Monday 8th February, evening.

We all convened in the Terrace cafe for dinner.

If you look very carefully you will see the my dumb traveling companions Penguin and Homer the Bear sitting in the center of the table. They joined us for the last night’s dinner and behaved themselves quite well even though SOME of our number made fun of them!! We had another really fun meal with so many laughs it was impossible to count them all. I learnt some unusual facts including how Sam Bucatini was responsible for placing three coffee beans in a Sambucca!!! Harvey is just a mine of knowledge about such things and he is such a wonderful teacher!!

I have been so incredibly lucky to meet up with this simply perfect group of friends on this cruise and I cannot adequately express my gratitude to them for allowing me to participate in the fun events which we have shared together. These are not just vacation friends and I do hope that we have the possibility to meet up again soon and continue the really exceptionally enjoyable times we have experienced together. Harvey and Barbara will be in New York around the 18th March and we are determined to meet up with them at their favorite restaurant for dinner. The place will certainly be rocking for that evening.

It was so sad to say goodbye to Harvey and Barbara tonight as they leave in the morning for their trip to Iguazu. We are going to go to Corcovado tomorrow and will meet up with Joan and Barbara, hopefully for a last dinner tomorrow night.

On departure from Santos we passed the m.v. Repubblica del Brasile which was sufficient to remind me who pays the bills!!

We go to sleep tonight with a strong thunder squall developing outside which may mean that tomorrow will dawn just a little cooler than today. I look forward to entering Rio from the sea and although I have been there before, it is one of the more striking places on earth. It will be a fitting backdrop to the end of the cruise.