We woke reasonably early and rang room service for our usual cupper but nothing, no nothing happened, no reply; oh dear, another failure to log in the ships questionnaire!!!

Christine didn’t kick-up much of a fuss so I know she’s not right yet. I left her in bed whilst I went down for the 0900hrs appointment with the medical centre only to be told it was Christine they wanted to see, “separated by a common language” eh! so back to collect Christine then back to the centre, this time they were too busy and suggested we went to breakfast and call back after, which we duly did.

Now at this point I am pleased to say Christine was much better, yesterday she couldn’t walk; today no problem, still we had to go to have the needle taken out of her arm, the one they put a drip through, (we don’t know what the technical term is for this) and have a final round of tests, I could see $$$$ signs floating in front of my eyes.

All good to go pronounced the Doctor, just take it easy; keep taking the medicine; no alcohol other than 1 glass of bubbly at midnight and come back if she has any further problems. Oh yes Mr. Page, just before you go the nurse calls, I have all the results of the various tests we have taken, “a wad full”, and your account. Now I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but whilst waiting in the Clinic another patient came out, looked at me and asked if I had plenty of money, he then turned to the nurse and said he would have to take a mortgage out on his house. Bearing this in mind I braced myself and took a look at the bill: good god, no way could I brace myself for this, the guy was right, a second mortgage may be necessary; wait for it, are you sitting down, fortunately I was. The total bill for 2 consultations, 2 hours in the private ward, a few pills and a couple drips etc., just under $3,000. Unreal or what? I suggested to Christine that if she has a re-lapse, I would shake it out of her!!!   Anyway, onwards and upwards, fresh air was called for.

I think this “jolt” improved Christine’s health no end, better than all the drugs taken and now felt well enough to venture into Bridgetown.

When we walked down the gangplank we were surprised to see 4 other cruise ships in the harbour. I always thought the places cruise ships visited, the local port authority organised and spread them, not have them all together as there would be too

many people to deal with all at once which would limit their “take of 

dollars”. Still we walked the 2 Km to town, albeit with several rests and when we arrived at the harbor where the fishing boats and day trip boats as moored, we

remembered all the times we used to motor up in our dinghy, and enjoy the local atmosphere; food; drink “Carib”, the local beer; numerous rum punches and Christmas at the Hilton Hotel: ah yes, the

memories came flooding back and this contributed to Christine improving by the minute.We walked over the bridge and sat down in the Harbour Bar, I

enjoyed a few Rum Punches whilst Christine did as she was told and enjoyed (I think!) sparkling water. We got talking to a Scottish couple from another cruise ship and what was meant as a one drink and rest stop took us past lunchtime and into mid afternoon. We were right on the waterfront and a fishing boat moored up, stern first and they proceeded to gut, skin and fillet these rather large Wahoo, These are large predatory tropical marine fish of the mackerel family, and prized as a game fish; no doubt they sold them to the local restaurant as “the catch of the day”, fascinating to watch. We then started the long meander back, stopping along the way to make a few family ‘phone calls.

We were back on board in time to put our feet up for an hour before the New Year’s Eve festivities begin.  To get us all in the mood, the ship had arranged for a  Caribbean steel band to come aboard and play for an hour by the pool; they were good and had a good reception at the end.  Whilst playing one or two got up to dance but one person in particular really went to town, she looked to be in her 90’s, she had long grey hair, she is always seen wearing gloves, though not tonight she was carrying them, no doubt all this exertion got her warm, anyway, well done her and good luck.Firstly we ventured into the Martini bar, this had much of the ceiling covered with balloons: someone had done a lot of puffing!!!!!   We then headed to the Grand Dining Room where we met up with the couple we shared a taxi/van when we went to Antigua. The Dining room not only had balloons everywhere but we were all presented with a garland and a hat to get us into the festive mood. The four of us shared a table and had a great evening and I have to say yet again, the 68 Chefs on board surpassed themselves.

Following the meal we headed to the Sirena lounge to listen to the stand up comedian, though American, he didn’t just make jokes for the American contingent; he appealed to everyone though there were a number of risky topics which may have caused a little offence to some, but he didn’t seem to care, on he went and the audience loved it. It also transpires this comic, Tom Drake, is married to our cruise director Dotty Kulasa.

After the show we headed up to Horizons Lounge where there

there was a lively party going on; more balloons everywhere; music; bar rushed off their feet and the countdown to midnight called by the captain. It turned

out to be an excellent New Year Year’s Party.Tomorrow we go to Tobago.

Today was to be a day of action at the Iguazu Falls and it was.

