Saying Goodbye to Mediterranean After Two Fast-Paced Months

Days 144-147, 2025 European Odyssey

Wednesday to Saturday, Nov. 19-22, 2025; Gibraltar; and Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal.

I’m sometimes convinced that on every cruise, regardless of where we are going, the captain heads east in the early morning so the sun will be in my face while I write in the Crow’s Nest. Of course, that isn’t true. For the past few days, we’ve headed west, but with the late-fall sunrise more toward the southeast, it creeps over my shoulder as I sit by the port window.

On Wednesday morning, I didn’t even need to turn, as the ship rounded the tip of Gibraltar just as the sun rose from behind the Rock of Gibraltar.

Many passengers were headed up the rock to see the tunnels used during World War II, the caves and the monkeys. About 300 of these Barbary macaques – the only wild monkeys in Europe – live on the rock. Legend has it that as long as these monkeys live here, Gibraltar will remain under British rule.

Last December I wrote about my first visit here in 2011 with my mother, who fell in love with the monkeys. I haven’t been up the rock again in the half-dozen times I have returned. These days, I’m more likely to be in search of Spirit of the Rock gin, and this time I picked up a refill pouch to go in the bottle I saved after lugging it back to the ship last fall.

Deb and I had planned to have tea at the Sunborn Gibraltar, a luxury yacht hotel purposely built to permanently dock in a marina near the cruise pier. I tried for weeks to make reservations, but they insisted I had to call or stop in to pay 24 hours in advance. It surprised me they had no online system. None of my efforts to call worked, and by then we were more than a bit frustrated. When I heard one of the ship’s excursions would be there and fill most of the venue, we decided to do it another time.

After getting my gin, I browsed at Marks & Spencer, but it only had winter apparel, so I sat on a nearby bench to sketch the Cathedral of Saint Mary’s the Crowned.

We turned west after leaving Gibraltar and truly started our Atlantic Ocean crossing, enjoying two sea days before arriving in Ponta Delgada, Azores. I visited this port and the nearby Praia di Vitoria twice each in 2023, and this port again a year ago. For years Holland America stopped in Funchal, Madeira, during the crossing, but lately the Azores seems to be the company’s preference.

Many passengers headed out to see the volcanic island. My timing was just right to get a front-row table at a café across from the Igreja de São Sebastião, perfect for sketching.

Like many buildings in the Azores, dark volcanic stone combines with whitewashed walls for a distinctive look.

White and black stones in geometric and floral patterns pave sidewalks, plazas and even some roads, a feature found from mainland Portugal to the Azores, Madeira and even Cape Verde. It’s labor intensive and requires great skill.

Just like in Gibraltar and earlier ports, holiday decorations are going up around Porta Delgada.

From here, we have six sea days before reaching Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Already we can see the many activities the ship’s staff has planned. I plan to spend much of my time finishing my last watercolors and organizing my packing.

I wish I could just throw everything in my suitcases willy-nilly, but it will be more complicated. I’ll send one bag to friends in Florida, who will bring it to the Volendam when we board Dec. 21 for a holiday cruise followed by the 133-day Grand World Voyage. I’ll need a detailed list of everything in that bag so when I pack again in a few weeks, I’ll know what I sent ahead.

After disembarking, I’ll stop in Dallas for appointments (doctors, dentist, hairdresser), some shopping and visits with friends. Then I’ll visit my sister Eloise four hours away in Fort Smith, Ark., where everything I own that isn’t with me is in a small storage unit. Somehow, I hope to fit in an overnight to Kansas City to join my book club in person rather than via Zoom.

I plan to write a final blog summing up the sea days and, perhaps of more interest, describing my first experience on one of Holland America’s Pinnacle-class ships (the largest in its fleet with approximately 2,600 passengers) and what it’s like to take 10 back-to-back 14-day cruises instead of the long ones I usually take. Don’t hold your breath; I’ll probably write it in Dallas.