Travel chapter 10 Rock and Roll again

Travel chapter 10
At sea between Casablanca and Dakar, February 7.


We reboarded the ship in Casablanca on time and again just before a huge rain downfall. All students and adults made it back on the ship in time. On this ship, everybody has to be on board the ship 2 hours before sailing time. Everyone, including adults, is subject to penalties if they do not make the deadline unless they are on a ship organized trip which returns late. The penalty is called:”dock time”. This implies that if one is late at a port, one is not allowed to go ashore for a determined number of hours depending on how late one was. It is a system which forces everybody to make every effort to be back by the time the ship leaves. As ships have fixed schedules to keep, if a passenger does not make it back to the ship their passport is left with the local agent and the passenger then has to make his or her own way to the next port. And this would also result in severe dock time penalties in addition to the embarrassment and the costs involved.

Before we pulled out of Casablanca harbor, the captain announced twice that due to heavy seas and the fact that the stabilizers would not be extended until well clear of the harbor, he expected serious rolling of the ship again. By this time, people took his announcement seriously after the mess our arrival made. We headed up to the 7th deck lounge for the departure and ship gently eased away from the pier. In the harbor, the water was calm as we made our way to the mouth of the harbor and the high seas. As we cleared the last wave breaker, the ship started again to roll very sharply to left and right reaching 28 or 29 degrees of list in both directions. In our lounge, chairs started to slide and people had to hang on tightly to the small tables which were secured to the deck. Many of the students sat on the floor in the main lobby using each other as support. The whole ordeal lasted only 10 minutes but caused huge damage around the ship and several people were injured by sliding or loose furniture. The toll was a cut head, a broken wrist and several leg and shoulder injuries. The roll was such that on the 7th deck one had the impression that the ship would roll all the way to its side. Of course, this did not happen but it was impressive.

Obviously, the port of Casablanca has a design fault if such waves occur so close to the harbor entrance. But also, it is clear that the ship crew did not do a very good job in securing the ship for this event. One has to wonder why they were not better prepared. The damage in several cabins was also quite extensive with TV’s and computers flying off desks. I had luckily secured my laptop under our bed as everything on our desk and night table was on the floor when we got back to the cabin. Even the mini-fridge which is lodged in the wall above our chest of drawers came out of its hole and did not break only because the drawer below the fridge also opened and caught the fridge before it fell to the ground. Clearly these waves were much higher than is normal, but one wonders why these objects have not been properly secured. The ship has been around for 10 years and one wonders how much damage could have been avoided. 

Then after a period which seemed quite a bit longer than it really was, the fins came out and the roll was reduced to more manageable proportions. One could now move around but one had to hold on to the rails to avoid being pitched against a wall or against an other person. So was the adventure of Casablanca.

We have steamed south now for 2 days and the seas have become gradually calmer. The winds have died down and the sun is again warm enough to lie out which the students are doing en masse. Yesterday afternoon, we passed close to the Canary Islands. It was a clear afternoon and one saw both of the big islands which are part of Spain. Now we are heading for Dakar where we will stop tomorrow to take on fuel for the last leg of the trip to Namibia where we will arrive in 7 days. At Dakar, we will not get off the ship as we would not get to Namibia in time to meet the schedule. We are steaming at 25 knots or 28 miles per hour which is fast for a cruise ship of this size. The ship can actually do 30 knots but its fuel consumption almost doubles. But this fast speed allows this ship to make destinations others would not reach in time to be able to stop for several days.

Classes have resumed after a period of 10 days and the school routine sets in again. Most people are operating at full tilt as the sea is quite smooth with gently rolling from ground swell. By now, most people have their sea legs and are starting to enjoy the pleasant days at sea that such a trip affords. Classes take place everyday while at sea so in this leg; there will be 9 days of class straight. This can be strenuous for both Profs and students as each class requires reading. However, on this trip, the students are allowed to drink almost every evening with a limitation of 2 bear per person. This controlled by issuing ration cards which are stamped each time a bear is ordered. It seems to work but when 500 students are standing around on the pool deck, it would be hard to control whether some students are not providing their beers to others. 
One of the sad results of having more drinking evenings than on previous voyages (when there would be 1 beer night a week), is that the evening events are no longer well attended. Last evening after dinner, there was a session in the main union auditorium for students to tell of their experiences in Spain and Morocco. B and Emmett went and report that there were only 40 students. On previous voyages, these debriefing sessions were packed and the students exchanged some amazing travel stories. It is too bad as these stories enriched the experience of the places visited. Emmett got up and gave his views on Spain and Morocco noting how friendly the people of Moroccan had been, in his experience.

