Blues Cruise #2

 

Passing on starboard

Here we go!

Sailing away from Ft. Lauderdale

Leaving Florida

We sailed away on our second Legendary Blues Cruise.  It’s one of those things where people say “this is our 10th cruise” or even higher numbers.  It’s addicting!  It’s also hard to describe how much fun it is.  Many people hate cruises and I can say that we’ve been on plenty and this one is totally different.  The entire ship is chartered for blues music fans and musicians.  There’s no hokey cruise director or the usual shows and comedians. They have a schedule of live music that goes from early afternoon to the wee hours of the morning.  I think what makes it so much fun is that everyone on board has a common interest: listening to great music!

Advertisements

Nevis

Nevis

We jumped at the chance to join our friends on a trip to Nevis.  It’s one of their favorite spots and they’ve never steered us wrong!  We were joined by 2 other couples from our Chesapeake sailing group for a fun-filled, rum-filled week!

Ahhhh….Paris!

I loved everything about Paris.  We enjoyed wonderful food, museums and generally just being there.  We met up with our sailing friends, Jack & Sue, who were staying in Paris for the month.  My mussels and fries were delicious.  Skip’s burger…not so much.  It was impressively large but cooked to shoe leather!

Our fabulous tour guides: Jack & Sue

Cooked until bone dry. Do not order burgers in Paris!

Moules Fritte!

Sainte-Chapelle

Normandy and Les Andelys

Even after seeing the photos, nothing prepares you for this.

American Cemetery Normandy

Our full day touring the Normandy beaches started with the D-Day museum in Arromanches.  An informative film shows how the Allies built a harbor here in preparation for D-Day.  How do you build a harbor where none exists?  The elements were prefabricated in England, shipped over and assembled.  The harbor was operational in 12 days.  Talk about a feat of engineering.  The harbor was critical for unloading goods, men and vehicles needed for the invasion.  A few parts of the harbor remain.

Road Tripping 2017 – Finale

Chester says “Keep away from my toys”

At last we arrived in Denver to stay with Skip’s daughter Jen and husband Bill for a couple of weeks.  We have so much fun hanging out with them.  Bailey had the pleasure of meeting his nephew Chester for the first time where he assumed the role of the grumpy old uncle.  Poor Chester didn’t know what to make of this dog staying in his house who didn’t want to run around and play.

Road Tripping 2017 – Part 3

Our journey continued to the southeast side of the park where we visited the beautiful lake area.  Lake Yellowstone is the largest high elevation lake in North America.  I was struck by the range of blues and greens in the water.

We enjoyed  lunch at the elegant Lake Yellowstone Hotel where Jen and Bill had spent a summer working while they were in college and fell in love with the West.  I liked this area as it was much less crowded than the other spots we visited.

We had a lovely lunch at the Lake

Road Tripping 2017- Part 2

We stayed at Old Faithful

Mammoth Hot Springs

On our first day of exploring Yellowstone we decided to drive the furthest away to Mammoth Hot Springs and work our way back.  In hindsight it would have been better to split the stay between both ends of the park but we were limited by dog-friendly hotels.

Exumas, We Love You!

Ever since we sold our boat we’ve dreamed of sailing back to the places we loved the most.  The remote islands of the northern Exuma chain in the Bahamas are not easily accessible.  That’s the reason why we loved it there so much.  The unspoiled, uncrowded beaches and glistening turquoise waters are only 30 miles from Nassau and the best way to visit is by boat.  Luckily, our sailing/cruising/travel buddies Rick and Eva had the same longing as us.  Rick found us a charter boat from Navtours that we could take one-way from Nassau to Staniel Cay in a week.  The plan was expertly formed and executed!

Blues Cruisin’

We had one of the funnest vacations ever on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise.  The entire ship is chartered for blues music fans and musicians.  We’re talking live music day and night all week long!

The Holland America Koningsdam is a brand new ship and it’s beautiful.  We were very comfortable leaving Ft. Lauderdale in high seas and lots of wind.  The cruise had a rocky start when the power went out to the entire Port Everglades. Luckily, we arrived early and were already checked in through security and allowed to board.  Everyone else had to wait in long lines outside until power was restored.

The ship made 3 stops and we had 3 days at sea.  We’ve taken cruises before but they were nothing like this one.  First of all, all of the old people were really cool and there were NO kids!  The entertainment was all music with 6 venues and musicians performing multiple times all week.  By the end of the week, they were joining each others performances and jamming together all night long.

There were theme nights where people got all decked out in costumes. No formal night – it was pajamas! We enjoyed the casual atmosphere and people-watching. It looked like the crew was really having fun along with everyone else.

Bon Voyage!