Coda – Around the World at 19 Miles an Hour…*

Actually it was a little less than 19 miles an hour, 18.9 mph or 16.4 knots as I reckon it.  Nineteen miles an hour seems like a leisurely pace to circle the planet.  But on a human scale it’s really pretty hectic.  To put 19 miles an hour into perspective, the average speed of a runner in the Boston Marathon is 8.8 mph, an average human walks at about 3.1 mph, an average horse’s walk is 4 mph.  If you were on a sailing ship on a good day you could travel at 8 knots or 9.2 miles per hour.

At times we felt that hectic pace.  Being who we are we wanted to see as much as possible at each port.  When there’s a port call on the very next day details of the first port get lost.  Sea days are a time to reflect, write and sort pictures while memories were still fresh.  Many of my cruise mates said things like “I really enjoyed Napier, or was it Dunedin; I can never keep them straight.”  Or “I think we were here on a past cruise, but I can’t remember.”  That could easily have happened to me so I pondered, sorted and wrote.  Many evenings I skipped the entertainment to process my experiences.

You would think that on a long cruise I’d get a lot of reading done.  I read fewer than half the number of books that I usually read in 4 months.  On sea days I tried to spend an hour sitting in a deck chair on the promenade deck “reading.”  I didn’t get through many pages.  Reading time became thinking time while looking out at the ocean.  Other important times for processing were walks around the promenade deck and my daily swim.  While exercising I composed in my mind the paragraphs that became this blog, all 143 posts.

Some of you who’ve actually slogged through the blog ask “Well, what was your favorite port?”  Difficult to answer but here is an attempt.

I loved each of the New Zealand ports but Mt. Maunganui was the happiest place we visited.   I had not heard of it before the trip.  It’s the small port for bigger attractions just a short bus ride away.  We never got on that bus.  We walked off the ship with no expectations, and wandered with no agenda.  We enjoyed the beach, the bay and the Saturday crafts market with its booths, music and conversation.

Hobart, Tasmania was the highlight of the “The lucky country” (Australia) because of an encounter with the owner of an art gallery who curated aboriginal art.  He brought out a bottle of good wine and we had an enjoyable evening of conversation laced with laughter.

The “Wow” moment came at Namibia’s sand dunes.

The WTF moment was the tourist convoy in Luanda, Angola which included mini buses, police motorcycle outriders, a pilot car, a police SUV filled with armed guards and an ambulance.  The guide assured us he would make sure we didn’t get arrested for taking pictures.

The romantic highlight was Hong Kong where Suzi and I had spent time 30 years ago.  We wandered around looking at what had changed and what was timeless.  Who would have thought this hectic city could become our romantic touchpoint?

The “experience” that rises to the top is snorkeling and with sharks and sting rays in Bora Bora.

Cape Town is where I want to return to explore further.

And Cape Verde was my unexpected love affair.  I thought it would be kind of a throwaway port, nothing planned, a place to stop in the Atlantic between Africa and America.  But I loved it.

There was only one stop that I really didn’t like, Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  I can only take so many t-shirt shops, Jimmy Buffett songs and people touting margaritas.

Suzi and I stayed healthy during the whole cruise, which is unusual for me.  I generally get sick on vacations but this time no flu, cold or Norwalk virus.  Suzi waited until Seattle before she broke her leg.

In his final talk Captain Mercer said a trip like this changes anyone who takes it.   It’s too soon to tell how this trip will change me.  We traveled far and wide but not deep.  How can you when you are in a place for between 8 and 58 hours?   Holland America did their best to add depth with lectures, foods from the countries we visited and cultural shows.

In the past we have traveled deep.  This cruise took about as many days as we spent in Albania for our first posting.  Those 4 Albanian months changed our lives utterly.  They opened up a new career, gave us new perspectives on life and culture and created lasting friends.  Traveling far and wide does not give you that type of experience, but it does paint a panorama that allows me to see relationships between different parts of the world.

