Thanks Ngaire and Ken, for the delightful seamail and photos. It has been fun to read of your journey. Everyone have a safe trip home.

OMG Ken, what is THAT, a dinosaur? I would run for the hills if I saw a crawling creature that big. Safe trip home.
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Helen

No kidding! We see them frequently in Grand Cayman, but never one that big! Fortunately!

Safe travels home, everyone!

Salaverry, Peru a few photos from our colonial houses tour:
















A water filtration system. The top bowl is made of lava rock to filter the water into the bottom bowl.

Those paintings were so colorful and in a side room that the guide did not take us into. I thought they were really quite stunning. Glad Ken's shots turned out well enough for everyone to see.

Today on arrival in Lima we were on FLAT seas but with heavy fog. We could not go into port. Lots of worry about those guests who were leaving go to Machu Picchu. They were delayed about two hours at least. Several flights available so I am sure Regent managed to get things sorted out and that they are now in Cusco with Machu Picchu to look forward to in the morning.

Well it is ALMOST over. I am wrapping up packing and about to break down the computers. Ken and I are going to dinner at 6.30 pm and just eat quickly maybe one course. Then leave the ship about 8.00 pm. Be nice to get on that plane and not worry about eating and just crash and hopefully sleep all the way home. The weather has been iffy in Dallas over the last few days but tomorrow we should have not problems landing. Maybe a good thing we go via Miami it will help the temperatures rise in Dallas.

What a great cruise this has been. Captain Felice, well he is just a super person we so enjoy his personality he adds so much to the cruise. Davor is such a fantastic GM so wonderful with everyone and very responsive to any requests. Stan who is in charge of Prime 7 and Vladimar as Restaurant Manager, both outstanding. Couple this with great crew like Fransisco and Seth head waiters and, Kirty (the R rolling sweetheart) Archer, Adorable and SO SO many others too many mention it has been fantastic trip. Just feels like the overall best senior and crew ever.

The group was wonderful too we ended up with a super dinner last night and laughed our way through the meal. I think we stayed an hour after the dinner was over. It was great, Dover Sole and Beef Wellington. I was a happy camper.

Next stop the VOYAGER on March 6, for Hong Kong to Beijing. Going to see so many other wonderful people and understand Franck will be the GM. That is a great start.

Signing off of Sea Mail until PAGODA.

Loved all the seamail and Ken's pix, except for the iguanas! Never want to see those in person - yuk!

Thanks, as always!

Safe travels to all!

Great seamail! It is supposed to warm up a little next week, so hopefully Dallas won't be quite the frozen tundra that tulsa has been this past week. George was in Dallas today, and drove through snow!

Great seamail, as always Ngaire, and Ken's pictures are always wonderful. So excited to hear Kirty is onboard, she is just the cutest sweetest person. Will Capt Felice still be onboard for PAGODA?

Didn't see any names from the drawing, or did I just miss it somewhere? We have been moving the last two weeks from Northern VA to Williamsburg and my head has been in the clouds and spinning like crazy. Still sorting thru boxes and Frank said yesterday, "when are we going to start thinking about packing for PAGODA?" I had to stop for a minute and realize its only three weeks till we leave. LOL, hopefully we will start doing that soon.

See you soon. safe travels home.

Wait, wait -- we're still here on Sandals Continued. Most of our friends have either left for home or are up in the clouds in Machu Pichu. We have the ship all to ourselves before the new people board for the next segment. We skipped the offered tours in Lima today since we've been here several times before. We did do an interesting tour yesterday called Ancient Oracles of Lima. Unbelievably there are pre-Incan ruins in several places right in the middle of the city. They were well maintained and had small, interesting museums. We also had a good guide which helps. Since Lima is the new "foodie" capital of the world, we may venture out to one of the wonderful restaurants here for dinner. Then it's on to the Chilean Fjords.

Peggy, enjoy your continued voyage!
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Helen

JoAnn, we'll be on the Voyager, not the Mariner

Peggy, continue posting! We want to hear all about sandals continued.

Oh......duh!!! Thanks for the heads up Olivia. My head is so messed up right now, I don't know where I am, much less where I am going. LOL

Sailing this morning towards Mantarani, our fourth stop in Peru. We have a short 2 1/2 hour tour (my favorite kind) and then we're off to Iquique, our first stop in Chile. Iquique was on Amazing Race last season--it's in the Atacama desert. We haven't been there before, so we're looking forward to it. We're having beautiful weather--sunny and mid-70 degrees. Of course, Jerry is complaining that it's cold. We finally had trivia yesterday after a three day hiatus. I had to find a whole new team since most of my pals left the ship in Lima. We did OK, but didn't win. They're using all new trivia questions now, so I don't have the advantage of remembering the answer from some previous cruise .

JoAnne, oh, if I were in the middle of moving, I'd be tons worse! I just did make my pre-cruise hotel reservations for PAGODA, with only about 19 days to go! Getting a new grandchild (another girl) on February 14, and can't wait!

Congratulations Olivia, how exciting and how nice that she will arrive before you leave.

See you in March, lets plan dinner for one night. We have Jack, Laura, Jim and Jill along with us, and I know they would enjoy having you join us as well.

Re: Iguanas. Patricia is known as "The Iguana Lady" in Aruba. She feeds the iguanas twice daily, if not more. We buy lettuce from the local super mercardo at least 6 at a time. Store clerk: "Why so much lettuce.
Me: "For Iguanas"
Store clerk: " Ah! Iguanas ..good!".
Me: "We don't eat them, just feed them!"

