruit stalls and many, many stalls selling spices.

This was our first glimpse of a Pelican that were all over the Caribbean and Miami, a really strange bird.

In Guadaloupe we photographed this 'weed' growing on the roadside.  It looks like something I would like to grow in my garden.

In Cartagena, Colombia, this baby deer seemed to take a fancy to Geoffrey's leg.

In Roatan we did a small cruise over the reef which surrounded the island

I just love the iguanas that were in Aruba, Progresso and other places on this cruise.

We saw many trees similar to the one above with roots hanging down, that just seemed to strangle the tree underneath them