Travel with Dale & Margaret

OK, I’ll admit the title is a little deceiving.  I went for a 2-tank scuba dive where I went searching for reefs and shipwrecks while Margaret went “diving” into the famous shopping areas around St. Thomas searching for those diamond drop earrings that have eluded her for the last 60+ days.

We arrived in St. Thomas under a number of large gray and white clouds with bright blue skies peaking out from time to time.  For a while it looked the gray clouds might win out and we’d get some rain but it passed and left us with a beautiful day with azure and turquoise colored waters, glorious blue skies and bearable heat.

The Mariner was docked next to the Havensight shopping area in front of a Royal Caribbean monster ship which was in turn parked in front of our sister ship the Seven Seas Navigator.  The Navigator had to make a detour to St. Thomas, apparently to pick up some fresh water, as they had planned on being in St. Barts.  A lot of crew members were happy about that, including John, our head sommelier who got the chance to see his girlfriend who is the Destination Manager on the Navigator.

My scuba diving tour left early, so after my usual Coffee Connection breakfast I headed down to the gangway where like-minded Regentians met up with the the tour operator, a local scuba shop just outside the port’s security gates and started with the legal release paperwork.  To make a long story short (and to be nice), let’s just say that they could use some “process improvement” on the whole sign-up system, both at the dock and at their store.  Eventually, our 8 Regent guests and 16 or so from the other cruise ships were on the flat, dual hulled dive “party” boat heading out of the harbor to a small island about 4 miles offshore.  Scuba tanks lined the outside perimeter of the ship, which had a sun shade covering about 75% of the boat.

The water was spectacular, the wind mild and the swells a modest 2-3 feet .  Occasionally, a strong swell would send some spray over the brave souls who chose the “front row” seats.  After the 20 minute ride the boat was anchored about 300 feet from shore in a nice semi-protected anchorage.  We were split into two groups, the experienced PADI certified divers (that’s my group) and the Discover Scuba group who were doing a crash course that would enable them to dive for the first time.  This is the kind of course that I had taken on our first stop in Cozumel so that I could get a dive under my belt (dive belt that is!).  It took another 20 minutes to get everyone hooked up with their bouyancy compensators (BC’s), tanks, fins and masks.  After we were fully prepped we took the diver’s leap off the steps at the back of the boat.

The PADI certified divers (like me) were also split into groups of six with a guide for each.  Our first dive to a reef where we would descend approx. 60 feet.  The water was very clear, the fish colorful and plentiful and the water warm.  I was the only one that didn’t opt for the $10 wetsuit as the water was near 80 degrees. It turned out that the wetsuit wasn’t necessary as even at 60 feet the water was wonderful!  There were parrot fish, a couple grouper, barracuda, some large crabs, moray eels, many different sizes and colors of assorted fish and a wide assortment of huge tube-like structures (some over three feet tall).  Unfortunately, I didn’t have an underwater camera but I am planning on getting one – so there aren’t any pictures on my dive this time – stay tuned for our next “Travel with Dale & Margaret” adventure as we head to Tonga in mid-April where we will dive AND have an underwater camera!

After completing the first dive we had a brief rest and then jumped back in the water with a fresh tank to explore a nearby shipwreck.  This wrecked steel ship was broken into many pieces and we explored each one in turn.  The sea had taken it over with coral and many other forms of underwater life masking every part of the superstructure.  Hydraulic lines and other miscellaneous parts sticking out haphazardly as the happy tenants (or their ancestors) who had moved in years ago swam in and out of the nooks and crannies that had been left for them, and us, to explore.  One of the sections had a huge engine room where two massive engines looked strangely silent and out of place at the bottom of the ocean.  We were also able to swim into a medium sized room and up through a hatch as the instructor stayed above us keeping our regulator hoses from getting tangled or caught.   When my pressure fell to 750 psi I headed back to the dive boat, took off the BC backpack and relaxed in the warm sun.  So we ended up with two very nice dives with the only problem being a slightly plugged-up left ear (now cleared)

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The trip back was uneventful and beautiful with the waters an incredible blue.  After a brief stop at another harbor to drop off the Ruby Princess divers we headed back to Havensight and took the short walk to the Mariner.  When I got to the ship I heard Margaret calling my name and I looked up to see her waving to me from our veranda!  A nice welcome home.