Olivia, congrats on the new grandbaby!

Ditto that new babies are always such a miracle!

Congratulations, Olivia....Lucky you! Love those new grand babies!

Thank you all. She will be delivered in Annapolis later this am. I'm telling you all, this is one weird storm, (snow, rain, sleet, then more snow, and now sounds like it is sleeting again. Schools are already closed. all I care about is that they get to the hospital. Have insisted they take my 4wd. to get there. I sure needed it late Thursday getting to my son's house.

Now to get back on topic, Peggy, we haven't heard from you in a couple of days.
pray tell, where are you?

I bet you can't wait to see the little princess - what a sweet treat on Valentine's Day!

Hope all goes well getting to the hospital and in the delivery room!



We have a friend born on Valentine's Day - many moons away. Her younger sister, Patricia, was born on St. Patrick's Day

Congratulations Olivia!! What a day to have a new little grand-daughter!! Enjoy every minute.

Looking forward to seeing you on Pagoda.

Olivia, congratulations on the new baby girl! We're currently sailing down the coast of Chile. Yesterday was a sea day (with the resulting slow internet) and today we will dock in Coquimbo, Chile at 1 pm.
We've had quite a few ports where we dock in the afternoon -- perfect for a non-morning person like me. We'll celebrate Valentine's Day in Prime 7 tonight. Everything is wonderful, as usual.

Congratulations !! So happy for you and can't wait to see pictures of baby Amy.

Congratulations Olivia! Can't wait to see pictures.

Time to move this baby to Off-topic!

And resume more post Sandals email from Peggy, they have so many nice ports I've not been to.

We had a wonderful stay in Coquimbo where we visited the small resort town of La Serena--a cute place with beautiful views and a great beach. The other night we ran into our good friend Florian who came on the ship to do a quick inspection of the food and beverage department for the corporate office. We had a great dinner with him and got caught up on all the news. He's super excited about the new ship which he says will be the most luxurious ship on the sea. Florian left in Valparaiso to fly to Singapore to do the same inspection on the Voyager. We stayed on the ship while we were in port in Valparaiso since we've been to that city and Santiago several times. I enjoy staying on the ship while everyone is off touring. Today we're at sea and the weather is turning markedly colder--we think it's time for them to turn off the A/C on the ship. We had another lifeboat drill this morning and saw yet another visitor to the ship-- Captain John McNeil. Now we'll have to find out why he's here -- I'll report later. Next port is Puerto Montt and the beautiful Petrohue Falls then on to the fjord and glacier areas. We have our cold weather gear ready.

Hi Peggy I am glad you and Jerry are having such a great time….keep the sea mail coming, I love hearing about all of these ports. So nice you got to have dinner with Florian, I remember him well. We loved Captain McNeil too please let us know if you hear any information about him as we would love to sail with him again.

Great to hear from you Peggy. I will be sad when everyone gets off in Buenos Aires. But then we have pre Pagoda and Pagoda to look forward to. I LOVE SEA MAIL.

Hi Peggy - Am sure enjoying your sea mail. You are going to so many ports I have yet to see. Someday. Nice that Capt McNeil has boarded. My regards to him, if you have the chance. Stay warm. And of course, hello to Jerry.

Great to hear from you Peggy, sounds like you are having a nice leisurley cruise along the coast of SA and enjoying the sights. We are starting to pack for PAGODA and make sure we have everything or at least know where it is. Some things are still in boxes and such, so thought we should get a head start. Looking forward to getting away for a month and just having fun. Sure are sad that you and Jerry won't be with us.

I heard that John Mc Neil is taking his turn, like Felice did, visiting all the Regent & Oceania ships evaluating the safety procedures. All the captains are supposed to do that at some point.

We're currently cruising in a gorgeous fjord headed to the Tempanos Glacier. The Gold, Platinum, Titanium party will be this afternoon on the foredeck for a great view of the glacier. We're seeing lots of bird and other wildlife including a pod of whales, but no signs of humans lving in this area. By the way, Jim is essentialy correct why John McNeil is onboard. We don't see much of him, so I guess he's staying busy.

I love that area it is so majestic and pristine. WISH I WAS THERE!!

Ngaire, we wish you were here too. I wish I could post some pictures of this remarkable area, but alas.... Another beautiful glacier this morning and now we're entering the Beagle Channel. Tonight we'll enter the Straits of Magellan and reach Puerto Arenas tomorrow. The weather is decent but cool and cloudy -- could be worse.

Ngaire, we wish you were here too. I wish I could post some pictures of this remarkable area, but alas.... Another beautiful glacier this morning and now we're entering the Beagle Channel. Tonight we'll enter the Straits of Magellan and reach Puerto Arenas tomorrow. The weather is decent but cool and cloudy -- could be worse.

I love that area, too! Bet Jerry is COLD!

glaciers!

Unfortunately, the weather did get worse so we weren't able to dock or anchor in Punta Arenas (it really is Punta Arenas, sometimes I get my Puertos and Puntas mixed up ;-)) It's cloudy outside, but the big problem is the 60+ mph winds. It's kind of funny, the ship has a permanent list to the port side, so walking from port to starboard is kind of like walking up hill. Despite the wind, it's not really rocking or rolling, so everyone is happy. The Mariner is so stable, sometimes it's hard to tell you're on a ship. You can tell today, but it's amazingly smooth given the winds. We're sailing around in some fjords, trying to stay in the most protected areas -- wouldn't want to be out there in the Drake passage today!