Somewhere in the Atlantic over the mid Atlantic ridge near the Azores

Hi Guys,

The bit between Portugal and UK – 10 April 2011

(Latitude: UK 31’North   Longitude: xy30 58’ West)

(Time -2 GMT)

Average temperature Cooler

Hope you have enjoyed following our blog. I have certainly enjoyed reporting the activities that we have experienced and some of the silly things that we have seen.

I cannot report a “best” location for the 35 places that we have visited as there are several categories that must be considered. However, I must report that all places had their individual charm. We visited capitals and major cities, we visited islands from tropical to cool to strange and then there is the category of the most remote or the most tatty. I suppose the criteria for a good location must be the wish to return and explore a little more. For us, Hawaii takes that honour. There are some locations, like Pitcairn Island where the return becomes almost impossible, as much as we might wish to revisit.

On January 9^th we started our 4 month Grand Voyage around the world to visit approximately 35 locations, some, like Easter Island and the fjords, we only cruised by. However, in the past 4 months we have watched the news as Egypt’s Mubarak was deposed, then the floods in Queensland Australia, then the earthquake in Christchurch in New Zealand, then the earthquake in Japan with the ensuing tsunami (the results of which we felt as we bobbed up and down in the Aurora just off New Zealand), then the nuclear accident, then the ongoing Gaddafi situation in Libya, it seems that our 4 months have been quite tame compared with the world that we left behind.

We have yet to visit Porta Delgarda in the Azores which is two days out of Southampton where we arrive on the 14^th April 2011, quite a chunk of time ((97 days) to have spent to visit some of the most interesting places on this planet.