 On my way back to the cabin, I went through the pool deck and I estimate that there were at least 450 to 500 students there having a beer or two. I guess the kids have their priorities but the travel story tradition which will get lost because of this change of policy.
That’s it for today. Must go off and attend a class.
Cheers


Alexander NIcolas Graf Keyserlingk,
Aboard the good ship Explorer
Somewhere going around the world in 104 days.
Time of my email Greenwich Mean Time

Travel Chapter 9 Morocco

Travel Chapter 9
Our visit to Morocco

At sea off the coast of Morocco.

Due to some very rough weather, our departure from Gibraltar was delayed causing us to arrive in Casablanca 18 hours behind schedule. The winds and waves on the way from Gibraltar to Casablanca reached 9 meters at times and the ship really rocked and rolled, pitched and yawed and whatever else a ship can do. We approached the entrance of the Casa harbor about 7 pm. The captain came on the loudspeaker to announce that he would have to retract the stabilizer fins when approaching the harbor and that the ship would start to rock seriously.  The stabilizer fins are actually fins which can be extended from the sides of the ship and act to reduce the amount of roll of the ship by counterbalancing the movement of the ship. This allows the ship to move ahead without reaching any great angles of roll. About 10 minutes after this announcement, at a time when many were still having dinner, the ship commenced to heel over to almost 30 degrees. Brigitte, Emmett and I had immediately gone up to the 7th deck lounge to watch the entry. We had to hang on with all our strength to the tables in the lounge which are fixed to the floor. The ship heeled over to a point that it was a little unnerving, particularly from this high point of the 7th deck. In fact, the result of this was that the ship lost many glasses and crockery as the kitchen crew did not have time to secure everything. Why the captain did not give more notice of the upcoming rolling is not known. He certainly new he would be retracting the fins and one wonders why he gave notice only 10 minutes before the event.

Once into the harbor, the water was calm. We learnt that the storm had caused enormous damage in Morocco, with flooding, heavy winds and snow in the Atlas Mountains. In fact, we learnt later that the local travel people had already scrubbed all our tours as they did not think we would make the harbor because of the storm.  But we did, we tied up and everybody got an early night. The trip I had booked had been a 3 night bus trip to Marrakesh, Essaouri, Safi and back to Casa. In fact, the first night was dropped from the tour and we were scheduled out the next morning early. I had looked into organizing our own trip to the same destinations but car rentals in Morocco were so expensive, I could not do it cheaper than the trip offered by the ship.

You can see pictures of our Moroccan trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Morocco?authkey=xEJ_4JP0x2c&feat=directlink. The next morning at 8am we loaded on the bus with 40 other students and adults and headed for Marrakesh, a 3 hour drive from Casa. We had an excellent Moroccan guide with us who gave us a very good introduction to the country. We arrived in Marrakesh and had an hour walking through the main square and into the souk. The main square of Marrakesh is a huge flat area about the size of 3 football fields. It is an amazing area where all sorts of activities can be found from snake charmers to monkey trainers to groups singing and merchants selling their wares. The square is surrounded by a covered souk, or market place where there are hundreds of little stores side by side. The labyrinth of alleyways can be very disorienting and one can easily get lost as there are no reference points. 

After a good Moroccan lunch of couscous with lamb at a very traditional restaurant, we were back for another tour of the main place. As the trip time had been shortened we had little time on our own. By 6 pm we were at our hotel where we checked in for the night. Dinner was not scheduled until later that evening so Emmett and I set off to reconnoiter the area which was a shopping and residential area, away from the centre. We had been charged by B to find some small colored glass vases to add to her collection.  We came across a fine store selling all sorts of typical handicraft of the country. We looked for the glass vases but found none. Emmett had expressed an interest in buying a Jebella, which are long robes with a hood which is the typical garment worn by men in Morocco. We casually asked whether they had any and of course, they did and they had many. I had given Emmett instructions in bargaining and he took to the art of bargaining like a fish to water. He tried on various garments until he found one he like, he then enquired the price and indicated that that was far too expensive. As there was no other clients in the store, we now had 3 people dealing with the Jebella purchase and Emmett was having a wonderful time as he could finally use his French with these people. After quite some time and even more price reductions he arrived at a price which was agreeable to all. He then put on his Jebella and seemed quite proud of his new garb.   I bought a few long dresses, called booboos for Brigitte and Emmett added a pair of Moroccan slippers to his collection. We then went back to the hotel, Emmett looking like a local in his hooded garb. He was quite the hit at dinner when he appeared wearing it as well as his new slippers.

