Feb 18. 2026

This morning we arrived in Pichilinque, which is the port for La Paz. La Paz is a city of 250k and is the capital of Baha de California Sur. Ferry boats leave from here to service Mazatlan and Topolabampo on the mainland.

After breakfast we took the shuttle to downtown LA Paz ,which took the better part of the half hour. On the ride into town, we noticed that the boulevard was still lined with music stages and foodtrucks which went on for a mile or more. These attractions were the leftovers from the Carnival (Mardi Gras) which ended last night. The sad part was that it blocked the view to the beach and ocean. Our shuttle dropped us off in the downtown area. We made visits to the historic church and a large gallery museum. After these visits we circled the downtown area and worked our way back to the beach , where we had lunch and a cold cerveza. After lunch we explored some of the seaside stores and eventually found our ride back to the boat.

Cheers

Cor&Carol

Feb 17, 2026

On Sunday when we boarded the ship and we were having lunch at the buffet, we were surprised by running into our friends Rocky and Joan from Qualicum Beach on the Island. We cruised with Rocky and Joan on the 2023 world cruise.

Our first stop is Cabo, located on the southern tip of the Baha. We were scheduled to arrive at 11:00 and pull anchor at 6:00pm.

For today we had arranged to meet up with our friends Craig and Mary Anne from Port Alberni. They have made Cabo their home for the winter months. We met up with them at the harbor where they showed us their fishing boats. After that we stopped for a nice lunch at the waterfront before we went on to their home. Their place was a little ways away from the hustle and bustle of the downtown area into the hills overlooking the ocean. After having a cold drink poolside we said goodbye to Mary Anne. Craig drove us down some unpaved back roads back to Cabo to board the tender back to the ship.

This was a very nice day of visiting and some sightseeing.

Cheers

Cor and Carol

Feb 15, 2026

Hello again from my desk on the cruise ship. We are about to start on another cruise, this time only 12 days. The destination is the Mexican Riviera and the Sea of Cortez.

Before we boarded the ship we had a chance to spend a day in San Diego. Our goal was to visit the Midway. This is a US aircraft carrier. It was put into service in 1945, just after the Second World War. The ship was in service till 1992. Currently it is a museum in San Diego docket on the waterfront surrounded by a 10 acre park. The ship’s flight deck is nearly 1000ft long and 230ft wide. The flight deck covers an area of approximately 4 acres. It can hold over 100 planes and is home to 4500 service men and women.

The waterfront is covered by several high end seafood eateries. We were fortunate that we were assigned a room in our hotel overlooking the harbor.

After a nice Valentine’s dinner we were looking forward to boarding the ship tomorrow morning. The cruise ship happened to be the same one we spent 4 months on last spring cruising the world.

Cheers

May 11, 2025

We completed our last two Sea days yesterday morning, from Puerto Rico to Fort Lauderdale. Over the last two days we were treated by several shows, first of all a guest talent show. Some guests interpretation of talent might be a little different than from the audience watching the show. The crew talent show was excellent. On the last day we were treated to an overall farewell show by all the staff. This show is always difficult, saying goodbye to all the staff, who looked after us as we were part of their family. The last day and night we said goodbye to friends and crew we got to know over the last 125 days. One last beer at our favorite pub, one last song from our favorite music venue. Writing a few Thank you notes to the special ones and at last filling my  suitcase.

Yesterday morning we had an early breakfast, so we could walk off the ship for the final time but not before we had to give a few final hugs to some of the staff which had lined the gang plank when we departed. All that was remaining was our flights home. After a planned stop in Mesa Arizona, we should be back on Vancouver Island by Monday night.

Looking back onto the trip of visiting 45 ports and having sailed close to 40,000 miles, I have to say it was epic. Taking in consideration the fact that we had to deal with Carol’s surgery in Tahiti, dealing with my cough which seems to go on for ever and which caused Carol many sleepless nights.

I look forward to taking some time off for a while from writing these blogs.

Thanks to all of you who read and commented on my blogs I wrote over the last 4 months.

We are wondering if Gary our dog still knows us when we get back. A big thank you to Meghan who looked after him and our house.

The good thing is, no more “Spam” in your inbox for a while

Well for the last time Cheers.

