Tag Archives: Silversea

7 February 2016
Roseau, Dominica

February 7, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We’re docked at Roseau, the not-all-that-handsome capital of the island nation of Dominica. (Not to be confused, although it often is, with the Dominican Republic, the comparatively huge country that occupies about half of the island called Hispaniola near Jamaica and Cuba.)

Dominica sits midway along the Eastern Caribbean archipelago, just a few miles from the French islands of Martinique to the south and Guadeloupe to the north.

It holds a relatively small population of about 72,000 people spread over about 290 square miles or 750 square kilometers.

It’s a volcanic island, very green, with tropical forest covering two-thirds of the land. There are relatively few beaches, and they are not blessed with acres of pillowy white sand.

There’s a lot of rain, which means many waterfalls, rivers, and lakes.

And to their credit, the people of the Commonwealth of Dominica have decided that much of their future lies in eco-tourism. There are a lot of parallels to Costa Rica, and that is a meritorious comparison.

We’re going to be returning to Dominica on 14 February, and I’ll have some comments about the music of the island in the blog I will post that day.

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Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

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Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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6 February 2016
Gustavia, Saint Barts: Swedish France, encore une fois

February 6, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We’re back in Saint Barts, encore une fois, one more time. (And we’ll be here again in a week.)

Not complaining, mind you: the island is tres charmant (very charming) although the shops and bistrots are tres cher (quite expensive).

Saint Barts lies immediately southeast of Saint Martin and Anguilla, northeast of Saba and St Eustatius, and north of St Kitts.

The island is quite small, only 8 square miles or 21 square kilometers, with 8,500 inhabitants.

More than half of full-time residents are white, some of them distant relatives of the French colonizers and others more recent arrivals from France. Less than half are of African descent or mixed blood. The Swedish influence, which came after the original French settlement, all but disappeared after the French returned in 1878.

Until 2007, Saint Barths was a French commune and part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas région and overseas département of France.

Islanders voted to break their ties with Guadeloupe and form a separate overseas collectivity or COM that took effect in both Saint Barts and nearby Saint Martin.

Saint Barts is thus part of France but not fully ruled by the mother country.

It is, though, included in the European Union, and the official currency is the Euro.

In my post for our next visit, on February 13, I’ll explore some of the extreme examples of the expenditure of Euros and Dollars on the island.

We’re visiting Saint Bart’s three times this season, first on February 3 and again on February 13. I’ll be posting more commentary and photos about Tortola on those days, and you can check back for more details.

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SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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5 February 2016
San Juan, Puerto Rico: Heading South

February 5, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard to guests joining us here in Puerto Rico. And arrivederci to those heading home.

We head out of bustling San Juan tonight for a week-long loop down to Barbados and back, down the length of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies.

The Leeward Islands (pronounced LEW-word by most mariners, and LEE-word by landlubbers) are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. The group starts east of Puerto Rico and reach south to Dominica, and also mark the arbitrary line where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean.

Below Dominica, the Lesser Antilles continue into the Windward Islands. We will dip below Dominica to call at two of these islands, St. Lucia and Antigua, before returning to San Juan.

In the West Indies, the prevailing winds–known as the trade winds–blow from the northeast to the southwest. The windward islands were those closer to the direction of the winds.

Our ship, the appropriately named Silver Wind, sets out first for Gustavia on the French island of Saint Bart’s and after then to Roseau in Dominica (not to be confused with the much-larger Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola.)

After then to former British colonies of St. Lucia, Antigua, and Tortola.

I’ll be posting from each of our ports of call. Here’s our plan:

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4 February 2016
Gustavia, Saint Barts: France and Sweden in a Small Place

February 4, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Saint Barts is tres, tres French…in a Swedish kind of way.

That’s right: Swedish. That’s why the capital town and port is called Gustavia, as in King Gustav III of Sweden.

Its European history began, as much of this region did, with Christopher Columbus, sailing for the Spanish. On his second voyage to what he called the West Indies, Columbus sailed past—not landing—at an island he named Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles.

The Spanish did not linger; they concentrated much more on places that might hold silver or gold or other treasure they could expropriate relatively easily.

The Carib Indians were still in control on the island, and were still there in 1648 when the French were on the prowl in the Caribbean and staked a claim.

They Gallicized the Spanish name to Saint Barthélemy.

It was not, though, one of the most important French possessions. They focused instead on other more significant holdings: New France which stretched from Quebec all the way down to New Orleans on the American mainland from roughly 1534 to 1763 and in the Caribbean their more profitable possessions of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The French also had other islands: Saint Kitts for a while, Saint Martin, and a few others.