The next morning we boarded the bus and headed to the coast to visit Essaouri, a beach and resort area already built up and where the Moroccan government intends to invest some US$ 1.8 billion more in developing the tourist infrastructure.   We visited the medina which is the old walled city and reboarded the bus to Safi where we spent the night in a strange hotel from city center which had no facilities. So we all went to bed early as there was nothing else to do.  They did not even have internet connection.

The next morning we headed north towards Casa but stopped in the city of El Jadida where there is a very well preserved city built by the Portuguese. There is even a huge water cistern built by the Portuguese in the 16th century which was only rediscoved in the later part of the 20th century. The whole old walled city is a UNESCO world heritage site and is well worth the visit. We reboarded the bus and headed for the harbor where we loaded back on the ship.

The trip was a good view of Morocco and certainly gave everybody a good sense of the country. It is a huge country which is endowed with a temperate climate and huge gently rolling valleys which go from the Atlas Mountains to the Atlantic. It is a fairly intensely cultivated country which exports it vegetables and fruits to Europe in the winter season. The politics seem reasonable with a king who seems to be doing the right things and who is liked, perhaps not loved, by his people. It is one of the most westernized Muslim countries which has a history and tradition of openness and hospitality. It has the problem many developing countries are facing of having a population of which over 50% is under 25 with high unemployment. Given it heavy reliance on tourism, Morocco will suffer until Europe gets over the current crisis.

Cheers


Alexander NIcolas Graf Keyserlingk,
Aboard the good ship Explorer
Somewhere going around the world in 104 days.
Time of my email Greenwich Mean Time

Travel Chapter 8-- Cocoon Effect

SAS Travelogue Chapter 8
At sea off the coast of Morocco
February 5, 2009

We are currently just out of the harbor of Casablanca heading south towards Namibia. The sea is rough so there will be a lot of heavy sleeping by some and others will feel a bit or very woozy. The sickness bags are out everywhere just in case.

We just spent 3 days traveling around Morocco and I intend to report on this in the next chapter. 

For this chapter, I want to write about the cocoon effect of taking long voyages has on travelers. Despite having fairly small cabins, it does not take long for passengers to develop a strong attachment to their cabins and to the ship itself. It becomes a comfortable environment where one's world is secure in the four walls of the cabin as well as in the public spaces which become more and more one's home away from home. As one starts to get to know more and more fellow passengers, other adults and students, the sense of community builds a fairly tight bond to the ship and shipboard life. One of the features of this cocoon effect is that one feels some apprehension to leave the ship when one arrives in a new port. All of a sudden, one is forced to leave this known environment to confront new and challenging situations. I presume prisoners in a jail develop similar feelings while locked up and when the time comes to leave the prison.

On board the ship, the routine is known, the classes take place at fixed times and the day is structured which already gives a sense of comfort. Meals happen, meetings take place one is not confronted with a world where all sorts of things can and do happen which were not in the daily program. 

We have only been on voyage for 2 weeks and already this evening on returning from 3 days ashore, the students were commenting how happy they were to be getting back on board. They were saying that they were looking forward to being in their cabins and catching up with their fellow students they had not seen for 3 days!! And they only met their fellow students 2 weeks ago. It is interesting how such common and shared experiences can weld people together and create a shared world. I will be watching this effect in the course of this trip as I have watched it before. By the end of the voyage, very strong friendships have been built during the time in the cocoon.
Cheers


Alexander NIcolas Graf Keyserlingk,
Aboard the good ship Explorer
Somewhere going around the world in 104 days.
Time of my email Greenwich Mean Time

Travel Chapter 7-- Hanging out off Gibraltar

Travel Chapter 7

Well, at sea everything can and does change. When we left last evening, Saturday January 31, we were headed for Gibraltar 100 nautical miles (115 normal miles) down the coast from Cadiz. The night was rough and things were falling off shelves as we are on the edge of a huge low pressure area just off the coast of southern Spain. We rocked and rolled but this morning we awoke to rough sees, rain and no visibility. We were in a holding pattern in the Med waiting for the weather to lift so we could get a fuel tender to come alongside and give us a load of bunker, or fuel. Around noon, the weather lifted and the sun came out but the winds were still howling. We steamed into the bay at the foot of Gibraltar and had a wonderful view of the great rock. At 5pm the fuel ship came alongside but 2 hours later it left as the seas were deemed too rough for refueling.

