Who’s on the trip? Well, in no particular order: Mona – who did a similar trip 4 years ago. It seemed like such a good time that Mark & I decided that’s what we should do someday. Adrienne, Lindsay and Edwina - friends from the Cornerstone, the condo that we live in. Neena and Chris – long-time buddies from when I worked at Cymbolic Sciences in 1996, and the Van Dandies. That is Vanda, Dan, and Brandie – exercise buddies.  A great crew indeed!

The ship is run by the captain, Halil. He’s 45 years old and has been working on the sea since he was 15. There’s a chef, Osman, who we rarely see – he barely comes out of his galley. And no wonder – with all that food he’s preparing. He’s genius at re-using things that we don’t finish off. He’s been on the crew for 2 years. And there’s Ramazan – Halil described him as the first mate. He’s all of 19 years old and has been doing this for 3 years, and is going to University in the winter. I haven’t got the back story on Yildirim and Emre yet, but we’re only halfway through the trip. There’s still time.

Yesterday was the 60^th birthday of Lindsay Miles. We had a bust out dance party, complete with crazy outfits. We found a most excellent hat in Selimiye, one of the towns that we went to, just perfect for a guy like Lindsay. 

Mark and Dan were in fine form – brothers from another mother. I only got a little concerned when the pole dancing started. It wasn’t like stripper pole dancing, more like swinging around one of the canopy supports out over the side of the boat using arms. Mona’s jingly belly dance skirt looked positively fetching on both of them, especially combined with the belly shirts Brandie fashioned for them. I think there might be a lot of blackmail photos.