Dominica to Brazil

We entered the mouth of the Amazon River yesterday, an amazing 200 miles wide...yep that's a river. We've got two days until we reach Manaus, Brazil. We are going to be traveling an incredible 1000 miles inland from the time we reached land in Brazil along the amazon to Manaus.

Faith and I have two day trips planned for our 5 scheduled days in port. We are swimming with dolphins and going fishing for piranhas. I know fishing for piranhas sounds a little crazy. I remember the conversation Faith and I had going something like, "Who the hell would go fishing for piranhas?....We would!" This was proof to me that we both want to make the most of out this journey, tell some exciting stories and get some great pictures.

Just two days ago we left the Caribbean, where we spent two days in Dominica, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. A beautiful island with rain forests, beaches, and welcoming people. Faith and I and many students on the voyage went snorkeling in the Champagne Reef on day one in the afternoon. Prior to that afternoon morning we walked town to meet people and learn some people and learn about the history of the town. On day two we woke up early to caravan with our guided tour to the rain forest where we visited the Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls...amazing beauty! Boy did we get rain alright....it was awesome, drenched head to toe...couldn't damper a terrific day. The roads I have to say where a bit treacherous, but our guide was a champ maneuvering around the island with huge cliffs into the lush green forest.

I'm going to cut this update a bit short as its now approaching 7AM here and people are starting to wake up and internet will be slowing down soon.

Until next time...likely after we our trip to Brazil as we head east across the Atlantic to Takoradi, Africa.

Limited bandwidth on the ship doesn't make it very easy to upload pics...going to try to get to an internet cafe in Brazil.

Bahamas: Day 1 & 2

We arrived in the Bahamas on the 8th and checked into the Wyndham Resort where we stayed for one night. We walked around the beach front resort, I drank the locally brewed beer Kalik, which has twice the alcohol of American beers, 2 for 1 sounds good to me. We met up with our friends, Sunny, Bill, and their amazing son Alex and began to discuss and realize what is ahead of us. Writing this we have not yet began to sail, though we are now at the port in the Bahamas and the anticipation continues to grow as we prepare to sail to Dominica.

The Bahamas number one source of revenue is tourism, so the folks here have been very accommodating and helpful. You can get around the island pretty cheap, and it's even cheaper if you travel in groups together, but the accommodations are expensive. In the evening, our group went to a fish fry and ate Conch (pronounced "Konk") and it was good....a lot like Calamari. Then a group of eight of us took a cab to Paradise Island, to Atlantis. I thought Vegas was over the top amazing with their structures, then I saw this place. Marble everywhere, a gigantic aquarium, pimped out restaurants, large casinos' and entertainment venues. Pokerstars.net was even hosting a poker tournament with players from all over the world. If you've never seen this place, look it up on the web and make your plans to check it out in this lifetime. Be sure to see it during the day and at night.

Day two we checked out of the Wyndham and our group headed to the docks, downtown on the island. There is a bustle to this area as cruise ship folks seem to be much of the business. Scooter, horse and carriage rides, boat rides to other islands, local food and host of merchants selling a bit of everything. I walked around with my friend Bill and his son. Our better halves were in meetings on the boat due to their staff responsibilities. I bought some postcards and stamps, a couple pieces of art, took many pictures, and even went to a local Pirate museum. Kind of reminded me of walking through a Pirates of the Caribbean ride, without the animatronics and Disney fluff. Much more brutal and graphic, but a great experience none the less.

Tonight the ship crew made a terrific BBQ dinner with salmon, ribs, and jerk chicken with beans, slaw, and several salads. We enjoyed our dinner with a great retired couple from Boulder, CO. Elizabeth has been retired for three years ands Keith just retired so he could travel on this voyage. He is the law enforcement head on the boat. Daniel from NYU, a good friend of Faith's from UCI also joined us.

The theme that has been evident from the beginning is that this experience will change you. Faith and I have meet dozens of folks who are doing this for the second, third, and fourth time because they absolutely love the community that comes with being on the ship and I'm guessing traveling the globe in the process doesn't hurt. You can talk to anyone and everyone wants to know you. I'm a people guy, so this has been great so far and we haven't set sail yet.

Internet is limited on the boat, but doable as only so many users can be on at the same time.

Anyone reading this been to the Bahamas or sailed on a Semester at Sea voyage?

And so it begins....Around the World in 108 days

The trip of a lifetime is right around the corner for Faith and I.

We are at the San Francisco airport. Faith's sister Jennie and her family dropped us off at the airport this evening after we enjoyed a lovely dinner with them at Max's in Burlingame. Faith's twin nieces were sad to see their auntie go. We are now preparing to take a red-eye flight to Atlanta. We will have a brief layover in Georgia, where we will get to see my oldest sister Kim, my niece Mia and nephew Liam for breakfast before we fly to Nassau in the Bahamas, where we will stay for 3 days. We disembark on the 12th. The trip has already started off right as we were upgraded to business class for our flight to Atlanta for cheap and all you can drink cocktails.....decisions to make here. Sleep like I planned or have a couple drinks and keep writing? I'll let you know how this works out.

Back to that trip I was talking about. We are preparing to embark on the spring 2011 semester at sea (semesteratsea.org) voyage that circles the globe on a cruise ship. The entire trip will take 108 days, from early January to late April. We head to South America, Africa, Port Louis, Mauritius, and Chennai, India. The leg of the of this voyage that I'm most excited about is the final leg of our trip. Singapore, Ho Chi Men City, Shanghai, and Yokohama. I can't forget to mention a stop in Hilo, Hawaii on our way back to San Diego, CA. I feel a sense of gratitude and hope that this will be life a life changing experience for us both.

My emotions are beginning to settle after weeks of packing, saying goodbye to friends, and leaving behind a job I loved with Apple. Bottom line: I just got engaged to my best friend and love of my life and we now get to travel the together. I'm thinking our kids may one day think that mommy and daddy were pretty cool.

I'm getting the sense that we are going to make many new friends, take incredible pictures, and gain a sense of spirituality from being at sea that we will only be able to describe when we are in the moment. My heart tells me that this voyage will help me to learn more about myself, be a better person, and professional.

We are a few minutes from boarding. I look forward to sharing the stories that are special to Faith and I.

Thanks for reading....until next time.