In 1784, as France tottered toward Revolution, the French crown gave Saint Barts to Sweden in exchange for the right to engage in trade with the developing port of Gothenburg in the Baltic.

The Swedes wanted a foothold in the Americas as a place to sell iron ore and products. That brought Swedish governors and Swedish merchants and Swedish slave traders to the Caribbean.

Some of the products sold by the Swedes included the hardware of slavery: chains and anklets and weapons.

The Swedes sold the place back to the French in 1878, and the place began an inexorable march toward a party place in the Caribbean, a role it very successfully holds onto today.

Although Saint Bart’s still has significant elements of African culture, mostly in the remote villages away from Gustavia, it is now very French and a place where a party may break out at almost any moment. There’s not much left of the Swedish presence, although most street signs are marked in French and Swedish.

To our guests leaving us tomorrow in San Juan, we wish arrivederci: until we see you again.

We’re going to be visiting Saint Bart’s three times this season, coming back again on February 6 and again on February 13. I’ll be posting more commentary and photos about Tortola on those days, and you can check back for more details.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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3 February 2016
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten: Both Sides Now

February 3, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

One island, two nations: we’re visiting the Dutch capital of Philipsburg (where they officially call the island Sint-Maarten.) There are no border guards a few miles away where the French side of Saint-Martin begins.

There are also four dominant cultural heritages: African, French, British, and Dutch. And a whole lot of Americans, Canadians, and Europeans who come to the island aboard jumbo cruise ships and jumbo jets.

Unlike Hispaniola, where the Dominican Republic and third-world Haiti are at nearly opposite ends of the economic spectrum, on Sint-Maarten/Saint-Martin both sides are relatively prosperous because of thriving tourism.

The dock at Philipsburg can accommodate at least six very large cruise ships including the most mega of the megaships. The entire population of the islands–both sides now–is about 75,000 and in the heart of the tourist season there could be 30,000 guests and 12,000 or so crew heading ashore for the day.

The harbormaster has to manage the arrival and departure times of the ships like an air traffic controller.

(There’s also a port on the French side, at Marigot, but ships must lie at anchor and send guests in by tender boat, and the seas can be quite unpredictable. The island is small enough at about 34 square miles to allow visits to both sides quite easily, and so most cruise ships opt for the convenience of tying up to the dock in Philipsburg.)

Though he claimed it as Spanish territory, Columbus did not land on the island and the Spanish did not consider it a high priority for settlement.

On the other hand, both the French and the Dutch wanted the island.

The French saw it as a stepping stone in the Caribbean, part of their goal to colonize the islands between Trinidad and Bermuda.

The Dutch took a broader view, seeing Sint Maarten as a halfway point between their colonies in New Amsterdam (you may know the place today as New York City) and Brazil.

In a rare instance of diplomacy, the French and the Dutch signed the Treaty of Concordia in 1648 and divided the island into two sections. That’s not to say there weren’t occasional conflicts between the two sides, plus a bit of interference by the Spanish.

But in modern times the island has held on to its Dutch-French mix. There are, though, some real differences between the Dutch and French side.

The shops and the restaurants on one side or the other are not the same. The Dutch side is bustling, with large resorts and chain stores. The French side is more laid-back, with exclusive shops and pricey bistros.

Philipsburg can be a bit of a madhouse when cruise megaships are in town. Marigot much less so.

There are beaches and resorts all around, and each has its own character; the Dutch side has a few casinos, if that’s where you want to spend your Guilders or Dollars or Euros.

Our goal each time we come to the island is to try and find a place where we can still glimpse some hints of what remains of the local culture.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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2 February 2016
Road Town, Tortola BVI: A Small Place with Big Plans

February 2, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, which sounds very impressive.

Except that none of the islands are very large or have all that many people. Tis a pity, though, since they are very nice places.

Tortola is the largest of the British Virgin Islands, about 60 islands and rocks about 100 kilometers or 60 miles east of Puerto Rico. About 15 of the islands are inhabited.

Mountainous Tortola, formed by volcanic activity, is about 20 kilometers or 12 miles long, and 5 kilometers or 3 miles wide. Minor earthquakes are common.

The islands—in total—have a population of about 28,000. Of that number, about 23,000 live on Tortola, many near the capital city of Road Town, which is where we arrived on Silver Wind.

The port has undergone rapid growth in the past few years, with the installation of a large new dock, capable of handling some of the biggest ships afloat. In fact, some cruise lines have begun moving away from nearby Saint Martin in favor of Tortola. It’s a matter–in terms of crowds–of a temporary respite, I expect.

