Eve of 2008

Day out in Naples
We've had a couple of busy days and some lazy moments too. The weather has continued to be fantastic here, warm and sunny. That is about to change just in time for our departure. A cold front is expected to come through on Wednesday and it is predicted to be near freezing on Thursday morning when we pack up to leave. It should be back up to at least 70F by Friday though. Anyway, the drastic temperature drop caused a flurry of hunting for different clothes for that particular travel day since shorts no longer seemed in order! Debbie has done a last day of laundry and all that remains is final packing and cleaning Margie's house for her housesitters before we go.
We have done quite a bit of last minute sale shopping for things both needed and completely unnecessary. We went to the Annual Naples Art Fair Weekend and strolled the closed off Fifth Avenue, before going out for lunch. Margie bought Debbie a Christmas present for next year. Clay bought arepas for us all to try. (Arepas are a local food in Central and South America. Griddle fried cornmeal cakes filled with cheese, in this case. These were yummy. For lunch, we went to the Dixie Moon Cafe in Bonita Springs. It is in an historic building that used to be a gas station. It is famous for fried smelt (little fishes) and fried green tomatoes and fried chicken (you might be detecting a theme here...). We have finally finished off the Christmas Dinner leftovers! Even Debbie finally got enough turkey sandwiches! Still working on pies and cookies though, and lots of peanut brittle still around. We took Pat (sister of Margie's deceased husband, Rick, and Debbie's aunt) to see Rick's memorial brick at the Hospice House. Debbie, Clay and Pat had never seen it. It was a very nice paved courtyard garden within one of the Hospice House buildings. Finally, last night Clay, Margie, and evidently Bob, were jonesing for some BBQ ribs. So, we went to Rib City where Margie ordered a rack of St. Louis-style and Clay ordered a rack of Baby Back ribs. They agreed upfront to split, so each could half and half. Since Debbie doesn't eat anything with bones, she just had a sandwich. Debbie ordered corn on the cob as her side, Clay ordered baked beans. Clay did not like the baked beans and so swapped for Debbie's corn. Everyone ended up happy. It was decided that the St. Louis-style ribs were the best and no one liked the Carolina-mustard BBQ sauce!
Tonight we are going to the early fireworks at the Naples Pier. Tomorrow we are going to visit Lee's grave (Margie's Mom and Debbie's Grandma). We have a crowd invited for a traditional Southern Good Luck and Good Fortune New Year's dinner later. We'll have country ham, baked sweet potatoes, collard greens, cabbage and black eyed peas. A day of rest and final preparations and then Big O Southern Adventure here we come!

December 26, 2007

Christmas photos
Since we last checked in, we took Grandpa (Bud) and had Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Pat's house with Uncle Sam. Ham and scalloped potatoes, yum!
Christmas passed successfully but not without stresses. The 23rd was the second anniversary of Rick's death, Margie's husband and Debbie's Dad. The 12th was the first anniversary of Lee's death, Margie's Mom. It is rapidly approaching the 1 year anniversary of Bud's moving into a care facility. So, all in all Christmas is not lately a very happy time for our family. We gave it our best shot but it is hard not to miss the way things were. But, in just over a week we will be at The Biltmore Hotel for the big kickoff to our Big O Southern Adventure!

Shelling!

Shelling photos
Sunday - December 23, 2007
Bonita Springs, FL
Debbie's brother, Matt, came by last night and asked us if we wanted to go out at sunrise to walk the beach and "shell." It was a full moon low tide and there should be "good shelling" at a particular pass. So, we decided to take advantage of our hard-to-find knowledgable, local guide. Matt came by the house with his friend, Tanya, and woke us up about an hour before sunrise. So, everyone had time to drink a strong cup of coffee and get woken up before we drove down to the beach access. We saw lots of birds and thousands of stranded sandollars, millions of shells and had a beautiful morning. After about an hour long walk down to the pass and back, we arrived back at the parking lot just before the tide had fully come back in. Margie took Clay and Debbie to Skillets for breakfast. Yum. They have Skillets potatoes, which are hash browns with sour cream and scallions. Debbie had an Italian Job omelet with pesto, sundried tomatoes and provolone. Margie had potato pancakes and Clay had 2 eggs with Skillets potatoes. It was pretty good and people were waiting outside with pagers when we left. Pretty popular place! On arrival home, Debbie and Clay went on a shorts quest. Clay's shorts were all missing! Rut-roh! On the fourth suitcase they were located and then mislaid briefly again. Geez! We are having a hard time getting organized. Rest of the day was restful for some of us. Margie got busy and baked pies.
Debbie is on the hook for sugar cookies tomorrow! Christmas countdown is on....

