DAY 17—January 20, 2017—Cruising the North Pacific to HAWAII

The Captain adjusts our course to Hawaii to avoid bad weather and rough seas.   (See arrow on map.)

As it was, we were met with 13-18 foot swells right away out of San Diego.  This meant there was a lot of rocking and rolling going on and we were all walking like drunkards down the hallways, pin-balling off the walls.

Barf bags were conveniently placed at the ready throughout the ship.  Dramamine became the complimentary cocktail of the day.

The 45th US Presidential Inauguration was broadcast in the Movie Theatre and on stateroom TVs at 9:00 am.  

Or, at the same time, we could take a class to make an Orchid Lei.  Then we could learn to Hula and play the ukulele all in preparation for our visit to Hilo, Hawaii in 5 days.  Lectures focused on Magellan and early Polynesian explorers.  A very funny Hawaiian comedian, Kermit Apio, performed tonight.  Mostly, the audience was lukewarm but Ron and I were in stitches.  Humor is so subjective and the crowd on a World Cruise is tough. Entertainers who do the circuit of very long cruises  have to know that their audience is half-dead to begin with.  Actually, about half the ship’s passenger are Baby-Boomers, like us, but the other half is from the generation born between 1925 and 1945 and they see the world in an entirely different way.  Also, most of them cannot hear very well and that makes appreciating a nuanced joke a little more difficult.

DAY 18 — January 21, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific to Hawaii

Sea swells are still very high, 12-18 feet.  There are not big crashing waves, just heaving seas.

It’s a Gala Night tonight — an opportunity for guests to dress up, or not, and choose from more elegant offerings in the dining room. 

The evening’s entertainment was a brilliant 5-man singing/ukulele band from Liverpool, England, called Ukebox.  Wow, these guys were talented, presenting a fabulous and utterly appealing ukulele concert.  They were brimming with a non-stop energy as they bounced around a stage that was bouncing about underneath them from the rolling seas.  The largest cruise ships now have Broadway level shows but the majority still have performers who aren’t well-known to us but put on amazing shows.   Sometimes you think, “Why would I want to watch this?” and then, wow, you get a very pleasant surprise.

DAY 19 — January 22, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific to HAWAII

As we continue on our 5-day cruise to Hawaii on this Sunday, we can learn to tie a Pareo/Sarong, take more ukulele lessons, learn the what’s and why’s of the Tropic of Cancer, and of course, watch the NFL playoffs with Atlanta vs Green Bay and Pittsburgh vs New England.  Not surprisingly, this gets a big turnout and gives the ship a lot of opportunity to sell drinks from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.  We are still roughly within the normal broadcast times for US football games and drinking beer.  In two weeks, the Super Bowl will be broadcast at 8:30 am on the Monday morning following Super Bowl Sunday in the States.  We will see if that puts a damper on the traditional Super Bowl party.   Maybe there will be Bloody Marys and Mimosas.  But, most likely, beer will still be the drink of choice.

DAY 20 — January 23, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific to HAWAII

The ship continues to rock and roll.    Many people continue to feel pretty queasy.  But, hey!  What’s for lunch?

 

Also today, we could make a Lauhala Hawaiian Bracelet, learn how to fold napkins, take another ukulele lesson, learn about the natural history of Hawaii, and participate in meditative coloring.

Jane stays in the cabin all day because she has been hit with the cold virus circulating the ship.

DAY 21— January 24, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific to HAWAII

Jane, still nursing the cold and hoping to get better by the time we get to Hawaii, sticks to the cabin and misses an astronomy lecture, Hawaiian language lessons, and a fashion show of colorful, gauzy, flowing cover-ups called Goddess (prices starting at $300) that promise to help formerly shapely women pretend they still are, while trying to conceal the shape they actually are.  