Silver Wind at anchor off Road Town

A pair of monster ships at the new pier

The other significant islands are Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost van Dyke. And then there are the lesser islands include Norman, Peter, Salt, Cooper, and Beef; some historians (and tourist bureaus) maintain that pirates like Blackbeard, Bluebeard, and Sir Francis Drake visited one or another of them.

Some would have you believe there is buried treasure here, too. For a small fee, they might even sell you a map.

More than thirty years ago, my wife and I visited the outlying islands. On Salt Island we found a tiny settlement, mostly made up of one extended family.

They had no interest in or need of our money or trinkets. But they deeply desired to have some of the glossy color magazines we had with us, with pictures of places that must have seemed like the moon to them. We gladly gave them the magazines; I sometimes wonder what dreams and wants we may have introduced, for better or worse.

We’re going to be visiting Tortola three times this season, coming back again on February 11 and again on February 18. I’ll be posting more commentary and photos about Tortola on those days, and you can check back for more details.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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31 January 2016
Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

January 31, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The Turks & Caicos, one of the relatively untouched corners of the Caribbean: eight main islands and more than 229 smaller ones—some barely large enough to pitch a beach umbrella.

The two groups—the Turks and the Caicos—sit just north of Hispaniola (home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and east of Cuba.

The population of about 31,500 live on eight main islands: in the Turks, the Caicos, and the mostly privately held outlying or boutique Islands.

The primary natural resources are in the water: spiny lobster, conch, and other shellfish. Not much grows on the land, except for tourist attractions.

It has a bit of history as a refuge for pirates and friends including Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read.

And later as refuge for astronauts–the waters offshore were used as the landing zone for many of the early American space launches.

Now, let’s pause for a moment and consider this pressing question: What in the world does a Caribbean island have to do with Turkey?

Not much, actually, except for one thing: amongst the relatively sparse vegetation in the islands is the slightly suggestive Melocactus intortus cactus.

It has a distinctive red cap, which at least to one long-forgotten visitor suggested a Turkish fez. Hence the name “Turks.”

Grand Turk has prospered in the last decade since a cruise dock was installed and mostly paid for by the mega-monster Carnival Corporation; that company also deigns to rent docking space to some other lines from time to time.

At the end of the quay is an air-conditioned shopping mall with all the usual suspects: liquor, jewelry, perfume, and t-shirts.

There is a large lagoon-like swimming pool; you can rent a private poolside cabana with waiter service. And the largest Margaritaville restaurant and bar in the Caribbean, part of the amazing global empire built around the American singer Jimmy Buffett.

There is, though, one very nice attraction right at the dock.

Go through the air-conditioned mall, enter into the shopping center, and head left or right to reach Governor’s Beach. It is one of the most convenient beaches at any cruise dock in the Caribbean…and it offers a fine view…of our ship.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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25 January 2016
George Town, Grand Cayman: You Can Bank on It

January 25, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We put down our anchor offshore of George Town, capital and largest city of the modestly named Grand Cayman Island, the largest of the three Cayman Islands.

The island is about 22 miles or 35 kilometers long, with its widest point 8 miles or 13 kilometers.

Of the three populated islands in the chain Grand Cayman represents more than three-quarters of the territory’s land mass and nearly all of its 56,000 people.

About 75 miles or 121 kilometers to the northeast is Little Cayman, and a bit further in that direction is Cayman Brac; between the two “sister islands” are about 2,000 residents.

The Cayman Islands are the peaks of a massive underwater ridge, known as the Cayman Ridge, which flanks the Cayman Trough, 6,000 meters or 20,000 feet deep, which lies 6 kilometers or 4 miles to the south.

All three islands were formed by large coral heads covering submerged ice age peaks.

The first European spotting of the islands was by that most obvious of suspects: Christopher Columbus, in 1503.

By 1530, all three of the islands were called the Caimanas, derived from the Carib word for the marine crocodile that once was common.

The Cayman Islands today are a British Overseas Territory, somewhere between a colony and an independent nation. They are on a U.N. list of the last non-self-governing territories.

We arrived on National Heroes Day, a very British celebration of local dignitaries, presided over by Queen Elizabeth II’s representative, the appointed governor of the island territory.

National Heroes Day on Grand Cayman.

A glimpse of old Cayman, in the shadow of one of the office towers holding lawyers, accountants, bankers, and the paperwork for 100,000 or so companies from around the world.

In terms of numbers of jobs, the economy is based around tourism.

But there is also a somewhat hidden economy which you can glimpse in the skyline and some of the nameplates on buildings: well-known banks and accounting firms.

The Cayman Islands is one of the world’s leading offshore financial havens for wealthy individuals, businesses, and investment firms.

In fact, the Caymans have more registered businesses than people. There are about 600 banks and trust companies, and by one count branches or affiliates of 43 of the 50 largest banks in the world.

