Nautical Term of the Day  –  Over the Barrel The most common method of punishment on board a ship was flogging. The unfortunate sailor was tied to a grating, a mast or “over the barrel” of a deck cannon. Reminds me of Mutiny on the Bounty Suva is the largest city in the South Pacific and […]

The highest elevation of Tongatapu, the largest of the 169 Tonga Islands, is 213 feet.  Its flat tropical landscape is composed of coral limestone with fertile volcanic soil.  Nuku’alofa is the cultural and political capital of Tonga and hosts the wooden Royal Palace built in 1867, the Royal Tombs and the spot where Captain Cook […]

  Nautical Term ~ of the day ~ Slush Fund A slushy slurry of fat was obtained by boiling or scraping the empty salted meat storage barrels. This stuff, called “slush,” was often sold ashore by the ship’s cook for the benefit of himself or the crew. The money so derived became known as a […]

Approaching Tahiti We don’t want you to think it’s all blue skies here 🙂 Rainy day activities 🙂 And tomorrow the sun will come out for my walk in the park 😉 Now for some serious shopping!  The Tahitian Black Pearl only comes from the Tahitian Black Lipped Oyster, lower center photo. They can take […]

  “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable.  It is designed to make its own people comfortable.”   ~   Clifton Fadiman I wonder if that was what Herman Melville thought when he landed here in the 1840″s and was greeted by cannibals.  I decided not to write on […]

  The planning of the building took decades with $50 million first being donated by Walt Disney’s widow, with the final cost of the building being $274 million.  Besides the magnificent architectural design by Frank Gehry, the acoustical architecture, by acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, was integral in making it the dream they envisioned.  Note the huge […]

I think we only saw maybe 2 or 3 of the fish on the card of possibility. I finally got some photos of a Pelican up close and in focus!  I’ve been trying to do so unsuccessfully since the Caribbean.

It is not the destination where you end up but the mishaps and memories you create along the way. Antigua, Guatemala was for 200 years Spain’s Middle American capital, leaving behind elegant pastel-colored mansions, lovely churches, and baroque civic buildings which date back to the 1500’s.  Again, the tours to Antigua were too far away, […]

Nautical Term – of the day – Even Keel A “keel” is like the backbone of the vessel – the lowest and principal centerline structural member running fore and aft.  A vessel that floats upright without listing is said to be on an “even keel,” and this term has come to mean “calm and steady.” […]

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I’ve seen.”  ~  Benjamin Disraeli Approaching Panama with all kinds of ships around the harbor. The Canal, one of the world’s greatest engineering feats has been ranked one of the seven wonders of the modern world by the American Society […]