Transatlantic Crossing from Tampa to Barcelona

 We went on a cruise! 

Our other cruise trips had been either with family or when we were young and broke. This is the first cruise that we have planned and paid for in 30 years. 

The cruise was a transatlantic "repositioning" cruise that started in Tampa and finished in Barcelona. Along the way, we stopped in the Azores and Cadiz Spain before going through the Straights of Gibraltar. After that, we hit Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia and finally got dropped in Barcelona. We stayed in Barcelona for a few extra days and then flew back to Colorado. 

We were a bit worried that the 9-day crossing of the Atlantic would be really boring, but we were wrong. It was really relaxing and it turned out to be our favorite part of the cruise. Once we started hitting the ports every day, things got more frantic. 

Here is our ship, the Celebrity Constellation. It holds 2400 passengers, but only 800 were onboard. This made the ship nearly empty, so there were no lines anywhere and very little competition for the prime deck chairs. 

Since the ship was so empty, upgrading to a family suite at the back of the boat was really cheap, so we went for it. Here is the view from the room:

Like all cruises, photographers were circling the dining rooms. 

Our good friends Pat and Deb came along with us on the cruise. 

The bartender pouring all twelve martinis at once

First port of call, Ponta Delgada in the Azores. We rented a scooter and rode around the island. It reminded me of Hawaii due to it's volcanic formation. Lots of black soil and lush vegetation. Here is a lake that formed in the burned out center of a volcano. 

Because of the volcanic activity, there are a few hot springs. Here is the exit canal from a very nicely landscaped spa in Furnas that we relaxed in for a few hours before the long scooter trip back to the boat:

There is a geothermal park in the town of Caldeiras (near Furnas).  Lots of hot pots and fumaroles. 

Second Port of Call: Cadiz

Third Port of Call: Malaga

Beautiful day in Malaga. Fire roasted sardines, a visit to the central market, churros, coffee, and a visit to the castle. We had wonderful tour guides, Manolo and Bea who live in Malaga and who stayed at our house in Boulder last September.

Scenes that simply do not exist in the United States. Walkable pedestrian avenues and plazas throughout the downtown, tables and umbrellas with people just relaxing, no traffic or honking horns.

When I return home, I miss the human scale of European and Mexican cities.

Fourth Port of Call: Cartagena

Not much to say about Cartagena. I'm not sure why the cruise ships even stop here. On the plus side, it was a day of aimless wandering and drinking at the local tapas bars. 

Spain definitely has some strange street art. 

Fifth Port of Call: Valencia

Last Port of Call: Barcelona

The cathedral in Seville is amazing. The elaborate carvings and lavish gold and silver articles speak to an era of wealth, power and craftsmanship. It is simply amazing that something like that could be built with hand tools, ropes and donkeys.

However ....

The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is absolutely shocking. All of the old rules for building a cathedral were pushed aside. Symmetry? Don't need it. Big, heavy columns? No thanks. Smooth and polished Greek and Romanesque marble statues? Nah - we prefer rough hewn.

Being inside is like being surrounded by large trees of several species in a forest.

10 pm and Barcelona is coming alive just as we are thinking of going to bed. We so old.

And, yes, F*ck Putin indeed.

Scuba Diving in Bonaire - January 2022

For the seventh or eighth time, we went scuba diving in Bonaire. It's kind of our go-to getaway. Not much to do other than scuba and relax. We don't bring an underwater camera anymore as we would prefer to live the moment rather than record it. As such, you will have to just enjoy the standard Caribbean photos of blue water and stunning sunsets. 

We stayed in a 1-bedroom oceanfront condo (Den Laman apartments) which has a dock and a dive locker. You can see the dock on the right in the photo below. Generally, we do a few dives from the local dock but mostly dive via pickup truck along the shoreline of Bonaire. Night dives are easiest from the dock because docks are easy to find in the dark at the end of the dive.

Bonaire is becoming a big kite surfing destination. You can see all of the wings in the photo. A few years ago, this particular beach had one or two kite surfers. Now, there is a whole community. Looks like fun, but where else would I do this? I don't want to spend a week learning a skill that I can only use on rare occasion. 

Kite surfers prepping their kites and untangling the lines. 

Mexico City and Valle de Bravo - December 2021

Casey and Doroty were down in Mexico for 6 weeks or so, rock climbing and paragliding, so we decided to go down for a week to visit. The plan was to meet in Mexico City for the week, then we would head home and they would go back to Valle de Bravo to paraglide more. However, after spending three days or so in Mexico City, we were all a bit burned out so we all hopped the bus to Valle for a few days.

Casey was paragliding most of the days, and Sherry flew with him once on a "tandem" glider with a local pilot. The goal was to make it from the takeoff spot all the way back to town (8 miles or so) but the winds are fickle and they would often just land in a field somewhere and try to get a taxi or a local driver to get them back to town.

Mike is kissing the street art again    

Dorothy the Conqueror

Scary stuff on the streets of Mexico CityMexico is still new at the whole "craft beer" thing, but we went and tried some anyway. They are off to a good start but have a ways to go. 

We took the local cabs to the paragliding launch site and to the butterfly preserve. They often stop to let more people in or to let people out. In this case, we are filling up the cab, so it's 100% ours.Walking around the streets of Valle de Bravo. Casey is in front carrying his paragliding wing. They are surprisingly compact. 

The next series of photos shows Casey and Sherry getting ready to fly. Casey is in the orange jacket and Sherry's pilot is in the white jacket. Casey and the other pilot sync their radios, then they both get set up and then take off. 

After the paragliding, we decided to go to see where the Monarch butterflies overwinter. There are a few places in Mexico where this happens. The butterflies look for forests of Oyamel trees and then spend the winter in them. We took horses up the hill to see all of the Monarchs. The trees are literally heavy with insects. The branches droop from their weight. 

We spent the last night at a different Airbnb and then headed out. Casey and Dorothy stayed on for a while longer. We had to take Covid tests at the airport and do a bunch of paperwork to get on the plane. It was such a hassle to travel during Covid!