As part of Mike’s sporadic efforts to provide talks aboard cruise ships of the Holland America (HAL) line, we were invited to provide talks aboard HAL’s Volendam on the first segment of its 2026 World Cruise. The cruise started at Ft Lauderdale, Florida on Jan 3 and we departed the ship in Buenos Aires on Jan 23. The ship continued on to Antarctica, then across the south Pacific and around the Pacific rim, before returning to Florida through the Panama Canal – a total of 133 days. We flew to Florida the same days as the ship’s departure – normally a risky affair, but HAL had purchased the tickets and assured us we would make it – because the ship departed Ft Lauderdale at 11PM – a very late hour (most ships depart around 5 pm).

I total I provided 9 talks (topics can be seen here). World cruises usually have fewer port calls compared with shorter cruises, and this was no exception. Our first port was at Barbados, followed by a missed call at Devils Island (French Guyana). Only Belem, Recife, Rio de Janiero and then Punta del Este (Uruguay) were visited before arriving in Buenos Aires.

While we visited botanical gardens in Belem and Recife, our main excursion away from the ship was in Rio de Janiero, where we had arranged an overnight birding tour with two brothers who operate a birding company. That is described in more detail below.

The open ocean

The

Belem

The

Recife

The

Rio de Janeiro

Punta del Este