Mauritius was an unexpected stop on this journey. Before arriving here, we’ve never heard of this country. When leaving them, we were deeply moved by the beauty of their beaches. The sun seems to have two dials on that day. On the beach, it’s soft and bright. In the city, it was relentless and piercing.

And we were double-surprised to find Taiwan’s flags were flying proudly there, and Mauritius is almost the antipodes of where we live. The world is really connected in magical ways.

Perth is a big metro. It’s becoming a little bit like Downtown LA, where social and unsocial lifestyles coexist. We didn’t spend much time there as their shops are like in any other big name shopping malls around the world.

Fremantle is an artist colony right at the Cruise port. The petite city packs a huge amount of charm. The lifestyle here also embraces a good amount of “Op stores”, the previous-loved stores. We had a marvelous time strolling around streets and alleys. We love it here!

We spent most of the time in downtown Melbourne. Therefore, we have strong affinity to the city, scenery, foods, museums, the local people, and their bustling lives.

Their Chinatown gives a nostalgia vibe with vintage posters and brand logos. We think it’s cool to feel transported back to various decades in an instance.

Bet everyone is wondering where is Mindelo… We don’t know either until this trip…. It’s the second biggest city of the country of Cape Verde…. Bet everyone is also wondering what country is cape Verde… Haha…. We do not even know this country existed until this trip… It is a country west of Africa compiled of clusters of islands …(amazing..  after almost 10 days of sailing we are still in the continent of Africa region …)

Most famous person from this unknown country is Cesaria Evora ( been listening to her music for ages but never knew where she’s from until now)… I am glad to have the opportunity to find out where the hauntingly beautiful voice  of Cesaria Evora (they call her the bare foot diva) originated from..

A small seaside village town..

Stray cats and dogs every where, we were so happy to see a dog as soon as we disembark since we have not seen one for a while… Later we found out they are everywhere…

It is Sunday…. Most store are  closed except the African market

Also stumbled into a courtyard where they store props for their carnival which we heard is huge and a very important annual event: per wiki “Mindelo is known for its colourful and animated carnival celebrations, with roots in Portuguese traditions later influenced by the Brazilian culture.*

By strange coincidence, we arrived at the country of Cape Verde which in English means green cap on Saint Patrick’s day!!! How cool is that!! Got to remember to toast to that during Happy hour!!!

Today 3/18/24 is Saint Patrick’s day!!

Here is our wonderful cruise director Andi and his side kick Rafa on today’s The Wake show (it is a daily show where they tell people about today’s schedules and events and read out passengers shout outs to their favorite crew member or suggestions) These two had great chemistry and humor and always makes us laugh, great way to start the morning ….. Today, they happened to read the slip that R left, a shout out to Andi for the spectacular job he did (saying he is truly the best cruise director we have ever had.. And his high EQ response is he owe that to his amazing team) .   Andi is super funny, quick and smart and always said he had the best job in the world by being an idiot 😆

Other Saint Patrick’s day scenery on the ship.. Really admire people who planned so far ahead and remember to pack something green for the world cruise in anticipation of St Patty’s day..

7 sea days flies by so quickly this time… We were fully rested and recharged and ready for land tomorrow …. More and more I love this old fashion style of traveling by sea, so lyrical and so “down to earth” like combing each physical inches and circumnavigate it passed 5 continents and 5 seas.

Many passengers we knew love it so much they already booked next year’s world cruise…. Seated next to a lady from Toronto last night at the theater and she told me this is her 8th world cruise and she also already booked the next….. Is there a race to break the Guinness world record for world cruises that we are not aware of?

The boys from Liverpool Ukebox were back for another performance, and incredibly it’s even better than the first one and really wows the audience…. They are like Beatles with ukelele 🤔

New Zealand has a quiet charm that unassumingly makes you feel at home. Their water land visual melodies bring people closer to the nature. Their people are the kind and wonderful friends that we love to have. We love New Zealand!

Fiji has very charming south pacific scenery, slowly chipped away by industrialization. The clouds, the sunsets, the rivers, the waterfalls, and the trees there are all so natural and beautiful. However, it’s HOT, very hot! 😥 But we got lucky, we arrived there sunny after frequent rains there, so it’s not too bad…

Many fellow geek passengers who knew our last name already alerted us about Pi day couple of days ago !!

Remember doldrums (windless waves) when we crossed the equator on day 16? They are back now as we are close to the equator again…

Pink clouds at dawn are always so enticing….its like the sky put on blushes and make up at dawn and went from black and white to technicolor, ready for a brand new day 😎