India Post 1

I have returned from India!

We were prepared for India to be quite a different experience than anywhere else, and it really has been. The highlight of my stay in India was a visit to a rural village.  I will again post some info from India out of order and in shorter posts so that it does not take as long to post.

Pre-India
Before we arrived in India the crew was preparing for our ship to spend 6 days in India. Apparently India has always been very rough on our beauty of a ship, so they are taking great precautions to keep it clean and in good shape.  Starting a few days prior to arrival in India the crew began to lay plastic down through all of the public areas on the floor, they also covered all the steps from the gangway in cardboard and then plastic. The outdoor cafe on the seventh deck looked like it had been entirely saran wrapped in order to protect the kitchen equipment and to keep it sanitary. They closed the seventh floor cafe and instead we could only get cafe meals downstairs (indoors). The pool was drained and covered and even the residential hallways eventually got covered in plastic. Our ship was practically entirely saran wrapped!!!  We were getting a little nervous with all the precautions the crew had taken since we had not seen anything like that in any of the previous ports. It turned out though that much of the precautions were unnecessary and we really didnt dirty the ship too much!


Kancheepuram and Mallarpuram
One of the day trips that I did in India was a cultural cities trip. We visited two cities which were both famous for their temples (both working temples and old temples).  Each temple was unique, but by the end of the day we had visited 6 different sites.  At each temple we would be asked to remove our shoes before entering the temples. Since I am not Hindu, I could not enter the inner sanctum, but could wander freely throughout the rest of the temple. It was very interesting to see the temples. The working temples were cool because there were Hindu people practicing their faith right in front of us. The tour guide was slightly hard to hear, so I did not get as much information as I would have liked, but I loved wandering around the temples and stumbling across unique things. In two of the different temple visits we came across large groups of Indian College Students. We learned they were all education students and part of their training involved visiting these historic sites. They were all dressed beautifully in matching Sari's and they all looked so pretty. They were as interested in us as we were interested in them. Although the language barrier was a little tough, we ended up exchanging some words (and pictures) before leaving the sites. It really was just fun to spend time with them trying to communicate. I am glad that we stumbled across them, it was a really fun experience.  Another part of the trip that I really enjoyed was the lunch!  We stopped at a GORGEOUS resort mid day for lunch. I learned it was actually a Radisson, but it was by far the most fancy Radisson I have ever seen. The pool outside the restaurant had to be at least 3 acres! It was huge! It was all different levels with bridges and palm trees intertwined with the pool. Very cool. The food at the restaurant was awesome too. The buffet was HUGE with a variety of Indian food and desserts. Typically, I do not really like Indian food, but I found quite a few things that I really enjoyed.  One other funny story of the day is how the Indian people were so fascinated by us. We realized partly through one of our temple visits when listening to our tour guide that Indian families were strategically taking photographs so that us (American students) were the background of the photos instead of the temples. We just started laughing. We decided to jump in the photos and pose with the Indian families and they were pleasantly surprised. It was actually really, really, funny!

MauritiusPost 3

As a field trip/field project for my Marine Biology class I had to sign up for a Catamaran and Snorkeling trip. I got the “orange team” catamaran!  We had to get into a tender boat and go out to our Catamaran and Crew. Our Catamaran had three crewmembers and a tour guide on board. On the way to the snorkel site we were supposed to be looking for dolphins, but instead, I SPOTTED WHALES! I was the first one and ran to the side, the crew saw what I had spotted and everyone on the front ducked as they swung the front sail to the other side and we headed towards the whales. I am still not entirely confident, but pretty sure they were Sperm Whales. They were huge! It was probably a pod of about 5-7 whales with at least one young whale! At first they were surfacing a ways out, but we got the opportunity to get pretty close later. After we had watched for a bout 15 minutes some of the other Catamarans came to steal our good view!  We had to move around, but we got to watch the whales for probably about an hour. It was so nice! They turned off the music and the engines and we just sailed along listening to the whales blow all the water and air, and then gently surface and go back down. They were SO big! I don’t even know what to compare it to, but they were huge! 