Leonardo collected us at 0900hrs and we were off.  Firstly a

helicopter flight over the Fall’s; it was Christine’s first flight in one so a little apprehensive me thinks!! Wow, what a sight

unravelled before our very eyes.  Yesterday we were bowled over at the sights as we walked along

the path, but today, to be able to fully appreciate the enormous area these Falls cover was just something else: they are enormous. Fortunately, though

there was some cloud cover, it was clear over the Fall’s so we had a good look with plenty of ‘photo time above them.   Though we

were only in the air for 10 minutes and it went quickly, we got off the helicopter on a high.Leonardo was waiting for us and we were off to our next stop, Argentina.  As I mentioned the Fall’s are in two countries: we

did Brazil yesterday and now heading, passports in hand, to the border crossing.  There was a long queue to get through the border control but being an official tour guide, he has special dispensation; we by passed the queue and went straight to a border control booth where we got our passports stamped and we were on our way. Another good reason to have an official guide with us.45 minutes after leaving the Helipad we pulled into the

“Parque Nacional Iguazú” the Argentinian national park.  Our first adventure was going to be a “boat ride” experiencing the

waterfalls from the base, but first a walk along the jungle path to the starting place. Here on the Argentinian side the park is 259 sq. miles whilst the Brazilian side of the park is only a mere 660 sq. miles, but most of the falls are in the Argentinian park. This park also has most of the wild animals in the vicinity, such as the Puma, The Jaguar, the

Caymans and untold species of

snakes, not all venomous but nobody in their right mind would want to take a closer look!!!At the end of this path we arrived at the office where we checked in for the boats but before we got to the jetty we had

to get onto a truck. This brightly painted yellow truck with rows of bench seats on the back drove us through even more dense jungle, and about 20 minutes later we got off and then had to walk down millions of steps to the waters edge to get into our rib. Going down is always easy, but I wasn’t looking forward the coming back up; still we’ll deal with that issue later.

We had been warned when we first booked to expect to get wet so we left the hotel with our swimmers on, and a change of clothes in our bag for later. En-route we had stopped by a street

seller to buy two plastic pouches to keep our ‘phones dry in; they are transparent so we could still use the camera. The boating people supplied a waterproof container for those who had their bags with them. Because we had Leonardo, we left our bags with him; smart eh!!!We donned our life jackets and settled into the rib;

fortunately it wasn’t too full so we each had a seat on the side. We’re off, full power, the bows lifted and we were haring head for leather towards the bottom of these gigantic waterfalls; and when you are at the bottom, they are gigantic!!!!We hovered around for everyone to take pictures and then we went into the waterfall base. When they said we would get wet

they weren’t kidding, we had what seemed several tons of water

dropped upon us from a great height. Whilst Christine was clicking away I was holding onto my glasses for dear life. Anyway the driver pulled away and immediately found another waterfall to drown us again and to make sure each side “enjoyed” the same went back the other way!!!! Wonderful experience we thought, glad we did it but then the driver suddenly changed direction and went back to the first

place he tried to drown us, again he only managed to soak us, and if we weren’t wet before, we were this time, right through to the core.

We did look around the other folk in the rib, mainly youngsters and it dawned on us that perhaps, we should act our age, then

immediately dismissed the stupid idea!! We really enjoyed this part of our action day and felt sorry for those who put it on the “too hard to do pile”Those steps now came into play, and as the youngsters and

Christine rushed up them, I took my time, though I noticed at the halfway point there was a Red Cross person, just in case!!! I arrived at the top albeit

slower than the rest but they were still there waiting for the truck to take them away; the hare and the tortoise spring to mind.   By being at the back of the queue our truck was very empty so we had loads of room.Leonardo was waiting for us but we did suggest we stopped for a bit, had a coffee and some Empanados before moving on.

We now had two options, the lower trail or the higher trail, both several Km’s, anyway he suggested the higher trail but only go so far and this is what we did.   We looked at the same falls as we did yesterday but from the opposite side, not too much difference, still a lot of water cascading down but well worth it.

Now was the time for the train ride. This train takes you

towards the devils throat, Argentinian side. At the end of the line Leonardo said it would take a further hour to walk to the Devils throat, this was our cue to stay on the train and go back, but better than that, this train carried on nearer the Park entrance.

The Brazil side is a natural park that cares for the environment and apart from the path to walk along to see the falls, that is basically it. The Argentinian side on the other hand is more of a classical theme park; yes they certainly care for the environment but they probably attract more visitors due to the other things going on.

When we got out of the complex, there was Leonardo waiting with the car at the entrance, what a good decision to have a private tour guide for the whole time we were here.

We arrived at the border crossing and again there was a long queue waiting to go through, but not for us, passports stamped again and on our way; no hold ups.

We arrived back at our hotel 7½ after we started, thoroughly knackered but really pumped up at our exciting action day.

Shower and a light dinner and no doubt we will sleep well tonight. Leonardo will collect us from the hotel tomorrow morning at 11.30 when we return over the border to catch a domestic flight to Buenos Aires.