Steaming down south...

Friday, January 10. Calm seas, no wind, light breeze, 29C.

Another easy day as we sail down the west coast of South America to our port tomorrow, Manta in Ecuador. We disembark at 11.00 and fly to the capital in the mountains, Quito which is in the mountains, on the equator. I was wrong yesterday on the elevations: Quito, the capital, is a world heritage site at 9,350 feet, not 14,000 as I stated.

At the moment we are on the same longitude as Toronto, which came as a surprise to me. We will be basically on the equator by tomorrow.

You may have figured out by now that this trip is not riveting excitement, all the time. Quite to the contrary, it is very restful, that is one of the reasons we are here. One could not keep up the pace of a shorter cruise on such a long one as we are on.

Sister Moe has now settled in and found her place on board. She attends many lectures and talks and has this uncanny ability to end up sitting with some woman or couple who strike up a conversation with her. She does enjoy people talking about their life-journey. She also attends every meeting on digital photography.

Moe has also booked her tours across the pacific and can now put that decision-making process behind her. The Cutler's and us have some booked but will play it by ear as we move closer to the dates.

Jim and Gail had us and Mor to their cabin for nibbles and champagne before dinner as a sort of farewell to Fellette and Doug who are off the ship for five days. Nice, thanks Jim and Gail!

Photos: The view today, straight across to the Philippines; packing for Quito and the Galapagos; Fellette filling out customs forms for tomorrow; our Main Street on this cruise,

The Panama...

Thursday, January 9. Hot, 29C. High humidity.

Our ship was lined up and ready for our turn in the canal around 6.00 am this morning. Most people aboard have been through the canal many times before so the public rooms up front were not overcrowded. It is however always fun to be on deck and look at the other ship in the canal right next to yours. As it turned out it was another HAL ship so that made it a bit more friendly.

The ship's activities are reduced somewhat today, but not by much, so people can appreciate the passing scenery with a commentary from the bridge announcing anything interesting. We attended our Tai Chi class as usual and then I went to a Techxspert meeting where there is a tech expert who can answer most questions on cameras, tablets, computers etc. I do not envy this fellows job. Us old folks can get a bit muddled with technology and that fact makes alone makes things worse still. Moe and I have continual connection problems and she has been trying to do her email routine at sea and it will just not work. I am trying to help here as best I can. I think she is beginning to realize she will have to adapt to what it is and live with it or it will ruin her trip.

The ship is comfortably quieter today as we slip through this 12 hour journey, much of which is waiting on the lake in the middle of the route of the canal. The ship gave us a slow tour of the new locks and canal being dug parallel to the old canal. When complete it will enable wider ships to get through at a horrendous cost.

Fellette and I will be leaving the ship in two days, Saturday, for five days/four nights as part of our trip to the Galapagos. We get off the ship in Manta, Ecuador and get back on in Lima, Peru. The trip is not all the Galapagos but also includes a visit to a mountain-top village of Quito which is the capital of Ecuador. It is the second highest capital in the world at around 14,000 feet. That fact alone will add to the trip that our escort advised us is 'stressful'.

So, as a result of the Galapagos trip we will miss visiting Manta and have a shortened time in Lima. We arrive back on the ship late at night and the next day is the last day in Lima. There are also people going off-ship to Manchu Picchu as well.

The other night we had for entertainment, an American Olympic Gymnast who won two gold medals at consecutive Olympics some 20 years ago. He now has a great act, part gymnastics, part juggling, and part musical and part comedy. He is a talented young man, only 43 and he was invited to Moe's table tonight, it must have been interesting judging by the body language of the table.

Pics: The canal, obviously and Jim and Gail at their wonderful table and Moe at her table. Guess who is the guest of honour?

Peurto Limon in Costa Rico...

Wednesday, January 8. Hot, 27C.

Today was the first time we have seen land and were able to get off the ship. Our Zip Line tour was something we have wanted to do for some time and today was the day. After a short bus ride and about 25 minutes we were there, all 25 of us over-aged kids. There were some that I did not think would do it but they did and had fun doing it.

There were 11 runs that we did, from tower to tower, down the mountain. At the top we were all fitted with a very restrictive harness, helmet and gloves. One by one we pushed off and were zipping down the wire to a waiting attendant at the end of the run where he transferred us from one cable to the next down the side of the mountain. You could never see the tower you were heading for until you were zipping through the canopy at a pretty darn hefty speed. The shortest run was about 200 feet, the longest is 900 feet I believe.

