Back to the Adriatic – Peter's Travel Blog

In just over a week’s time, I will be rejoining Saga’s ‘Spirit of Adventure’ for another working trip to Venice and Croatia. We did the trip in April, on the ‘Spirit of Discovery’ and it was fantastic, so to get two shots at it in the same year feels a little indulgent.

I’ll keep it short for now, as there is still a lot of preparation to be done for the onboard painting classes, not to mention a shedload of packing, but I thought I would share with you a couple of anticipated highlights…

Firstly, we will be joined by a wildlife experts from ORCA, the foremost European whale and dolphin conservation charity, who are devoted to studying marine wildlife and protecting it for future generations. All being well, we should get the chance to spot whales, dolphins, seabirds and an array of other wildlife out on deck throughout your voyage, and learn more about wildlife in their natural habitat.

Secondly, we will be joined by aviator and adventurer James Ketchell. In 2014 James became the first and only person to have rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, successfully reached the top of Mount Everest and cycle 18,000 miles around the world, in what can only be described as ‘The Ultimate Triathlon’. In 2019 he got himself into the Guinness World Records by being the first person to fly an officially ratified circumnavigation of the globe in his open cockpit gyrocopter. Puts us all to shame…

Finally, there will be fierce competition for my art classes in the form of ‘Supercrafters’, headed by the multi-talented TV presenter/actor/author Julie Peasgood. I’m pretty sure she won’t remember me, but I was interviewed by her for the ‘Bloggers Guide to Cruising’ (Cruise1st TV) seven years ago. In case you missed it…