Category: Amazon, Caribbean and Azores

Today was our first day of being at sea, and smooth it has been too! We awoke to the alarm on my phone at 8am, and was up in Marco’s Bistro soon after. By 9am, I’d collected the Conferece Room key from the Entertainments Office and had made a start setting up the room ready for my fiirst class. Everything...

The plan to travel down to Bristol the day before and have an overnight stay in a Travelodge turned out to be a good one. Had we known when we booked the hotel many months ago that embarkation wouldn’t start until 4pm, we may have just driven down on the day, knowing that there would be plenty of quality time...

Leaving home loaded up to the eyeballs always sets off a minor anxiety attack, believing that something important has been left behind… passports; check… yellow fever certificate; check… art materials; check… This time around, the packing and preparation has chugged along like a military campaign – surely nothing could be overlooked… I even have a checklist that I referred to...

What better way to kick off a new year than a trip to somewhere warm and exotic? I’m pleased to say that, once again, I have been invited to run watercolour workshops aboard Cruise and Maritime Voyages’ ship, the MV Marco Polo, as it sails across the Atlantic Ocean towards Brazil and the mighty Amazon River. It’s a six-week trip, with...

Having travelled almost 12,000 miles since leaving Tilbury on the 5th of January, this was our final day at sea. Every day, when the Captain has give his noonday ‘Positional Ship Report’, the Dutch Host, Peter, has given an announcement for Dutch passengers – in Dutch, of course. Today, for the first time ever, he gave his announcement in English...