Welcome to There and Back Again! It's been a while since I first blogged about my time at sea but given the significance of this particular voyage I thought it important to make a record both to share with loved ones but also to archive my own experiences.
Cunards RMS Queen Mary 2 is a beautiful ship, manned by an amazing crew who I am fortunate to work alongside. She is one of a kind, with unique challenges!
Join me on an incredible journey by ship as I explore diverse countries, cultures, and landscapes. This blog is dedicated to sharing my experiences and captivating photos from around the globe, one port at a time.
The voyage from Fuerte Amador to Manzanillo, Mexico is approximately 1500 nautical miles or just over 1700 of our normal miles. This is approximate due to the chosen route, sea state and weather. The latter two being good at the moment. There's a barely detectable bit of movement on board and the weather is a warm 25 degrees (ish) at 1030 in the morning with light clouds. I'm told we're sailing at around 22 knots which is around 25 miles an hour, so a fairly good pace!
As you know I'm currently travelling as a guest so have been enjoying the other side of life on board Queen Mary 2. And so far,.it's been a real eye opener experiencing what the ship is like when you're not working. I've met some lovely guests from various parts of the world. It's been lovely spending time with Em whilst she works towards the end of her contract. I know first hand how it can be as you approach the end of a tough contract!!!
After an afternoon of mooching around the Pacific Ocean having left the Pacific Ocean entrance to the Panama Canal we returned through the entrance to moor at Fuerte Amador. By around 9pm, the air bridges were attached to the ship and we were free to head ashore
As with all our maiden calls there is a plaque exchange between the port and the ship. The plaque will take pride of place amongst the many many others from around the world on display around the ship.
Having sailed the Norwegian fjord’s and the archipelagos of the Dalmatian coast, the voyage though the Panama Canal is In a league of it’s own and I’ll happily admit that whilst I was a little sad to leave my little cottage and then the drug addled days that followed, I’m happy to say that sitting here sailing across Gatun Lake was worth it all.
Ok so full disclosure, yes I can say I've been to Colombia but neither I or the other 3000 guests or 1200 crew set foot on the shores of Cartagena. Today was a technical stop which saw the Mary stop at an anchorage just off the coast at around 10am local time. Some three hours later, the anchor was stowed and we were back underway.
I'll pop an update about the spine at the foot of this update, I'm bored of it so am moving on to the whole point of this blog!
If yesterday was a 10/10 on the man pain scale, then today is an 8/10. Getting out of bed was marginally better and only involved holding onto the walls and shuffling. No crawling today. Transpires that I'd forgotten that I should still be taking Naproxen along with the diazepam and paracetamol, so lesson learnt. I've swapped out the paracetamol for co-codomol for good measure! In short, I'm rattling and feeling marginally better for it.
The morning of boarding QM2 was painful, nothing to do with the hotel. The Lodge in Red Hook was perfectly nice. A friendly hotel with lovely rooms and large beds. Breakfast was average, coffee was hot and the service bumped the experience up a notch.
Travel can always be a bit challenging and probably the most important day on this voyage was getting 'there'. 'There' being Brooklyn, New York. If I don't get 'there' then I'm in a spot of bother!
Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Queen Mary 2 will be my mode of transport as I circumnavigate the globe!
Like all good stories, we start at the beginning! In this instance it's sitting on my sofa trying not to think about how I'm going to carry my luggage tomorrow! Out of the blue with no explanation whatsoever I've managed to do something to my back which has left me largely incapacitated for the last few days!
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