After our whale sightings, we continued on towards the coral reef. When we arrived at the coral reef  we got ready in our snorkel gear and jumped right in! The water was nice (well, I thought so, others did not) and it was really fun to snorkel! The coral reef was not in very good shape, but surprisingly, there were still TONS of fish to check out!  After we snorkeled for a while we could smell our lunch! They were cooking out fresh marlin right on the grill hanging off the back of our Catamaran!! We hurried out of the water and were treated to fresh marlin, chicken kabobs, rice, garlic bread on the grill, and FRESH pineapple! It was such a treat! You would think they don’t feed us on the ship when the tour companies see how much we pig out for such a good meal!

What a day! It was so much fun to relax in the sun! I got a little sunburnt, but I put on sunscreen a few different times! My sunburn isnt too bad though, I guess I will call it my souvenir from Mauritius!

Mauritius Post 2

We were lucky to visit Mauritius when we did because Saturday began the “festival of lights”. It is a Hindu festival, and over 50 percent of Mauritius is Hindu. The festival, Divali, involved live music, and lots of lights! Although we were not there for Saturday evening when the party really began, we did get to watch a Hindu music festival the night before which kicked off the celebration. The entire waterfront district (including boats in the harbor) all were wrapped in white Christmas lights. The houses had lights strung from the roof to the ground and many of the walkways to houses were light by candles. It was so pretty!


Adventure Park and Beach
Our second day in Mauritius was a blast!! We went to the adventure park. The adventure park is an area in the forest that has been set up as an obstacle course. It is supposed to be very challenging and it definitely was!  We all were harnessed up and began our adventure on a series of bridges to cross, the course got more challenging as we went from everything from swinging logs to tight ropes to ‘leaps’ across gaps in the bridges. It was really a great time. It was right up my alley. The bugs were a little extreme though! Some of my friends came back with over 75 mosquito bites! I did not get it that bad, but I still got a lot of bug bites!  The course took about 2 hours. There was a zip line in the course also that I decided to hang upside down for. It was really fun. After the course we had lunch (rice and curry chicken) and then headed to the beach to cool off. Unfortunately it was kind of drizzly/rainy by the time we got to the beach. Kate, Kelsey, and I still swam so that we could enjoy the Indian Ocean, but we did not swim too long! 

Mauritius Post 1

Mauritius was a blast! I had not really known what to expect of Mauritius, but it was a good time. The first day we spent our day right near the waterfront district.  We did a little shopping and got lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean!  It was a nice relaxing morning. Our ship docked very near to the waterfront district, but across from the waterfront within the port. We had to take a water taxi to get to and from the ship and the waterfront district. The water taxis were all old rickety boats that they fit up to 30 of us in before the 5-minute drive across the waterfront. To get onto one of the taxis you had to walk backwards down a medal ladder right towards the water and onto the back of one of the rocky boats. I was afraid I was going to fall right in!  The waterfront area had a gorgeous district along the ocean with hotels, restaurants and shops, so we enjoyed wandering around there. 

In the afternoon we explored one of the local marketplaces. I really enjoyed that. It allowed us to see how the people of Mauritius live instead of just how the tourists of Mauritius live.  We walked through the market and it seemed to be a little taste of India to come!  It was really odd what some of the stands in the markets were selling. Some were selling toothbrushes and Q-tips. Others were selling jeans, some were selling shoes, some had music and movies, it was quite different than super-walmart, but was a similar idea! You could get just about anything there! 

Safari Day 1

South Africa Day 2:

This morning was a very long morning. For starters we had to meet at 5:30am in the dining hall for my trip to Kruger National Park. We all loaded a bus and headed to the airport in Cape Town. Here in South Africa instead of boarding directly onto the plane through a hallway, you have to take a shuttle to the area where your plane is parked and then walk right up the stairs onto the plane. Our flights ran pretty smooth (besides small delays and rushing).  Once we arrived at Kruger airport we all headed out to a bus waiting for us and got on our way towards our resort. This afternoon we had our first game drive!  We were very anxious to get into the Safari portion of our trip.  The safari vehicles are mostly converted pickup trucks. They have a whole portion of the vehicle that sits in the box of the truck and has 9 seats, a top and removable side walls and roll down canvas sides.  When we were driving on the highway to get inside the Kruger gate the canvas sides had to be down in order to avoid any rock chips or anything getting into the car. As soon as we passed the entrance point of Kruger National Park though our tour guide would roll up the sides to make open sided vehicles.  My safari vehicle consisted of only 6 people plus our guide. That was really nice, some of the other vehicles were more filled so they did not all have window seats. We were lucky to all have window seats. Our tour guide, John, was very good. He was born and raised inside the Kruger National Park. Both his parents had worked in the park when he was growing up, so he was incredibly knowledgeable about the park. Inside the National Park there are a few secured gated areas that animals usually cannot get into. He was born and raised in one of those parks.

