The Earth at night

Seeing the Earth from a new perspective is always worthwhile. If you are interested in astronomy and spaceflight you may have seen this before, but if not you might be astonished at the beauty and sheer excitement of these moving images. Most of them show the Earth at night.

I've been unable to find time to blog recently, but I hope to get back to it again soon. Meanwhile here's a treat for the senses, a series of time-lapse videos from the International Space Station (ISS) set to music.

You will see yellow city lights at night, blue-white lightning flashes, beautiful green aurorae and more. It is just glorious and gives a real sense of the Earth's pulse. It seems as though the planet itself is alive! This material comes courtesy of NASA via the APOD website.

Chances are, you have never seen the Earth in this way before. Enjoy it and marvel at the beauty, colour, and sheer dynamism of the planet you live upon.

Spiritual fruit - INDEX

A chain of posts by a series of authors on a single theme is called a 'chain blog'. This chain blog is on the topic of spiritual fruit; if you're a blogger we'd like to encourage you to join in. It's easy! Just write an article on your own blog and get it linked in.

This is a chain blog on the topic 'Spiritual fruit'. (Alan Knox invented the chain blog in 2008, it's a great idea - thanks Alan!)

The 'Spiritual fruit' chain is based on Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul lists nine components of this fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But please feel free to write on any related topic.

Check below for the simple rules.

Contributions so far

1. Are we joyful enough? - Chris Jefferies
2. The fruit of the Spirit - Kate Cremisino
3. Who's next?... your post here...

This list will grow as contributions come in. It may grow rapidly or slowly. We shall see.

Feel free to contribute the next article on your own blog. It might be about fruit in general or about a particular aspect such as patience. It might offer practical advice or investigate some principles. Or it might consider how the presence or absence of fruit affects us and those around us. Or... whatever occurs to you.


Chain blog rules - these are based on the original rules devised by Alan Knox.

1) If you would like to contribute a post on your own blog, please begin by adding a comment to this index page and I will add you to the list above. If there are people ahead of you in the list wait until those people have posted before publishing your own contribution. That way you will have the opportunity to respond to whatever they may write and the chain will remain more cohesive. Think of the posts in the chain as being like chapters in a book.

2) Feel free to leave comments on the individual blog posts without taking part in the actual “chain”. Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog.

3) When you write a new link in this chain, please leave another comment here on the index page to let me know that your article is ready.

4) Please include links in your article to this index page and to the previous and next articles in the chain. If possible include these links at both the top and the bottom of your article. This will make it easy for readers to navigate the chain.

Tortola and Virgin Gorda

< Dominican Republic | Index | No later items >

We visited the islands of Tortola and Virgin Gorda today. We enjoyed the morning exploring the capital, Road Town. In the afternoon we visited an unusual beach scattered with big granite boulders.

We arrived in the British Virgin Islands and docked at Road Town on the south of Tortola.

We spent the morning in the town, walking along the main road from the harbour and then Waterfront Drive, Main Street and Pickenin Street up to St George's Episcopal Church.

Retracing our steps we stopped at the bakery for a cookie and some water, fed cookie crumbs to a hen and her three chicks, visited the museum, and bought and posted a card for Megan and our Tuesday evening Small Group.

We strolled back to the ship for a light lunch, then on to the harbour and a powerful catamaran for an afternoon trip to Virgin Gorda. Richard Branson's private island of Necker is not far from here. Once on the island we were taken by local bus to 'The Baths' a swimming beach and national park.

The area is littered with granite boulders, small, large and enormous (up to the size of a small house). These were ejected by a volcano long ago, enclosed in lava, and then as the lava eroded they were released. These boulders lie all over this part of the island - on the hilly ground inland, on the beach itself, and partially or totally submerged just offshore.

A jumbled pile of these boulders forms a 'cave' network through which the next beach can be reached. It proved to be quite a scramble and there was little in the way of guidance. We made several false turns and had to retrace our steps to a familiar point and try again. While amongst the boulders Donna swam in the sea before we returned by a different route to catch the bus home.

In the boat we chatted with a Canadian couple who reminded us of of our old friends, Geoff and Dawn. We didn't learn their names, but began to think of him as 'Canadian Geoff'!

Back at the ship we went to the theatre to hear Jeri Sager sing some of her Broadway and other songs before dinner in the Aqua Restaurant and a relaxed evening. Cruising is most enjoyable, I could get used to it!

See also - More photos from our day

< Dominican Republic | Index | No later items >

Dominican Republic

< Day at sea | Index | Tortola and Virgin Gorda >

We were ferried by tender boats to a small island near Samana in the Dominican Republic. We also spent some time relaxing on the ship. Having been ashore today, we're looking forward to some interesting visits to other islands during the rest of the cruise.

Today was our first landfall in the Caribbean, at Samana on the south coast of a long peninsula in the north-east of the island.

