Tuesday-Wednesday January 29-30. Sea days.... Shipboard Meanderings...... We have had 2 very calm days at sea heading south along the west coast of South America. We crossed the Equator and we are now in the Southern Hemisphere and Summer. So far the weather has been in the upper 70's with humidity to match, and the days are getting longer. We have sailed 2546 nautical miles and it's been 1 week and 1 day since we left Ft. Lauderdale. We have completed 3 ports of call out of 47 On the Grand World Cruise and the rest are sea days. We have a lot of sea days..... Sea Days..... A normal sea day for us-We usually get up around 7:30ish, have a light breakfast in the Lido buffet, decide if we are going to go to any lectures on the upcoming ports or just informative lectures on the places we will visit, attending computer classes, cooking demonstrations, or if not...its the gym for Bruce and walking the deck for me. By that time it is a light lunch and either more classes or le
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Monday, January 28 Fuerte Amador, Panama----Panama City 80 degrees-Partly sunny Fuerte Amador is the cruise port located about 10 miles outside of Panama City. There is no docking area for big ships, so tendering it was. Lots of construction was going on so maybe in the future there will be a proper dock for cruise ships. The Amador Causeway is the breakwater built from the materials excavated during the construction of the canal. It was built to keep the swift currents from silting up the canal entrance. It is now a 3 mile walking, jogging, biking path, lined with restaurants and the cruise ship terminal. The best views of the Panama City skyline are from there.....It's impressive. We did not have any tours planned...we were just going to see how the day progressed. We were going to take the free shuttle to a mall, but I really wanted to see, and go into Panama City. We were offered all sorts of 2 hour tours from the persistent and ambitious taxi drivers, but then I spied a
Sunday-January 27 Cruising through the Panama Canal Our transit was scheduled to start at 6:00 am arriving at the Gatun Locks from the Caribbean Sea about 7:30. We had a light breakfast of the famous Panama rolls that the ship bakes every time it sails through the canal, and are delish... and then proceeded to the bow of the ship. Since we were just barely moving, we were allowed to go on the bow. I love to watch from there, but after awhile it's just too darn hot, even if you are covered up from the sun. It was going to be a very warm day-85 and clear. We are a small ship so we are going through the most common locks. The new locks were completed in 2016, but are only used for huge ships that cannot get through the standard locks. Our ship needed to go through a set of three locks to reach the level of Gatun lake. From the Caribbean Sea to the lake it's around 27 meters, then we sail through Gatun Lake to Pedro Miguel Lock, Miraflores Lake, and the last 2 Miraflores Lock
Saturday, January 26 San Blas Islands We had a very unusual and unique port stop scheduled for today. San Blas Islands is an indigenous territory of Panama consisting of 378 islands, of which around 47 are inhabited. They are the homeland of the Kuna people which have lived on these islands for centuries in isolation, leaving their cultural traditions intact. They have only allowed tourism in the last few years. The craft that they are known for is the mola, a kind of layered quilting. Several pieces of cloth are stitched together and then delicate cuts are made to expose the layer below and then restitched. The quality is determined by the number of layers, the quality of the stitching and color and design. They are really beautiful, colorful and they are proud of their work. This was a "tender" port so in order to get to the small dock we had to tender in the ships lifeboats from the ship to the dock. We have a few of these tender ports along the way, and the only b
January 25- Santa Marta, Colombia As we sailed closer to South America the seas finally calmed down...but the heat ramped up. As an Oregonian, 90 degrees plus, with the same humidity was going to take some getting used to. We docked in Santa Marta at about 8 am and we were ready to get off the ship by 9, and it was already 90 degrees. Packing water was a must. We just planned on walking around the town so an early start to beat the heat was on the agenda. Santa Marta has been called one of the most authentic of Colombian cities, with the unique blend of old and new. Simon de Bolivar died just outside of this town and has a national monument to him. It's a working port with beautiful beaches where locals come to vacation. Well, with that being said, it is Colombia. We were warned to take off our jewelry, stay off side roads and dress down. The only tours by the ship was to the Tayrona National Park, with its sandy beaches, snorkeling, and wildlife. We decided to take our chanc
