At Sea - Feb 09, 2013

A relaxing day at sea, the weather was simply beautiful, sunny and hot (sorry about that), the seas were calm (we are in the Sea of Bengal) and we even saw some whales gliding past our ship - incredible. We took in the kitchen tour today with friends Jeff and Joy from Brooklyn, New York the ones we surprised by joining the ship in Dubai. We attended the Captain’s Black and White Officers Ball tonight, great fun. Pictures include Jeff and Joy and another couple we met on a previous cruise, Cliff and Grace, there is also one with one of the dancers and her lead singer boyfriend. A great turnout.

Cochin, India - Feb 08, 2013

Cochin, also known as Kochi is both a city and former state (known as the Princely State) in southwest India on the Arabian Sea. After Vasco de Gama visited the city in 1502, the Portuguese established a settlement here. The Dutch captured it in 1663 and then the British in 1795. Our organized private our with driver and guide took us out of Cochin to Alleppey, also know as the “Venice of the East”. On a private houseboat with a Captain, mate and chef we headed out navigating about 20 kilometers of the waterways meandering past villages, schools and temples as we watched the daily life of these friendly and welcoming people, a great tour including an authentic Indian lunch. Back into town we toured a bit more including stopping at the traditional chinese fishing net area and a stop in a carpet factory, yes we did pick a little 3 by 5 foot silk handmade Bengal carpet, beautiful. Arrived back at the ship just in time for all aboard. Great guide and great tour made for another great day. Some pictures...

Mangalore, India - Feb 07, 2013

Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka and is located about 350 kilometers west of the state capital of Bangalore. Mangalore lies squarely between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges and has long been an important and major port for India. It handles about 75% of India’s coffee exports and the bulk of the nation’s cashew exports. The climate is tropical and the are is subject to the infamous Indian monsoons. Under sunny shies with temperatures reaching 29 degrees celsius we headed out to the crazy taxi area just beyond the port gates after a few high priced bargaining sessions we joined 3 other Canadians from Edmonton and rented a 1950’s Ambassador taxi for 3 hours for a whopping $12 US apiece - a great score. We visited the city centre including a Hindu Temple (Incredible), a Cathedral and then some retail therapy. A short and great day was spent here. There are also amazing beaches here as many Europeans do flock here to escape the winter. Tomorrow we have a full day tour booked in Cochin which we are looking forward to - it is with the same company that we had the tour with yesterday, so it should be great. Some pictures of our day here in Mangalore