It took me until almost the very end of the game to figure out that you're not supposed to look at the ghost that's following you and that's why it kept disappearing.
I see a boat heading toward Madagascar. "Finally, the whole world will be infected." The boat takes a sharp turn away from Madagascar and they shut down their shipyards. "Well, time to start over AGAIN."
I like this game over many others because there's not a certain way to do things. You can go as far as you want and achieve whatever you want at any time.