January 23-24....2 days at sea We have 2 days at sea before we land at our first port of call Santa Marta, Colombia. Needless to say those sea days were kind of "indoor" days. As we were sailing south toward Cuba we encountered gale force winds buffeting the port side, with swells up to 30 ft....do I sound like a sailor yet? Well, I'm working on it. We followed the north coast of Cuba and then headed south through the Caribbean Sea toward South America. The seas and wind did not let up. We were rocking and rolling, pitching and falling. I loved it, and was not in the least bit queasy. It was like being in a rocking chair, but rocking every direction. I tried to go out on the promenade deck to have a look see, but either I was going to get washed overboard or fall on my you know what. And breaking a hip at this early stage was not an option. We are getting our sea legs on, finally winding down and getting into a routine. The last 2 days have been getting to know our 2 w
January 22 Time to set sail January 21 We left the Gulf in pretty cool, but sunny weather to Ft. Lauderdale and our final night in the US. We drove along the infamous Alligator Alley, but even they were too cold to come out in the open. We saw nary a one. Made it to Ft. Lauderdale where we checked into our hotel and then Bruce drove to the airport to drop off the rental car. Our friend was with us and he was renting for another week at the same rental spot. So as we dropped off, he rented and drove Bruce back to the hotel....which was a huge deal for us. Thank-You Greg! We didn't have to secure an uber or taxi to drive back to the hotel. Our Travel Agency-Cruise Specialist was planning a BonVoyage cocktail party and dinner at the hotel that night for all of the clients that booked the entire Grand World Voyage. It was wonderful. A hosted bar, a very nice dinner and we caught up with old friends and made some new. Once we checked into the hotel that afternoon....our TA had ever
Pre-Cruise Adventures January 15-21 Well, whoever termed the phrase "flying the friendly skies" should have to do that in this day and age. But realistically, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Our flight to Ft. Lauderdale was scheduled for the zero-dark hour of 6:15 am, which in airport lingo means 04:15 at least. Since we live 2 hrs away from PDX, we decided to stay at an airport hotel the night before to at least get a few hrs of sleep. After a 3 am wake-up, a 4 am shuttle, and not sure of how the TSA process was going to shake out since the shutdown, I was amazed that it went as smoothly as it did. From checking our 3 bags at the counter, and going through security, we were at the gate in half an hour. We did have TSA pre-check which helped, even though Bruce still had to go through the pat-down and scanner since he has so much metal in his knee. We had an uneventful flight even though we were delayed in Atlanta for 45 minutes, but all in all it was gre
Preparing So, now that the cruise bookings are complete and paid for, its time to prepare. First of all, the one-way flight to Ft. Lauderdale needed to be booked and paid for, and we wanted to spend a few days on the Gulf coast of Florida before we sailed. So, a car rental, and hotel needed to be reserved. Also, from experience, we are flying in winter, and winter flying is very unpredictable. As a nervous flyer already, its really best to fly in early- just in case. We spent too much time and money to miss the sail-away on January 22 without us onboard. Bruce likes to look for shark teeth on Manasota Key, so we are going to stay in an old style Florida Inn that we rented for 2 weeks a few years ago. We had a great, relaxing time there. Hopefully the Red Tide will be gone by then. We did find many shark teeth to bring home. It is a little different trying to train your brain to look for black teeth mixed in with the white shells. I wanted to pick up the shells…. Our travel
Planning..... Planning for a World Cruise. And I must admit, it's really not 5 whole months, but 131 days. Sometimes those sea days can be really long, and after crossing International date lines and many time zones, it gets quite confusing. So I will give myself some slack on the title. We are doing a back to back cruise on the same ship, hence the 131 days. The Grand World is 113 days and then we will be doing a repositioning cruise back through the Panama Canal ending up in Seattle 18 days later. We booked the same room on that one so we don't have to pack-up until Seattle and then our Son will pick us up when we disembark. Anything to get out of flying... When the ship docks in Ft Lauderdale we will have to get off for an hour or 2. The ship has to show a 0 headcount before they can let the passengers on for the next cruise. We will probably make phone calls and take a taxi to a mall to refresh supplies and have lunch. We are cruising with Holland America. We chose th