Thursday, 17 February 2011 – my 50th birthday! I can now go on Saga holidays, ha ha (as if!!) 😀 We were woken at 7:10am by the sound of cruise director Ricky’s voice bellowing over the tannoy, announcing that the Braemar was alongside in Bridgetown, Barbados. We got up and went out on the balcony…
Month: February 2011
Last Night on the Braemar :-(
Well, we woke up this morning feeling quite sad, as our fantastic holiday is nearly over. 🙁 What annoys me about these cruises is that about a week before you are due to disembark the ship, you get delivered to your cabin such bumf as “buy your take-home duty free”, “disembarkation notice”, “immigration form for…
The Drinks are on Fred
Went up to the Grampian restaurant this morning to find there was another “champagne” breakfast. Whoo-hoo! 🙂 Enjoyed a breakfast of kipper fillets washed down with coffee and a couple of glasses of the free bubbly. A nice way to set you up for the day – good old Fred. 🙂 The weather was hot…
Heading North
Woke up this morning feeling slightly worse for wear – I wonder why?! 😀 Decided that today was going to be a booze-free day. While Trevor went to the Palms Café for breakfast, I decided I would give it a miss, and instead make use of the tea and coffee facilities in the cabin. Trevor…
Caipirinha Capers at Alter do Chão
This morning, the Braemar was due to drop anchor at another tiny village, this time Alter do Chão. Having looked at some photos of this place, it seemed as though there was a lovely sandy beach, so it had one redeeming feature at least. 🙂 We were due to set sail early afternoon, so we decided…
Boca da Valéria, Brazil
This morning we woke up to find the Braemar at anchor, and the skies overcast, but with the sun trying to peep through. Across the river we could see a collection of a few wooden buildings and houses on stilts, along with a small landing stage. This was the tiny Amazonian village of Boca da…
Jaguar in the Jungle
We woke up in our jungle hut early this morning; in fact, we didn’t really sleep all that well. Although the room was kept at a lovely cool temperature with the air-conditioning, the downside was that it was very noisy. At some point during the night Trevor turned it off, and the silence was golden. …
Ecopark Excitement (part 2)
At 3.00pm we all gathered in reception, where Prakash, our guide, was waiting to take us to the boat. We walked along the dirt track, the duckboards and the planks of wood until we were once more at the landing dock. This time it was a much bigger boat, with a lower and upper deck. …
Ecopark Excitement (part 1)
It was with anticipation and excitement that we woke up this morning, knowing that we were going to disembark the Braemar and foray into the Amazon jungle, where we would be staying overnight in the Amazon Ecopark Lodge. The ship had already docked in Manaus, the capital of Amazonia, and she was not due to…
Parintins and Boi-Bumbá
This morning we woke up at anchor in the town of Parintins, where once again the day was grey and raining. Not to worry though; this morning we were going to visit the Convention Centre to see a scaled-down version of the Parintins Folk Festival, otherwise known as the Festival do Boi-Bumbá. Usually this takes…