Wednesday, January 07, 2015

My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "H" — Some places I've been starting with "H"

"H" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "H" where I have traveled:

 - Countries:
Hong Kong
Hungary
 
 - States: (I've been to all 50) 
Hawaii (late 1980's on a mission trip with a group of youth and adults from our church)
  
 - U.S. Cities over 100,000 population where I've been:
Houston, TX (we live 50 miles north of downtown Houston)

Hialeah, FL
Hollywood, FL

Hartford, CT
 - International Cities
Haifa, Israel

"H" is for Haifa, Israel, today.  We went there in July, 1980, coming by a small sized cruise ship, then Greek, the Oceanos.  We had left from Athens about a week before and visited Ephesus (Turkey), a couple of Mediterranean Islands (I liked Patmos the best), and had spent the previous day in Egypt (Alexandria and Cairo).
 
When we approached the port a large company of  Israeli Navy divers came alongside and checked out the undersides of our ship.  For bombs and the like I am sure.  Then we docked and disembarked at Haifa, leaving our ship for someone else to take on Mediterranean cruises.  We didn't stay in Haifa, but went by bus to Jerusalem for our week-long stay at a hotel there. 

The Oceanos, launched in July 1952, had a busy life, generally a much more exciting one than with our group.  Our tour leaders were Professors at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary at Arlington, Texas.  Mrs. Jim and I and one other couple were the only ones we ever saw from our group using the Disco Lounge.  But to make up for that there were also a large group of Shrine Lodge members having fun who made good use of the lounge.
(Picture courtesy of Wikipedia) . . . . .
Our ship had an accident later, on August 3, 1992.  It sank in bad weather off the coast of southeast Africa. The crew abandoned ship but all passengers were rescued by South African Navy helicopters. 

The Oceanos has never been salvaged.  Read about the sinking and rescue here.  The YouTube video shows how it all happened, and I found two different videos (Video 1--my favorit,e, showing below)  (Video 2--showing after everyone had been taken off) about the sinking. 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BFux2AAMso
 
 - Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday.  With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year.  I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings. 

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