DAY 22— January 25, 2017 — Hilo, HAWAII

It is raining in Hilo, when we disembark because it rains in Hilo 5 days/week.  Annual rainfall averages 130” on this side of the island, with the Kona side only getting about 18”.   We take a bus excursion to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016.  At 4,300 feet above sea level, the conditions are cool and breezy and the rain stops and starts.  At the Visitor’s Center, we get an overlook of the gases streaming from the Kilauea Caldera, which is closed to visitors.   Signs everywhere warn us of the hazards of VOG (Volcano Fog, a dangerous sulfur dioxide gases emitted from the caldera). 

 

Off to the northwest we can see the magnificent Mauna Loa looming over everything.  We then travel down the crater’s rim into a rainforest where we walk for 20 minutes through a lava tube discovered in 1913.  Walking through, we imagine the huge river of red molten lava gushing through this space hundreds of years ago.

Turston Lava Tube.

On the way back to the ship we stop at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation processing plant and outlet store and load up on a lot because, you know, we can never be sure there will be enough to eat on the ship.

DAY 23— January 26, 2017 — Honolulu, HAWAII

Celebrating Ron’s 70th birthday on Waikiki

DAY 24— January 27, 2017 — Honolulu, HAWAII

King Kamehameha

We finally make it to a Walmart which is five minutes from the port, in the downtown business district of Honolulu near the historical Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha statue, where the latest version of the  Hawaii Five-0 TV show is filmed.   

Iolani Palace

Our big purchase was a $10 bathroom scale.  The ship has a sophisticated digital scale in the fitness center on the 8th floor but the movement of the ship up there causes it to swing wildly.  Just when you are excited about seeing a low number, the read-out blips up 10 lbs more, then 5 lbs less, then 15 lbs more.  On wild sea days it only reads ERR.  The one we purchased doesn’t do a whole lot better but we more easily can monitor our inevitable weight gain without having to get dressed and walk up 5 flights of stairs to get the bad news.

This two-story Walmart offered a feature that I had never heard of or seen before:  a cart escalator.  Pretty awesome.  Oh, the wonders that are revealed to you as you travel the world.

No show tonight as we take off on our next stretch of 8 Pacific sea days.  Instead, a big-screen movie will be presented in the showroom:  Amelia, the story of Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.  At least they are not showing the Titanic.

DAY 14 — January 17, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific to San Diego, CA

The ms Amsterdam is a beautiful ship with elegant public areas and drinking/dining venues.        The atrium is the crossroads for all the activities.

DAY 15 — January 18, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific to San Diego, CA

The LIBRARY is my favorite place on the ship, of course.  With a wide open design, it is beautifully appointed, and relaxing with large windows for amazing sea views.  Sadly, libraries are being phased out on most cruise ships.  I learned today that, at the end of this cruise, the Amsterdam Librarian will be replaced by a Communications Specialist.  This is not surprising since there is little demand for readers advisory services and a lot of demand for helping passengers with internet access.

Ron’s favorite thing to do on the ship:

Ron’s second favorite thing to do on the ship:

DAY 16—January 19, 2017—San Diego, CA

Beautiful San Diego!   But no zoo for us. It was a day to shop for forgotten items and use our phones and cellular service providers for free, fast mobile data access and calling home to catch up after 15 days away.  We may be on the trip of a lifetime but staying connected with family and friends back home is important to everyone.

It had been a little rainy off and on all day, but as we prepared to sail away, our captain informed us of trouble ahead.  Because of a big storm moving across the northern Pacific we had to re-route our course to avoid high seas, and, for some reason, that meant no Sail-Away party.  Everyone mumbled about a lost  opportunity to eat and drink more right before dinner.  What we didn’t know at that point was that many of us wouldn’t feel much like eating and drinking for the next five days.

DAY 9 — January 12, 2017 — Corinto, NICARAGUA

Nicaragua literally means land of water.  Its founders might have just as easily chosen “land of earthquakes and volcanoes.”  This is a small country with 52 volcanoes, 7 of which are active right now.  And earthquakes occur regularly.  Because of the vast Lake Nicaragua in its center, early canal planners thought Nicaragua would be the most likely spot to cut through Central America to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.   The instability of the land, however, convinced most engineers that this kind of investment might eventually prove unwise.  It is reported that China and Nicaragua continue to work on a canal project.