The whole idea of coming to Gibraltar was we need fuel to allow us to get to Dakar Senegal our next expected fueling point. Of course, the ship was in Cadiz for 4 days and surely it could have taken on fuel there. The reason we were given was that fuel in Gibraltar is cheaper.

But now we have been holding our position for almost 24 hours as we cannot anchor and I am sure any fuel savings have been consumed in just sitting here waiting. This evening it was announced that there will be another fueling attempt tomorrow if the seas quiet down but that is not expected to happen until later in the day. This means that will be arriving in Casablanca our next port at least 12 hours late and perhaps 24 hours. On a long voyage like this one can expect this kind of incident but it causes havoc with all the land arrangements the ship and the passengers have made. The original plan had been to arrive early tomorrow morning in Casa and most of the arranged trips were to leave by noon. We had booked onto a 3 night trip to Marrakesh and Essaouri. Now we are unsure what the arrangements will be but luckily that is a trip the ship organized and they will have to figure out what to do. Being on a ship, such an event is so much easier to deal with than a delay when flying. On the ship, it only means an extra day at sea, time to read, to chat, to nap and catch up with blogs all in the comfort of the great ship facilities. I would take a ship delay any time compared to sitting around an airport for hours on end with no place to relax.

This evening the ship is abuzz as there have been indications that the ship may get a signal allowing it to broadcast the super bowl. The students are all sitting around hoping to hear. Of course, as we are now 6 hours ahead of Florida, the game itself will not be played until 3 or 4 am. One kid I met at the purser’s office was seeing if he could purchase 300 minutes of internet time (at $ 250) so that he could watch it on his computer. He was fully garbed in a Pittsburg uniform which is a dead giveaway..

This evening the dean organized the second reception for the adults in the adult lounge, this time to welcome a new lecturer who lives in Morocco. The first time they held such a reception, we were not sure whether Emmett should also come but we brought him anyway as he is a full paying passenger. He loved it and spent his time chatting with various ladies in his usual suave manner. He has always been at ease with adults and being on the ship is no exception. No one minded and so he again came to the reception this evening. Up to now, he has not bonded with the college students and we hope he will eventually so that he can enjoy the student life. He does attend a 2 or 3 classes, interestingly these are science classes. Perhaps he will find his interest in the sciences later in his study life. This is one of the advantages for him to be on this trip as he can sit in on classes and get a sense of what is covered in various courses. He is also doing the reading assigned to him by his teachers back in Montreal.

Enough for today, I want to take a last look of Gibraltar all lit up at night.
We just left Casablanca. More on that later.
Cheers

Travelogue Chapter 6 Gibraltar and Spain

Travelogue 6
Written in Cadiz Spain

We arrived in Cadiz Spain on a dark morning of January 28th. As I do as often as
possible I was out on the deck as the ship approached the pier. I always try to be on deck when the ship arrives in a port. Despite having done this so many times in my early Navy days and now later on many cruises, the sense of accomplishment of seeing land and then tying up after a voyage is wonderful. After being at sea for almost 9 days the sight of land, buildings, lights and other humans is always impressive. It is probably like returning from space. One lives in an environment where there is nothing but sea as far as the eye can see in all directions and one wonders whether this is normal or is land the normal situation of life. One sees no life, no ships and one starts to think that being on the water is actually the normal place to be given the huge expanses of water of this globe. Being on land is rather the exception but it is still nice to see that land does exist and that life is not only being on the ocean.

By 8.30 am the ship was cleared and we could collect our passports from the purser. On most ships, the passports are held by the purser’s office in order for the local authorities to do the immigration thing. As were going to be off ship for a few nights, we needed our passports. Then came leaving the ship. On most ships one is given a swipe card which is scanned when one leaves the ship and scanned again when one returns. This controls whether all passengers are on board. On this morning, the scanning system broke down and 700 people tried to disembark at the same time. The security people were reduced to handwriting each name and number and the line snaked half around the ship. Brigitte went straight to the security officer and stated that we had a plane to catch and we were whisked to the front of the line. I do not want to know how long others had to wait.