ROAD TRIP/ROAD FOOD!!

Road Trip photos
December 21, 2007
Yikes, we have a LOT of luggage! We had to rent a van to get to Florida and we're off. Here is Bob at the trip's first lunch. Maurice's BBQ in South Carolina. They are very proud of their all-natural golden-based sauce, which is made with mustard. Pretty good sandwiches. For dinner, we'd like to thank our sponsors, Clay's sister Frieda and the Tuckers for the Outback gift card. Bob loved it!

Only packing and driving are left!

We all had Happy Thanksgivings. So as of Saturday, we all have our passports back from the Brazilian Consulate in Miami with our visas in them. Big sigh of relief. It is so stressful having those passports out of our sight. Now, other than getting packed and showing up we are ready to sail!

Another milestone passed

Yesterday, we received our cruise documents, so departure time is looming. Our passports are currently at the Brazilian Consulate in Miami and we are awaiting their return with our visas. That is about the last official thing before actually packing up the bags! But, we still have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's to celebrate before the Big O cruise. Time seems to be actually flying by right now!

Itinerary

Date    Day      Port                          Dress Code           Arrive  Depart

Jan 4   Fri      Ft Lauderdale, FL             Country Club Casual           17:00
Jan 5   Sat      At Sea                        Formal   
Jan 6   Sun      George Town, Grand Cayman     Country Club  Casual 09:30    17:00
Jan 7   Mon      At Sea                        Informal   
Jan 8   Tue      Cartagena                     Country Club Casual  08:00    14:00
Jan 9   Wed      Panama Canal Transit          Country Club Casual  07:30    19:00
Jan 9   Wed      Fuerte Amador                 Country Club Casual  19:00 
Jan 10  Thu      Fuerte Amador                 Formal                        15:00
Jan 11  Fri      At Sea                        Informal   
Jan 12  Sat      Manta                         Country Club Casual  07:00    19:00
Jan 13  Sun      At Sea                        Formal   
Jan 14  Mon      Salaverry                     Country Club Casual  08:00    15:00
Jan 15  Tue      Callao (for Lima)             Country Club Casual  08:30 
Jan 16  Wed      Callao (for Lima)                                        Disembarks
Jan 16  Wed      Callao (for Lima)             Country Club Casual           23:00
Jan 17  Thu      Pisco                         Country Club Casual  08:00    17:00
Jan 18  Fri      At Sea                        Formal   
Jan 19  Sat      Antofagasta                   Country Club Casual  13:00    19:00
Jan 20  Sun      At Sea                        Informal   
Jan 21  Mon      Valparaiso/Santiago           Country Club Casual  07:00    16:30
Jan 22  Tue      At Sea                        Formal   
Jan 23  Wed      Puerto Montt                  Country Club Casual  07:00    19:00
Jan 24  Thu      Puerto Chacabuco              Country Club Casual  12:00    18:00
Jan 25  Fri      Cruise Chilean Fjords         Country Club Casual   
Jan 26  Sat      Cruise Chilean Fjords         Country Club Casual   
Jan 27  Sun      Punta Arenas                  Country Club Casual  07:00    19:00
Jan 28  Mon      Cruise Cape Horn              Country Club Casual  16:30    20:00
Jan 29  Tue      Ushuaia                       Country Club Casual  07:00    21:00
Jan 30  Wed      At Sea                        Informal   
Jan 31  Thu      Port Stanley                  Country Club Casual  07:00    16:00
Feb 1   Fri      At Sea                        Formal   
Feb 2   Sat      At Sea                        Country Club Casual   
Feb 3   Sun      Buenos Aires                  Country Club Casual  16:00 
Feb 4   Mon      Buenos Aires                                             Disembarks
Feb 4   Mon      Buenos Aires                  Country Club Casual   
Feb 5   Tue      Buenos Aires                  Country Club Casual           22:00
Feb 6   Wed      Montevideo                    Country Club Casual  08:00    18:00