Nicaraguans could certainly use the economic boost that the canal brought to Panama.  They live in the 2nd poorest country in Central America, after Haiti.  Ninety percent of the population is considered to be poor, with families surviving on as little as $3/day.  Middle class wage earners take home approximately $360/month.  The upper 1% in “socialist” Nicaragua — just like in every other country in the world regardless of what political system it professes to subscribe to — holds most of the money and the power.

On a previous visit to Nicaragua, we explored its Spanish colonial history, its arts and crafts, and some of its interesting geographic features, i.e., the geo-thermal areas at the base of the volcanoes, famously known as the “bubbling mud pots.”  Wanting something different this time, we chose to visit a 300 year-old farm estate, Cortijo El Rosario, famous throughout Central America for its pure-bred Spaniard and Lusitania horses to see an Equestrian Show.

The Cortijo El Rosario estate is one of 14 estates owned by Nicaragua’s richest family, the Coens.  The estate farmhouse, surrounded by gardens and tropical flowers, was promoted as being reflective of the “the gentile aspects of Nicaraguan life.” (As opposed to the sheer poverty we would see everywhere else, I guess.)   It was a low-key and quiet property.  There was no elegance or grandeur — just a working horse breeding farm with lovely, but not spectacularly beautiful, grounds used for weddings, parties, and probably mostly, TOURISTS who come in for the equestrian show, lunch, folkloric entertainment, and souvenir shopping. 

After a visit with the horses and our lunch our group was asked if we would like to visit the non-profit Equine Therapy Clinic housed and run there on the same grounds by the Coen family foundation.  We all agreed, of course. The concept of the clinic is to use horses as natural therapy to promote physical, occupational, and emotional growth for children with ADHD, Autism, Cerebral Palsey, traumatic brain injuries, developmental delays, etc.  The clinic is set up for both out-patient care and residential treatment.   A few patients were there along with their moms and we received an overview of their treatment followed by an “opportunity” to give a donation.   We tourists have dollar signs hanging all over us.  If you would like to learn more about this clinic, you can visit here:  www.fundacioncoen.org

DAY 10— January 13, 2017 — Puerto Quetzal, GUATEMALA

I will admit that the Caribbean and Central America are not among my favorite places to visit.  Even when I was escaping bitter northern winters, the weather here was just too hot and humid.  We planned no formal excursion in Puerto Quetzal, “planning” instead to “just walk around.”  Whenever you hear cruise passengers  say, “Oh, we just plan to walk around the port,” it means they have no real plan at all and want to put forth the most minimal effort but still be able to say they set foot in the country . . . and maybe bring back a t-shirt.  That sounds kind of petty, maybe even stupid, but that is exactly how we felt today.

 

Many ports that offer cruise ship berths have built pretty little gateways from the ship into their city to lure passengers who are feeling too tired to do anything more difficult than find a free WiFi spot while they drink a local beer.  And these port entrances do look inviting.  But once you make it past the pretty flowers and landscaping, you pretty much find the same thing:  stall after stall of vendors selling the same clothing, jewelry, knickknacks and other junk.  Some of it might be hand-made in the country you are visiting but most of it is so clearly mass produced that your skepticism naturally kicks in.   And then there is the price haggling.  I know some people find this to be fun but  this has never been my idea of a pleasant way to spend my time.

If I see something that I like and want to take home, like this piece,

I will pay a good price to get it.  Unfortunately, this was not for sale at any price

So, here is the t-shirt to prove we were here.
 

DAYS 11 and 12— January 14-15, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific Ocean to Mexico

On sea days it is easy for cruise ship passengers to lose track of time.  To help us remember what day it is, the crew changes the carpet in the elevators overnight.

DAY 13 — January 16, 2017 — Puerto Vallarta,  MEXICO

Mountains, colonial history and TEQUILA!

Old San Sebastian.

Bypassing opportunities to swim with dolphins, take off-road adventures, or whale watch, we once again chose the historical path and headed into the beautiful Sierra Madre mountains to the town of San Sebastian.  A prosperous colonial town in the 1700s, the village now boasts 600 residents and is a “living museum untouched by time.”  Sort of.