In fact, we had no plane to catch but a rental car to pick up. On this trip we had decided that we will travel with knapsacks when going ashore rather than roll-on trunks as we have in the past. We got ours from LL Bean and I got one that has wheels and a handle but which can be worn on the back. We managed to get all our things for a 3 day trip into my bag and we were good to go.

I had reserved a car from National rental on the internet while still in America. The rates on the internet can be 50% less than quoted in Europe. Our rate for 3 days worked out to be $160 plus gasoline for unlimited kilometers and a medium sized car. So we jumped into a taxi which took us way out of the city to the rental place. Cadiz is in fact a long thin spit of land so there is no room for large parking areas. We arrived at the Atesa offices and sure enough they had the car ready for us. After they filled out endless papers, we were given the keys and told the car was parked out in the street around the corner. My first attempt was not successful and I had to go back and get help to find the car which meant the lady from the office came out and trudged around until she did find the car. I then went into an office of Vodaphone and bought a Sim card for my open phone. In the rest of the world, one can purchase sim cards which are little chips that go into the phone allowing one to have a local mobile phone. This cannot be done in North America as the phone companies do not want people to have this flexibility. I have 3 such phones and I get a chip in each country just to have the security of a phone while puddling around the country side.

We then got into the car on a beautiful sunny morning and headed towards
Gibraltar which Emmett absolutely wanted to see. The Spanish roads are excellent and are very nicely laid out. The drive to Gibraltar took about 2 hours and we arrived at the boarder control at around noon. Passing through Spanish and UK immigration took all of 10 minutes and we were on the peninsula which is Gibraltar. We headed for the cable car which takes one up from sea level to the top of the rock. I had forgotten how big the rock is in fact. It is about 1 km long at the top. The view from the top on this clear morning was spectacular with a clear view of Spain, the mouth of the entrance of the Gibraltar straight and the mountains of Africa in Morocco all in one panoramic sweep. Of course, Emmett was most fascinated by the Macaque monkeys which run free at the top of the mountain as he had never been that close to one of these sweet looking robbers. They sit everywhere and wait until some tourist comes by with food which is then snatched and they are off. One can almost hear them chuckling…

You can see some pictures of Gibraltar at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Gibraltar?authkey=IB-pudwRFeM

We spent over an hour walking around the summit taking in the wonderful views in all directions which this altitude provides. One can understand that the Spaniards would want dearly to have the rock back but there have been several referenda organized by the brits to establish whether the locals want to be Spanish and the results have been a resounding “NO”. So Gibraltar remains UK territory. But at least they do not drive on the wrong side of the road. Most people speak Spanish and the Euro is quoted everywhere. But there are British military as well as bobby policemen and British street markings so one has the sense of being in Britain,

So we jumped on the lift and headed down. On the way down we learnt that the lift will be closed in March so all the cables and equipment can be changed after 7 years of use. It was a little disconcerting to be riding a system which was nearing the end of its useful and safe life. But I am pleased t report that we made it to the bottom safely. But not before we received a lecture from the cable car driver on how the monkey’s numbers are controlled either by sending the excess numbers to zoos or by culling which he found repugnant. “They even look like us”. Well, that statement held true for him but not for most people…

So we jumped back into our nice new Citroen and headed north towards Granada. I had not made any hotel arrangements as I was not sure how far we would get in that first day. We headed along the Costa del Sol passing through huge numbers of housing developments the Spaniards had built and sold to German and British tourists over the years. I had not seen these places and frankly I was astounded at the vast numbers of theses building all along the coast. Not the kind of place I would want to spend a vacation but apparently these had been hugely successful for years and sold like hotcakes in their time. Nowadays, there are vast projects sitting half completed awaiting customers, even more so now that the recession has officially arrived in Spain. Just yesterday it was announced at the same time as one of the biggest building companies declared bankruptcy leaving banks holding about US$ 5 billion in unpaid debt. One wonders what archeologists will have to say about our society when they discover these honey combed hills with thousands of flats stuck together on the hillsides. They will probably think that our society was a very friendly one as these people all chose to live within spitting distance from each other…

The drive then turned off and we headed northeast into the Sierra Nevada Mountains towards Granada. We hit fog patches as we climbed up to over 3000 feet and then the air cleared as we approached Granada which we reached at around 4pm. I had no idea where we would spend the night but took some streets which were for pedestrians only and ended up facing what looked like a nice place near the cathedral of Granada, in the old part of the city. After negotiating with the front desk for a room for 3 at Euro 70 a night we unloaded our gear and took possession of our fairly large room on the main pedestrian street of this lovely part of Granada. I parked the car in a parking building a few blocks away as I did not want to have to drive the narrow streets of this city.

