Ponant

We also have a North Pole trip, which is I believe is also sold out.

But we have a highly discounted fare on Ponant, which is a luxury luxury French icebreaker.

That will be happening also.

And so anyone on those gets the coveted MTP Arctic Expedition hoodie, which we all sported on these recent events.

Uh, Grand Ba- Grand Bahama, obviously, uh, there's gonna be a project, uh, to allow more berthing, and then there's Bimini.

But what we're looking at that is very important is outside of the larger cruise lines, we, we're, we're also looking at the luxury brands as well, such as Ritz-Carlton, uh, Silversea, Ponant, Four Seasons, uh, Club Med, those type of vessels that, uh, prefer more of the out islands, uh, that is more rustic and away from all of the crowd.

And, and so our focus while, while we maintain a great relationship with all of the major cruise lines, our focus certainly at Sea Trade this year was to really tap, try to tap into that luxury, uh, cruise market as well.

We, we, we know the cruise lines are gonna come, the large ones are gonna come because they're invested, heavily invested in the destination, especially with their private islands.

Uh, the response has been extremely positive.

The Four Seasons has, has, has started already.

We're working with Silversea right now on Ponant.

Hopefully, i- within the year, we, we'll see more traffic from the luxury market.

So Ian and I, Ian Dawson and I, we were very honored to be asked to be on the judging panel for the Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions, and with some really wonderful folk, glaciologists, different scientists, people with a lot of experience in the polar regions.

And the Shackleton company sponsors this medal.

This was the s- It's now been going for several years, and this award is still under a cash award of £10,000 to encourage the, let's say, the Shackleton spirit, the sense of adventure, but not just adventure, but science and teamwork and all those special qualities that made Shackleton such an exceptional leader.

We got together in London to judge that at the Royal Geographical Society.

So of course COVID was a complete disaster, as it was for many people, and all my work was canceled as a freelancer for a couple of years.

And then a friend got in touch, was picking my brains about going to the North Pole by icebreaker.

And he was at the time working for the French company Ponant.

And they had this new ship that was being built, Le Commandant Charcot, that was going to the North Pole.