FROM GOLD BEACH TO TURKEY TO MALTA
By Bob Van Leer

  (ISTANBUL, TURKEY, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001) - We boarded our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, this afternoon after a long trip from Gold Beach. Betty and I are on a cruise that will take us from Istanbul through the Mediterranean and out Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean. We then turn south and cruise along the west African coast to Cape Town at the southern tip of the continent for a total voyage of 7760 nautical miles.

  Betty and I started New Year's Eve day and drove to Medford to catch a plane Jan. 1 to New York. Our flight was at 6:40 a.m. Jan 1 so we rang in the new year asleep. We flew to John F. Kennedy airport in New York from Medford via Los Angeles. We were surprised by the number of people traveling Jan. 1. The planes were packed.

  New York was covered with a foot of snow but the airport was open for business. We stayed in New York at an airport hotel overnight. Our room was on the sixth floor and in the morning light the landscape was white. We caught a charter flight from JFK to Istanbul Jan. 2. This flight will not be a highlight of the trip.

THE ISLAND OF MALTA
By Bob Van Leer

  (VALLETTA, MALTA - Saturday, January 6, 2001) - Our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, made its first port of call this morning in Valletta, Malta, an island nation between Italy and Tunisia at the narrow mid-point of the Mediterranean Sea.

  Betty and I took a tour by taxi around the main island. Agriculture is limited by the size of the country, only 122 square miles total. This in one of the most densely populated countries in the world with more than 3000 people per square mile, compared to about 55 per square mile in the U. S. The agricultural fields are outlined by stone fences. Everything is built of rock here as there is plenty of that and no trees.

CARTHAGE, ONCE THE RIVAL OF ROME
By Bob Van Leer

  (LA GOULETTE, TUNISIA, Sunday, Jan.7, 2001) - This is the port city for Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, which we toured today. This is also the location of Carthage, once rival of Rome for control of the ancient world.

  Our ship, Pacific Princess, docked here this morning after a short run from Malta. Betty and I took a day-long tour around northern Tunisia.

  Tunisia is about the size of Georgia in the U. S. with a population of about 9.6 million (July 2000). The population is young with 30% under 14. Our tour guide said unemployment among young people is 27% which helps explain the number of young men sitting at sidewalk cafes killing time.

  Our guide said the workday is from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

  Saturday and Sunday are days off even though 98% of the population is Muslim.    This is a mostly Muslim nation, but western dress predominates.

By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001) - Tonight we sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar leaving the Mediterranean Sea on a calm, almost glassy water.

  But when we hit the open North Atlantic, this all changed. Our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, is rolling more than any other day on the cruise. The ship's rolling makes for easy sleeping. It's like being in a giant cradle that is being rocked.

  We have settled into a routine, and after dinner we go to the theater to watch the evening's live entertainment. Our medal tonight goes to the juggler who juggled three clubs while riding a six-foot tall unicycle. All this while the rest of us were having trouble walking.

  Tomorrow at Casablanca, Morocco, we will be taking a tour to Rabat, the capital of the country.

ARRIVING IN MOROCCO
By Bob Van Leer

  (CASABLANCA, MOROCCO, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001) - Our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, docked here this morning after a two-day trip from Tunisia.

  Casablanca is Africa's second largest city with a population of 3-4 million. The whole country had an estimated population of 28 million (1994) and is slightly larger in area than California. About 60% of the population is Berber, the original inhabitants, and about 38% Arab, who moved in starting in the seventh century.

SUN AND SURF RESORT
By Bob Van Leer

  (AGADIR, MOROCCO, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001) - This is a resort city 288 nautical miles southwest of Casablanca.

  After looking over both cities, Agadir would be the best choice for a week of sun and surf.
The city is not large, about 200,000 population, and is located on a pleasant bay.

  The city is mostly new. The old city was leveled in an earthquake in 1960 and the new city was built on more stable ground just south of the old city.

   Fishing is a big industry with hundreds of fishing boats and several canneries and processing plants.

By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, SATURDAY, JAN. 13, 2001) - From Gibraltar we sailed a course south west along the African coast. This morning we reached the westernmost part of Africa and turned due south toward Dakar, Senegal, our next port of call.

INTO AFRICA
By Bob Van Leer

  (DAKAR, SENEGAL, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2001) - The west African city contains so many new sights, sounds and smells it is an overload on the senses. We arrived here this morning, our first stop in black Africa.

  This former French colony has about 9 million population of whom one million are in the capital city of Dakar. It is about the size of South Dakota and is the westernmost country in Africa.

  Betty and I went on a tour to Retba Lake, "Pink Lake", about 30 miles from Dakar. To get there we had to drive through much of Dakar. This was Sunday and as we drove to the lake traffic was relatively light, but returning streets were jammed.

  The National Highway on which we drove most of the way is lined with shops of all kinds, from barber shops to auto wrecking yards. A shop may be anything from merchandise spread on the sand to crudely put together stalls to fairly substantial buildings.

  This is the dry season and everything is dusty. And, this is the western edge of the Sahara Desert.

SHIP FACTS
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2001) - We have left winter behind. Our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, is headed east along the southern coast of the western bulge of Africa, passing Liberia and Ivory Coast.

  Here we are only about 350 miles north of the Equator and the weather is warm and muggy on deck at night. The air conditioners on the ship are beginning to feel good.

