Fort Lauderdale
Trip Start
Mar 12, 2012
1
33
Trip End
May 13, 2012
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Sunday, May 13, 2012
DAY 58 ... Tuesday, May 8th … At Sea
DAY 59 ... Wednesday, May 9th … At Sea
DAY 60 ... Thursday, May 10th … At Sea
DAY 61 ... Friday, May 11th … At Sea
More 'excitement' .... this time it is the 3rd 'abandoned' vessel we have come across on the high seas ..... but wait a minute .... we seem to recognize the name of this yacht ... yes, it is TRISTAR .... and we saw this yacht 58 days ago and reported it to the authorities ... it has moved 158 miles since that sighting ..... another mystery of the 'Bermuda Triangle'.
DAY 62 ... Saturday, May 12th … At Sea
DAY 63 … Sunday, May 13th … Fort Lauderdale, Florida
The prose in this blog has been somewhat 'limited' as we did not want to bore everyone with a history lesson but now might be the right time to reflect that the Mediterranean is effectively the ‘crucible’ of the modern world as we all know it.
It obviously started with the Egyptians but for the sake of this cruise it was the Phoenicians, followed by the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and the Romans as the major traders that roamed through the Med and spread their influence and cultures. You see evidence of this impact in virtually every place we visited whether it is the European side or North Africa.
After that it was the Normans, the houses of Venice and Genoa and of course the explorers of Spain and Portugal and of course, the Ottomans.
We think you get the picture ……
In another history lesson … we also got to see some of the ‘effects’ of the Soviet era on countries and their efforts to come out from behind ‘the curtain’.
It was an intense trip as effectively we saw 31 cities/towns in just 48 days if you discount the Atlantic crossing days ….. and it is hard to remember the first port from the last …... but it was a great refresher course on the whole area. It is truly a beautiful part of the world and somewhere you can return to time after time and still find something new or something you’ve missed.
‘Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white. … Mark Jenkins’
