My Epic Cruise Journey: Pole to Pole

Despite good intentions to give regular updates to this page, I’m only now getting to it! I’m going to claim that I had a good excuse, having spent 133 days on board the Holland America Volendam this winter.

From late January to early June, this epic, once in a lifetime voyage sailed from Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal and down the South American coast to the icy waters of Antarctica. We stopped briefly in the Falkland Islands before heading north into the steamy, latte-coloured waters of the Amazon. We crossed the Atlantic to Africa, then to western Europe into the arctic waters at the tippy top of Norway. Our final leg returning to North America was made via Iceland and Greenland.

I smelled fishy whale breath when humpbacks and orca surfaced next to the ship in Antarctica,

hiiked through elemental landscapes in the Azores and Canary Island chains,

and endured sinus-clearing steam from fumaroles in Iceland.

Writing was part of my journey. For the most part, I settled into an out-of-the way table on the covered deck beside one of the pools. The beverage servers looked after my every need, bringing me fresh squeezed orange juice in the morning, creamy pea soup at coffee break in Antarctica, and cool beverages when the sun was over the yardarm. I was thoroughly spoiled.

Final edits were completed for The Aquamarine Necklace: A Janice Maidstone Mystery and it is now in the hands of my publishers, BWL Publishing. The last I heard, it will be available for purchase in early September!

There are few who can take advantage of such an incredible trip. I am one of the privileged few, and I am filled with gratitude that I was able to take this voyage from one end of the world to another. I will hold the memories of the sights, sounds, smells of places, animals and people I encountered close, and no doubt, some of my experiences will make their way into my stories!

In closing, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter where I’ll give updates on new projects and other things that influence my “writerly” life.