Altona

We ran into Kim on the quayside and made arrangements to meet up for the next show, but after swimming for the first time in years and on the back of a not entirely satisfying breakfast it was high time to return to Explorer to refuel in the Windjammer cafe. After food, we headed back to the state room for a shower and to watch some Voyager (which was showing round the clock on the TV). We headed back on shore for half an hour or so towards the end of the ship’s time in port; mostly the shops in the harbour sold diamonds, but there was a neat shop that sold textiles made from bamboo fibre and was playing No Doubt was on the stereo - much more Dan’s kind of place.

Dan decided to head up on deck for sail away time, which was just ahead of William Shatner’s show (he had joined the ship in St Thomas); from deck 12 there was a great view of the bay, and Star Trek II was showing on the pool screen. Time to go to Shatner’s show rolled around with no sign of the ship moving off, Dan met back up with Alex and found seats on the upper level, Kim walked in on the lower level but we caught her attention with a wave and she joined us. William Shatner’s style is… unique, this particular show seemed to be almost entirely unstructured - the memorable moment (perhaps not for the best reasons) was when a member of the audience asked Mr. Shatner to have lunch with her mum (which he declined to do).

As we left the show we walked along the outer deck to avoid the crowds; the Virgin Islands were still visible, but falling quickly astern and we paused to watch the seabirds fishing in the ship’s bow wave on the way to the dining room. For the first time we were seated near a port hole and the birds could still be seen outside as the sky darkened, but our attention was soon captured by the vegan creme brule on the menu and a conversation about the economies of Caribbean islands.Read more