Fort Lauderdale, Florida....

Today, we arrived at Fort Lauderdale Florida…  It brought back a lot of memories, some not so pleasant.  It was 20 March, 2020 when I was last in Fort Lauderdale, during the earlier days of the Coronavirus pandemic.  Our Captain, Friso Kramer, delivered us safely to Fort Lauderdale as the ports around the world were closing their doors to cruise ships.  It wasn’t the kind of ending we had expected for our Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage.  Here we are some 22 months later, back to cruising but in a different world, always on guard against the COVID virus.  But we are back and after sailing for 3 ½ months, despite all the challenges, it’s been great.  It seems so appropriate that the two Captains that we sailed with on the Volendam during the pandemic are onboard with us today as we chart our way into new adventures….  We had a very nice day, Ann, Cathy & I were picked up by our friend Laura. We ran some errands, did a bit of shopping and had a magnificent lunch at my fav Five Guys…  So excited for our next Panama Canal Voyage as we return to San Diego…. Doubly excited as our friend Shiv Charan has joined the Zuiderdam and will soon take over as Executive Housekeeper.   Life is good and I’m loving every day here on the Zuiderdam…