Jamaica and Sea Days

January 24-26, 2017 - Sea, Jamaica, Sea

January 24, Sea Day
I did jinx the weather. When we reached the open sea out of Limon we hit stronger winds and choppier seas as we began heading east against prevailing winds and tides. It certainly wasn't lash-yourself-to-the mast-so-you-don't-wash-overboard conditions, but it was a change of pace. It was also overcast with some rain which dampened the spirits of those who spend every minute frying around the pools. By midday the skies were clearing and the sea settling so all was well. Jim has found his spot, an arm chair at a window looking out on the promenade deck, where he reads and clocks the walkers going by. I sat in the Crooners Lounge, also by a window looking out on the Promenade Deck, knitting and chit chatting with Sylvia from Toronto.

The Crooners Lounge has the distinction of having the earliest opening hour (9:30 am) of any bar on the ship. Until I discovered the unused and very comfortable Librarian's Desk (the library, such as it is, is unstaffed, with a limited selection of books but great comfy arm chairs with great reading lights for those with the foresight to bring their own books) I would sit in the Crooners Lounge after breakfast to write the blog. At the stroke of 9:30 the regulars would arrive ("Norm!") for their usual eye opener, a restorative Bloody Mary or The Drink of the Day. After reading the description of TDOTD each morning I can only conclude that the bartenders were having a contest to see how many different kinds of alcohol they could mix together. So far my favorite, just by the description-I'm afraid to try it- is the Dirty Banana. It's made with rum, Kahlua, Cointreau, vodka (TDOTD ALways has vodka), Baileys, cream and, oh, yes, a banana. Throw it all in a blender with ice and you're talking breakfast! The bartender said it's quite popular poolside. Can you imagine slurping that mid morning  in the Equatorial sun?

January 25, Whoops

Our last port of call is Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We'd been there ten years ago and that was enough so didn't plan anything ashore. I just remember dirty streets, sad little shacks and iffy merchandise in hole in the wall shops and feeling quite unsafe. Hmmm, they certainly had done a magnificent job of urban renewal. I was surprised at the lovely harbor and dock with easy access to the myriad of shops (I've only been to two Caribbean islands but in my limited experience easy access to shopping is universal) all framed by lush hillsides dotted with pastel-colored villas. Jim settled in his usual spot while I had my choice of any deck chair on the lee, shady, breezy side of the Promenade Deck. What better place to read the new Carl Hiason than with your feet up looking out on the blue waters of the Caribbean?

I could see people walking back from the shops with hardly any bags of loot so assumed the shopping wasn't that great and besides, I'd been there before. Mid-afternoon we watched from our balcony as the ship began to leave and once again I said to Jim at how remarkable the change was from 2006. And then the penny dropped, simultaneously, for both of us. We had been to Montego Bay; never been to Ocho Rios! Whoops. Still haven't I guess.

January 26, at sea
The final day of the cruise. We dock in Port Everglades at 7 am tomorrow. We're getting off with the first wave at 8 with hopes of getting back to Sandestin before dark. I've conferred with several people from The Villages in central Florida who all say the Florida Turnpike which crosses the state diagonally from southeast to northwest is our best bet. It's a toll road, but I have a Florida Sun Pass transponder suction cupped to my windshield so we're good to go. Now to pack. Returning to the cabin after breakfast on the last day to find the protective cover on the bed means time to drag the bags out, throw them on top and begin the process, always wondering why it doesn't all fit. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to toodle down to the Atrium shop for one of those twenty dollar collapsible bags to handle the overflow. This time we brought one with us. Only took us twenty years to figure that out!

Everything has been going well on board. The ship is spotless, the staff are 99%  pleasant and helpful (Yeah, I'm looking at you surly Serbian running the Internet Cafe), wonderful food, and endless activities. We met one of the very junior members of the Cruise Director's staff on the Sloth Tour. She was Japanese, had taught English in Japan for a couple of years, studied in Sweden, lived in Rome and was on the first cruise of her nine-month contract. She speaks Japanese, English, Swedish, Italian and is learning Spanish, but said the rolling Rs were killing her. The employees generally work at least a 12-hour day, seven days a week, with a couple of hours ashore during every cruise. But what an adventure! There are always the grumps among the passengers but at least you know you'll get a new group every ten days.

Oops. Just got busted for using the librarian's desk. Housekeeping is here to clean the (unused) desk.

When I get home I will sort through the pictures, make an album and then publish the link in his blog.

