Quick post on our way out of the hotel. Funchal, Madeira was delightful. We caught some of the flower festival in town yesterday. Madeira is home to unique wine, flowers and embroidery. A million tourists visit this small island every year. 

  
The streets are the typical Portugese mosaic designs — art is everywhere. We managed to visit the gallery of Sacred Art yesterday — would have loved to have more time to visit the other museums.

  
Adios! 

 

 We left the ship this morning after arriving in Madeira. The remaining 4 guests, 3 staff members and crew of about 70, were anxious to get underway as they have predictions of bad weather on their route to Bremerhaven, Germany. We were sad to be leaving, but knew it was much simpler, and would be more fun ultimately, to leave and fly on home after spending a few days in Madeira. 

  
Our stop in Fogo, Cape Verde Islands, was fascinating. Barn and I had been there in 2008 but the volcano erupted again in December 2014, so the little town at its base was destroyed (again). The locals are a resilient group and started rebuilding immediately. 

 

 
I’m watching a frigate fish from our hotel window. Missing that rocking home at sea.

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.
-Robin Lee Graham, Sailor
It’s official: I have completely lost track of the day of the week. The only clue is the crossword puzzle is very difficult. Otherwise, one day follows the next, and the day of the week really doesn’t matter. 

  

We’ve been sailing off the coast of Brazil for several days approaching the equator (we have just crossed it this afternoon). On a few occasions, we’ve sailed through a school of dolphins and other small whales. What gorgeous creatures! Sadly, my photos aren’t the best because it takes about 20 minutes for my camera lens to de-fog from the dry, cold interior of the ship to the hot, humid outdoors. There were literally hundreds of dolphins swimming, jumping, diving, and spinning alongside our ship. The Captain always slows down and will often turn and follow along so we can enjoy them for as long as possible. But the dolphins easily outrun us and go on their way.
Yesterday we landed in Fernando de Noronha, an island off the northeast tip of Brazil. Most of the island, 70%, is a national maritime park. It was raining most of the day, but we still hiked and enjoyed its beauty.

  
It’s home to a great many birds and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. There is a small airport with flights everyday from Europe and Brazil. It has the best scuba diving in Brazil, perhaps South America. We had the director of the national park on our hike yesterday afternoon and she said they had 80,000 tourists visit the island last year. She said that is too many, they don’t have the infrastructure to handle those numbers, but apparently the government collects high fees from the tourists (which she is working on getting them to share with the island). They don’t let any large cruise ships stop here as there really isn’t a proper dock.  

 The philosophy of the park service is a little different from ours — they tolerate non-natives like this adorable cat we met on the trail. Barnaby and I are so starved for our furry friends that we couldn’t help but pet this one. She looked very healthy and stayed with us for most of our hike. 

“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Every time I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.” -Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer 

Time is going by so quickly. I think I spent the entire day yesterday sewing and chatting in the lounge with the ladies. No, I didn’t bring sewing from home. Sadly, I haven’t figured out how to pack for a trip like this. Oh, I brought the right clothes, but I didn’t bring any crafts. I brought books, but I’ve never been very good at solitude when there’s other people around. Especially people that are fun to talk to. So I’m helping one of the gals with her quilt. I was surprised to find how relaxing it is, I can actually imagine doing it when I get home. You don’t have to pay that much attention, like when knitting or crocheting — there is no counting, stitch change, or pattern to follow. Plus the fabrics are very beautiful (and new cotton smells so good), so there’s a creative element. And you can listen to the lectures, which are fascinating. 
We had a wonderful time in Rio de Janeiro. A few of us ventured out to a market on Saturday afternoon, then after dinner we went to one of the oldest neighborhoods of Rio — Lapa — and heard some samba music. We went to another club and heard some more modern, Brazilian music that was great. Our only regret was having to get back to the ship to get to bed because we had a very early call the next morning. Several of us spent the morning in the national forest hiking. This park is right in the city — a rain forest. It was good to get out and walk, even if it was very hot and humid (at least it wasn’t raining). 

I’m just back from lunch on the back deck. We had a quite a show by 5 masked boobies that were following along fishing. I don’t know if they were attracted by the smell of the barbecues, but for a good hour, they fished right along side our ship.