Lectures on Indian Ocean trade or Pacific migrations while we were sailing those waters helped me better understand (and look for) similarities in culture, language and religion in very diverse parts of the globe.  We learned how trade and fisheries enabled the exchange of not only goods, but of religion culture and genes.  Out of this came some intriguing hybrid cultures.  I loved the Cape Verde Islands because of the mix of Africa, Brazil and Europe touched with a little bit of Yankee whaler.  I spoke with a “Cape Colored” man in South Africa of Malay — Moslem – German — Ashkenazi heritage named Rosenberg, educated Lutheran, who is raising his children Catholic.  Place names in New Zealand, Australia, Alaska and Canada are the same; Cook, Vancouver, Bligh, Malaspina, and Turnagin.  Perhaps the epiphany of this trip will be greater understanding of the interrelationship of peoples and lands.

Or perhaps the life changer from this cruise will be the friends we made.  I was surprised by the folks who take world cruises.  They are not necessarily members of the upper classes, not necessarily bankers or lawyers (although some are.)  Many are teachers, nurses, social workers, librarians, production line workers or retired military.  Perhaps the epiphany of this trip is that we live in a “lucky time.” a fleeting “golden age” for the middle class when teachers, nurses, social workers, librarians and production line workers are affluent enough to take this type of vacation.  Will the next generation of teachers, librarians, nurses, social workers and production line workers be able to do this as trade and professional unions wane in influence and wealth concentrates at the top?  My cruise mates were engaged, hard-working and committed people.  Will their children, our children, be able follow their parents and enjoy an experience like this?

By the numbers:

  • We sailed 34,128 Nautical Miles, 39,274 statute miles or 63,205 KM
  • The Cruise lasted 113 days
  • We visited 39 ports in 26 countries or territories
  • We missed one port due to weather and substituted one port because of the bubonic plague.
  • We used 18 currencies (20 if you count the Panamanian Balboa which is the same as a dollar and the Namibian dollar, which is the same as the South African rand.)
  • I took 16,916 pictures and posted 3,504 on either my blog or Facebook (not counting this post.)
  • We broke three cameras.
  • This cruise blog has 143 posts including this one. I didn’t count words.
  • I lost about 5 pounds.

To go back to the beginning and read the whole story in chronological order please click here.

 

*I borrowed the title from my friend Leigh who commented that we were circumnavigating the earth at 20 miles an hour.  When I did the math it was actually 19.

8 thoughts on “Coda – Around the World at 19 Miles an Hour…*

  1. We here in SC really are going to miss this blog. Thank you so much…it’s been a pleasure to follow along. We will be in Sitka on the Eurodam in June. This will be our 4th time there. What would you suggest we do for a few hours?

  2. I love to walk in the National Historical Park with the totem poles. I also love the wildlife cruises. A little further afield the Fortress of the bears. When will you be here? What date? We can talk if you want. (907) 747-6886.

  3. I so enjoyed your blog and I thank you so much for doing it. We regularly cruise to Alaska (we live just north of Seattle) and Sitka is our favorite spot. The National Historic Park is on the top of our list. My husband uses a scooter for mobility and it’s so user friendly. We’ll be there again this year – in July on the Eurodam. By the way, we love the Amsterdam and Captain Mercer. We’ll probably never do a world cruise but we sure love reading about them!

  4. We will be in Minnesota for part of July so may not be able to see you when you come off the ship but please send me an email or call before you come in to see if we are in. The park is a place I walk most days.

  5. Many thanks for your suggestions. We’ve never been to the Fortress of the Bear, so maybe we’ll go there this trip. We loved the historic park and the totems, as well as the AK Raptor Center. We will be in Sitka on June 13 with the Eurodam.

  6. Thank you for taking the time to post, I looked forward to checking my emails to see your new posts. Next time you are in Melbourne, Aust, it would be great to have a coffee and chat with both of you.

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