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Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 5:08 pm
by Paul Victory
Lovely photos. Merry Christmas to you both.

Paul V

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 6:06 pm
by zootMutant
Very nice pictures! Thanks!!

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 12:25 pm
by jhaveman
We've posted some more South Africa pictures on our Facebook page - you can probably find it from the FS Facebook page.
Currently in Yallingup in Western Australia, our first New Year in the sunshine on the beach :-)
No ergs in sight, but plenty of vineyards with free wine tasting :shock:

Happy New Year from Sheena and Jan.

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 6:21 pm
by CamiCrew
Incredible photos Jan & Sheena. Either your camera has a long lens, or there is glass I can't see or you are very close to those animals!

You both look so relaxed & happy! (Tasmanian sparkling wine factor? :lol: )

I haven't figured out how to see your FB page but eventually I'll get there.

Happy 2017!

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 7:49 am
by Jill
Expertly taken photos Jan and Sheena =D> - a most attractive one of you both that you've put up as your FB picture. :D

What can Barbara mean by " Tasmanian sparkling wine factor " ? :shock: Although ... as our lovely young friend lives in California, I would suggest that it ' takes one to know one '. :lol: :wink:

Barbara is right, you do look impressively close to your subjects ... I especially liked the one of the water buffalo - they are not known for their mild temperament ( highly dangerous dudes :shock: ) so thinking along the same lines as Barbara, perhaps some sort of artistic licence was employed? :fsbgrin: :fswink:

Safe travels. :)

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 9:20 am
by jhaveman
Barbara and Jill - must admit that the FB profile picture was taken six months ago on Vancouver Island. We may look slightly less fit now, but are working on staying relaxed and happy :-) We're currently back in Perth, and on Tuesday we'll be flying to Tasmania to investigate where that sparkling wine came from :shock:

As for the wildlife pictures - these were mostly taken from quite a distance, with us safely inside our (open) vehicle. There was some heavy camera gear involved to get the close up pictures. The only case where we were close to the animals was when we ended up in between two halves of a group of elephants, partly blocking the path between them. We got some good views (and pictures), but at one point there was an almighty roar behind us and a number of elephants had decided that they wanted to cross past us. The ranger told us to keep quiet and not to move inside the vehicle, and the elephants walked past - fortunately they were on Sheena's side of the vehicle, she could have touched them if she'd dared :fsbgrin: I didn't dare take any pictures unfortunately.

Today I've given the erg in our hotel a try, just an easy 30 minutes, but it was pretty hard. Will have an attempt at the CTC in the next couple of days, but I'm not expecting much. Sheena has promised that she'll have a go as well - after wimping out today and having a bath in stead :roll:

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:26 pm
by Jill
Jan, thank you for the updates and explanations, especially the Close Encounters of The Pachydermal Kind. :shock: When you have chance, check out the Elephants of Mfuwe Lodge; once a year, the herd walk through the reception area of the lodge, in order to reach and eat the mangoes that grow in the back garden.
jhaveman wrote: Barbara and Jill - must admit that the FB profile picture was taken six months ago on Vancouver Island. We may look slightly less fit now, but are working on staying relaxed and happy We're currently back in Perth, and on Tuesday we'll be flying to Tasmania to investigate where that sparkling wine came from
Most important to stay relaxed and happy. :)

Enjoy your time in Tasmania and enjoy a glass of sparkle ... or two ... or three ... :D :wink:

Safe travels. :)

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:08 pm
by Draggon
Is it weird to be excited to find (much less snoop around 'til you do) photographic evidence of a Concept 2 Model E w/PM4 on the cruise ship that you'll be on next week? :D

I could find nothing definite in the cruise line's information, but cruisecritic.com had 46 photos of the fitness center in which I was able to spy the single rower in the rows and rows of treadmills/elipticals/lifecycles. Of course, none of the pictures were OF the rower, but I was able to get just enough angles to zoom in and figure out what it was.

So, I should be good to go with my LogCard and my Garmin heart rate monitor!

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:34 pm
by plummy
Which cruise line? Royal Caribbean have them on all the larger ships and P&O had them on my one cruise with them.

I used to obsess about getting to know if the cruise ship had some on board and was gutted when Grandeur of the Seas didn't - so I had to slum it on a treadmill ;-)

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:44 pm
by Draggon
plummy wrote:Which cruise line? Royal Caribbean have them on all the larger ships
Celebrity - Silhouette is the ship we'll be on. Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity Cruises as well.

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:22 am
by CamiCrew
It's not odd to try to find an erg on your vacation. It would be more odd if you were attempting to pack one along. What's a little odd is you didn't tell us where you're going! (That's supposed to be the exciting part... :lol:)

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:11 pm
by Draggon
CamiCrew wrote:What's a little odd is you didn't tell us where you're going! (That's supposed to be the exciting part... :lol:)
Oh, right... Thus the name of this subforum, right? :)

1st stop is San Juan then St Thomas followed by St Martin/Maarten. 4 Days "at sea" which we tend to enjoy as well.