It was exhilarating and a good feeling to have done it. We were back to the ship by 12.30, had a bite to eat with Moe on deck and then I did the blog and had a nap, Fellette went to a movie. Later we went to the sail-away party on the deck, aft. It got breezy as soon as we pulled out of the harbour. We then walked the ship, something we don't do together often. We ended up in The Crow's Nest, a lounge and bar at the very top front of the ship. There was a lady there looking at a map of the world and our route marked on it. I said, "Yikes, have we only gone that far?" She replied "Yes, I wonder if anyone has ever died of boredom?" She was from Calgary and on her way to Australia to see her children with her husband. The Pacific Ocean is a very, very LARGE ocean.

Moe walked ashore and had a foot massage, Jim and Gail went on a rather long tour that included a banana processing plant, a boat ride through the jungle and a train ride along the coast; they had an interesting day. Both the Cutler's and us saw the three toed sloth in the wild today. 

Clocks go forward [?] an hour tonight as we make our contorted way to the canal. We will then be back on Eastern time for a short while.

Tomorrow we go through the Panama starting at 5.00 am and ending at 7.00 pm. If anybody is really interested they can see it on web cams that the Canal Company has set up. Sorry, no website for you. The toll charge for our ship will be somewhere in the range of $250,000 if you are interested.

*  *  *

Pics are self explanatory. First one is early am coming into our first port of the cruise.

Lead me not into temptation...

Tuesday, January 7. Calm seas and blue skies again.

It is a bit eerie to always have this blue sky thing, all the time. We easily forget about the weather back home, and forget very quickly. It is like living a dream; sunshine all the time, nothing but pleasures and leisures everywhere you turn, no chores to do or errands to run. A lazy time and three sea days after sailing is great. I seem to remember this from before that the motion of the ship, the weather and the isolation from the hustle-bustle of the real-world tends to make me sleepy. Unfortunately I cannot remember how long it lasts.

We have been eating quite healthily it seems. One of the reasons is that we resolved to do so long before boarding but also we start out the day right with a light healthy breakfast in the lounge and then walk for four turns around the deck which is slightly more than a mile, then 45 minutes of Tai Chi. That start to the day sets us on a healthy road and we are not then tempted to veer off the path and nibble our way around the world. Myself, I am slightly under my optimum weight so I can put on a pound or two but hope not to.

Jim and Gail are on a pretty healthy diet as well. Gail is slim as a rake and Jim has shed a few pounds the last year and has no intention of putting it back on. Jim often overtakes us on our laps as he has a faster gait and longer legs. Gail is a busy beaver it seems with her yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, water-colour class and more. They have a table for six at the very rear of the dining room, full glass walls, with the most spectacular view of the ocean just travelled, wonderful.

Moe keeps busy, she enjoys encounters with women, many travelling alone and also with fellow travellers and learning about their life adventures . Moe is a good listener, which encourages people to talk. Fellette does laps with me, is attending Tai Chi but finds it a bit slow, she also attends crafts and today did 45 minutes in the pool, deep end, doing aquatic exercises. No choir or scrabble for her yet but, give it time.

We have our first port tomorrow, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. We have tickets for the Zip Line Experience and have to be ready to go at 7.45 am. No Tai  Chi and no laps tomorrow I am afraid, an adventure ahead, we hope. Jim and Gail are on a Rain Forrest adventure which includes a ride amongst the tree canopy on a cable car. I am not sure what Moe is up to but I do know that she is not doing the Zip Line!

The captions do not post under the photos so I will list them here:

A couple at or table celebrating their 37th anniversary

The deck we do laps on

Coffee at 6.30 on our balcony

On a walk inside the ship

Coffee delivered in our cabin

Two blogs in one day...

Monday, January 6. Sunny and hot 28C..

Craig worked like a Trojan today doing some pretty interesting work getting my computer set up so that it works the way it should, and I can post the blog. I was up at five this am and got it fixed around three in the afternoon. Fellette was making arrangements for the ship to set up a bed on the balcony for me as I was so obsessed with getting it resolved. Thanks to Craig's determination I sleep inside tonight.

