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Ship Shenanigans
 That day in the middle of the Indian Ocean when the captain fired up both engines to show us that our normal cruising speed of 13-14 knots was not as fast as a full throttle 27 knots. It was a nice...
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South Africa
Day One. We visited the Company Gardens of the Dutch East India Company. This green space in the center of town was where vegetables were grown to restock spice trading ships. The gardens are now more...
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Hope in the Townships
For our final day in Cape Town we participated in a SAS Impact Field Program. Our family, plus three students (there should have been lots more given how good of an experience this was) and seven Life...
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Etosha National Park
Marabou StorkKori Bustard. The largest flying bird native to Africa.Lilac-breasted RollerJoel's report:Last week the MV Explorer stopped in Walvis Bay, Namibia for five days. To reduce the amount of...
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Namibia
Our original itinerary included stops in Ghana and Senegal, but last fall during the height of the Ebola crisis, SAS decided to not risk stops in West Africa because at the time it was unknown how far...
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Walvis Bay to Casablanca
 Moon rise as we depart Walvis BayMoonrise and dunesIt was a long 12 day sail from Walvis Bay to Casablanca. At some point we crossed back into the northern hemisphere. I kept busy helping Marie...
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Morocco, part 1
We arrived in Casablanca on Sunday morning. We were one of the first to disembark (about 8:45). We then caught a cab—they wanted $50 to go five blocks. I held my ground at $10 (still too much) and we...
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Morocco, part 2
Thanks to the French influence we enjoyed a nice variety of pastries and breads for breakfast at the hotel along with delicious fresh orange juice and hot chocolate. After gassing up we headed out for...
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End of Voyage
Sailing up the winding Saigon River I pulled out my map of the Mekong Delta to show some of the kids where we were going.It was a windy day. Thanks to life long learner Kristin Rush (traveling with her...
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Southampton to Manchester
Once off the ship in Southampton we caught a SAS shuttle to Heathrow. On the way, from our front row, second deck bus seats, we could see acres and acres of bright yellow plants. We wondered what they...
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Liverpool to the River Ribble
Sunday morning May 2nd we decided to get a head start on our day by driving the 45 minutes to Liverpool for a 10:00 sacrament meeting rather than to attend one of the several 10:00 sacrament meetings...
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Scotland part 1
From Downham we headed northward winding along lots of rural roads, pastures and sheep. We zagged northwestward skirting the hills of the Lake District to the western end of Hadrians Wall, then zigged...
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Scotland part 2
Next day we crossed the Firth of Forth via a bridge that included a Welcome to the Kingdom of Fife sign! We then skirted the southern coast of Fife county along the shore of the firth. We stopped in...
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Ireland
 Day one. North Ireland. We arrived in Belfast (above) at about 2:00 after a 2 1/2 hour ferry ride from Scotland. We checked in at the Pearl Guest House--an apartment of four bedrooms, bath, living...
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Dublin to London
 On Monday morning May 11th we sailed on the 8:05 Irish Ferry from Dublin to Holyhead Wales. Busy port of DublinWish the MV Explorer had this policy. Instead its policy was that children shall not roam...
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One Month
 Good-bye England  Hello Iceland, wish we weren't just passing through. We have been back home from Semester at Sea for one month. My camera is almost vacant of any photo documentation of what has been...
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Not Your Typical Trek Talk, by Sarah
Today in the Spring Creek 18th Ward Sacrament meeting Sarah gave a talk about her experiences last week on the Stake Youth Conference one-day pioneer trek at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt...
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It saddens me
http://westlandconstruction.com/portfolio/provo-city-pool/ Last week my 10 year old son was enjoying a day of water fun with a friend at the delightful Provo City Rec Center (I hope Springville voters...
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Fun Fourth
Our Fourth of July Celebrations are usually pretty low key and vary from year to year. This year we decided a hike would be nice. We decided to stay close to home so after 17 years of living in...
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