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:25 am
by CamiCrew
Sounds amazing! Be sure to share your favorite pic after! No, not a PM :lol:

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 4:28 pm
by Draggon
CamiCrew wrote:Be sure to share your favorite pic after! No, not a PM :lol:
LOL! Good thing you tossed in the disclaimer! :shock:

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 12:31 pm
by Draggon
CamiCrew wrote:Sounds amazing! Be sure to share your favorite pic after! No, not a PM :lol:
This is probably my favorite picture that I took. It's my view at lunch from the 2nd level of the outdoor restaurant at the Caneel Bay Resort on St John. This resort was BEAUTIFUL and is probably worth investigating as a destination in itself (though it's likely to be out of my pricing comfort zone based on some of the food prices at the main restaurant menu! :mrgreen: )

We did a "St John on Your Own" excursion and hiked roughly 3.5 miles around the island visiting beaches and the resort. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a pretty hilly place!

I can't figure out how to embed the image in the forum (when I try attachment it says the board quota has been exceeded), so here's a link to a single image Google shared album:

https://goo.gl/photos/vG62Kt6xXVyXvZZT8

And by the way, a Corona was added to this tabletop shortly after this photo was taken... 8)

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 3:55 am
by CamiCrew
Ron that's the best. Love the turquoise water. Any chance to go snorkel? That's got to be more fun than hiking in the Caribbean! I miss that heavy air that embraces you in its warmth. And the smell of the flowers. Glad you got some R&R!

ps. Rum has got to be cheaper than Corona?

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:55 pm
by Draggon
CamiCrew wrote:Any chance to go snorkel? That's got to be more fun than hiking in the Caribbean!
Probably the first cruise I've been on that I didn't snorkel or dive, but it was all good. The temps were pretty mild (high 70's/low 80's) and with it being February/early March, I was doing my best not to burn myself by reasonably avoiding the sun.
ps. Rum has got to be cheaper than Corona?
LoL - probably, but I was splurging a bit since we had the "Premium" drink package on board due to a nice offer my wife found when booking. I don't know that I got my money's worth with the package, but it was fun trying and eliminated the "omg, that drink is so expensive" drama! :lol:

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2017 2:40 pm
by Paul Victory
I'm in Dublin Airport waiting for my flight to Faro. Looking forward to 11 days in Alvor. Hopefully my back will ease out a bit and I'll be able to do some rowing among all the wine, prawns and karaoke.

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:26 am
by Grobi
From July 29th to August 6th I'll be on my second cruise ever. It is again operated by Windstar Cruises, but this time it's a sailing yacht rather than a motor yacht, which I'm very excited about :D

The yacht is called "Windstar" and she's a beauty imho (although a certain Mr. David Plumb would say he's been on cruise ships that have larger lifeboats than this one :lol: ):
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Some technical data:

CAPACITY: 148 guests

DECKS: 4 decks

CREW: 101 international staff

LENGTH: 360 feet (110 meters) at waterline; 440 feet (134 meters) including bowsprit

DRAFT: DRAFT: 14 feet (4.1 meters)

TONNAGE: 5,307 gross registered tons (grt)

BEAM: 52.1 feet (15.8 meters)

SAILS: 6 triangular, self-furling, computer-operated sails with 21,500 square feet (or 2,200 square meters) of Dacron surface area

MASTS: 4 at 204 feet (62 meters)

ENGINES: 3 diesel electric generating sets, 1 electrical propulsion motor

SPEED: 10 knots with engines only; up to 15.8 knots with prevailing wind

We leave from Venice and then sail along the croatian coast and return to Venice (where we spend an extra night before heading home):
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Really looking forward to this one!

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:21 am
by plummy
Looks awesome. How many pools/cinemas/ice rinks/restaurants/theatres does it have? ;-)

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:29 pm
by Grobi
plummy wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:21 am How many pools/cinemas/ice rinks/restaurants/theatres does it have? ;-)
I'm afraid the answer is mostly "0" :lol: : 1/0/0/3/0. They do have a gym by the way (not sure about ergs though).

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 6:03 pm
by CamiCrew
Sweet!!!!

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 6:06 pm
by CamiCrew
Does anyone have viewing plans for the eclipse crossing the U.S. Aug 21? I'm scheduled to be at a race the weekend prior in Tennessee, then Georgia, where prospects for weather are only 'fair' but fingers crossed.

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:09 pm
by Wolfmiester
That looks superb Peter, have a great sail!

Re: Tell us about your Holiday plans

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 4:10 pm
by commodoreann
Grobi,

Have a fantastic vacation on your ship. A friend of mine adores Windstar and has always enjoyed voyages under sail.
Let the adventure begin.

Ann :fsbgrin: & Peter