Canon D10 underwater and drop-proof camera

After lunch we went out to explore the shopping area that Margaret had canvassed in the morning looking for the elusive (soon to be yellow) diamond drop earrings she has been in search of the entire trip.  St. Thomas is one of those great tourist destinations where they have lots of jewelry stores and good deals to be negotiated.  After spending a few hours we found what we were looking for and Margaret got some very nice earrings that more than met her specs and even a bonus necklace (don’t even think of asking me about this!).  I also got a couple necklaces and bracelets (yes, for me) as market research for my new men’s jewelry company.  It was nice to see that the concept of “men’s jewelry” is catching on as we found two stores that had some very tasteful and cost effective pieces.  I also got a couple lenses (Micro Nikkor 105 and 70-300 ED VR) and a Canon D10 underwater camera, which works down to 33 feet and can be safely dropped from five feet.  No more having to deal with plastic dry bags with my Canon S90 on Belize Cave Tubing trips!  There are several other competent cameras in this category including brand new ones from Panasonic and Olympus.  Now I only need a pressurized case for either that camera or my S90 so I can go down to 133 feet.  I am going to research that some more before I make a decision.

The ship pulled out on a beautiful evening behind the huge Royal Caribbean ship.  As we left we passed alongside the Regent Seven Seas Navigator which had huge crowds on all decks and a band playing Dixieland music.  As we passed by them we waved joyfully to our fellow Regent cruisers.  Both ships traded horn blasts until they faded from view amid a beautiful sunset.  I have to admit that Margaret and I shed a few tears as we passed the Navigator, a combination of remembering our previous cruises on the smaller, more intimate ship while at the same time realizing that we would be departing the Mariner in a couple days, leaving behind our newly adapted lifestyle and all the friends we have made over the past 60+ days.

That night we had our 2nd reserve wine paired dinner put on by John our head Sommelier.  We had a great time and the wines were fantastic.  In this picture you’ll see us with Mike and Cheryl (right), Ron and Marcia (left), and Florian and John (middle).  Thanks guys!

A Brief St. Thomas History

St. Thomas was originally settled around 1500 BC by the Ciboneys and later replaced by the Arawaks followed by the Carib tribe.  In 1493 Columbus sighted the island on his second voyage but it wasn’t until 1657 that the Dutch established a settlement here.  Like many of these islands, the revolving door of countries continued with the Danish taking over and establishing plantations and sugar cane production.  By 1865, along with the neighboring island of St. John and St. Croix this area developed the now unfavorable reputation of being the slave auction capital of the world.

In 1691, the main harbor area was renamed Charlotte Amalie (still the name of the port city where we docked) in honor of the Danish king’s wife at the time.  In 1848 slavery was abolished and, in the 1860’s, due to the strategic location and excellent fortified harbor (the stone shelters are still visible), the US considered buying St. Thomas from the Danes for $7.5 million.  The deal fell through due to lack of legislative support from the public in the US.  Finally, in 1915, a local islander named David Hamilton Jackson convinced the King of Denmark to sell all three of the local islands to the US and the package deal was done for $25 million in gold in 1917.  A true bargain by any standards!  This had the additional benefits of giving the US control over the entire Caribbean and the Panama Canal during WWI.  An annual celebration takes place in Hamilton’s name to this day.

The three islands are now US Territories and the local citizens are US citizens in addition to having their own local government.  It appears that the cars still drive on the left side of the road despite most of the cars having steering wheels on the left, a holdover from the Brits.  The main industry is tourism with whatever is in second place far, far behind.  We helped support the local economy as did many of our friends!

St. Thomas Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/St-Thomas-Mar-13-2010/25179952_m2nbDp#!i=2065362487&k=Zqb6LtL

Ahhh….beautiful Antigua water.  Nice!  The Mariner docked in Antigua early today and before we knew it we had sipped our lattes and were heading out for a combination kayak/snorkeling trip.  We had originally signed up for a 50 minute helicopter tour of Monserrat (an active volcano that just erupted sometime over the last two weeks!) but, due to the numerous disasters that have followed us on this trip and, the rumors of Russian helicopters being used and, based on the advice of an ex-Boeing executive we had dinner with recently, we decided to save the $600 (and maybe our lives!) and turn in those tour tickets and go kayaking and snorkeling instead.

