Jen and Jerry's Excellent Adventure

Bonaire Because the ship bypassed the island of Curacao (pronounced COOR uh sow) yesterday (see Jerry’s post), we arrived earlier than expected on the neighboring island of Bonaire.  Most evident at first glance is that it is a much flatter island than many we have been to, and the architecture is European.  We spent extra time on blogs which delayed our departure from the ship, learning immediately that no stores were open.  It was Sunday, of course.  Also, many on the island said that they didn’t know that our ship was coming.  Oh well.  We walked around the downtown anyway and drifted into the few places that were open, then went back on board for about 45 minutes to get cooled off.  We were to meet our tour near the dock at noon and were greeted by a fluent English speaker named Donna who was belaboring that Shore Excursions continued to forget to notify the customers that we were to meet 15 minutes before scheduled time for the activity.  Not our fault, as she emphasized.  We

Unexpected Sea Day Well, we were supposed to visit Curacao yesterday.  We were supposed to get in at noon.  Things changed.  We had forty knot winds and heavy seas as we came out of the Panama Canal.  This slowed our ship down to the point that the captain came on and said they had decided not to visit as we would get in too late.  Alas, another change to the itinerary.  We would  have liked to see the island as we have never been there.  The ship was rolling pretty good for two solid days.  According to the captain the swell was 15-20 feet, by far the largest of the trip.  They cancelled some on board activities, closed several outside decks, and generally suggested we should be very careful moving around on board.  Please check out the pictures of our sea challenged animals. This change comes on the heels of the war in Ukraine which has eliminated our expected visit to St. Petersburg and may also create issues to some other ports near the conflict.  The ATW(around the world) trip has

Well, it didn't change much from the first time we were here.  It hasn't changed much since it was opened over 100 years ago.  The one big difference when you go from the Pacific to the Atlantic is that bigger ships have to wait for low tide to clear under the bridge on the Pacific side.  Tides on the Pacific side can change up to 15-20 feet.  While we were docked in Panama City they warned us that the gang plank would change decks during the day based on the tide.  I don't think they actually had to change it. We watched from the sidelines as we went through the canal.  It poured rain early but it turned nice later.  The system relies on rain, 200 inches a year, to fill the man made lakes at the top of Panama,  Gatun Lake, which then drops water into the locks millions of gallons at a time, raising and lowering boats before landing back in the oceans on both sides.  The sun came out and we watched in the 85 degree heat from the sun and rain drenched deck, walking all over

  Panama City We went through the Panama Canal earlier in the trip (December), and have been through it before, but this was our first stop in Panama City.   It is an unusual city as proven by the fact that the sun rises over the Pacific and sets over the Atlantic.   We will travel northwest from here to get through the canal to the Atlantic.   This is truly a mind blowing combination of facts.   Even after looking at a map I’m not quite sure I believe it.   We chose to take a non-ship sponsored tour today.   This may not have been the best decision for an unusual reason.   The port we docked at is unfinished.   We were informed late at night the night before our landing that we could not walk through the port but that there would be a port shuttle bus to take us out of the port area.   The ship tour busses were allowed on the dock, but nobody else.   Apparently this is a bone of contention as the ship tours are all with one company setting up a monopoly.   We were the first people

  Costa Rica.   Again. As we traveled SE toward the Panama Canal, we stopped again at Puntarenas.   About 1/3 of the guests currently on the ship boarded in Miami in December as we did.   So that means that this was the first time for there.   We were in the harbor for the day, so most of us disembarked for a tour.   We had scheduled a four-hour tour into Carara National Park, then to a botanical garden with a lunch, then to see crocodiles on the river.   “Carara” means river of alligators (crocodiles) in their native language. The first sound as we stepped from our bus in the parking lot of the park was a deafening high pitched shrill of armies of cicada.   I had troubles hearing anything but this sound in my hearing aids.   But I’ll share what I caught: This particular national park was a tropical DRY forest (as opposed to a RAIN forest).   February through April is their dry season, yet they go for almost no rain for 6 months in this area.    There are trees, vegetation, etc., b

  Acapulco We have been having some technical difficulties in working with Google Earth.  We are trying to get them straightened out so we can get things posted.  We apologize for the inconvenience of not getting our postings up in a regular manner.  We are writing the blog, and getting the pictures ready, but are having trouble completing the process.  Keep checking in.  This morning it looks like I will be able to get this blog posted to the trip, but I am not sure about the pictures.  We may have to start a second adventure site so stay tuned. Jen writes: A seaport nestled into the Sierra Madres, Acapulco’s most well-known for its cliff divers.   It’s turned into an annual competition with competitors from around the world.   Today, we watched 7 nimble divers swim across the small channel, climb up the rocks in bare feet, then do some stretching exercises while watching the waves gently roll in.   Cliff diving is a family tradition. Each trains for 3 years.   The cliff is 136’ h

