After a brief sojourn to visit our son in the USA we are back on our travels. From October 3rd I will be the resident astronomer on Fred Olsen’s Borealis during her latest voyage, Canada in the Fall. More info later!

Well! What a voyage this has been so far. Firstly, Fred Olsen’s Borealis is a terrific ship with nice venues, artwork and the food is great. However, when we left Southampton to cross the Atlantic to Canada we were not prepared for Hurricane Kirk which meant we had to divert to Funchal in Madeira! It took us nine days to reach Canada by which time we had three ports cancelled due to weather. Fortunately, once we were in the St.Lawrence river, things brightened up and we had a fabulous time in Montreal, Quebec, Saguenay and Corner Brook. We are now sailing to St.John’s in Newfoundland (one of our earlier cancelled ports) but will miss Cobh in Ireland on the way back. I have delivered several talks during the voyage, all with great crowds and very well received. The stargazing nights have not been so successful because of weather and the only two clear(ish) nights were blighted by a bright Moon.

This morning I received an email asking me to join our next cruise to the Caribbean on November the 5th instead of the 9th so, onwards and upwards!