Cor and Carol

 

May 6, 2025

After a six day Atlantic crossing we were able to put our feet on land again today. We arrived in Puerto Rico an unincorporated territory of the USA. The population is approximately 3.2 million. We had a late arrival (12:00 Noon) today, followed by a mandatory US customs clearance, as this is our entry into the USA. All went well with our customs check. We were docked too far away from the old town, because of this shuttle buses were provided to get us there. After a 10 min ride we got dropped off at Plaza Colon. From here we set off on foot to explore the City. I was very surprised, as I have not been here before, of the colorful buildings and cobblestone streets making it a lot like the streets in Spain and Portugal where we just visited. Carol wanted to visit the cathedral where Juan Ponce De Leon was buried inside the church. Juan was a Spanish Explorer who later became Governor of Puerto Rico. After our church visit,we roamed the streets some more, till we sat down at a streetside patio for Salsa, Chips and a local beer. Blues music was being played inside the Cafe. we proceeded with our self designed walking tour till we ended up at the bus pickup. From here we ended up back at the port.

Our visit here was great, definitely a place to explore a little more in the future.

Cheers

Cor and Carol

April 27, 2025

For today I am writing about one of our recent Sea day’s. Generally we have quite a few sea days on a long cruise. I call them rest days. It is especially nice after having 4 or 5 Port days in a row. There are usually a variety of lectures throughout the day, movie in the afternoon, church services in the morning (Jewish, Christian and Catholic), AA meeting during happy hour, card games, IT tech talk, dance lessons and many more activities. Carol likes to participate in her flower arranging classes. If you don’t like any of the above you can chill around the pool, read a book and sip on a margarita. At night we are entertained by a stage show, dueling pianos and the rock band plays every night. A few days ago We were celebrating Kings Day, celebrating the birthday of king Willem Alexander of the Netherlands. We generally have Orange parties almost one each month celebrating the Dutch heritage of HAL cruise line. Kingsday is a little more special as we all bring out our orange attire for the day. It started with lunch, they served croquettes, with chicken sate,  peanut sauce and Nasi Goreng. For dinner we were served Hutspot with klapstuk and for dessert Bossche bollen and Tompoucen. These are all Dutch and Indonesian favorites. For the night entertainment they planned an orange ball complete with the ship’s dance band playing all the favorite tunes. We were lucky to find a free table as most people showed up early. Most people were clad in orange, and soon as the band started to play, the dance floor filled up quickly. Servers came around with little Dutch treats like bitterballen and oliebollen. We spend a few hours at the party and then called’r the night to prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s stop.

Cheers

Cor and Carol

April 29, 2025

Today is our last stop on this side of the Atlantic. First of all, I like to go back to yesterday’s power outage in Portugal. We always think what would happen if we got hit by an earthquake or a devastating flood which would likely knock the power out for extended time. What became apparent yesterday that cash is king. Without cash it was impossible to buy anything. Credit and debit cards were useless as all the infrastructure was shut down. No traffic lights, no gas and no water at highrises. It was definitely an eye opener. My advice is to stuff a few bucks under your mattress for desperate times.

We arrived in Tangiers 3 hours late due to the late dep arture yesterday. Luckily we were given a 3 hour extension by the harbour Master. Several tours were canceled  ebecause of these events. As we had done a tour here before (see post April 7 2023) we planned to walk into the City on foot. It was approximately 1 km walk to the city from the ship. When we got to the City we recognized some sites from our previous visit. We walked into the Kasbah, this a labyrinth of narrow streets lined with little shops, basically selling everything you can think of. We sat down at a cafe- restaurant and had pizza for lunch. While we ate our lunch we were entertained by several street performers trying to make a living. After lunch we carried on through the small streets, being careful not getting lost. On our way back to the ship we had to fight off a few vendors who became a little too aggressive with their selling techniques. Eventually we arrived back at the ship. At around 6PM we set sail for our trek back across the Atlantic.

Cheers

Cor and Carol

April 28, 2025

Early this morning we sailed under the Vasco de Gama bridge into the port of Lisbon , the capital of Portugal. Lisbon is situated on the Tagus river. Here in the city, the river is nearly a mile wide. As we have visited Lisbon before, we scheduled a 4.5 hour tour to a medieval town called Obidos, dating back to 1148 AC.

