Nov 29

We docked in the port of Santos, Brazil's largest port and second largest in the world.  It's primarily a container port and not yet convenient for cruise ships.  It's also the port for Sao Paulo, Brazil.  We had to take a bumpy bus ride to the terminal to transfer to an excursion bus.  The port is quite dirty and is in the process of being modernized.  It is 19km long so it's huge.  The first stop was a small zoo and botanical gardens, both of which displayed flora & fauna from the local province.  There were beautiful displays of orchids and we could have easily spent much more time there.  The next stop was the football (read soccer) stadium which was the home stadium for the legendary Pele.  Looking at display cases of trophies the club has accumulated since the late 1800s and viewing a grass field was not the highlight of the day.  We then went to Museu do Cafe, or coffee museum.  The building was originally the coffee exchange where bags of coffee were auctioned to traders who sent them worldwide.  There were displays of  various implements used in coffee production, packaging & weighing as well as early photos of when everything was done by manual labor.  It was an interesting visit and we topped it off by buying a cup of very strong and very tasty espresso.

Nov 28

We anchored off Ilha Grande, Brazil, about 120 miles from Rio.  We arrived an hour later than scheduled due to the medical evacuation during the night.  There were no excursions because it's a nature preserve and most activities revolve around backpacking, snorkeling and diving.  There are over 200 beaches around the island and travel to most of them and resorts is by water taxi.  There are parrots, sloths, monkeys and many other wildlife as well as an abundance of plant life.  The village is on a long beach and the waterfront is lined with dive and souvenir shops.  The streets are sand & dirt and numerous restaurants line the side and back streets.  We got on the tender to shore and realized that neither of us brought our cameras, but we'll return in about 3 weeks and post photos then.  It was a beautiful place and next time we'll stay in town for a local seafood lunch.

Nov 27

We anchored off Buzios, Brazil at 8:am under sunny skies.  Only 2 tours were available; trolley tour around the area and beach tour with swimming by schooner.  We chose the latter.  It took quite awhile to get everyone to shore by tender and to board the schooners and we set sail about 9:45am.  We stopped at 5 beaches on 2 separate islands and swimming or snorkeling could be done from the schooner at 3 of them.  Only about 5 of the 100 or so passengers went in the water because the temperature was 64 degrees.  It was an interesting tour and we returned to the ship at the end because it had begun to rain.  People who took the trolley tour raved about it and said the town was very interesting to walk around.  We'll take that option when we return in a month.  The rain got progressively worse with lightning and thunder and, as everyone was back on the ship early, we left ahead of schedule.  In the middle of the night I awoke and noticed that we were sitting still in the Rio harbor.  We found out the next morning that there was an emergency medical evacuation.

Nov 26

The Rio de Janeiro, Brazil harbor is one of the world's most spectacular as you sail past Sugarloaf Mountain, Leblon, Ipenema & Copacabana beaches, see Corcovado with the famous Jesus statue atop in the distance and watch the sunrise reflect off the buildings along the shoreline.  We awoke early to watch the sail in to Rio but it was raining and overcast so there was no view to be had, just grey nothing.  This was only a one day stop and we had done tours in the past so we went with our Brazilian jeweler friend Gabriel Hazan to the Amsterdam Sauer jewelry store to visit their gem & mining museum.  We returned to the ship and met new guests joining the ship.  326 of us remained on from the previous segment and about 340 new guests joined.  No pictures this time, but we return in a month for a 2 day visit and we hope the weather cooperates.

I'm having some problems with photos on some of the previous posts and I'm trying to resolve that.  I have to use Photobucket as a URL and I'm still getting used to how it works.

Nov 24 & 25

It was an overcast day as we docked at Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.  Salvador was one of the original Portuguese settlements in Brazil, having been founded in 1549 and was Brazil's capitol until 1763.  The residents are classed as Afro-Brazilian as the city was the hub of the African slave trade until slavery was banned in 1888.  African culture, food, dance and religion still permeate the city.  The city is on 2 levels with the upper level being a UNESCO Heritage site.  We walked from the port to the Mercado Modelo at the harbor area.  The Mercado building was originally the slave market and now houses numerous craft stalls and restaurants.  Across the street from the back of the market is the Elevador Lacerda, a236 vertical elevator tower between harbor level and the upper town where the UNESCO area is.  It costs all of 7 cents to ride the elevator and we took it to the upper town and strolled around.  We have visited here several times in the past and are familiar with the layout.  There are numerous churches and other buildings dating from the 1500s through 1800s.  Unfortunately our stay was short, 7:00am to 12:30pm so we didn't get to have lunch at our favorite restaurant, Dada.  It started raining around 11:30 so we caught a shuttle back to the ship.  The afternoon was filled with lectures and games as we sailed towards Rio with a sea day in between.  On the 25th we had the usual lectures & games and also the judging of a boat building contest.  Guest teams created boats from items available around the ship and they were very creative.  Each boat had to survive floating in the pool for 1 minute and then all boats were put in the pool together as the water was roughened up to test their strength.  Only the "Titanic" fell apart and the team's captain jumped in to go down with his ship."

Nov 23

The seas were calm and it was sunny & hot for this sea day.  In the afternoon there was a Regent Country Fair on the pool deck.  Each of the ship's departments (housekeeping, bar, restaurant, engine room etc) had booths along both sides of the pool deck.  They each had a game to play and winners at each one got a raffle ticket for a drawing at the end.  The orchestra was playing and we had 45 minutes to collect as many tickets as we could.  At the conclusion ticket numbers were drawn for prizes.  The fairs are done on long segments with sea days and they are always fun.  We had dinner with 2 other couples and listened to Stephanie Baldwin sing at the after dinner show.

Nov 22

We docked at Recife, Brazil at noon and there was only one excursion available.  Recife is one of the original Portuguese settlements but is now a thriving commercial city and one of the largest in Brazil.  There were 20 buses doing the 4 1/2 hour tour but the stops were mixed between them so we didn't overwhelm any one stop.  It was obvious that there is a major class distinction with junky houses across the river from modern high rise apartments.  We first stopped at the "Golden Church" which had a few meager artifacts but an interesting main section with several paintings from the 16th century.  Next we went up the hills to the neighboring city Olinda where we toured another church, had a nice view of Recife and had free time to peruse some uninteresting craft stalls.  Not only was the tour a bore, but our guide was described by one of our group as "more effective than sleeping pills."  We'll return here next month on our way north and I think we'll just visit the main market in Recife for something to do for a couple of hours.

Nov 23

This was a sea day between Recife & Salvador in Brazil.  When Wolf & Cheryl, Jan & Harry and us are on a cruise together we plan a steak tartare lunch on a sea day.  Senior ship's officers usually like to join us and today was no exception.  The Captain, Staff Captain, General Manager and Corporate Executive Chef joined in with the Executive Chef doing the preparation.  We were also joined by Mark & Suzanne and an Australian couple whose names I don't remember.  We were seated in the Signatures restaurant for privacy and the tartare was prepared while we watched.  The excellent tartare was accompanied with a small salad, garlic bread, French fries and, of course, a choice of wine.  Several of us had seconds on the tartare.  A surprise desert was provided at the conclusion.