And about 100,000 corporations and financial entities, twice the number of people in the territory.

Precise figures are hard to come by, but many experts believe the Cayman Islands are the fifth-largest banking center in the world, with something on the order of $1.5 trillion, that’s trillion with a “T” in banking liabilities.

Financial services represent something on the order of 55 percent of the total economy, 36 percent of all employment, and 40 percent of all government revenue.

The authorities have faced challenges from international regulatory groups, flirting with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) blacklist for a while.

There is no direct taxation on residents and Cayman Islands companies. There are no taxes on corporate profits, capital gains, or personal income. There are no estate or death inheritance taxes payable on Cayman Islands real estate or other assets held in the Cayman Islands.

The government charges flat licensing fees on financial institutions that operate in the islands and there are work permit fees on foreign labor.

And then there is a duty levied against most imported goods, in the range of 22 to 25 percent; even higher on high-priced automobiles, of which you will see more than a few.

Back to tourism, though: and so, while passenger counts in the Caribbean have been increasing every year recently, they have leveled off or declined in Grand Cayman.

One reason is the lack of a dock large enough for major ships.

The government of Grand Cayman Island has proposed to build a $250 million berthing facility that would provide docking and direct shore access to as many as four cruise ships at once. Four huge ships, that is.

But the island’s own Department of Environment has said that construction and dredging for the port would damage about 15 acres of reefs and animal habitat and damage another 15 acres.

And the turbulence stirred up by thrusters and propellers of the ships coming all the way into the harbor would bring additional damage.

On a purely financial basis, having the dock would allow many more guests to come ashore directly and spend money in the gift shops and restaurants…but some say the damage would take away some of the principal reasons tourists come to George Town: to snorkel, swim, or otherwise enjoy the pristine waters.

Local newspapers have carried comments from some of the mega-cruise line companies (not Silverseas), saying, “If you build it we will come; if you don’t we will not come.”

In October 2015, the Cayman government said it intended to push through on plans for a dock.

In the mean time, our small luxury ship will use our tender boats bring us to shore. That’s apparently not pleasing to the owners and passengers of the megaships, which sounds rather grand to me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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23 January 2016
Roatán Island, Honduras: In the Depths

January 23, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Roatán Island is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras; the group stands about 30 to 50 miles off the coast.

It is, in many ways, one of the shining hopes of an otherwise grim nation beset by violence and other troubles mostly related to the northward traffic in drugs from South America to the market in the United States.

Roatán stands far enough offshore to be out of the way and also isolated enough to allow for the cultivation of what the Hondurans hope will flourish as a small version of Costa Rica, a green and relatively safe paradise.

Roatán is close to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the largest such natural reef in the Caribbean Sea, and indeed the second largest in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Off the island, parts of the ocean floor are carpeted with stars.

The mainland of Honduras is bordered to the west by a small neck of land that gives Guatemala its only port on the Caribbean at Puerto Barrios. To the southwest is El Salvador, and to the southeast Nicaragua.

A tough neighborhood, across history and even now.

Honduras spans an area of about 112,492 square kilometers or 43,400 square miles: a relatively small country about the size of Cuba or Iceland, or the American state of Ohio.

In that area is a population exceeding 8 million, with about a quarter of that number in and around the nation’s capital, the answer to a trivia question: Tegucigalpa.

Honduras is not wealthy, although it is rich in natural resources: Minerals like gold, silver, copper, lead, antimony, coffee, tropical fruit, sugar cane, a bit of coal, and fish and shrimp.

The place we now call Trujillo was the first place Columbus touched on the Central American mainland. Prior to that, on his four voyages, he had only landed on islands and at the top of South America.

He never landed on the mainland of North America.

Columbus named the place “Punta de Caxinas”. Caxinas is a port in northern Portugal, above Porto.

And Columbus named the deep waters of the area the Golfo de Honduras, the Gulf of the Depths.

In 1524, shortly after the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés. the first city of Honduras–Triunfo de la Cruz–was founded near where modern Trujillo stands.

It was used briefly as a port to send silver and gold back to Spain

About 50 to 60 percent of the population is considered below the poverty line. On the plus side, the economy has grown 3 or 4 percent in each of recent years, which is good, although the increases were building from a very low level.

In the late nineteenth century, Honduras became one of the Banana Republics” dominated by United States-based fruit companies granted substantial land and privileges.

Thousands of workers came to the north coast to work in the banana plantations and the other industries that grew up around the export industry.

The industry was dominated at first by the Cuyamel Fruit Company, then the United Fruit Company, and others. Labor difficulties in Honduras led to American military or police actions seven times between 1903 and 1925.

