Panama Canal Transit

Two days ago we completed our first West-to-East transit of the Panama Canal.  Nick and I were up early to see our approach, as the skyscrapers of Panama City appeared through the haze.  The city became clearer as we got closer and joined the line of traffic to go through the canal.  We passed under the Bridge of the Americas - part of a road that not only crosses the Canal, but is part of the Pan-American Highway, reaching all the way up to Alaska.   This highway would continue all the way down to the tip of South America if it weren't for a 100 mile stretch of rainforest in south Panama known as the Darién Gap, the only break in the highway, but by all means impassable for all but the most adventurous (there are plenty of notable expeditions to make the journey, all setting some sort of record it seems).  Nick and I were out on our little perch at the very front of the ship while we passed under the bridge.  Construction workers yelled and waved at us as we passed under it.  We stayed outside as we passed through the Miraflores Locks, until around 10am when the sun had completely baked off the cloud layer and was beginning to get to us.  It was a really beautiful day for our crossing, without any rain despite it being the season for it.  While we were in the Miraflores Locks, one of our passengers who had fallen ill (but was now stable, just needed to get back home) was evacuated off the ship right on the side of the canal to a waiting ambulance.  The photographers were able to get out and walk on the canal as well, as they took pictures of the ship.  They were brought there via small boats from the ship before we even entered the canal.  It made me want to be a photographer, so I could walk across the bridges on top of the walls of the locks!  After the sun became too much for me I watched the rest of the transit off and on throughout the day via the "front-of-the-ship" channel.  Much cooler that way!

Today we are in Curaçao, in the Dutch Caribbean.  It is my first time here, and I really enjoyed walking around the town.  The buildings are constructed just like the ones you would see lining the canals in Amsterdam, except that they are painted much more brightly, Caribbean-style!  One neat thing we experienced was crossing into town via a huge floating pontoon bridge, which floats across the water and folds back against the pier to let big shipping vessels through.  When it is folded away, you can make the crossing into town on a free ferry service.  We took the ferry one way since the bridge was gone, and then took the bridge back.  What a clever system!  Not quite on a panama-canal scale, but still impressive. 

Cruising the Coastline

On March 12th we made it back to Los Angeles to finish our South Pacific circle voyage.  I can't believe how quickly those 5 weeks went by, though the large number of sea days made it seem long at times.  It was great to be back in Los Angeles and catch up with my parents, as well as some friends who came to visit the ship.  Because of being at "red level" for so long with a lot of guests with GI or Norovirus, the chip had a total clean and sanitize routine before they let new guests embark.  Luckily I was still able to meet up with family later on in the afternoon and show my friends around the ship.  Thanks goes to my parents for bringing me all sorts of goodies and supplies that I needed! And for taking all of our excess stuff home with them.  I have cleaned my cabin out, down to the absolute minimum to get by for the rest of the contract. Nick did the same, and also moved some things from England to LA via my parents.  After we offloaded it that day, Nick told me he felt like he has really moved to LA! Now all that's missing is us.  We'll follow our stuff in a few months.

So for the last week we have been sailing down the coast of California, Mexico, and Central America.  We've been quite lucky on several days to see a lot of great ocean wildlife.  Dolphins played right next to the ship, we spotted some whales, and even some sea turtles, occasionally with seagulls hitching rides on their backs.  We have made a point of going outside every day on those long sea days, to get some fresh air and sunshine, and beat the lethargy that creeps in and tempts you to stay in bed all day and hibernate.  We have had some really stunning afternoons out of decks 4 and 5 forward.

So far we have stopped in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.  I enjoyed wandering about Puerto Vallarta on my own and checking out Pipi's - a restaurant my parents had enjoyed when they were here on vacation a while back.  It's a very nice town, with a whole lot there to see and do.  And the guacamole is fantastic! Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get off the ship in Nicaragua.  We were tendering, and the weather was so bad that the operation was very delayed.  They  decided not to allow any crew off the ship, which was a bummer.  Instead Nick and I had a mini-picnic out on deck 4 and took our pictures from there.

Today we are in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, for the second time on this "Exotic Discoveries" voyage.  While Nick is stuck on board with IPM, I am on shopping duty - grabbing a few cheap bags of coffee from the local supermarket to last us for the rest of the contract.  In the souvenir stands near the ship, bags of coffee are sold for $10 apiece.  At "Pali", the local supermercado, I got three of them for $7.  It definitely pays to get off the beaten track!

As far as what's been going on onboard the ship - a couple of notable things!  First, my wonderful grandparents are on board this segment, and they have been settling in, relaxing, and enjoying coming to the shows in the theater.  Nick and I have been once to tea with my grandma, which she loves, and we will definitely go again! It is so nice to have them on board.  They are really looking forward to the panama canal in a couple of days.  Second, we got to open a new show yesterday for a guest entertainer we've worked with many times.  Allan Stewart had put together a one man show all about the life of Al Jolson, where he speaks and sings the whole show as if he is the man himself.  We had a very long rehearsal putting it together and figuring out the music for the first time, cutting bits here and adding them there, until it was perfected.  After all the work it was a bit of a shock when the show itself was relatively short, clocking in at about 40 minutes.  But it was a really great show and we enjoyed playing it.  On the other side of things, something nearly went very wrong in the theatre two nights ago, when an acrobat was on silks, dangling 10 feet above the stage, when the fastening slipped and the whole thing cam crashing down during a show.  Yikes! The performer was absolutely fine, and continued his show right away.  But all of us and the audience had a heart attack watching it happen.  We are so lucky he wasn't injured.  That was more than enough excitement for my entire contract.  Thankfully something like that almost never ever happens.   The other shows have all been running very smoothly, in fact it is a very busy voyage for us, there isn't a night off in sight yet.  But it is good to be busy!

