Category Archives: 2013 Atlantic Crossing

25 Oct 2013 Star Flyer At sea heading for Las Palmas

Posted on October 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

Our fourth day at sea without any hint of land. We are heading due south for Las Palmas with the four square and 9 of the 16 sakes up. The sea has quieted substantially so we have just a gentle roll. We arrive at Las Palmas around 7 pm tonight and most are planning to test their ability to navigate on land again. We leave for our excursion “Las Palmas & Bandera Crater” tomorrow at 8:30 am. About 21 passengers will disembark and about 15 new passengers will come aboard.

Today’s talks:

0930 Peter on ship’s position, weather, and events on this day in history

1015 Dr. Tyler Nordgren on the Milky Was, light pollution, and dark sky legislation and designation

1500 Dr Viktor Kuzenavos “Botanic gardens & Lake Baikal”

Las Palmas

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Canary Islands, Mid-Atlantic, Star Flyer

23 Oct 2013 Star Flyer At sea, Cadiz to Funchal.

Posted on October 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

Talks today:

0930 Peter Kissner, cruise director. Ship’s position, weather conditions, etc.

1015 Dr. Tyler Nordgren “A power of 10 walk through the night sky”

1500 Dr. Bill Cogar, “The Portuguese and the route east”

I spoke with an interesting person this day. There is on board a Catholic priest with a British accent who is based in Texas. This seemed incongruous so I was bold (or perhaps rude) enough to ask how this combination transpired. It turned out that a number of the more conservative Anglican priests had become Catholic priests recently due to the sex questions in the Anglican church. Those Anglican priests who were married were given celebicy waivers by the pope. This priest and his twin brother, also a priest, worked in the area of marriage encounters, weekends spent helping couples strengthen their marriages through counseling on communication and related techniques.

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Mid-Atlantic, Star Flyer

22 Oct 2013 Star Flyer at sea – Cadiz to Funchal.

Posted on October 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

On board the Star Flyer. We had a very rocky night, on our first night after leaving the European continent. What an introduction to sea travel! A storm was brewing to the north-west of us and we were running along its edge, with deep swells and strong winds. We were rolling around the bed and holding on as best we could as the ship was pitching and rolling through the night. Things not properly secured within the cabin were crashing onto the floor and rolling around, including toilet items on the bathroom sink and a bottle of champagne & bucket which had been provided to us when we first boarded. We survived the night with nothing broken and were even ready for a hardy breakfast the next morning. It should be mentioned that the food for all meals has been delicious and plentiful. Many people, however, were not nearly as enthusiastic about food that morning as we were.

0930 Peter Kissner, cruise director. Ship’s position, weather conditions, etc.

1015 Dr. Bill Cogar. The age of exploration and discovery.

1200 Lunch buffet

1500 Dr. Bob Rowland, “Introduction to marine geology & Alfred Wegener and continental drift”

1845 Peter Kissner, Maritime history, “The first sailing voyages of mankind”

1930 Dinner

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Mid-Atlantic, Spain, Star Flyer

21-Oct Star Flyer in Cadiz, Spain

Posted on October 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

[Edit 12-oct-14]

In the early morning of 21 Oct the Star Flyer tied up in the ancient port of Cadiz, Spain. Cadiz, it is said, is the site of the oldest continuous settlement in Europe, featuring a natural harbor on the Atlantic coast and well positioned for the sea-trade between northern Europe and the Mediterranean and later with the new world. Cadiz is the port from where Columbus departed for his 2nd & 4th voyages of discovery. It also is a perfectly situated for defense and has a fortress wall surrounding its island-like old city at the tip of a peninsula.

[today we are in Cadiz and we are doing a quick catchup using the verizon hotspot which is running at 3G not 4g.]