The fruit companies also encouraged immigration of workers from the English-speaking Caribbean, notably Jamaica and Belize, who introduced an African-descended, English speaking and largely Protestant population into the country.

And about that term, “Banana Republic?”

The American author William Sydney Porter—better known today under his pen name of O. Henry—spent about a year living in Honduras, primarily in Trujillo.

About 1904, he wrote a series of short stories set in “Coralio” in the fictional Central American country of “Anchuria”, based on Trujillo. And in those stories, collected in his book “Of Cabbages and Kings,” he coined the term “Banana Republic.”

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22 January 2016
Belize City, Belize: Searching for Success (and Shade)

January 23, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Belize is a 35-year-old nation that strives for economic and political stability; it still has a way to go.

It’s a hot place, but you’ve got to love a people who chose as their national motto: “Sub Umbra Floreo”.

“Under the shade I flourish.”

Belize is not quite as advanced in tourist infrastructure as Costa Rica—few places in this part of the world are—but that seems to be its goal.

And Belize has the added attraction of several significant Mayan sites and some spectacular offshore reefs.

One is the Classic Mayan political center of Lamanai, a word in Yucatec Mayan meaning “submerged crocodile.”

Lamanai has only been explored in the last 40 or so years, and it is still mostly covered and rather difficult to get to. It was occupied as early as the 16th century BC, and continued to be used up to the 17th century of the modern era.

How difficult? Our ship had to put down its anchor about a mile offshore to avoid damaging the spectacular offshore barrier reef (second only to the reef in Australia in size).

So, my trip to Lamanai (ancient Mayan for submerged crocodile) began with a long tender ride to shore. Then a 90-minute drive in a superannuated bus on a minimal road to the headwaters of the New River.

From there by open speedboat another 90 minutes into the deep jungle.

The good news: Lamanai was worth all the effort, and we had the place almost to our own, along with the bold and loud howler monkeys.

During the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, Spanish friars established two Roman Catholic churches here, but a Mayan revolt drove them out. When the British settled in Lamanai, they installed a sugar mill at the site.

Archaeological work has concentrated on the larger structures, most notably the Temple of the Masks, the Jaguar Temple, and High Temple.

A significant portion of the site remains under grassy earth or is covered in dense jungle growth.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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21 January 2016
Costa Maya, Mexico

January 21, 2016 Corey Sandler

‍By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Costa Maya is a genuine fake.

And I mean that in a nice way. There is no historic town at the end of the modern pier that extends out from the almost featureless landscape. Instead, what we have here is a manufactured village of shops, bars, and other lures for tourist dollars, pesos, euros, and pounds.

The genuine part is architecture and music and art that evoke some of the rich history of the Mayans and other peoples who once populated the region of Quintana Roo.

This is the deep south of Mexico, close to the border with Belize to its south.

Costa Maya is a relatively new way to gain access to the Caribbean coast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

This is an area that is well-populated by the ghosts of great Mayan cities, at least two dozen of them and probably many, many more.

The port of Costa Maya is a tourism version of “If You Build it, They Will Come.”

Until 15 years ago, the only way to get to the shore in this region was over a long and rough road from places far away and not all that attractive.

But then in 2001, private investors and the Mexican government created a pier near the town of Mahahual.

The pier, which is now visited by dozens of cruise ships each year, gives access to some interesting, lesser-known Mayan ruins in the area, as well as fostering all manner of modern tourist-oriented attractions, shops, bars, and restaurants.

Costa Maya is essentially fenced off from the real world of Mexico, with its own infrastructure and housing for employees. You can, though, take a shore excursion to nearby destinations or hire a car.

There may be many, many more ancient cities in the wilderness of Mexico and in Central America: Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, among them.

All through this part of the world, population has come to center around big cities, some of them huge, like Mexico City and Guatemala City. Out in the country, nature has retaken much of the land.

Explorers in modern times have found many great cities, mostly by accident.

In recent times, though, satellites have mapped much of the surface of the planet. And some of these satellites include scientific instruments that measure the temperature of the earth below.

Soil and vegetation retains heat. Buried stones and cities are much cooler. The satellites hint at the prospect of many, many sites yet to be explored.

Costa Maya is the closest port of access to Mayan ruins in the Yucatan including Chacchoben.

They are each interesting, but they are smaller and substantially less excavated than the better known pyramids of Tulum and Coba to the north, or Chichen Itza and Uxmal in Yucatan, which are three to four hours away on somewhat sketchy roads.

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20 January 2016
Cozumel, Mexico

January 20, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The island of Cozumel is located in the Caribbean Sea along the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

Mexico’s largest Caribbean island sits about 12 miles or 19 kilometers off the mainland; ferry service zips back and forth to Playa del Carmen.