I guess this is a good time to tell you a little bit about Kruger National Park.  First of all, the park is huge! We spent three days in the park and probably did not even cover a fraction of the park! The park is the same size (or close to) the size of Israel or Wales!!!! Imagine the size of a whole country just in the National Park. Recently the border of the park has been extended into neighboring countries as well. Zimbabwe and Mozambique recently merged the borders of neighboring parks with Kruger to create the Greater Limpopo National Park. Of course, it is the largest game reserve in South Africa. It is 7,331 square miles!  The park from the bottom to the top is 217 miles and the park is 37 miles wide.  From the 2009 attempt to determine the numbers of animals inside Kruger National Park, the estimates are listed below.
27,000 African Buffalo
350 African Hunting Dogs
350 Black Rhinoceros
4,509 White Rhinoceros
17,797 Burchell's Zebras
500 Bushbucks
200 Cheetahs
300 Common Eland
5,114 Giraffes
5,798 Greater Kudus
3,000 Hippopotamus
1,500 Lions
1,000 Leopards
2,000 Spotted Hyenas
11,672 Elephants
5,000 Waterbuck
9,612 Blue Wildebeest
90,000 Impalas
The Kruger National Park also has more different species of animals than any other game reserve with 147 mammals represented. They also have 114 different reptile species represented with 3,000 crocodiles.


My time in Kruger was AMAZING. I am so glad that I chose Kruger to do my Safari. Kruger Park was developed in order to conserve and protect the animals with the smallest impact on the land and on the animals as possible. For example, if a wildfire started in the park the rangers would do nothing but monitor the course of the fire for research purposes and if necessary only fight the fire if it reaches a border of the park nearing a city of village outside of the park.  If an animal is severely injured the rangers will do nothing because in order to maintain the true wilderness they do not feel that any interference on their part will benefit the animals. 

I have heard that some of the other Safari’s wanted to ensure that all people would see the “big 5” so they would stock the animals that tourists wanted to see as well as have the leopards in an enclosure to ensure the tourists could see them.  This is very different than Kruger. There are no fences around Kruger keeping the animals inside the park. The animals are free to come and go, and Kruger is instead just a safe haven for any of the animals that chose to live there. Many of the animals are born in the park and never leave (due to the great expanse of the park).  In order to preserve the minimal impact of humans on the park we were not allowed to leave our vehicles at any time.  Our ranger would try as best as possible to get us an awesome view from the vehicle but we were never allowed out of the vehicle until we had arrived in a rest camp.  Oops, I forgot to explain what the ‘Big 5’ is.  The ‘Big 5’ was a term from the days of big game hunting in Africa. It refers to the 5 most difficult animals to hunt on foot and includes Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard, and Black Rhinoceros.

This afternoon’s game drive was a great start in our quest for the ‘Big 5’. Shortly into our game drive we came across 6 elephants! There was even one young elephant! I could not believe how close we were to the elephants; they crossed the road about 25 feet from our vehicle! It was so cool. Shortly after we saw Impala’s.  At first we were very excited to see the Impala’s, but we learned very quickly that there are A TON of impala’s in the park and by the second day we did not even stop to see the impalas. Next on our Safari we came across Baboons! There were baby baboons in the group which were so much fun to watch. We could tell they were just learning about jumping from branch to branch because they were not very graceful, and stayed on branches very near to the ground because occasionally they did not make it all the way to the branch and would instead land on the ground. It was really fun to watch! I had learned from our other experience with the baboons though, that they are not as innocent as they look! We continued on our drive and saw more elephants and impalas, and then our guide spotted a lion a ways in the distance. Since lions are not as common as some of the other animals, we were very excited to see one the first day. It was not a great view though, and the female lion was just napping on a rock, she was not very active.  Then, we saw a rhinoceros!  It was very close to our vehicle. He was walking parallel right along the road we were driving on!  Our first day of the Safari was awesome! We had to leave the park before 6 pm, because that is when the park closes to day safaris. We returned to our resort and had a great dinner. We had a cookout for dinner and it was so good. It was nothing quite like I had ever had before. It included vegetables, potatoes, rice, sauces, and meats cooked over the open grill. It was such a treat to eat out under the stars of the southern hemisphere, and it was a full moon too! 