Tonight was the Captain's Welcome party so we got all dressed up for the first time in five years, and it took us some time to get ready I must say. First was the reception in the theatre then a great dinner with of course, steak and lobster. Our missing table mates arrived tonight, that makes a full eight. Nice enough people, not anything controversial I must say.

The cabin we are in is quite spiffy actually. We received boutonnières for Fellette and I, because we are in suites. I felt a bit self-conscious wearing them but that is something I am working on getting over. All good..

Thank you so much Craig. 

Man overboard...

Monday January 6. Hot, blue sky and calm seas.

That headline could well be me, leaping overboard from sheer frustration with this blog thing. I must be the only person on the ship not connecting easily to the internet.

Moe set her iPad up and gets and can send mail in a flash.
Mine computer and iPad refuse to work. That is why I sent the blog four times recently. The last three days have been consumed with working through my particular problems. Craig has been very helpful and patient with me for sure.
..

Monday AM addition/test. 

It was great to be at sea with Moe and the Cutler's as we celebrated Moe's birthday last night. The only downside to the evening was when I tried to send the blog after dinner. Agonizing but somehow it got through. The internet time it burned up was horrendous.

It is maybe hard for you to understand the frustration that I feel when I have such difficulty connecting and communicating daily when it is such a part of my life.

I phoned Craig late last night and he helped me get straight a few things that I may be able to do do get things resolved.

This Addenda Blog is a test to see if I can somehow get a work-aroung for my problem. It seems that everybody else onboard with Windows PCs are just doing fine!!!

HMMM

No photo attached though, darn

Who can complain?...

Sunday, January 5. Sunny 27C.

Well, things are going great as far as the cruise is concerned but my damn computer is not having a good trip. The blog is almost impossible to post on a reliable basis. It seems to behave in a much different manner than at home, but I suppose it is me, not the computer. Things are quite good for us in almost all regards, food, accommodation, the crew, and even the passengers are not annoying me, yet. 

The weather is great, we sailed in rain and woke up to sunshine. There are people basking at the pool and on beach chairs and trying to get a power tan and the ocean is calm and all looks great.

At this moment we are sailing around the left tip of Cuba, heading west, when we get to the West end we will sail South, heading for the Panama Canal. Our first Port of call is Costa Rico, [Peurto Limon]. We have not yet decided what to do there.

It is odd how we seem to have adapted to this lazy luxurious life in such a short time; it is almost as if we never got off, yet it was a full five years since we were here. Strange.

I attended the first Tai Chi class today along with Gail and Fellette and some 30 others. I don't think that this for Fellette though, she is used to some pretty active aerobics, not slow moving Tai Chi with Chinese music playing. I like it. Gail has been doing Tai Chi for years and also does yoga so she is very lithe.

We celebrated Moe's 80th birthday tonight, the Cutler's and us, in a fancy restaurant on board. It was lovely, we had drinks and appetizers in our cabin and then had a great evening solving the world's problems  Who would have ever thought that we would have her 80th birthday in such elegant surroundings.

 

Nibblies in the cabin before.

And of course a cake.

At the Pinnacle for dinner.

Finally on Board...

Saturday, January 4. Cloudy but warm.

This is my fourth attempt to get a blog off this evening. My computer is acting differently and does not seem to save my drafts. I will have to work on this if I am going to get any sleep on this cruise!

Things are going fine, busy and tiring times the last few days but all good.

We have not mingled socially with Moe or the Cutlers yet, everyone is busy unpacking and getting focused on where they are and getting used to this entirely different life.

The cabin is great, the best ever, but then the price  is related to the degree of comfort you have on a ship.

Let me end by trying to get this email away and then I think I am heading for bed. It is only 9:30 and the ship does not sail until 11:00, supposedly, but who knows. It is drizzling out and the cabin seems like a good place to be. 

One end of our stateroom

 

This is a little make-up table in the closet by the bathroom. Very nice.

It's a new day today...

Friday January 3. Sunny, 19C, winds from the North at 26 kph, therefore coolish.

Yesterday was a killer, and I can completely understand why older folks give up travel!

Yesterday was yesterday and we woke up to bright sunshine and gusty winds blowing from the North where there is a killer cold spell several hundred miles up the coast. We slept well and very long, it appears we were a bit sleep deprived.

