Leaving Vaikom

Wyona and Greg were two floors and a long corridor away from us on this trip.

They had a balcony at the back of the boat.

The perpetual view from there was like the wake from any motor boat, except it was a large wake.

Moiya, David and I had a smaller balcony, one with a restricted view.

This was also very nice and is where I could often be found with my binoculars.

Richard told me that I might have seen more coastline than Christopher Columbus.

I did spend a lot of time with my arms resting on the rail of the balcony.

I didn't want that part of the world to pass by me without taking a long look at it.

... ancient Chinese fishing nets ...

Ancient Chinese fishing nets can still be seen along the coast line.

Now they are a tourist attraction.

The long poles are lowered into the water, and in the past, when they were raised up, they were filled with fish.

In the boat's art class we tried to paint them -- a neat trick, given I have never picked up a water colour brush before.

I brought home that first water colour and have it taped to my wall.

A goofy souvenir, given the casual bystander might not have any idea what they are seeing, more than a couple of pastel washes and some brown brush strokes.

... a ferry comes to take a closer look ...

At any rate, taking a good look at something new is not a past time reserved for tourists.  This is a picture of a local ferry that came out to look at the Celebrity Solstice as it was leaving port.

This is the first time the Solstice has been to India.

People were calling from the ferry to the boat, waving and whistling.

The men who know more about boats who were watching from our ship were worrying, since the thrusters were sending waves in that direction.

... sunset while sailing to China ...

Soon that little boat was out of control, and knocked up against a battleship that was also in the harbour.

People were screaming, grabbing their life jackets, and personnel on the ferry were holding them back from jumping in the water.That was an adventure that no one on our boat had been anticipating.

I was glad when the novelty of getting close to a big boat was over, the trauma of being banged up against a warship was over and our shhip moved into calmer waters.

Arta