Costa Rica

January 23, 2017 - Limon, Costa Rica

Today I adopted a sloth. No, I'm not bringing one home. It's a symbolic adoption that helps fund the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica. The Sanctuary's mission is dedicated to rescue, rehabilitation, release and research of sloths. It began years ago when a mother sloth was killed on the road in front of a small hotel Judy Avery-Arroyo was building to replace her home destroyed by an earthquake. Someone brought the orphaned baby to Judy and a sanctuary was born. Because Judy was a novice in wildlife rescue and didn't realize that human contact would make the sloth dependent on her and thus unable to return to the wild, Buttercup, that first sloth, is still in residence some 27 years later. Buttercup has her own special woven, hanging nest/chair/bed under the roof overhang of the B & B on site. She was the only animal to react to human voices. When she heard Judy's, she immediately put out her arms for Judy to pick her up and carry her around like a small child. She was also a pro at posing for pictures as we madly snapped away.

The Sanctuary is on the east coast of Costa Rica, about 45 minutes or so from the port of Limon    where the Coral Princess was docked for the day. The Sanctuary has full-time residents, both adult and baby, who because of injuries would not be able to survive on their own in the wild as well as separate group of orphaned baby sloths who are rehabilitated (on staff is a veterinarian who runs the "Sloth-spital") with minimal human contact and eventually will return to the specific area where they were found.

With staff member Marco we visited with select groups of the resident adults and babies. They each have separate, spacious accommodations mimicking the treetops. Because of their injuries they can't hang from the trees so can't be returned there so will live out their life span of 30 to 40 years lolling on little woven hammocks, assisted living for sloths.

Both the two finger and three finger sloths (they all have three toes on each foot) have four stomachs. Whatever they eat spends a week and a half in each stomach, moving from one to the next. Every eight to ten days they come down to the ground, dig a hole in which they poop and pee (a couple of kilos worth!) then they cover the hole and go back up to their tree top. Sloths are arboreal and solitary save for the one year the mother and baby are together, and spend their entire lives in the same tree.

Because they only eat foliage (leaves for the smaller variety with only molars or leaves and unripe mangos for the larger variety with molars and canine teeth), they don't consume very many calories and thus have little energy to move or keep warm. Even though they live in the tropics they have a thick fur coat to conserve their body heat. They also have a low percentage of muscle, only 25%, so their movement is very slow and languorous although they can move quickly if threatened by predators, Harpey (sp?) Eagles in the trees or crocodiles on the ground.

Fascinating creatures who have adapted to their very distinctive living conditions. And such sweet faces. Who could resist adopting a sloth?

Once again, very good tour guide and driver. Our guide, Freddy, told us he was raised on a banana plantation and admitted to being a banana snob, preferring the small, sweet finger fruit over the variety exported to our supermarkets. As Freddy was telling us this, Ronald, the bus driver, pulled over, stopped the bus and ran across the street into a small store reappearing with a stalk of finger bananas for us to try. Freddy was right, they are almost honey-sweet, no bigger than a finger. Now to find them in Kennesaw. Freddy also shared with us oven baked cacao beans (about the size of a large almond) rolled in brown sugar. They tasted like the deepest, darkest flaky chocolate with the bitterness counter-acted by the sugar. I could feel those antioxidants surging through my veins!

On the subject of food (which has been so good on the ship), the other night one of the appetizers on the dinner menu was guacamole served with baked plantain chips. Delicious! I know I can get plantains in Kennesaw so I'll definitely be trying that at home.

Still looking for the quirkiest on board. There is a group of 50 or so from Wyoming who wear cowboy hats and boots, long sleeves and jeans every day -- in the tropics but that's not quirky, just nuts.

We left Limon at 5:30. Tomorrow is a sea day and then Jamaica. The weather has been sunny with blue skies and the seas calm every day. I probably shouldn't have thought that let alone written it down. Probably jinxed it.

Panama Canal

January 22, 2017 - Panama Canal

The Ghost Ship

We picked up the pilot at 5:15 am for our trip into the Canal. I did not witness this but I was awake as we passed through the Gatun Locks to Gatun Lake. It's still so astonishing that something built over a century ago still works efficiently and the same way as it did the first day. Once there, the ship hovered, launched the tenders and began ferrying ashore the passengers going on various tours. Some were boarding small boats and continuing on through the rest of the canal to the Pacific and Panama City, others were going to ride the old steam train through the jungle and still more were going to ride around the lake on even smaller boats looking for wildlife in the jungle. We've done the entire Canal transit before so stayed aboard.


Two-thirds of the passengers disembarked which left the rest of us are rattling around on The Ghost Ship today. Plenty of room everywhere to do whatever. We were waiting not far from the locks for our return transit so had front row seats to the freighters passing from locks to lake. It's akin to watching paint dry but strangely fascinating. This is about the time that I discovered the panorama button on my phone camera. Suffice it to say, lotsa panoramic shots of lake and freighters!