Hawaii part 2

(Because I accidentally hit "send" instead of "save) on my last post.

Where did I leave off? Right I think I had just bought an old suitcase. Anyway I went for a local diner for lunch called Ken's Pancake House (I'm sure no-one is wondering why I picked it) and had that wonderful thing it is difficult to find anywhere but Hawaii - yes, that would be macadamia nut pancakes. And not only that, they had a coconut syrup on the table! Along with guava and passionfruit local syrups. Wow. Yes, I tried all of them. No clear winner, all were amazing. On the way back it started to rain, and a kind Hawaiian lady felt sorry for me dragging my suitcase. She made me buckle up to drive the 4 blocks to the pier. A wise woman. I was very grateful for the lift.

Our second day in Hawaii, Nick was able to get off the ship with me, in Kahalui, Maui. Unfortunately we had a crew boat drill in the morning and couldn't get off until about noon, so we didn't have time for much. We walked into town rather than waiting for the shuttle bus, and had delicious veggie burgers at a Ruby's diner. We wandered around the shops for a while, and Nick spotted some white shoes that will work for the wedding! So the day turned out very productive after all. Once back on board I went out on deck 4 forward to watch the sailaway, and was rewarded by sighting dozens of whales! It was really fantastic, we kept passing by them, some very close to the ship, saw a few jumping and crashing back down, and one who slapped his tail on the water a dozen times for us. What a spectacular sailaway. And a great close to our short time in Hawaii! So there you are, the rest of my Hawaii post. :-)
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Hawaii

I had a fantastic couple of days in Hawaii! We stopped in Hilo on the big island first, and I was lucky enough to get on a guest tour to the active volcano Mount Kilauea (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). The huge crater is visible from a combination museum and observation point, and smoke and steam rises from it in a constant plume. What an incredible sight. A few more volcanic sights were in store for us as we went on a short hike through the rainforest to the Thurston lava tube - basically a massive tunnel caused by the hardening of an outer layer of molten lava as it flowed across the landscape. It was really huge - much bigger and longer than I expected. Then we got to have a view of Kilauea Iki, a smaller, inactive crater that you can actually hike across (I was jealous! I would love to do that hike someday!). There was one last delicious stop on our tour - the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. Fantastic! I bought a few goodies and took advantage of the free samples. The tour finished in the early afternoon, so I stayed out and walked to a Goodwill store, where I picked up an old suitcase to pack full of stuff to send home.
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Just a quick one - its amazing how one person's face with glowing with enjoyment during a show can totally make my night. One person smiling beatifically makes it all worth it.
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Tahiti and Bora Bora

We had a night off in Tahiti - so 4 of us (Me, Nick, Rebecca the harpist and Jeff the tenor sax player and Rebecca's other half) set out to conquer a hike to Fautaua Falls, something I attempted on my first visit here two years ago and failed to do due to time constraints. So this time I knew we would have time! What I didn't know was that the weather was conspiring against us. About an hour and a half into the hike, just as we began the steep ascent, it began to rain. Not just rain, but a torrential downpour, as only a tropical island can dish out. It's green there for a reason, folks! We pushed onwards in the rain hoping it would pass, for about 20 minutes, but when the muddy trail began to become a river, we knew we needed to turn back for our own safety. The rain continued steadily for the next 2 hours as we made our way back to the bus stop near the trailhead, pelting us with huge unrelenting drops that left us completely soaked, and making the hills around us reverberate with thunder. Jeff attempted to pluck some large leaves to use as makeshift umbrellas, but succeeded in uprooting the entire tree to our amusement and Rebecca's utter horror. In spite of everything, it was still wonderful to be outside in the tropical forest, and even hiking in the rain was fun and thrilling. But it was a very bedraggled and mosquito-bitten group of us who sprinted the last few yards gratefully to the well-timed bus. The driver greeted us with a towel to wipe our feet on, though we still each left substantial puddles around us by the end of the ride.

After a hot shower, dry clothes, a cup of tea and a quick nap, Nick and I were ready to go back outside and make the most of our late sailaway at 9pm. The weather had cleared up by then, and we were able to sit under the stars in the big square near the dock and have an affordable bite to eat from the food trucks that always pull up there.

The next day in Bora Bora, Nick couldn't get ashore at all due to work. A brand new acrobatic act had come on in Tahiti, and most of the stage techs were required to help perpare their show, with extensive lighting and sound to be programmed and silks and hoops to be rigged from the ceiling. So I went ashore with Rebecca and Jeff, and while it was unfortunately another pretty rainy day, we still enjoyed wandering around town, browsing the tahitian black pearl shops, and even made it to the beach. It is unnerving to swim when one can catch glimpses of lightning and listen to heavy thunder, but we were assured by the locals that it was quite safe. I did some snorkelling and managed to see a huge octopus! What a thrill! I was a bit disappointed in the grey skies which masked what a stunning colour the waters of the lagoon usually are, but I still felt lucky to be there. I bought a bunch of tiny bananas to bring back to Nick, as well as a few other little souvenirs to make up for him being stuck on board. One last neat thing about the day was watching the local young men chase our tender boats in their canoes. They would paddle madly after us as we passed to ride in our wakes. It was really a fun thing to watch.

And now we are at sea once more! Four days in the South Pacific as we make our way back to Hawaii. I can't wait!
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