Cruise

Exploring Scotland’s Highlands and Islands

/ Chuck Palmer / 6 Comments

. . . Aboard Lord of the Glens

The landscape views almost seemed mystical as we traveled through remote areas of Scotland’s Highlands on a National Geographic chartered bus. My wife and I were among 40 passengers heading to meet our ship, the Lord of the Glens docked at Kyle of Lochalsh, a small village on the northwest coast of Scotland. We were eager to begin our cruise along the intricate lock system on the Caledonian Canal through the heart of the Highlands, eastbound to Inverness. This expedition would be our sixth aboard a National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions small ship. We were excited to see our uniquely-built small ship as the bus arrived at the dock.

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Exploring Alaska’s Inside Passage

/ Chuck Palmer / 13 Comments

. . . aboard the National Geographic Venture

The National Geographic Venture

It was one of those rare white-knuckle experiences as our plane suddenly pulled up from what felt like a normal landing. It was our final approach into Sitka, Alaska where we were to embark on a “bucket list” adventure. Fog and cloud cover prevented a line-of-sight landing on our Captain’s first attempt, but he informed us he had fuel enough for a couple more tries. I can’t say that comforted my wife and me any or increased the blood flow in our knuckles as we held tight to our armrests. . . We also wondered if fog and cloud cover would follow us during our Alaska adventure over the course of next week.

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Exploring the Cyclades Islands aboard the Sea Cloud

/ Chuck Palmer / 4 Comments
The Sea Cloud - Piraeus, Greece
The Sea Cloud – Piraeus, Greece

As my wife and I stepped off the shuttle bus dockside at the historic port of Piraeus, Greece, we were amazed to see her rich mahogany woodwork, and gleaming brass.  We had read about the legendary Sea Cloud sailing ship but after seeing her for the first time we felt we were about to step back into history. Our early September 7-day sailing adventure was about to begin. . . Exploring the Greek Cyclades Islands aboard the historic square-rigger. As we boarded this magnificent ship, we were greeted by our expedition director and his staff from National Geographic and the ship’s capable crew.

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