Category: Marco Polo

It’s been a regulation sea day, with nothing particularly exciting to report. The Iles Du salut painting was well-received at this afternoon’s classes, which gave everyone an opportunity to a bash at portraits. I’m a rubbish portrait painter, but enjoy dabbling every now and then, despite my attempts never looking like who they’re supposed to. Most people seemed to approach...

Today we arrived at Iles Du Salut, in French Guyana. Iles du Salut is actually made up of three islands; Ile Sainte-Joseph, Ile Royale and Ile du Diablo, better known as Devils’ Island, made famous by the novel ‘Papillon’ by Henri Charrie, and subsequent film of the same name, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. No-one is allowed on Devil’s...

It’s been another routine sea-day; up for breakfast, walk around the ship (get some fresh air), work in the morning (emails, online students, blog), then classes all afternoon. Today’s ‘White Water’ session was a follow-on from the ‘Negative Painting’ workshop yesterday; they all seemed to enjoy it, and the results were good. We’ve been chugging along slowly today, however. I’m...

Last night, we enjoyed one of the undisputed highlights of the whole cruise so far. I’m talking about ‘Karaoke Night’. It was totally bonkers, but a huge amount of fun. There were the seasoned ‘karaoke-ers’, who sang well, and knew their chosen songs well enough not to have to look at the scrolling text… some good singers, too. But it...

Today, we arrived in Santana. Tracey called it ‘The Armpit of the Amazon’, which is a great description. I’ve always said if the Amazon had piles, Santana is where they’d be. It’s a festering hole of a place that has almost no endearing qualities whatsoever. It doesn’t help that the quayside where the Marco Polo is parked is in what...