After dinner I was so lucky to be able to use the Internet in the resort and use Skype to call home. My parents were both home, so it was great to get to chat with them for quite a while.
*The estimates for animals in the park were taken from Wikipedia, so not be perfectly accurate, but wikipedia is the only website we have access to for free on the ship*

Cape Town Post 1

Cape Town, South Africa Post 1

First off, let me apologize it has taken so long to get a blog post up.  When we left South Africa we hit the worst seas that we have had for the entire voyage. Around the southernmost part of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, we hit huge waves! The drawers in my cabin were opening and shutting and things were sliding off the table and desk onto the floor.  The seas have calmed considerably since then and are much more enjoyable now.  But anyways, we are back at sea now. We are en route to Mauritius. We will arrive to Mauritius on the 15th of October.

While in Cape Town I REALLY wanted to go Shark Cage Diving, but due to rough weather, did not get an opportunity. I had booked 2 different days, and unfortunately, both were canceled. Even so, the entire experience in South Africa was awesome, and I cannot wait to return!



Cape Town Day 1:

This morning was the most beautiful arrival into the port. We all woke up early and headed up to the top deck to see the sunrise over the Waterfront and Table Mountain.  It was a gorgeous site!  It was very cold though, so after our hands began to go numb we had to go back inside!  As the ship pulled into the port we realized how lucky we were to be right in the middle of a commercial area in the harbor. So far, some of our other ports were in a very industrial area requiring a shuttle even just to get out of the port area. In Cape Town, we dock right in the middle of the Waterfront Area. There is a five star hotel just feet from the front of the ship and within walking distance we found tons of great restaurants, shops, tour agents, and a mall.  We disembarked the ship and just began to explore the waterfront area. Within a half hour of leaving the ship we chatted with a tour agent to see what they would suggest for us to try while we were in Cape Town.

The tour company suggested that we go for a helicopter ride over Cape Town, instantly we decided that we would go ahead and splurge for a helicopter ride. Some friends and I booked a short helicopter ride over the harbor and 15 minutes later we were being loaded into a go-kart and heading across the waterfront to the helicopter landing area!  We were fitted with lifejackets and then boarded the helicopter. We were all fitted with the headphones and microphones so that we could communicate over the noise of the helicopter.  Before we knew it, our helicopter was rising over the waterfront for our tour! The pilot took us right over our ship, which was really cool and then up the coast from the Waterfront Area.  We flew over beautiful beaches with coral reefs and over the new stadium being built for the 2010 World Cup! Then the helicopter neared the ‘12 apostles’, which is part of the mountain range surrounding Cape Town. He brought us back over the city centre near Table Mountain and the Cable Car to Table Mountain. It was an awesome ride. I took awesome pictures!  We only paid for a 15-minute flight, but were in the helicopter longer than that. It was a great experience, what a cool way to check out the city!!!!

Our next adventure was to take a trip up the coast to Cape Point. We hired a car and driver to take us up the coast.  First we headed up the coast to a little town called Kemps Bay that our driver thought we should check out.   We stopped there and he gave us time to explore and shop and then return to the car to continue on.  The next stop was Boulders Beach. I had really wanted to go to Boulders Beach, so I was glad that we were able to make it. Boulders Beach is a beach that is one of the only mainland breeding areas of African Penguins. They were so cute!  They were everywhere too. Our guide gave us time to go swimming at the beach, but my friends thought it was too cold (they aren’t from Wisconsin!).  We walked the boardwalk to see the whole colony of penguins!  The whole area was just gorgeous. Since the tide was in though, there was barely any beach left so people had laid out their towels on top of these huge boulders that stuck out of the water and were having picnics on top of the huge boulders. It was pretty cool.