We headed out of the port area in a small air conditioned bus with a knowledgeable driver who also acted as our tour guide.  The drive took us through the crowded downtown area and then out across the island’s  countryside.  Our destination was a casual beachfront staging area complete with picnic tables, restrooms, monkey cages (which housed monkeys with long white fangs), bird cages (pretty and noisy parakeets, cockatiels and parrots) and even an iguana cage.  We had a brief orientation session, selected the appropriate fins and then boarded powerboats for the ride to the kayak docks.   The ride out was nice but a little bit bumpy and we were relieved when we saw the kayak dock in a quiet lagoon surrounded by mangrove trees.

We boarded our two-man kayaks and headed out across the beautiful, calm lagoon.  Margaret and I were fast (just ask me, I’ll tell you!) pushing ourselves hard to move our kayak along quickly over the water.  I looked at it as my morning workout and she wasn’t bad herself, providing the turbocharger when we were in danger of being passed.  We scooted along in between the mangroves, seeing some small fish and even small jellyfish. The guide took us to an area where he grabbed some sea cucumbers and explained how they live here in the lagoon.   With a name like “sea cucumber” you’d expect they were a vegetable…but they are actually a living breathing animal.  They look like a “cucumber” hence the name.  This areas is only a few feet deep but you have to watch out for spiny sea urchins if you stand up on the sand (we opted to stay in our kayak!).  After paddling around for about 45 minutes we returned to the cleverly designed, two kayak deep dock and re-boarded the boats for a short ride over to Bird Island.

At Bird Island those opting to stay on shore with the rum punch cooler did so and the rest of us were taken about 1,500 feet offshore to the snorkel area.  The current was pretty strong so some of the snorkelers ended up going back to the boat.  The rest of us swam around for a while checking out the area and then swam to shore.  Margaret chose to be in the rum punch party group on shore.  Of course, I was the first back to shore and was happy to indulge in the rum punch and cookie snacks on the beach and some of the group took a hike up to the top of the hill and had a great view of the overall area.

We took the boat ride back to the resort area and were again treated to rum punch!  And this wasn’t just any rum punch…this was really good (and strong) rum punch!  We showered, dried off and put on some cover-ups and, as you can imagine, by the time they herded us back into the bus we were all quite jovial – Margaret even started a rousing round of “100 bottles of beer on the wall”  with most joining in (I missed that video…).  It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that one!  All in all it was a great time.  By the way, we heard the helicopter tour was very good with great views of the destruction caused by the latest eruption – maybe we’ll do that one next time.

Back on board the Mariner we had a beautiful send-off for the 65 day South American cruisers — they brought us out on the front of the ship and threw us a sail away party!  We had a great time!

Antigua Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Antigua-Mar-12-2010/25178900_F6pSKR#!i=2065356069&k=DB25Rmj

Today we are in Barbados, the sun is shining and the water is a thrilling blue.  It’s hot — but not too hot (finally!) and we are ready to have a fun day exploring the island.  First thing this morning I got up to go on an adventure with other photographic enthusiasts to take a “picture tour” of the island.  We boarded a nice bus along with our tour guide, a professional photographer named Ronnie who will share his picture taking tips, his award winning photographs and his local knowledge of Barbados.  You might say it was a city tour with a photography theme.  Ronnie was articulate,  witty,knowledgeable,  and it was an enjoyable experience.

First, a little background on Barbados.  It is the eastern-most island in the Lesser Antilles island chain. While it is flat compared to its neighbors to the west, it does have a very hilly highland area, called the Scotland District that rises to 1,120 feet and has steep slopes.  The island is made of limestone hundreds of feet thick, being made of the same coral as the surrounding living coral reefs.  You could see that the construction sites had piles of white limestone, excavated for foundations, and the roads in the hills had been cut from thick coral deposits.

Barbados followed the same cyclical settling process as most other places we’ve visited over the past months.Indians from Venezuela settled around 350 BC, followed by the Arawaks and finally the Caribs arrived from South America around 1200 AD.  The Portuguese were the first to claim this area in the mid-1500’s, starting the slave trading business.  By 1610 they had split for South America (they speak Portuguese in Brazil) leaving it to the British to claim and start to settle in 1625.