The first thing I needed to do was spend an hour on the phone with the Bank Credit Union which had blocked my visa card when I went to use it for the first time in
Spain. This took a good hour and a lot of bad thoughts on my part. Before leaving home I had sent the Credit Union a note which they acknowledged receiving in which I informed them of our travel plans naming the cities we would visit. In the first city, they blocked my card which is my main source of cash when traveling. I also carry another card just in case. After an hour with someone in Washington who excused himself for the blocking as he could see my travel notification. One wonders where they draw the line on security and start to be incompetent. I have since received many excuses from the management of the credit union but it is irritating.

That evening we walked along the busing pedestrian streets, through the many plazas of the area and found a small restaurant for an early Spanish dinner at 8.30 pm… We decided to stay 2 nights in Granada given our nice hotel and the fact that the next day we would be visiting the Alhambra. I had booked tickets on the website (http://www.alhambratickets.com/) which is needed as they control the crowds by issuing tickets which only allow one in at the assigned times. The next morning after a leisurely breakfast and some more walking we jumped one of the double decker tour busses one finds in most European cities. These allow one to jump on and off at different stops and the tickets are valid for 48 hours. We saw that one of the stops was the Alhambra so we could jump off there, do our tour and catch the next one to complete the circuit.

The visit to the Alhambra was again amazing. I had been there 3 or 4 times already and each time I find it more beautiful. It was the palace of the Arab governor of Spain and Morocco and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. There is a sense of beauty and peace in this building that is unique in the world. It emplacement high above the valley of Granada affords it the most beautiful views in all directions. The intricate stone carvings, reflecting pools and geometric gardens with flowering trees and oranges always gives me a sense of being in a world away from the world. To visit the place really one needs a full day. We spent many hours there on that beautiful sunny afternoon and left only because some of us were starting to starve.

We hopped back on the double decker and headed back to the starting point of the tour which took about 45 minutes. B loves these buses. So much so that she and Emmett decided just to stay on the bus and do another tour. I headed off to an internet café to catch up on my email traffic which I cannot get onboard the ship.


We met that evening and had a pleasant dinner on Plaza Bid and headed back to the hotel. Emmett needed to catch up on his Facebook traffic so we went to another café where I used my Skype connection to talk to a number of people. We got back late and slept a short night before heading to Sevilla.

We arrived in Sevilla after a 2 hour drive from Granada. The countryside is beautiful even in these winter months. The road goes through huge valleys where hundreds and thousands of Olive trees are planted from the valley floor up to the tops of the lower mountains. Part of the beauty of Andalucía is its mountains, some of which were snow covered in the distance where there are ski stations at this time of year.

In Sevilla, we parked the car on the way to the center and walked down to the old part of Sevilla. The streets are so narrow here that a car is a hindrance. After a nice walk we arrived at the center and visited the Cathedral. As it Granada, the Cathedral of Sevilla is almost too overpowering. One sees the riches which had been Spain’s in the masses amounts of gold which had been plundered from North and South America. A dark period in Spanish history for most but a glorious one for Spaniards. Again, we found the tour bus and took a long drive around Sevilla. This city does not nearly have the charm of Granada as it is much more an industrial city with a Hodgepodge of architecture from all the various periods of the city. It is also basically flat so there are few breathtaking views. After a light sandwich lunch at the Starbucks in front of the Cathedral (how touristy is that???) we jumped into a taxi to reclaim our car in the parking building near the outskirts of town and hit the road to Cadiz. We made Cadiz by 7pm in time for dinner on the ship; I dropped B and Emm at the port gates and then drove the car off to the appointed parking building where I left it and dropped the papers through a slot in the door of the office.