 Mazatlan, Mexico Okay.   Americans learn at an early age how many states we have in our nation and where they are.   But do you know how many states Mexico has and where they are?   Yesterday’s tour began to fill some of my educational gaps. Overnight, our ship had cruised from Cabo San Lucas south along the coast to Mazatlan.   First glimpses from the bay portrayed a much more ancient city with white-ish layers of buildings going up the rock hills.   A golden cathedral dome glinted behind two tall steeples.   Clay tiles offered a colorful contrast.   Before reading or hearing anything, it’s obvious that the city wears its history of colonization.   There’s an old town away from the newer port area.   But the city itself was not on our schedule for the day. Today, we had chosen to take a small guided tour away from the city, up into the Sierra Madre Mountains, to see some small villages, to learn their old histories, and to observe some of their ways of life.   Our comfortable t

Cabo San Lucas Land Ho! In Mexico—we were able to get off the ship this time now that we’re trying this for the second time.   Our first stop, just south of San Diego, is Cabo.   As we approached San Lucas Bay on our ship, my first thought was, “this isn’t Polynesia anymore.”   Yes, there is green-blue water.   Yes, there are beaches.   Yes, there are ghastly expensive yachts and sailboats in the marina.   But this  is most definitely DESERT and not rain forest climate.   The rock formations are not black volcanoes overgrown with lush greenery.   Here in Cabo, the rock outcroppings are light brown and often bare.   Cacti grow near coconut trees.   Humidity is absent.   Cabo is well known for the rock formations in San Lucas Bay and it was obvious by the tourist boats and swimmers and divers gathered near “the Arch” which is near Lover’s Beach on the bay side and Divorce Beach on the Pacific side.   Jerry and I had scheduled a tour that would get us out on that busy water site in a

  I suppose you thought that you were going to get a blog about San Diego on this link, but we covered San Diego in the LA blog leaving space in this one to cover Valentines Day.   Valentines Day was a sea day.   There was not a huge deal made of the day on the ship.   We however were not to be deterred.   I have my tails from orchestra performances along with several colored cummerbund and bow tie sets including a bright red one.   Jen has a spectacular red sparkly evening gown.   We wore these outfits on Christmas Eve, but most of the people who may have seen us then are no longer here, and a number have joined the boat after Christmas.   We were invited to dine with another couple.   We informed them we were planning on dressing for the night and the inviter said great.   We got dressed and started by attending the open bar (free drinks) in the large lounge.   Several people commented on our outfits as we passed and some came over to us in the lounge just to compliment us.   We da

  Well, we have been useless as bloggers for a while.   We started reading books.  Reading is known to have a negative effect on writing.  We got out of the habit of writing the blog over the 9 straight sea days as we just didn’t feel like there was enough going on to warrant comment.    We did have a violinist as one of our evening performers.  She did two different shows during the 9 days at sea.  She is originally from Hungary and plays very energetically in a number of musical styles.  We had lunch with her and it was very enjoyable to talk a little shop.  Bernadette Niari is her name and you would probably enjoy seeing some of her promo's on the internet.   Then we hit LA for the second time.   We docked in San Pedro which we had visited on our previous stop in LA.   There was not much there at that time.   We were a long ways from getting transportation at the pier we docked at this time.   Looked like about half a mile walk just to get to a place we could get a cab or an Ube

  It was day 31 of our epic quest, and it was equator day, Saturday, February 5.  We were crossing the equator for the second time so far on our Magical Mystery Cruise.  Perhaps because of the nine sea days in a row they made a much bigger deal of it this time.  The newsletter they print for us each day which includes all the scheduled events for the day usually includes information about our port of call.  During these 9 consecutive days at sea they inform us of other things like the rituals surrounding crossing the equator.  Sailors who had already crossed the equator were called (Trusty) Shellbacks.  Those who had yet to cross were (slimy) Pollywogs or Wogs.  We did not do the full slate of events which used to include a role reversal the day before the crossing where Wogs took over the ship and the “punishment” for this the next day as King Neptune and his entourage mete out sentences.  The initiation could be quite brutal and some sailors were reportedly killed during the initiati

  Bora Bora We have heard this unusual name in our own military history, but here’s an interesting backdrop:   "In ancient times the island was called Pora pora mai te pora, meaning ‘created by the gods’ in the local Tahitian dialect. This was often abbreviated Pora Pora meaning simply ‘first born’.”   Because languages have various ways to spell and pronounce, this affects how places names can change.   We found this to be true also in China. “Tahitian does not distinguish between the sounds [p] and [b] so Pora Pora could also be heard by English, French, or Dutch speakers as Bola Bola or Bora Bora. When explorer Jacob Roggeveen first landed on the island, he and his crew adopted the name Bora Bora, which has stood ever since. During World War II, the United States chose Bora Bora as a South Pacific military supply base, and constructed an oil depot, an airstrip, a seaplane base, and defensive fortifications. At least eight 7-inch guns were set up at strategic points around the