Until 1966, the British governed this area with significant autonomy until granting independence that year. African slaves were imported over the years and, by the late 1700’s the population had turned from mostly English and Scots-Irish to predominantly African.  They had one of the world’s biggest sugar industries and a rum industry to go with it.  Think Mount Gay and Bacardi.

Barbados became an independent state in 1966 although it maintains a strong connection to the UK.  You drive on the left side of the street, there are numerous round-a-bouts and cricket is the big sport here.  Cars are very expensive as the government pushes to encourage smaller and fewer cars.  There is a 150% import tax on cars over $20,000.  A Range Rover costs the equivalent of $150,000 US dollars!

They have an excellent education program and it is the biggest line item on their budget with the results being a 98% literacy rate due to free education at all levels.  This has made tremendous difference on the island over the years.  Like we saw in Uruguay, it is amazing what can happen when a society is committed to education. The US could learn a lot by stopping the political squabbling and spend our money wisely on our children’s future.  But, this isn’t a political blog so I’ll stop there.

While the sugar industry is greatly reduced from prior levels, Barbados still remains a major sugar producer and the sugar cane fields are still one of the predominate views on the landscape.  We also went by a large sugar processing plant where they were moving raw cane on conveyers. However, while there has been a great deal of sugar cane fields developed for housing, the farming has also become more balanced to provide locals with fruits and vegetables and today the sugar cane peacefully co-exists patchwork style among the crowded conditions on the island.  The government is careful to protect valuable farmland and has reasonably strict zoning laws to balance progress with the maintenance of their ability to produce a significant percentage of their own food.

On our tour we learned about Chattel houses, the original “mobile homes” that the slaves built for their families on their master’s property. Because they didn’t own the land they had to build the houses on a temporary foundation (stone or cement blocks) and made the walls and roof so they could be quickly disassembled, put on a truck and reassembled at a new location, all on the same day!  After slavery was abolished the government bought many of the lots and sold them to the owners at a low price.  The owners then began improving the houses by putting in proper foundations and using stucco/plaster over the wood frame walls.  Over time most of the original chattel houses will be gone.  They are wood frame houses, normally with two high peaked roofs and very small eaves to avoid being blown off in a hurricane.  We saw a large number of them and I tried to capture pictures as the bus went speeding by.

On the photo tour we stopped at a number of places to take some nice shots including a royal palm lined drive to a large home, a beautiful palm-lined beach and a rum house.  Turns out that in every neighborhood, there is a church and, within a 100 feet or so, one or more local bars or rum houses.  They are the equivalent to a bar with a small restaurant and sometimes a small-ish convenience store section.  We had some rum punch at one on the beach where we had a chance to talk to the very friendly local people.  I even had a flying fish sandwich that was quite tasty!

The tour continued with a drive back through town to the port area.  This was an excellent tour and it would be great if Regent could have more of their tours to include a photographer as the tour guide, given how easy digital cameras are now, everyone is a budding photographer!

When I returned to the ship, I met up with Margaret and we immediately went on a tour exclusive to the Cruise South America guests (there are about 200 of us during the full 65 day cruise around S. America).  Today we went to see a real live Concorde!  Well, its not really alive but, while it no longer flies, it used to fly between London Heathrow and Barbados 3 times per week, the only  “vacation” destination that the Concorde flew.  Due to the engine noise and sonic booms, the only other cities it flew to were New York and Paris.  The plane that we saw had flown more than 6,000 flights.  A bidding process took place for the final resting places of the remaining 20 Concordes and, in 2002, Barbados got one.

Neither Margaret or I have seen the interior of a Concorde — I recall seeing one on the tarmac when I was in New York on a business trip and hearing the Concorde flying out of JFK when it broke the sound barrier.  The resulting “sonic boom” is memorable so I can imagine the reaction of the Barbaranian’s (people who live in Barbados) when the Concorde took off 3 times per week!  Objections to the noise were overpowered by the injection of cash from the well-heeled passengers now coming to vacation in sunny Barbados.  That, and the cache of being the only resort the sleek planes flew to!