It just started to rain when I boarded the ship and it was nice to be home. After an early dinner, we headed for our cabins for an early night as we were all tired after a long but fun trip.
Today we ship out to Gibraltar to get fuel and then head to Morocco where we will be for 4 days.
I am posting this chapter and Chapters4 and 5 sitting in the Plaza de Minas in Cadiz where the city has set up the whole square as a free wireless area. It is a beautiful day with the sun shining and the birds chirping in the trees. Spring is in the air as the weather is slowly warming and the locals are out for their Saturday walks with the kids. Although it is about 70 degrees (21), the kids are bundled up in parkas as we would do in the dead of winter. Its what you are used to. We walked around the city and B and Emm decided to head back to the ship for lunch. I have just had some great calamares while watching the scene. We have picked up provisions for munchies and other necessities for the cabin as well as newspapers and magazines.

Pictures of our stay in Spain can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Spain2009?authkey=YmAjkcZyQh8&feat=directlink

We ship out at 8pm this evening but everybody has to be on the ship 2 hours before shipping time Otherwise, one gets dock time which means that one is delayed from disembarking at the next port for 2 to 6 hours depending on how late one is. This is the first port so there will be some who do not realize the length of the lines one has to endure as each bag is searched to make sure the students do not smuggle stuff on board like booze. As there is only one entry, this procedure can be long so I intend to get the ship before that happens.

Cadiz, January 31, 2009.

Travelogue Chapter 5

It is now Thursday January 23, 2009, I am told. Being on a ship in the middle of an ocean, one looses the sense of the days of the week as there aree no points of reference like a newspaper, TV news or some other medium. The only reference one has is a one page news sheet called the Deans Memo which lays out the activities of the day. Otherwise, one day does look like the other and one has difficulty trying to remember what one did on any day. This is why I write this travelogue to fix in my memory the happenings of such a long voyage.

Shipboard life is broken between A and B days and courses are taught on one or the other. As there are not enough classes to accommodate all the courses, professors share the 10 room available. In the first two or three days the student have the possibility to listen in on the courses they chose to see if they want to persue the subjects and profs chosen. If they do not like one or the other they have the option of dropping courses and choosing others. However, the classes are kept small (35 as a rule) and students are not guaranteed if they drop one course that they will get into another. For us the passengers, we have the right to sit in on any course if there is room as the students get priorty. So far I have been able to sit in on the courses which interest me. Of course, as this is my Chinese period I am in on two chinese litterature and history courses as well as one on linguistics. I shall see if I stick with that. Brigitte and Emmett are also out sniffing courses which could interest them.

Emmett is in a strange situation. He is the first young person ever to be admitted into the special group maid up of adults on this programme. There are others his age on the ship but they are dependents of Profs and staff and have limited rights. Emmett, so far, has been accepted by the other adults as he quite at ease with adults. He also sits in the one room class set up for dependents. Here he works on his own studies assigned by his teaches back home in Montreal. He will have to learn to balance his position as he will not be able to attend all adult functions. But he has been given permssion to use the adult lounge on deck 7 where no students are allowed. As long as he does abuse of this he will probably be able to move from the students to the adults while doing his own work and attending classes that interest him.

One of the things I am still dealing with on this ship is the sense of déjà vu and the impression of time stopped. Here I am, 5 years after our first voyage in 2004 and when I look around the kids are the same age as 5 years ago. They even look like the students who were with us 5 years ago. It is almost as if time stopped for 5 years and these kids just stayed the same age, 18 to 20. I struggle not to ask some of them how they managed to stay so young in the last 5 years… I suppose for professors who teach have the same experience each September but for me, it has been 5 years since I was on a ship with 720 students of this age.

Life on board is settling down as people start to get their routines fixed and assignments have to be done. But the level of activity on the ship is actually what makes this kind of traveling fun. There is always something going on but as a Life Long Learner, as we older farts are called can do as we please and do not need to write exams, term paper or even take part in quizzes.

There are some 20 professors on ship teaching some 60 classes so the choice of subjects ranges over litterature, business, sciences, philosoph, sociology and law. Some classes are definetly underattended with only 5 or 10 students while other are up to the limit.. So during the day, at the break of classes, students pour into the passage ways on their way to their next classes or their cabins. There is a fairly well equipped computer lab with about 25 machines available to students. In addition, the ship has been wired for wireless connections in most part of the vessel and many of the students have their own laptops. Like any camputs, students can be found sitting around at all hours of the night studying, writing, listening to music or just chatting.

That’s it for today from the mid Atantic.