Feb 7   Thu      At Sea                        Formal   
Feb 8   Fri      At Sea                        Informal   
Feb 9   Sat      Rio de Janeiro                Country Club Casual  09:00 
Feb 10  Sun      Rio de Janeiro                Country Club Casual           12:00
Feb 11  Mon      At Sea                        Informal   
Feb 12  Tue      Salvador De Bahia             Country Club Casual  13:00    19:00
Feb 13  Wed      At Sea                        Formal   
Feb 14  Thu      At Sea                        Country Club Casual   
Feb 15  Fri      Fortaleza                     Country Club Casual  07:00    15:00
Feb 16  Sat      At Sea                        Informal   
Feb 17  Sun      Macapa                        Country Club Casual  19:00    20:00
Feb 18  Mon      Alter Do Chao                 Country Club Casual  16:30    20:00
Feb 19  Tue      Boca Da Valeria               Formal               07:00    14:00
Feb 20  Wed      Manaus                        Country Club Casual  08:00 
Feb 21  Thu      Manaus                                                   Disembarks
Feb 21  Thu      Manaus                        Country Club Casual   
Feb 22  Fri      Manaus                        Formal                        18:00
Feb 23  Sat      Parintins                     Country Club Casual  12:00    19:00
Feb 24  Sun      Santarem                      Country Club Casual  07:00    13:00
Feb 25  Mon      At Sea                        Informal   
Feb 26  Tue      Devil's Island                Country Club Casual  13:30    18:30
Feb 27  Wed      At Sea                        Formal   
Feb 28  Thu      Barbados-Bridgetown           Country Club Casual  08:00    18:00
Feb 29  Fri      Roseau                        Country Club Casual  07:00    12:00
Mar 1   Sat      San Juan                      Formal               10:00    17:00
Mar 2   Sun      Grand Turk                    Country Club Casual  14:00    19:00
Mar 3   Mon      At Sea                        Country Club Casual   
Mar 4   Tues     Ft Lauderdale, FL                                        Disembarks

4 Cruise Segments marked by Disembarks.

12 Formal Nights, 8 Informal Nights and 40 Country Club Casual Nights.

We have pre-booked 3 excursions. We will take a helicopter for an 8-hour excursion to the Humpback Whale Sanctuary at the End of the World from Punta Arenas. We will be off the ship for 2 nights from Callao to go to Cuzco/Machu Picchu. We will be off the ship 2 more nights to visit Iguazu Falls from Rio de Janeiro.

 

Preface

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

So, tomorrow is final payment deadline for our big cruise. We have made all the arrangements and our payments and trip insurance charges should all be finalized by tomorrow. Whew! These are some large numbers and it really makes you think about the commitment of time and money that you are making. But, we have never regretted this kind of expenditure or length of trip before, so we are confident that we will not have regrets on this one either. This time though instead of just Debbie and Clay, we will also be traveling with Debbie's Mom, Margie. This will be her first big cruise and we are looking forward to this!

Debbie and Clay had the thought of doing this cruise towards the end of the 2006 World Cruise and placed a deposit on a 'placeholder' cruise to ensure the onboard booking discount if this cruise became a reality. When we got back to Florida after that cruise Margie told us that she had always wanted to do a circumnavigation cruise of South America. So, what better time. It did not take much to convince her to come with us since we all have Big O birthdays in '08 and that was the reason that we were using to justify our big trip. So, while none of us will actually have a birthday during the 2 months that we are on this cruise, we will be celebrating our big milestones everyday for 60 days!

So, we have the holidays to get through in the next 90 days and then we are off on our Big O Southern Adventure!