Cozumel has a back story as a former Mayan outpost and a place of religious pilgrimage for women, and it includes several sites and structures from the ancients.

Between Mayan times and 30 or 40 years ago, it was a backwater dependent upon fishing.

Today it exists almost entirely as a destination aimed at fishing dollars, euros, pounds, and pesos out of the pockets of tourists: about two million per year.

The cruise port at San Miguel is quite busy as well. During high season, which runs from November to April, there are usually 20 to 30 ships in port per week, more than a few of them party boats on 4- or 5-day party cruises from Miami and New Orleans. You can spot their guests easily: they are wobbling even before they make it to the margarita bars along the malecon.

Tourism, diving and charter fishing comprise the majority of the island’s economy. There are more than 300 restaurants on the island and many hotels.

And there are beaches all around, some of them quite crowded and some nearly empty if you go out of your way to find them.

We spent the morning walking along the malecon, the seaside promenade. You have to look very carefully to spot vestiges of old Cozumel, sandwiched in between Senor Frog’s and Hooters and Diamonds International.

And we had to politely resist the near constant pitches of taxi drivers and vendors every few yards. We escaped with our wallets intact, and some colorful pictures of an island in the sun.

The lovely Silver Wind, nestled alongside another cruise ship at Cozumel, like a guppy in the shade of a whale. And our neighbor here is merely a large ship, not a megaship.

Vestiges of old Cozumel, more or less in plain sight amongst modern tourist attractions.

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18 January 2016
From the Gold Coast to the Mayan Coast

January 19, 2016 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard. We’re headed south by southwest from Florida’s Gold Coast to Mexico’s Mayan Coast, and then back by way of the Offshore Bank and the Conch Republic.

Allow me to explain.

We depart Fort Lauderdale aboard Silversea’s handsome Silver Wind headed first for the Mexican resort of Cozumel along the dead end of the Gulf of Mexico. And then we make a visit at Costa Maya, another tourist playground, a small place with a large history in the ancient cultures of Mexico.

From there we continue south along the Gulf Coast to the somewhat-less-visited port of Belize City in the somewhat-obscure nation of Belize (a former Imperial colony known as British Honduras until 1973). Belize is the only nation in Central America where the official language is English, albeit with a strong influence of Spanish and Creole.

After then to the island of Roatan in the nation now known as Honduras, before then as Spanish Honduras. It also was known as the original “Banana Republic”, a not-complimentary nickname bestowed on the nation and the region by an American writer in 1904.

We turn away from the coast to head to George Town, Grand Cayman–a most unlikely address for a large number of banks, accounting firms, lawyers, and multinational companies that come to worship the sun and very liberal taxation and regulatory schemes. There are some lovely beaches, too.

And finally, we have ahead of us an overnight at the very quirky port of Key West in Florida, the southernmost point in the continental United States. Just about anything goes here, and in fact the place even tried to go away from the mother country, an effort memorialized by Conch Republic flags.

I’ll be writing more about each of these ports in upcoming blogs. Here’s our plan:

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24-25 September 2015
Barcelona, Spain: Rambling Home

September 24, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Our cruise comes to an end in Barcelona, which is a great end…or beginning.

Barcelona is Spain’s second largest city; the metropolitan area is home to about 3.2 million.

Founded by the Romans, it became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona who had grand plans, eventually expanding their territory to include all of Catalonia.

The next expansion of Catalonia came in 1137 when the county of Barcelona merged with neighboring Aragon through dynastic union, a corporate marriage, if you will.

The Crown of Aragon went on to conquer many overseas possessions, ruling the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily, and as far as Athens.

And then came one more dynastic union, this time between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile.

The most famous street in Barcelona is Las Ramblas.

It runs up from the harbor through its historic districts and toward the Cathedral and La Sagrada Familia.

The street signs call it La Rambla, the Promenade.

But it’s actually a series of linked streets, so it is commonly referred to in the plural, Las Ramblas.

The Artists

Few cities are more imbued with the artistic vision of one man than is Barcelona.

The visions, and some of them are a bit strange—were those of Antoni Gaudi, one of the masters of the Modernist or Art Nouveau style.

There are works by Gaudi throughout the city.

Most begin with elements of Spanish Gothic, mix in Modernism, and finish off with phantasmagorical flights of fancy.

Gaudí began his work as a secular architect and artist, but in his later years he devoted his life to the Catholic church.

His crowning achievement was—or will be—La Sagrada Família, the Holy Family.

Technically, it is not a cathedral—home to a bishop. Its full name is the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family.

They’re still working at it.

The current expectation is that La Sagrada Familía will be completed in 2026, which would be the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death.