Travelogue Chapter 4

January 27 2009

We are now less than 200 miles from the coast of Spain as we approach Cadiz. After steaming for 8 days we will be arriving in Cadiz tomorrow morning around 6 am. The immigration people have to do what they do and we will be allowed to go ashore.

After eight days at sea during which time classes happened each day without a break and we lost an hour a day on six of the eight nights everybody is feeling tired and ready to do some land time. One of the professors described it as “Death by a thousand hours”… For both students and staff, it has been hard as it was the first leg of the trip and people had not yet settled into their normal routine. By now, classes happen smoothly although the courses I attend have regularly had a number of students who do not appear. Roll call happens in most classes so attendance is being monitored. But even those students who show up for classes often spend the hour either sleeping or doing email. As the ship is wired for wireless and many students bring their laptops to class, one can see what anyone of them is doing with their computers when one sits in the back of class as I do.

I have attended several classes to find out which subjects were interesting and which Profs were good. We can audit classes as long as there is space and the professor agrees. This means we can attend the classes but we do not need to sit for exams. I have decided to go with 3 classes, languages of the world, Chinese literature and medieval travelers.

In addition, at 0920 each morning there is a course called Global Studies which everybody is required to attend. It is a very diversified course looking at the countries we are visiting, and a range of subjects of general interest. Only one of my courses is at 0800 which means rising before the sun is up. One course at that hour is enough. Some of the classrooms are very full, while others a not well attended. I went to a class in Chinese poetry and found that there were only 2 students in the class. It really was not a very interesting course and I could see why it had so few classes. I will not being going back to that one.

Yesterday we had a tour of the ship’s bridge. It is a large area stretching all across the ship. It is manned only by the officer of the watch and a lookout while the ship is at sea. Given the high level of technology on ships today, the number of crew needed has dropped dramatically. There is no longer a helmsman as the ship is on automatic pilot, no radio operator as the ships communications are monitored by computer all the time. In fact, we have been on the same course since we left the Bahamas some 4000 miles ago. There is now a system which automatically sends out a signal to all other ships in the area which names the ship and its vital information including final destination. This is similar to what Air Traffic control does for planes but for the ships it is automated. In fact, it is really useful only in heavy traffic areas. Since we left the Bahamas, we have only sighted 3 or 4 ships. It is an indication of the size of the oceans I expect that during the night traffic will increase as we approach Cadiz and the straight of Gibraltar which handles all traffic in and out of the Mediterranean.

For the last 3 days, Global studies have been delivered by a Professor Gies of UVA. He teaches Spanish at UVA and has a deep knowledge and deeper love of Spain. In his lectures, he has convinced the students how great Spain is He has lectured on Spanish cities, paining, food and history. This is the beauty of Semester at Sea that prepares the students for the countries we visit so that they get the most out of the days in port. When we arrive in most ports we stay 4 to 5 days which gives students and adults time to travel within the country and to see many of the sites discussed in the preparatory lectures.

We are off tomorrow in a car I had already rented. Our plan is to leave Cadiz as soon as the ship is cleared by immigration, get the car and head south to Gibraltar. Emmett wants to see the big rock. We will then head north to Granada to over night there. I have not made hotel reservations as I am not sure we will get to Granada and may stop somewhere before. This should not be a problem as January is not high tourist season and hotels should be available.

For Granada, I have booked our tickets for the Alhambra which is wonderful palace built by the Arabs during their 700 year reign of Spain. We will overnight in Granada as the visit to the Alhambra takes several hours to really appreciate it. On Friday, we will head out to Sevilla and depending on how we feel we may overnight there or in Jerez de la Frontera or continue on to Cadiz after seeing Sevilla. .

Weather is expected to be cool with showers which are normal at this time of year. So we will dress warmly or at least make sure we have enough in case it does get cold. This trip we have decided to travel on land only with knapsacks which brought on board rather than with trunks. As most of visits are only for 2 to 3 days, one can live from such a bag. Or at least, that is the theory. More on that when we get back. I do not expect to be writing much while on land as we will use Internet cafes and memory sticks rather than carry around our laptops. I will also be carrying my new telephone system called Magic Jack which will allow me phone wherever I get a high speed internet connection. It is a little contraption the size of a small box of matches which plugs into the computer and allows phoning anywhere in the world. Given the high cost of Internet on the ship
(US$ 0.25) it is not worth using on the ship. Internet cafes are not expensive so we will do our bill paying and other chores like loading up pictures (of which I have few so far) while on land.

So much for now.