If you have enjoyed hearing about my many adventures around the world, now you can join me! I am getting ready to launch new projects along with an exciting new website; included in my plans is the formation of special cruise departures hosted by yours truly as well as pre and post land programs!

Over the years I have received an overwhelming number of requests to host trips to Denali National Park or up to Machu Picchu; now I am getting ready to start doing just that! Each trip will consist of advance reading material and maps to ready you for the experiences ahead; followed by onsite seminars held by local experts; there will be lots of learning but I also guarantee lots of fun with special meals and an introduction to local markets.(Yes, that means shopping!)

Ever since I saw how enthusiastic guests were to explore off the beaten path, I yearned for the time when I could invite everyone to experience the world the way I know it - rich in texture and full of life!  Traditional tours are geared for the mainstream, a sampling that appeals to most people. You, my friends - are not “most people!” Well educated, well traveled - you want more, you expect more. If this kind of travel appeals to you - let me know. In the next few weeks I’ll be putting together proposed itineraries combining both land and sea programs - FUN!
For information please contact me at: storyteller@cruiserfriendly.com

According to the results of a new NASA study monitoring the amount of ice mass in the world’s glaciers, SE Alaska is losing about 84 gigatons of ice each year. Fifty percent of all the glaciers in the world are in Alaska, the decrease in mass is alarming and should be appreciable by visitors who will cruise there this summer.

If you are booked on an Alaskan cruise and you would like to see for yourself evidence of global climate change, use this simple rule as taken from my book, The Cruiser Friendly Guide to Alaska’s Inside Passage, “How can you tell if a glacier is advancing or retreating? If a glacier is growing, it will be pushing new ice down the mountainside encroaching into trees and vegetation. However, if it is retreating the front and sides of the glacier will be sitting on bare rock scoured down from where the glacier previously sat.” Keep an eye out for newly exposed rock contiguous to glacial ice, indication of recent thinning and melting.

For more information on the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment click on the following link.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/16/melting.ice/index.html

I had such a great time on the Navigator sailing from Cape Town to Rio then back to Ft. Lauderdale, I wanted to let everyone who booked future cruises with me in mind know my correct information. I look forward to seeing you on The Ring of Fire!

26 January - 25 March
Ft. Lauderdale – Sydney
Mariner

07 May – 27 May
Osaka – Vancouver
Mariner

21 November – 18 December*
Cape Town – Ft. Lauderdale
Voyager

*This is tentative but I hope to make the sailing not only to see Cape Town again but also to sail for the first time on the Voyager!