After breakfast we decided to visit the town of Samana and then transfer later to Cayo Levantado where there's a tourist beach. But we changed our minds, instead staying aboard the ship and relaxing with a good read, having a light lunch in the Garden Restaurant, and then getting the tender to the Cayo.

By all accounts there wouldn't have been much to see in Samana and the crossing was longer in quite choppy conditions. The tender boats are the ship's lifeboats and it was interesting to travel in one. There is no deep water harbour at Cayo Levantado, and the ship has a deployable landing stage to make it really easy to board small boats.

The lifeboat dropped us at a jetty right by the sandy beach. We found ourselves in an area of public parkland with shady trees, paved walkways, and a range of stalls and open air bars and little restaurants. We stopped for a refreshing drink and checked out the stalls, some selling artwork, others with T-shirts or hats, and some with gifts and local crafts.

There was a band playing local Dominican music, they were very willing to pose for a photo in exchange for a small gift in their collecting box. The Dominican Republic is mostly quite poor and I think the band members and the stallholders are much better off than the folk on the mainland, particularly away from resort areas.

After exploring, we found a shady spot on a grassy bank right by the sandy beach and spent some more time reading.

I'm going through Jonathan Aitken's excellent book 'John Newton' on Donna's Kindle, while she's reading Jim Palmer's 'Divine Nobodies' on mine.

Back on board the ship in the late afternoon we headed out of the bay and Donna got a good look at some humpback whales as we passed from bay to open ocean. This is the same population we saw on our trip to Boston a few years ago. All I saw were waterspouts, but Donna might have caught a glimpse of a whale or two as well.

We've decided we really like the freestyle dining experience, and I'm enjoying the informal dress.

< Day at sea | Index | Tortola and Virgin Gorda >

Day at sea

< Join the cruise and sail | Index | Dominican Republic >

Our first full day at sea took us further south and east. There was plenty to do and see, exploring the ship, an art auction, enjoying a restaurant meal, entertainment in the theatre, chatting with other passengers, and of course reading.

The ship headed east and south all last night and all of today, putting on the miles. The sea was quite choppy today, Atlantic weather rather than Caribbean weather.

We spent the day reading, chatting, learning our way around the ship, and investigating an art auction. I have no idea how much artwork was sold, but the display was busy as you can see in the photo.

We ended the day eating at the Aqua Restaurant this time. The menu is the same as the Venetian but the decor and lighting is more relaxed and pleasant. Like the Venetian it is a large space filling the ship's entire beam.

After eating we watched a show in the theatre, a tribute to the music of the 1970's and very well done. The theatre is surprisingly large, filling much of the front of the vessel, and it even has a rotating section in the middle.

Paul Scally, the Cruise Director, reminds us so much of Clive Urquhart from Kingdom Faith - his Luton accent and style of speaking are just the same! He doesn't look like Clive, but hearing him make announcements on the ship's public address system was uncanny!

< Join the cruise and sail | Index | Dominican Republic >

Join the cruise and sail

< Fly to Miami | Index | Day at sea >

Today we boarded our ship, the 'Norwegian Dawn' and sailed out of Miami towards the south and east. The rest of the day we were busy exploring the ship and eating our first two meals on board.

I managed to adjust to the time difference without a problem, going to bed a little early and waking up around 07:00 local time. We relaxed in our room, reading and writing. We had to vacate the room at 11:00 but the shuttle to the ship left at 11:30 so that was very acceptable timing.

In the hotel lobby we met several others aiming for cruises. We chatted with Doug and Diane who were sailing on the Norwegian Pearl and he gave me his email address, hoping to keep in touch with us. We boarded our cruise ship, the Norwegian Dawn, after one of the longest queuing experiences ever, about two hours. Our ship was on its first outing after a refit and the computerised boarding systems were new. Much of the delay may have been due to lack of familiarity with  the new system.

A welcome buffet was available in the Garden Restaurant. What a spread! Leaving port a little late at about 16:15 (we had to wait for some passengers who phoned from the airport to say they were just heading for the port), we sailed out into the Atlantic and some choppy water in a strong wind. There was a bit of rolling, but nothing too bad and I didn't suffer any ill effects.

We explored the ship systematically, it's a very nice vessel with lots of facilities and some excellent restaurants. We ate in the Venetian this evening, a large and ornate space filling the full width of the ship. The food on board is very good with something available 24/7 and an option for room service at no extra charge. The restaurants range from an enormous buffet with an extraordinary range of hot and cold options, through pleasant restaurants like the Venetian, to some unusual alternatives attracting a surcharge.

We went to the theatre to see the day excursion presentation and left with a pretty good idea of the available options for each of the islands we are going to visit.

And finally, back to our bijoux cabin, officially known as our 'state room'. That's a rather grand term for a space just about large enough for a bed and an en suite shower and loo.

I wrote up the day's events and we turned in for the night.

< Fly to Miami | Index | Day at sea >