After a hearty breakfast we went for a long walk to get the cobwebs blown out and then back to the hotel where I conked out for another three hours of undisturbed slumber, while Fellette relaxed in her own way, reading. The rest of the day dribbled away with another walk, napping and some computer work for me. It is very nice to have this time when there is absolutely no pressure at all. We think Moe is doing the same in another hotel and we will not see her until we board tomorrow. We hear from her via the iPad that she carries when she connects in the lobby with free internet. 

Fort Lauderdale is like Southampton, England, with palm trees. This is a starting point for many ship cruises, from short jaunts to world cruises. It is also a stopping place and hang out for yachts and also beach lovers, an odd mix but then, this is America, right?

Today may seem like a bit of a waste, but we booked two days here to have exactly what are now doing, rest and relax before boarding, and even boarding day can be a bit of a challenge in itself. That happens tomorrow around 11:30 am and who knows how that will go. Embarking is more fun than disembarking though, one of the shocks on disembarking is that when you are dropped at the airport you instantly find yourself completely in charge of your own destiny: there is no 'Holland America' to look out for you after four months of having every detail looked after. Also, all of a sudden you start paying for everything, and things always seem to be very expensive after having not to pay for anything for four months!  

There is much a great deal of activity in the hotels around here and a challenge for the Holland America Shore Staff right now: there are two ships due in tomorrow morning around 7:00 that will disembark their passengers [1350 approx., each]and take on a new load. Both ships have to change and clean all the staterooms, take off thousands of pieces of luggage, re-provision the ships, and in the case of Amsterdam that means taking on enough food, etc., for 37 days before they will get a chance to do the same in Sydney, Australia. HAL, [Holland America Lines], generally uses USA origin foods, certainly beef and poultry, so it is flown in and taken on board around the world in larger ports that are 'reliable'.

Chaos will reign tomorrow folks, but  it is all a great thing to participate in it. As I write this at 5:15 Friday night, the last of the ships in our port is sailing out, Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas. It is sailing for a 10 day southern Caribbean Cruise.

Ocean cruising may not be for everybody but at the moment it looks pretty darn inviting to me. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for you!

Over the Rockies yesterday

The end of the mountains and the beginning of the Plains

One view from the hotel

Some big yachts come to visit here

Fellette relaxing today

Our ship will dock across the roadway early tomorrow. Just left of centre you can see some in today

A Royal Caribbean ship setting sail this afternoon

Not a great day...

Thursday January 2. Mixed weather.

A long time ago Fellette and I decided that we would not complain on 'travel days', and we try and adhere to that promise made many years ago. Of course we mortals are cursed with a thing called 'expectations', or a preconceived idea of how we would like things to go. "Lower your expectations" is a phrase that comes to mind right now.

I know that I will not get any letters of condolence on my petty grievances today so I will overlook them and make no comment other than to say that the whole experience the last 17 hours has been somewhat less than stellar. Hell, we could have flown to Cape Town in the length of time it took us to get here. And even when we got 'here' [the hotel], it is was not what we had 'expected'. Maybe the morrow will be a bit brighter.

It is what it is. Time to go to bed.

Sort of on our way...

Wednesday January 1. An OK day.

I cannot believe how mixed up I am about going away. It is only when I reflect do I realize that I am not as calm on the inside as I am trying to portray on the outside. I had made email arrangements to make a phone call to the UK at 8:00 am this morning to a very dear friend, It was not until 2:30 did I realize that I had completely forgotten to make the call.

There were other times during the day that I had difficulty focusing on a particular task. There were several things to do like top up the gas tanks on the cars, disconnect the battery on the tractor, cover Fellette's car, etc., eventually we muddled through. We then had some free time so we dismantled the Nativity Manger and decided to tidy up the shop. That was the best time of the day actually.

Finally Wally came by to drive us to the Airport Hotel where Moe and us will spend the night, Moe had arrived earlier. Moe has to check in at 4:00 am for a 6:00 clock flight, us a couple of hours later. We said goodbye to Emily and were soon at the airport where we said our last goodbye, to Wally.

We met up with Moe, had a drink and a dinner and early to bed. Not too interesting a day, but a good first step!

Taken apart for another year.

 

To bed for four months.

Take care Emily!

It looks like Wally may be glad to see us go! 

The long walk to the Hotel, however it is mere steps from our check-in window.