Regent put on a nice event — serving tea and some refreshments.  We then walked through the aircraft experiencing what it was like on-board this incredible flying machine.  The most impressive thing is how skinny the plane is — a mere 6 feet wide!  The seating is nice…but not quite as nice as you might expect given the cost of a ticket.  We heard that a ticket between London and New York was approximately $8,000!  While that is a lot, the time it took to fly there was just over 3 hours…which meant that if you left the UK at 12 noon you would land in New York at 9 am on the same day!  That’s pretty cool.

At the end of our tour they played a multi-media show that included projecting various color spotlights and video images onto the side of the Concorde.  They simulated the in-flight experience which was pretty exciting.  It was amazing because it could do Mach-2 (twice the speed of sound) and in order to do that it had to flex enough to grow 7″ due to the heat.  In addition, the engines were extremely advanced and in over 40 years, no one has been able to duplicate it!  The simulated sonic boom was everyone’s favorite part!

Today we arrived at Devil’s Island.  Or, to be more accurate, we arrived at the Salvation Islands located 7 miles off the coast of French Guiana.  There are three islands comprising this island “chain” and they are situated very close together, separated by rough waters and apparently a large number of hungry sharks (although we did not see any sharks — but we heard that other people did!).  None of the islands are very large and Devil’s Island is only 35 acres.  For more information click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Island

As a quick overview, the history of French Guiana is very confusing and I’m sure the French wish they had never stepped foot here.  In a nutshell:

– Columbus discovered it.  He named it “Land of Pariah” – which doesn’t sound very good…
– In 1604 France attempted to settle here but were driven out by the Portuguese
– In 1643 the French tried again but were driven out (again)
– In 1658 the Dutch took over
– In 1664 the French tried again but were attacked by the Dutch
– In 1667 the British took over
– Later in 1667 the Brits gave it to France
– In 1676 the Dutch came back
– In 1763, following a treaty, France gave up almost all their possessions in this area except for Guiana and a few islands (including Devil’s Island)

At this point, Louis XV, in a not so smart move, thought that this area had the potential to be a French “nirvana” and offered free land and 3 years of food and provisions to anyone willing to settle there.  France ended up sending 12,000 people to the area.  Their plan was to setup a “free” society that would be the envy of the rest of the world.  All of that was good — except for the fact that the area was full of hostile natives, tropical diseases and massive numbers of mosquitoes.  Over 9,000 people died in the first 18 months and only a few hundred managed to flee the mainland and settle the islands located 12 miles off the coast which they named the Iles de Salut or “Salvation Islands”.  The islands were unpopulated at the time so they were safe, the constant sea breezes kept the mosquitoes at bay and they were isolated from disease outside of their own group.

The three islands that make up the Salvations Islands are Royal Island, St. Joseph Island and Devil’s Island.

In 1852 Napoleon III opened a prison complex for France.  “Criminals” of various types were banished to this island settlement.  Men sent here were typically the very worst and most dangerous in France as well  as political prisoners of the King.  Once they served their sentence in brutal conditions, complete with nightly shackles, hard labor, etc. they then had to serve the rest of their life doing hard labor on one of the islands.  This is the site of the movie “Papillion” that documents the escape of a prisoner from Devil’s Island.

Today we will explore Royal Island.  This is the main island and contains the primary prisons, housing for guards, hospital, cemetery, etc.  Now these buildings are relics, but there is a hotel, restaurant, museum and a gift shop on the island that is used regularly.

We arrived a bit after the projected time and, with the islands in sight we waited for the pilots to arrive.  The plan was to anchor about a mile offshore and initiate tender service to shore.  The problem was that the same characteristics that made these islands a perfect penal colony also made it difficult to easily tether and board tenders.  After a lengthy delay, the pilots arrived and they came up with a plan that would require the Mariner using her aft thrusters to keep the tender loading ramp positioned on the leeward (out of the wind) side of the ship and the operation went into full swing.

At about 3 pm we boarded the tender with Nick and Sherrie and started our rather bumpy and wet trip to shore.  It usually isn’t “wet” on the tender…but today it was quite warm so the people in front of us opened a small window so we could get a breeze, and were thoroughly doused with water when we encountered a rogue wave!

Exiting the tender was a bit tricky as it moved with the swells and a couple people fell attempting it.  There was a nice dock that took us to a dirt path that circles the island.  We were told it takes approx. 45 minutes to walk around so we chose to go to the right and we were off on our exploration.

