So - I'm a slack 'blogger'. I think this is a pattern which is going to continue so bear with me, I'll get round to posting updates eventually.
As you can see from todays date we are back from Madeira now and I must say we were sorry to leave its mild climate, friendly locals and Mr & Mrs Jennings Snr behind. Coming home to a couple of inches of snow hasn't helped!
Some of the highlights of our two weeks on the island were (in no particular order):
Seeing white whales (can't tell you how many but it looked like 5 or 6 at least heading in the same direction) and a pod of about 40 dolphins - all with my new binoculars from the shore. We saw a few of the local tourist boats all clumped together so, with my new found love for spying, I zoomed in and saw, clear as anything, whales surfacing, spouting a few times then diving back down. Every time they did this the dolphins went nuts jumping out of the water and flying around like crazy. Great to see so clearly and a result of Madeiras super deep water just off the shore.
Mum and Dad hooking us up with a penthouse apartment in the local 5 star hotel - oh yes, just my style. Check out the photos on Flickr (click here). Buster grew to love the indoor spa and jaccuzzi so much he tried to poo in them as a fairwell gift - he is so giving.
Strolling around Funchal, the capital, checking out the amazing cruise ships that seem to dock every other day (Like 'The World' and the new Queen Mary - HUGE), the great shopping and ever so cheap lattes.
We had a brilliant holiday, got our teeth all polished up and looking like new and had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas period. We loved it and are now really reved up for the next stage in our journey to the bottom of the World. With any luck we will be leaving blighty by the middle of January.
Happy new year!!!