  There are a number of diversions to take up the hours at sea. For those who wish to exercise there is something nearly hourly including walks, aerobics and body toning. The gym and two pools are open all day.

FIRST INDEPENDENT AFRICAN COLONY
By Bob Van Leer

  (TEMA  ACCRA), GHANA, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2001) - Betty and I took a long tour today through this country, the first African colony to gain independence, in this case 1957.
This is equatorial Africa. The weather today wasn't too bad, but the temperature got into the 90s and humidity must have been 100%. Tema is the port city for Accra, the capital of Ghana. The country is located on the Gulf of Guinea only a few degrees north of the Equator.

  In our tour around, our general impression is this country is doing better than Senegal. There are shanty towns, but generally the country appears more prosperous. This is a former British colony and our observation over the years is that the former British colonies do better than other countries' colonies.

FORMER GERMAN COLONY
By Bob Van Leer

  (LOME', TOGO, Friday, Jan.19, 2001) - A highlight of today's tour of this small country was a canoe ride across Lake Togo about an hour's drive north of the capital of Lome'.
The lake, while broad, is shallow, so we were propelled across the lake for the 30 minute ride by poles, not paddles.

  On the side of the lake where we were loaded, we could step into the canoes dry. But on the other side there was no landing. We were each packed to shore by a pair of muscular young locals. This cost two dollar bills for tips, but it beat having wet feet and legs the rest of the day.

VOODOO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
By Bob Van Leer

  (COTONOU, BENIN, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001) - This country is the voodoo capital of the world and today we visited voodoo shrines and met the voodoo "pope".

  A highlight of the day was a five mile boat ride to visit the unusual city of Ganvie'. This city of 12,000 people is built on stilts on the shallow waters of Lake Nokoue. All the houses and even hotels and restaurants are built over the water. The markets are collections of dugout canoes with the occupants selling their wares.

EPIDEMIC OF ILLNESS
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001) - Yesterday I got a chance to question Capt. Tony Yeomans about what has to be called an epidemic of illness on this ship. I had been getting stone-walling from cruise personnel.

  The captain estimated that about half of the officers and crew and just slightly less of the passengers had come down with the illness, which he said had been identified as a virus. Betty and I have escaped this one, but have had other problems (upper respiratory and diarrhea). The illness is somewhat flu-like with diarrhea and some nausea that puts people down and they stay down for a day or two.

By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, JAN. 24, 2001) - Winter is behind us after crossing the equator and we are now into the long summer days. It is light until well after 8:00 p.m. now.

  One frustrating aspect of a tour such as this is the difficulty of getting news. I found two English-language newspapers since leaving Istanbul, both of them from England.

  We have a TV set in our room which picks up satellite reception and were getting the highlights of U. S. news from CNN international. We were even able to watch some of the Pres. Bush inaugural festivities. However that channel is not available in this part of the world. There is one channel with some international and U. S. news in printed form. Better than nothing, but not much.

WALVIS BAY, PREMIER PORT OF NAMIBIA
By Bob Van Leer

  (WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001) - Namibia is a huge country, more than half the size of Alaska, but with only 1.8 million people, about half the population of Oregon.

  There is a reason for that, of course, actually two reasons. Along the coast is the Namib Desert, and much of the interior is in the Kalahari Desert.

  We docked here this morning after a four-day run from Benin. The tropics are now behind us, but it is mid-summer here in the southern hemisphere.

  Walvis Bay, a town of 50,000 population, is by far the premier port of the country.

GERMAN PORT COLONIZED IN 1880'S
By Bob Van Leer

  (LUDERITZ, NAMIBIA, Friday, Jan. 26,2001) - This port was developed by the Germans mainly because the best harbor, Walvis Bay, was already occupied by the British when Germany colonized the area in the 1880s.

  A dock for loading of larger ships was developed last year and this is where our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, is docked. But we had to back in to get to the dock.

  Betty and I hired a cab and drove around town. This is not a large town, I'd estimate the size as a little larger than Brookings. Commercial fishing is the major industry here. The harbor has an international fleet of large trawlers and there are a number of processing plants on shore. We went by one plant that harvests and dries seaweed from the rocky shore.

  Tonight we will sail on a 492 nautical mile run to Cape Town, South Africa, which will be the last stop on our cruise.

TRANSITIONING PASSENGERS AND CREW ABOARD THE "PACIFIC PRINCESS"
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001) - After leaving Luderitz we set a course southeast to Cape Town, South Africa. This will be the last stop on our cruise and we then begin the 34-hour trip home.

  On our cruise ship, Pacific Princess, we will have sailed 7760 nautical miles or 8924 statute miles. We will have visited 12 ports in 10 countries and have been on the ship a total of 25 days.

LAST STOP IN AFRICA
By Bob Van Leer

  (CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2001) - Our cruise aboard the Pacific Princess ended here at Africa's southernmost city from where we were to fly home.

  This was actually written in Gold Beach as my laptop computer had to be packed away the night before in our luggage and we wouldn't be reunited until we reached Medford.

  We left the ship about 8:00 a.m. and our flight to London is not until 8:00 p.m. so we have the whole day in Cape Town. We decided to take a guided tour around the city.

  South Africa is a country of 42 million people with 3.5 million of them in Cape Town.