Right off the bat we had excellent photo ops with a view of St. Joseph Island in the background.  There were a large number of coconut palms and hundreds of coconuts on the ground in various stages of decay and new palms sprouting up from the coconut!

It was a truly beautiful walk with the waves breaking on our right and masses of palm trees on our left shimmering in the afternoon sun.  It was hard to imagine that at one point they had cut down every tree on the island so they could keep watch over a political prisoner who was in solitary confinement.  Nature has done an excellent job of recovery over the last century!

There were a number of large (a bit over a foot long) guinea pig-looking animals called “agoutis” running around.  They have skinny little legs and sort of hop around somewhat like a rabbit.  They appeared to be hunting something, pausing from time to time motionless and somewhat impervious to our existence.  I later discovered some iguanas on the higher part of the island with one being several feet long.  Most were less than two feet.  There were also colorful (but possessed) macaws, some monkeys, lots of colorful chickens, a few beautiful pheasants, peacocks and even pigs.

Our hiking continued as we discovered the swimming area that was down some steps from a rock seawall.  There were a number of people swimming in this area.  While it looks like it is open to the ocean it apparently is actually protected by a rock wall that during high tide is below water — but is high enough (supposedly) to protect swimmers from the deadly sharks.

We then came to the outbuildings that had supported the logistics operation that would zip-line food over to Devil’s Island.  The zip-line is long gone but the buildings and a memorial remain.  We tried to visualize the operation in full swing as the waves broke over the black rocks.  The way it worked was some of the prisoners lived on Devil’s Island with basically nothing.  They were dropped off there to fend for themselves…with the exception that the guards would zip-line over some bread and water.  Enough to keep them alive but that was about it.  For them to survive beyond those simple provisions, the men had to hunt and fish for protein and make their own shelter with whatever they could find on the island.

The next phase of our trip involved hiking up a fairly steep and rocky road that went to the main prison operations.  We first came to the museum and then moved on to the restaurant and hotel area.  It was unexpectedly nice and suitable for having a Heineken on the outdoor covered deck with a beautiful view of Devil’s Island.

We then walked around the grounds where we discovered a blue and two red macaws.  While Sherrie was taking pictures of them they started going crazy, like they were possessed, and going after her!  She was trying to take pictures of them and kept backing up to get away from them and she ended up tripping and falling on her backside!  The macaws kept coming!  Finally we were able to get them away from her and help her up.   I, of course, kept snapping pictures to memorialize the incident!  The birds then started going after my shoelaces.  Not sure what was their attraction…but they were quite focused on untying our shoes!

It was getting late and we were hot and sweaty so Margaret and Nick headed back down to catch the tender.  Sherrie and I went on to explore the prison area.  We came upon a small church, a large building that appeared to be the mess hall that is now used for holding special events, barracks that housed the guards and then the prison area.  The walls between the small cells have fallen down over the years but we could still see the shackles that held the men at night.  This was not a nice place to stay and many of the men went mad during their captivity.

Outside the prison building there was a huge cistern (reservoir where they stored rainwater for drinking) about the size of a football field and maybe 100 feet deep.  It was made of stone and the story goes that the prisoners had to dig this hole with teaspoons!  There is no water in it now and the bottom is covered with lily pad-type plants that are a beautiful light green color.  This is where I saw and took a picture of the huge iguana while the smaller ones clinging to the walls hissed and spit at me!

It was getting late now so Sherrie and I made our way down the hill and to the tender dock.  Turns out that Margaret and Nick were crammed into a sweltering tender with 150 other people while Sherrie and I were lucky enough to be in a nice breezy one with only 8 other people.  All in all our trip to Iles du Royale was enjoyable and well worthwhile.

Later in the afternoon, as the haze settle down and with the sun lower in the sky I could make out the missile launch facilities on the coast.  Since 1968 Kourou (on the French Guiana mainland) has been the launch site for rockets at the Guiana Space Centre due to its remote location and location near the equator.

Tonight Margaret and I will attend the Le Cordon Bleu graduation ceremony and have dinner with all of the guests participating in the program (18 in all) as well as with our Le Cordon Bleu chef.  Looking forward to another fantastic meal!

Picture Gallery for Devil’s Island: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Devils-Island-Mar-9-2010/25178636_pzQF7B#!i=2065205364&k=sPv769t