We left the ship for our 1.5 hour bus ride out of the City through the countryside to Obidos. We arrived in the town just outside the City entrance gate. From here we ventured out on foot through the narrow streets. We made a visit to the old cathedral. There was a second cathedral, which ended up being a bookstore now. We heard about a bakery near the church where we bought a dozen or so pastel de Nata, these are well known small custard tarts. If you see them somewhere on your travels, you should try them. We even saw a sardine store, having sardines cans going back to my birth year. After walking around for a while, Panic!! Carol lost her wallet. We were about to cancel her CC card, then when we arrived back at the bus, someone had found it. Big sigh of relief  when we got on the bus for our ride back to the ship. When we arrived back at the ship, our plan was to walk into Lisbon for a few hours. By that time all the light had gone out all over Portugal and Spain. Businesses were all closing down and Traffic had come to a standstill. At that point we cancelled our plans to go into town. On the ship there was a planned complementary wine and seafood event. The seafood was incredible, Lobster, Crablegs, Mussels and Clams as much as you wanted. Complimented by red or white Vino. Very impressive. By now the ship was supposed to leave, but we were still missing over 10 passengers. The Captain stated that we couldn’t leave them here and have them catch up by plane. The missing guests had likely no passports on them and the airports were in chaos due to the power outage. Eventually all the missing passengers showed up after being stuck in traffic. They must-have been happy, seeing the ship was still there. By now we were ready to leave, but the Pilot had gone elsewhere to assist another incoming ship. At 7 the pilot showed up again, and we ended up leaving 3 hr later then scheduled. I wonder how that is affecting tomorrow’s stop?

Cheers

Cor and Carol

April 26, 2025

Around 8:00 AM this morning we were cleared by the Spanish authorities to go on shore. For today we planned to do our own walking tour  into town. We left the ship around 8:30 and walked through the streets, which were not very crowded at thís time. It was very much a Spanish colonial City, like Malaga and Cartagena. Narrow streets with numerous sidewalk cafes. We ended up at a small bakery cafe for a croissant and a laté. We followed this up by a peek in St Nicolas cathedral. They have a beautiful Esplanade along the harbour lined with palm trees. The paving made me think of the sidewalk in Rio, resembling a river pattern. After enjoying a walk along this beautiful walkway, we ended up on the Beach. We hang out here for a bit, watching a few swimmers taking a dip into the cool Mediterranean water. Simultaneously there was a yoga class in progress on the beach . The boulevard is a great  place to go for a jog in the early morning, taking in the clean sea air. Around noon we headed back to the ship.

For the afternoon we were invited for a tour of the bridge. Essentially the control center of the ship. Here we were basically shown how to operate the ship. The ship is controlled (steered) by a tiny joy stick. It was very interesting to be informed how to steer this monster of a boat. After our bridge tour it was basically too late to go into town again. Instead I wrote you guys this story.

I very much recommend visiting this City. From all our stops in Spain in the past, we have never been disappointed. I probably prefer the smaller ports compared to the big City stops.

Cheers

Cor and Carol

April 25, 2025

Good morning from Barcelona, capital of Catalonia. This looks like a busy cruise port 5 ships in 5 different terminals. We were able to dock behind the HAL ship the Volendam. We parked our ship with our back deck facing the Voledam back deck. This was in anticipation of a drone show scheduled for 9 PM tonight.

For today we booked a City highlight tour. We didn’t dock till 10:30 and soon as we cleared customs, we got on our bus for our 5 hr tour. We drove by the numerous highlights of the City, like the Olympic stadium sites. Near the City Center we got off the bus to do a walk around the well-known church called Sagrada Familia Church built by the famous architect Goudi. They started construction in 1882, and it is still under construction today. It is now scheduled for total completion in 2026. Our Tour guide had his hands full to keep the group together in our walk around the church property. It was extremely busy on the sidewalks with pedestrian traffic. Eventually we all ended up at the bus location. Our next stop was at the Basilica Santa Maria del Mar. This church was build around 1383. Here we were allowed to enter the church. It was very impressive and in excellent condition for its age. After this visit we circled around the City some more, before returning to the port. It would be a better tour if our guide had used head sets on the walking portion of the tour.

After getting back on our ship, there was an opportunity to visit the Volendam ship. We sailed on that ship 5 years ago around South America. After being on the bigger ship now 2 times in a row it felt definitely smaller, but it looked like it was in good shape. It was currently on a 133 day Pole to Pole cruise and will be the ship used for the future Grand Voyages. Because of its smaller size it is able to visit smaller ports.

After our dinner we went onto the back deck where it was already crawling with people and music was being played in anticipation of the drone light show. After a toast from the captain the show started , and it didn’t disappoint. It was viewed by many spectators from both ships.

The following morning we took a taxi to the old harbour in Barcelona and spent a few hours roaming around there. Having a coffee and shooting a few pics. Instead of taking a Cab back, we decided to walk back, which took us a little over an hour.

That was the end of our stop in  Barcelona , off to our next stop tomorrow.

Cheers

Cor and Carol