So far the only setback to the day was that the Green Bay-Falcons game was only available on the big screen on the top deck. The Canal is about nine degrees north of the equator so the sun is blazing hot. Even my industrial strength SPF 50 with zinc oxide can't handle that.  We made do by turning ESPN2 on mute in our stateroom and watching for the occasional "Score Alert" crawl on the bottom of the screen. And THAT is today's First World Problem solved.

We went back through to the Caribbean and to Colon about 5 pm where those who went ashore were waiting. The ship was docked there for a couple of hours but nothing to see but some trinket shops so we passed. I bought one little thing at the aviary, but other than that, nothing. If we were flying home I'd be shopping at the airport but since we're driving I'll be making selections at the Pilot Truck Stop gift shop somewhere on I-95.

Bonus: A Star is Born

I am forever laughing at Jim taking his wallet with him everywhere on the ship. You're issued a card when you check in that is your ID, room key and charge card on board. No cash is used anywhere on board so why the wallet? The performer in the showroom last night was a magician. At one point he asked for "a gentleman with a dollar bill in a wallet." And who was the only gentleman in the entire theater with a wallet? Yes, Mr. Jim Fisher! So up on the stage he went where he participated in the illusion. As it so happens, I do know how to shoot a video on my phone so I recorded all 4:52 of it. Ship wifi is notoriously slow and expensive so it won't be attached to this. Jim did a great job on stage.

Costa Rica and the Sloth Sanctuary tomorrow

Cartagena

January 21, 2017 - Cartagena, Columbia

40 or so years ago my brother shipwrecked sailing on a C 48 in the channel between Aruba and Cartagena. They hit high winds and seas, lost their mast and ended their epic journey in Columbia. Not only was our crossing so smooth you couldn't tell we were moving but we landed in the prosperous, safe harbor of Cartagena rather than the guerrillas-with-guns who were the norm when John arrived decades ago.

Today Cartagena is a city of millions, the third largest in Columbia. The bay is enormous with large, bustling commercial areas stacked high with containers or surrounded by acres of imported cars. 280 or so cruise ships stop in Cartagena during the season from October to May. Lucky us, just as in Aruba yesterday we were the only cruise ship docked so we didn't have to share with thousands of other visitors. Not to be selfish, but being an only child in port is so nice.

The tour buses were all lined up and ready to go when we disembarked. Another smooth operation both on the ship and ashore. There were excursions going here, there and everywhere. We chose a tour developed by the Discovery Channel to the national aviary, a 45 minute bus ride from the port. It's a relatively new excursion so one of the ship's videographers was along to record it for the photo disc they make of every cruise, available for purchase, of course.

There were only 20 of us, the nice new little bus had great a/c, Sergio, our guide, teaches English so was easily understood and our driver, Mr. Wilmer, was wearing a Braves hat! American professional sports, baseball, football and basketball, are broadcast here. Sergio was a big fan of the Warriors and Cavaliers. ESPN is everywhere!

We learned that Columbia with 1900 is second only to Brazil with the number of different species of birds. The aviary is six years old and has 200 or so different species of birds plus some impressively large iguanas lolling about. The facility is quite large with a rambling path that takes you up down and around, some times in the open, sometimes inside of expansive cages. Each location featured large color photos of the birds labeled in Latin, Spanish and English to help identify what you were seeing. It took us nearly two hours to do the circuit. It was hot but because it is the dry season not as humid as expected, or maybe I've lived in Atlanta too long. Some of the Northeners were looking a bit limp.
Water birds, song birds, little birds, enormous birds and so many bright, vibrant colors. Sergio knew his birds and was a great spotter.

In between the ship and the aviary is a mix of commercial, both little shops and massive chemical, oil and cement plants, and residential, predominantly lower working class with some middle class. The swank neighborhoods are across the bay. Sergio said that the poorer earn around $300 a month, the middle class $2000-3000. There is no unemployment insurance or welfare so, as he so eloquently put it, "If you don't work, you die." School is mandatory to age 17 or 18. University was once out of reach to the poorer, but now is more accessible with night,  week end and online classes which allow the students to work during the days.

The traffic patterns are imaginative with a combination of big trucks, small cars and thousands of small motorbikes. Gas was pretty expensive. I forgot to ask Sergio the cost of owning a car but I guess it's out of reach for the majority of the population. Every once in a while a mule cart would appear.
We were back on board around 1:30; the ship sailed soon after bound for a 5:15 am arrival at the Panama Canal.

The weather has been ideal. Hot, but no storms or rain to upset any outdoor plans either ashore or on board. Good thing. Among other things the movie theater is outside on the top deck with a  monster screen designed to be viewed either during the day or at night. The NFL games are scheduled to be broadcast there tomorrow. Tonight at dinner we sat with a couple of women from Canton, up the interstate from Kennesaw. Jane said her 32-year-old son, also on the trip, was a big Falcons fan. We're vastly outnumbered by Green Bay, Steelers and Patriots fans. My independent survey of dinner and lunch companions says probably 500 to 1 so a Falcons victory would be especially sweet.