Like many of you I have visited hundreds of cathedrals all over the world, many of them many centuries years old.

Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia may well be the last monumental cathedral to be built, and it is amazing to watch the work underway.

Another artist with a wonderfully skewed view was Salvador Dali, born in Figueres, about 75 miles from Barcelona; Dali’s life from 1904 to 1989 overlapped Gaudi’s.

Today, not far away in the Barri Gotic, is the Picasso Museum.

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga. But he spent his youth in Barcelona.

The Museu Picasso is housed in a pair of 14^th century palaces. It includes more than 3,800 works in its permanent collection, much of it from his early days.

There’s one more hometown artist of note: Joan Miro, born in Barcelona in 1893.

His paintings, drawings, sculpture, and ceramics moved from the conventional past abstraction and into surrealism.

Arrivederci

We are heading home from Barcelona for our vacation. We look forward to seeing you on another Silversea ship in 2016.

Safe travels.

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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23 September 2015
València, Spain: Fallas, Fireworks, and Paella

September 23, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Valencia is Spain’s third largest city, after Madrid and Barcelona.

That’s pretty impressive company.

But Valencia can stand on its own as a wondrous old city, the former capital of the Old Kingdom of Valencia.

The birthplace of paella. The deathplace of the fallas.

The host city for the America’s Cup in 2007 and 2010.

And home to a massive modern architectural project by Santiago Calatrava.

The roots of Valencia reach back to a Roman colony founded in 138 BC on an island in the Turia River.

The Moors held this part of Spain from the 8^th to the 13^th century, with the exception of about five years from 1094 to 1099 when Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar—El Cid—broke their hold in Valencia.

Despite being on the Mediterranean Sea, there is still a local expression that says “Valencia has always lived with its back to the sea”, meaning that the spirit and the core of the city is not necessarily oriented to the water.

One of the most famous aspects of Valencia is a tradition that dates back several centuries, the Night of the Cremà, which takes place in March.

This is the burning of the Fallas, large wooden and papier mache dolls or effigies—sometimes representing politicians or celebrities or allegorical figures.

It is believed the tradition dates back to the carpenter’s guild of Valencia, who would celebrate the Festival of their patron Saint Joseph by gathering in front of their workshops to burn old tools, other wooden utensils, and candleholders they used to give them light during the winter season.

To me, a much more worthy exercise is the acquisition and consumption of Paella, the signature dish of Valencia.

The dish is named after the pan used to prepare it. You can, if you wish, think of it as a Spanish version of a wok.

Paella originated in the mid-nineteenth century near Albufera lagoon in Valencia. In many ways it brings together the Roman and Arab and indigenous flavors of the region.

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22 September 2015
Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain: Pirates, Giants, and Raindrops

September 22, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

There is something very special about the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.

Something that attracted ancient peoples, the Roman empire, the Moors, Pirates, and Vandals.

Also the great composed Frederick Chopin, the artist Joan Miro, the poet Robert Graves, and the great architect Antoni Gaudi.

Each came for short visits but left behind significant reminders of their genius.

Mallorca is Spain’s largest island possession, and its second-most populated island (after Tenerife in the Canary Islands.)

On this visit, we are avoiding the hustle and bustle of the principal city of Palma de Mallorca, and instead coming in to the charming resort village of Alcudia to the north

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

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SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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21 September 2015
Sète, France: The Venice of Languedoc

September 21, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Sète is a commune in the Hérault department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France.

So it is French, of sorts, although its ancient origins are as part of Occitania.

Occitan is a Romance language, still spoken in places here and there in the Languedoc region that includes parts of southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, and Spain’s Val d’Aran.

Languedoc means the Language of Oc.

Oc is the Occitan word for “yes.”

And so we have arrived in the Land of Yes. Take that for whatever you want.

What else is Sète?

Poetry, mystical sometimes indecipherable love songs, mussels, and oysters.

A city built around an ancient canal, a place that apparently is the world capital of the sport of water-jousting.

And a relatively obscure port that in 1947 was the embarkation place for 4,500 Holocaust survivors on a barely seaworthy former cruise ship that on its way to Palestine changed its name to Exodus.

On this visit, I went with guests on a visit to the charming town of Pezenas, once a wealthy trading center and home of the great French author Moliere.

A PEZENAS ALBUM

From there we went to the Abbey de Valmagne, which dates from the 13th century and later. In more recent times, it is home to spirits of a different kind: a wine cave.

ABBAYE DE VALMAGNE

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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20 September 2015
Marseille, France: The Second City

September 20, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Marseille is the oldest city in France, and the country’s second-largest city population behind only Paris.

