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.

EXTENDED FAMILY=  On each voyage students and adults are given the opportunity to form extended families.  For this trip Sandy and I have been assigned three delightful "kids":  Morgan (from Ga.,Univ Georgia), Jaafar (Emerson College, from Morocco) and Molly (Univ. Michigan, from NYC).  We hope to get together with them for dinners; given the hectic and tight schedule each day I am afraid our time together will be minimal.

Morgan, Jaafar, Sandy, Molly

The day we set sail from Costa Rica, May 21, was our 35th wedding anniversary.  The evening before we had a little celebration in the faculty lounge with our friends Dave and Julie Weitz (with whom we had sailed in the fall 2010)

The next day our friends Peter Sanchez and his wife Kathleen surprised us with a nice bottle of champagne delivered to our cabin.

I think due to a snafu that occurred to my laptop while it was configured for the Semester at Sea voyage I lost the ability to post on my blog. So, I am a bit behind in my travelogue.  Last weekend after arriving in San Jose Sandy and I opted to join a small group of faculty and staff to travel to the Poas volcano. It is still an active volcano sitting at about 7,700 feet. Fortunately it was merely giving off steam the day we were there.

Poas Volcano

Replica of old wagon wheel

On our way back to the hotel we stopped to see how the old and very pretty wagon wheels were made.

It is May 17, 2012 and Sandy and I are about to begin another Semester at Sea voyage. This time is for one month and we begin in Costa Rica. Actually, from Sandy's point of view the voyage began this morning at the United lounge at National airport.  I am not sure what it is about getting a free cup of coffee and a newspaper, but she enjoys the time spent in these lounges.  Well, tomorrow we have our pre-voyage field trip to the Poas volcano, just outside San Jose-- so, check back often in the next month and  see what we are up to.