Aruba, January 20, 2017

Friday, January 20, 2017

Aruba

What a pleasant, well-behaved group of passengers, a nice healthy slice of middle America. As to be expected there are a lot of people from Canada, Minnesota Wisconsin, anyplace where it's cold and snowy. It makes for a soothing cruise, but pretty dull for a blog. Where are the quirky, just a bit off plumb people that provide the fun stories? No low hanging fruit so I'm going to have to work for it on this trip. Still a week to go so there's still hope.

Since we were in Sandestin on the Florida Panhandle we decided to drive to the port this time. I guess you could do it in one long haul, but those days are long past. Instead, on Sunday we headed to St. Petersburg (about seven hours) on the west, Gulf coast mostly to visit the Dali Museum there. Remember all those jokes about St. Pete being God's waiting room? Much to our surprise, there were oodles of thirty-somethings with beautiful, well-behaved young children and "active" adults with beautiful, well-behaved dogs. We stayed in the revived downtown which is really along the bay with endless restaurants featuring outdoor dining for the above mentioned well-behaved humans and pets. It was about 70 degrees, low humidity--perfect for dinner outside. No wonder those North Easterners beat feet south in the winter.

Monday we planned to walk the fifteen minutes on the waterfront path to the Dali, just past the Tampa Bay Rowdies Stadium ("We Stand for Soccer") and the performing arts center. About 9 o' clock we could hear the rat-a-tat-tat of drums in the distance. What a surprise! It was the Gibbs High School band from south St. Pete warming up for the MLK Day parade which started in the park in front of our hotel. Lemme tell ya, those kids had a lot more style, soul and sass than the Newport Harbor High School band and drill team of the early 60s.

The parade was supposed to start at 11 but the streets were going to be closed until 3 so we figured we had plenty of time for the Museum before. The building is partly cement, partly geodesic glass. Inside is a dramatic cement spiral staircase leading up to the galleries on the second floor where the steps stop but the spiral continues up to the glass roof. Very surreal as you'd expect in a Dali Museum. The permanent gallery had a very comprehensive exhibit of Dali's work from his art school days of realistic, then impressionistic, then cubist style and on to surrealism and his huge mystical canvases. The temporary gallery featured Frieda Kahlo. A short, dramatic and painful life reflected in her work. On a brighter note one corner of the Museum's garden (called the Avant Garden--love that label) was planted to resemble Kahlo's bright, flower-filled garden in Mexico City. Score: my High Museum membership got us in for free so I felt beholden to spend that money in the gift shop. It was the right thing to do.

The parade was just beginning when we got back to it's main route on Central Avenue to Tropicana Stadium where the Tampa Bay Ray's play. It's just two lanes with parking on each side so Colorado Blvd it ain't, but this wasn't exactly the Rose Parade either. Instead it was a small town production with the county beauty queens, pint-sized baton twirlers, the local funeral home, bail bondsmen (clad in striped prison uniforms(!), handing out business cards. I'm all set if I ever misbehave there), the afore mentioned Gibbs High School band and all manner of political groups from Black Lives Matter to the Humane Society. It was great fun, even if it did seem to stop more than start. Everyone, participants and parade watchers alike were having a wonderful time. The Big Deal at the end was the fabulous Florida A & M Marching 100. Their music was great with even better style. It was definitely a fan favorite. And nothing says MLK Day like a band from one of the historically black colleges high steppin' down the street playing the theme from that old TV show, Good Times.

I was almost sorry to leave the next day to drive across the state on I-75, aka Alligator Alley, to Port Everglades and the waiting Coral Princess. Seamless parking and boarding (thank you, Paula, our wonderful, efficient cruise travel agent), lovely stateroom/suite with balcony, and picture perfect departure at sunset.

This morning we're docked in Aruba. Jim and I did a quick tour of the just-steps-away shopping district, mostly to stretch our legs after a couple of sea days. We're the only cruise ship in port this morning so it wasn't crowded, however, we landed at 7 am and not much was open!

Cartagena tomorrow and a trip to Columbia's largest aviary. We visited the charming old city and fort a few years ago so this time birds it is!

Oh, almost forgot, last night we went star-gazing. We made our way above Deck 15 to the tippy-top of the ship, got headsets so we could listen to the crew member, an amateur astronomer, point out the constellations and then, poof, all the lights up there were extinguished and the stars came out. What a treat. Another star-gazing is scheduled the night we leave Jamaica on our way home, a couple of hours later to see more that the night sky has to offer. Princess goes to no end of trouble and expense to provide entertainment, but last night the stars one-upped them all.