After our time at Boulders Beach our Cape Point Tour continued. We drove further along the coast and came across baboons along the side of the road. They were adorable. We had been warned that the baboons could be a problem because they have been known to climb on top of cars or steal food or handbags from unsuspecting walkers. Our taxi driver pulled over next to the baboons and allowed us to get out of the car to take pictures.  That was a big mistake!  Shortly after we got out of the car a baby baboon wandered our way. Since we were less than 10 feet from the baboons to start with, the baby coming closer was not a good thing.  We decided to back up, but then realized that daddy baboon was walking around the other side of the car, we had no choice but to walk between the daddy and baby baboon towards our vehicle and tour guide. As we ran towards the tour guide he was yelling “don’t run, don’t run”. Of course when you are scared you run, even if you are not supposed to! We then realized our tour guide had taken his leather belt off and was holding it at his side in case the baboons got too close to any of us. We wanted him to open the doors so we could get in, but he did not want to risk any of the baboons getting into the vehicle because he knew it would be much more dangerous to have a baboon and a person in an enclosed area, than outside the car. Only when he thought there was time for all 4 of us to get in before the baboon circled the car did he let us quickly get in!  We were not seriously at risk, just scared because we did not know what to expect from the baboons. Even so, it made quite the memory for me!  We came across a few more baboon groups along the drive, but were not silly enough to get out at any of the other groups. From then on we just enjoyed the baboons from the car windows!!

As we approached Cape Point, the tip where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, we were lucky enough to see whales very close to shore breaching!  On our route back towards Cape Town we passed through some of the Winelands of the surrounding Cape Town area. These Winelands are probably the most famous part of Cape Town. They were as gorgeous as I had imagined.  They were big rolling vineyards overlooking the ocean! How pretty! 

As we got closer to Cape Town we entered into an area where the townships are. The townships surround the cities and they are large areas where shanties and makeshift houses from wood scraps sit. They did not have running water, most did not have electricity, and they certainly did not have beds, toilets, or kitchens. Just seeing these townships made me realize how lucky I am, and each of you as well, to have a home you return to in the evening that is comfortable and safe.  Each and everyone one of us has the opportunity to go to school, which many of the children in the townships never get to do.  Many of the children are horribly malnourished because their families cannot afford food for the family. It was terribly sad to see the townships and their problems from the outside, and feel unable to help. We did see one township that is making huge strides though. Through programs like Habitat for Humanity, small homes are being built of cement instead of scrap.  These homes will not be anything fancy, but most will have electricity and a solid roof.  Some day I hope to return to work with a program like habitat to make a difference in the lives of these families. 

Our last stop on our Cape Point tour was in an adorable beach town that had surfers galore. Our guide explained how some people are employed to stand on the top of the hill overlooking the beach and watch for sharks. When they spot a shark they radio down to the guards at the beach. The guards then raise a black flag and all the surfers and swimmers are expected to exit the water. When the water has been cleared a green flag is raised and the surfers are allowed to re-enter. That sounds pretty dangerous, I sure am glad Lake Superior doesn’t have any sharks!


More soon…

RePost -Neptune Day

Neptune Day

The neptune day ceremony when we crossed the equator was tons of fun. We were all a little unsure of what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun ceremony.  Neptune day is an old sailor's tradition. The ceremony of moving from a 'pollywog' to a 'shellback' occurs when a person crosses the equator by the sea for the first time.  Our day began when the crew all dressed up and paraded up and down all the corridors where our rooms are with drums and instruments to wake us up. It was at 7:30 am, which seemed a little early since we thought we were going to be able to sleep in.  The ceremony started at 9am. We all lined up behind the pool and had no clue what to expect. Once the ceremony began the 'king and queen' entered with their court of 'royals'.  It really was the Captain, the Assistant Dean, and the faculty and staff. They were all dressed up. The captain was even painted lime green from head to toe!!  Before he would allow us to continue into the Southern hemisphere we had
  to perform a ritual he required of all of us.

First, we had to line up by the pool and one by one a goopy- slime was poured over our heads.  After we got covered in slime we had to jump into the pool and swim across. We climed out the other side of the pool and we had to 'pay our respects' to the 'royal court'. First we had to kiss a fish (yes, a real one!), then we were 'knighted' by the royal court. We had to kiss the queens hand and bow to the king and then we were allowed to enter the Southern Hemisphere.  Then the royal court began shaving peoples heads. We did not HAVE to shave our heads, but I think about 65 people chose to!!! Some girls even shaved their heads!

The whole ceremony was fun and it was nice to have the whole shipboard community involved. Of course the whole thing was just created for fun, but it was a good time. The cleanup after the ceremony looked rather intense though because the whole pool deck was pink and green and slimy and the water in the pool was dark gray!