Incentive for my students

Sandra was kind enough to make not one, but two of these wonderful world banners.  We printed out pictures of the ship, MV Explorer, and she sewed velcro dots onto the map along the path of our itinerary.  One of these maps will be put up for auction at the end of our voyage.  The other will go to one of my students. I have told the students in each of my 3 classes that for every A- and better that they achieve on a test or paper I will put their name in a box. At the end of the voyage we will have a drawing to see who walks away with the map.

two of my students holding the map for the class to see

One of the maps hangs in my cabin

Enjoyable day in Halifax

We arrived in Halifax this morning & since we completed our orientation yesterday, today was a free day to enjoy this wonderful city and area.  I brought my friends Galo and Martha Carrera on board the Explorer for a brief tour and then we headed out to enjoy the sunny warm weather.  After a brief visit to the Citadel we went to a nice seafood cafe on the waterfront:

                                                   Me and Martha enjoying lunch (great seafood chowder)

Following lunch they drove me to Peggy's Cove, a delightful and scenic area about 30 miles from downtown Halifax (I had visited this cove on a family vacation over a decade ago)

I thank Galo and Martha for a wonderful excursion around the Halifax area.  On the way back to my ship we stopped at  seafood shack where they picked up their dinner of oysters and introduced me to to one of their natives....a 12 pound lobster.

Fall 2012 Voyage: Day 1

Welcome to my fall 2012 voyage blog-- this will be a 107 day trip during which the ship, and me, will sail around the perimeter of the Atlantic Ocean.  Ports will include:
Boston- Halifax (where the students will embark)- Galway - Dublin - Southampton - Antwerp - Lisbon - Cadiz - Tema - Capetown - Buenos Aires - Montevideo - Rio - Manaua (up the Amazon river) - Dominica - and finally arriving back to the US of A in Fort Lauderdale.

Today after the faculty and staff embarked on board the MV Explorer and were enjoying a bar-b-que lunch on the 7th deck-- we saw the USS Constitution appear off our stern and give a 21 gun salute (not in hour honor but to honor its victorious battle over the HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812 and earned the nickname "Old Ironsides"

So, we are off to an exciting start of seeing unexpected and interesting things. Please return often to check my blog as I intend to post things after each port.