This is very much a working city: it is France’s largest commercial port.

Out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago of four islands. One of those, L’ile d’If, is the location of Château d’If, made famous by the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

There have been settlements in this area for almost 30,000 years.

The city of Marseille was founded about 600 BC as a Greek trading port; it was named Massalia. It became a link between inland Gaul and Rome, importing wine and other goods and exporting agricultural items and slaves to Rome.

Skipping forward, in 1792, Marseille sent 500 volunteers to Paris to support the French Revolution.

The song they sung on their march from Marseille to Paris, a call to arms that became known as La Marseillaise, is now the national anthem of France.

For many visitors to southern France, the gem is Aix-en-Provence, about 20 miles north of Marseille.

And on this glorious Sunday morning, with a hint of autumn in the air, I returned to Aix with guests.

The settlement of Aix or Aquae Sextiae was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus.

Aix flourished after the 12th century, when, under the houses of Aragon and Anjou, it became an artistic center and seat of learning.

Aix-en-Provence is situated in a plain overlooking the Arc, about a mile from the right bank of the river.

The main thoroughfare is the beautiful Cours Mirabeau, planted with double rows of plane-trees. It is bordered by fine houses and punctuated by decorative fountains.

Aix Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d’Aix) is built on the site of the 1st century Roman forum of Aix.

AN AIX ALBUM FOR TODAY

Built and re-built from the 12th until the 19th century, it includes Romanesque, Gothic and Neo-Gothic elements, as well as Roman columns and parts of the baptistery from a 6th century Christian church.

A MARSEILLE ALBUM

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19 September 2015
Saint-Tropez, France: The Headless Saint and the Creation of Woman

September 19, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

When you say Saint-Tropez most people think of Brigitte Bardot in a bikini, or perhaps modern Children of the Sun lounging around on the beach in no bikini at all.

But Saint-Tropez has a more substantial history, including a martyred saint from Pisa after whom the town is named, a Japanese sumarai who came on a voyage of exploration in the early 1600s, and an almost-forgotten World War II invasion site.

There was also the painter Paul Signac, one of many greats who were drawn to the beaches and the special light of maritime places, long before there were fancy bistros and outrageously priced shops.

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If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

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18 September 2015
Monte Carlo, Monaco: The Gem of the Côte d’Azur

September 18, 2015 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Monaco has (almost, depending on your particulars) all the ingredients for adult fantasy.

A seven-hundred-year monarchy in a country smaller than New York City’s Central Park.

The romance and heartbreak of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly.

The other royal wedding of 2011, between the playboy prince and a lovely and nervous Olympian bride.

A prestigious Formula One automobile race through its winding streets.

A major tennis tournament.

A major jewel heist by the Pink Panther gang, still unsolved.

Sandy beaches, spectacular yachts, don’t-ask-the-price shops, don’t-look-at-the-bill restaurants, and a fabled casino where—in our mind’s eye, at least, the men are all dressed in tuxedos and the women are dressed to kill.

And us.

For those guests leaving us here, we wish you safe travels.

We’re headed out on a cruise that will follow the south coast of France, then venture south the lovely island of Mallorca, and then return the mainland at the remarkable city of Valencia and the even-more-remarkable grand city of Barcelona.

Here’s our plan:

Welcome aboard!

Around the World with Corey Sandler

Tag Archives: Silversea

7 February 2016
Roseau, Dominica

6 February 2016
Gustavia, Saint Barts: Swedish France, encore une fois

5 February 2016
San Juan, Puerto Rico: Heading South

4 February 2016
Gustavia, Saint Barts: France and Sweden in a Small Place

3 February 2016
Philipsburg, Sint Maarten: Both Sides Now

2 February 2016
Road Town, Tortola BVI: A Small Place with Big Plans

31 January 2016
Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

25 January 2016
George Town, Grand Cayman: You Can Bank on It

23 January 2016
Roatán Island, Honduras: In the Depths

22 January 2016
Belize City, Belize: Searching for Success (and Shade)

21 January 2016
Costa Maya, Mexico

20 January 2016
Cozumel, Mexico

18 January 2016
From the Gold Coast to the Mayan Coast

24-25 September 2015
Barcelona, Spain: Rambling Home

23 September 2015
València, Spain: Fallas, Fireworks, and Paella

22 September 2015
Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain: Pirates, Giants, and Raindrops

21 September 2015
Sète, France: The Venice of Languedoc

20 September 2015
Marseille, France: The Second City

19 September 2015
Saint-Tropez, France: The Headless Saint and the Creation of Woman

18 September 2015
Monte Carlo, Monaco: The Gem of the Côte d’Azur

Cruise Photos and Stories by Corey Sandler