Since we last posted, we we did an excursion to Ronda, which has a huge gulch dividing the city and a famous bull ring, and to Granada for a tour of the fabulous Alhambra. Photos to come. These tours (one day each) were out of Malaga.

we then boarded the Star Flyer, a very nice 4-masted tall ship with 180 passengers and 80 crew. About 30 pf the passengers are on a cruise and will leave when we get to the Canary Islands. The rest of us will continue on the trans-Atlantic crossing to Barbados with a full solar eclipse in mid-Atlantic. The trans-Atlantic crossing was set up by Betchart Travel for the Planetary Society (Bill Nye, the science guy, an officer), American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi (science honor society), American Chemical Society, and Cal Alumni Travel. it is an interesting collection of people. We have encountered several chemists so it is like old home week for me.

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Spain

20 Oct 2013 Star Flyer Excursion to Tetuan

Posted on October 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Jessie, The Star Flyer, in Tangier Morocco

John, after our excursion to Tetouan Morocco

An excursion from the ship in Tangier to Tetuan, a small northern Morocco town. An hour’s drive through the Rif Chains Mountains brought us to this town. We then followed our guide through the narrow streets first to see the Royal Palace, then plunged into the casbah markets lining the narrow alleys winding behind the old fortress walls where merchants were selling used clothing, uncured sheep skins, pots and pans, some food, and who knows what else. The guide set a good pace and we made sure to keep close to him because we knew if he disappeared, we would never find our way out of this labyrinth of dark alleyways. Finally, we were ushered into a tile-lined tea room with elaborately sculptured arches and tall ceilings for mint tea and cookies and an amazing musical and dance display, including a belly dancer & a guy balancing a tray of lighted oil lamps on his head while making acrobatic moves. After we walked out of the casbah walls and a short distance further to an art school with a central courtyard in which students are trained in the traditional Muslim arts and crafts. We saw some beautiful examples of the elaborate geometric & decorative art, but because it was a holiday, the school was closed for the day.

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Mediterranean, Morocco, Star Flyer

19 Oct Malaga Spain, excursion to Granada, board the Star Flyer

Posted on October 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

On Saturday 19-Oct we went on an excursion to the Alhambra in Granada. When we returned we boarded the Star Flyer where we will be living for the next three weeks.

The Alhambra, a Moorish citadel and palace, is a beautiful example of Islamic art & architecture. The interior decorations are elaborate & intricate, with almost lace-like stone carved archways & fountains. It also had extensive, beautifully groomed gardens. It was awesome!

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Mediterranean, Spain, Star Flyer

17 Oct – 18 Oct Malaga Spain, excursion to Ronda

Posted on October 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

On 17 Oct we flew from Paris to Malaga, Spain. We have tours booked through our “cruise” arrangements tomorrow and Saturday and we board the ship Saturday so we seized the moment today and did a mini-tour of Malaga. Since we missed out on Picasso in Paris, we visited the Picasso Museum (he was born here) and we visited Teatro Romano (an impressive display on Roman theaters and related topics) and the Alcazaba de Malaga (a Muslim or Moor palace-fortress dating from the eleventh century).

On the 18th we took the optional excursion to Ronda, a unique location on top of cliffs with a deep ravine running through the middle of the town.

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Posted in 2013 Atlantic Crossing

Tagged Mediterranean, Spain

12 Oct – 16 Oct Eurostar to Paris

Posted on October 17, 2013 | 1 comment

On Sunday Oct 13 we took the Eurostar train (via Chunnel) to Paris after visiting with Katy and Angelica (and a very wet cat) in London.

In Paris we stayed at the Hotel de Nice (very nice) in the 4th arrondismond. (Marais) We shopped at local department store, went to La Tour Eiffel (so crowded – it took hours to get in) on Monday. Tuesday was a return to the department store and a wonderful visit to Musee du quay Branly, a new (2006) innovative museum with a great garden (fabulous weather). Wednesday was an attempt at the Picasso Museum (it is closed) and a nice visit to the Pompidou. Thursday we left very early (yawn) to travel to Malaga, Spain by EasyJet (yet another story). Paris photos to come.