R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 128

54 Days at Sea — Continuing our tour of Madeira

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Funchal, Madeira

Funchal, Madeira looks very, very crowded from port. The buildings seem to spread upward along the hills like a field of brightly colored mushrooms

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Funchal, Madeira

Closer to port is Marina Funchal, and directly behind this small craft marina towers the Cathedral of Funchal.

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Boat harbor, Funchal, Madeira

High above the port is the Fort of São João Baptista do Pico dating back to the early 17th Century.

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São João do Pico Fortress, Funchal

On Monday I touched upon the Madeira Bo...

54 Days at Sea — April 3, Reaching Funchal, Madeira

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Funchal, Madeira (Portuguese island)

We left St. Barts on March 27, traversed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived a week later at the Portuguese island of Madeira, port of Funchal, some 550 miles/885 kilometers southwest of Portugal. That’s about 3,000 miles/4,800 kilometers east northeast of St. Barts. Our approach was in the early morning hours, and Funchal was still enshrouded in darkness.

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Early Morning in Funchal

Ursula had us set up for a group tour, so we spent our day touring the sights. A...

Fun Photo Friday — 54 Days at Sea, MS Prinsendam

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MS Prinsendam Flying Bridge — Captain Halle Thon Gundersen

MS Prinsendam is one of the very few cruise ships still in operation with an open-air “Flying Bridge“. Most ships have gone instead to an enclosed Bridge Wing, which is an extension on either side of the  navigation bridge. Pictured above, standing on the right, is Captain Halle Thon Gundersen. Captain Gundersen served as the master of MS Prinsendam from the very first day she set sail as Royal Viking Sun in 1988. That means Captain G...

54 Days at Sea — Continuing the at-sea tour of MS Prinsendam

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Showroom at Sea panorama

Being such a small ship, the main theater is equally tiny by today’s mega-ship standards. But that lends this venue an air of intimacy and fun not found on most ships.

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MS Prinsendam to being the smallest ship, she’s also the oldest ship in Holland America’s fleet, and probably one of the oldest ships of any major cruise line. That doesn’t detract from either her charm or her ability for passengers to find something to do. Here, again, is the Explorations Café library...

54 Days at Sea — Touring Holland America’s smallest ship, MS Prinsendam

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Showroom at Sea

In my first article on this 54-day voyage, I posted images of our suite aboard Holland America’s smallest ship, the “Elegant Explorer” officially named MS Prinsendam. Since, after Gustavia, St. Barts, we were now transatlantic, this week I’ll take you on a tour of our home for the better part of two months. The venue pictured above and directly below is the Showroom at Sea theater for our live entertainment.

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Showroom at Sea

MS Prinsendam began life in 1988 as the Royal Viking...

Fun Photo Friday — 54 Days at Sea, March 27

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Hangin’ 10 x 19

Today’s Fun Photo Friday are some of my favorite images taken during the Bucket Regatta in St Barthélemy. Here is Ursula quickly posing between yacht views:

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Ursula posing on deck

Pilots take pictures of airplanes. Railroad engineers take pictures of locomotives. And Staff Captains take pictures of boats, yachts, and ships:

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Staff Captain Enjoying the Yachts from the Flying Bridge

Me? I take photos of anything:

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Lean to Starboard

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Plowing Ahead

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Purple Sails

54 Days at Sea — The Bucket Regatta continues

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St Barthélemy Bucket Regatta

As you’ll recall, we were aboard MS Prinsendam anchored off the port of Gustavia, capital of St Barthélemy.

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Gustavia, St Barthélemy

And, as luck would have it, we arrived here for the annual Bucket Regatta. Here come the yachts now, rounding the back side of the island:

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St Barthélemy Bucket Regatta rounding the back side of the island

Here the yachts approach us during their race for the bucket:

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St Barthélemy Bucket Regatta

Yachts passed along both sides of our sh...

54 Days at Sea — The St. Barts Bucket Regatta Yacht Race

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St Barthélemy Bucket Regatta

That’s a lot of yachts out on the water above. Last week I brought to you images of our visit to Gustavia, St Barthélemy, or simply St. Barts/St. Barths. But to our pleasant surprise MS Prinsendam made port on a very special occasion. Every March in St. Barts is the famous Bucket Regatta Yacht Race, and we just happened to hit this charming French island during that year’s event.

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St Barthélemy Bucket Regatta

There must have been close to a billion dollars racing a...

Fun Photo Friday — 54 Days at Sea, March 24-27

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MS Prinsendam at Sea

Here are some favorite photos of Fort Lauderdale, sunset shots aboard MS Prinsendam, and images of Gustavia, St Barthélemy:

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Fort Lauderdale Garage at Night

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Fort Lauderdale

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Sunset at Sea

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Gustavia, St Barthélemy

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The Red Board

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Gustavia Side Street

 

54 Days as Sea — Gustavia, St Barthélemy

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MS Prinsendam in Gustavia, St Barthélemy

We reached our first port on the third day of our voyage, arriving at the French Caribbean island of St Barthélemy outside the capital city of Gustavia. In French, St Barthélemy is truncated to Saint-Barth, while much of the rest of the Caribbean and the U.S. calls it simply Saint Barts.

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Gustavia, St Barthélemy

If it looks from the photos above that there are a lot of very expensive yachts here, that’s because we just happened to hit St. Barts during t...