Modern Day San Sebastian.

Then a lesson in Tequila!  I eventually let the persistent bee have mine.

DAY 5 — January 8, 2017 — Cruising the Caribbean to the Panama Canal

In this day of instant communications, the idea of taking a long sea voyage could give some people high anxiety because satellite Internet access on the high seas can be spotty, slow, and EXPENSIVE.  How can we live without that instant access to Facebook, Twitter, MGoBlue page, or whatever it is that makes us feel connected to the people and things we love?

Cruise lines are gradually making some much needed changes to help keep their customers happy.  Some are testing the viability of giving unlimited free satellite Internet access to social media sites like Facebook.  Some are even starting to offer free Internet access across the board.  HAL is not giving anything free yet.  But I do have to say, the Internet service for which I am paying 25 cents/minute is easier to sign on to and off of and a lot faster than it used to be.  In addition, HAL has developed a free shipboard WiFi app, called Navigator, that allows you to see what is happening on board each day, plan your day’s activities, schedule spa appointments, make dinner reservations, look at menus, book shore excursions, and monitor your shipboard account all from your smartphone or tablet.  It is also the portal from which you can easily jump into to your paid satellite Internet account.  And, because HAL partners with the New York Times, we also have complimentary access to a variety of NYT articles and features.  So now we have a reason to keep looking at the electronic device we are carrying around because it is also our CAMERA.  I’m not sure that's a good thing but the app has turned out to be quite useful.  

DAY 6 — January 9, 2017 — The PANAMA CANAL

Ah, the Panama Canal!  Where the sun seems to rise in the west and set in the east.   Where the impossible became possible.  How American engineering and Yankee can-do-it-ness made all the difference.  This is our third visit to the Panama Canal but passing through will never get old.  The Panama Canal story is an amazing saga of how human ingenuity, courage, and nature were merged together over a 400 year period. David McCullough’s masterpiece, The Path Between the Seas, has long enthralled us with the story of the long, arduous early French efforts (1841-1894) to replicate the canal that had been so easy for them to construct in the sand at Suez.  Then the Americans stepped in and knocked out the project within 10 years by systematically and methodically solving a series of seemingly insurmountable issues.  How?

1) Support a revolution.  Don’t have rights to use the land?  Simple.  Send in US warships to block Colombian troop ships that are en route to stop a Panamanian rebellion.  Independence is declared within two days.  The US recognizes the new country immediately and three days later is granted rights to use the land for a canal indefinitely.

2) Make it a safer place to live and work.  Yellow Fever, Malaria, and accidents killed 20,000 workers on the French project.   How to prevent that?  The US sends in a sanitation officer who, aware of the mosquito-disease connection made by Walter Reed, spends an intensive two years improving sanitation, fumigating buildings, spraying with larval insecticides, installing mosquito netting and screens, and eliminating stagnant water.  Not everyone thought the efforts were necessary but within the two years, the mosquito-spread diseases were nearly eliminated.  Better housing, infrastructure, cafeterias , and hospitals were built improving the overall living conditions.

3) Choose a design that works.  Over the years, a sea-level canal had been favored by every group of engineers that had studied the project.  But those who actually experienced the area during high floods knew that new thinking was needed.  A lock-dam-reservoir system was proposed and Theodore Roosevelt finally bought into the design in 1906.  All the French plans and equipment were thrown out and newer and more powerfully built American-made equipment was brought in to do the work better and faster.  For seven more years the engineering and excavation work continued until October 10, 2013 when the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were finally joined. 

The canal officially opened August 15, 1914, 401 years after Vasco Núñez de Balboa first crossed the isthmus of Panama.  It cost $375 million, which would be about $8.6 billion in today’s dollars.  This is a fantastic story of failures and successes, good ideas and really bad ones, and the triumph of American know-how in the end.  This is the kind of thing some may be thinking of when they say they want America to be great again.   But then, I would have to refer them to another favorite book of mine, The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible because, in terms of overall human conditions, we definitely do not want those days back.

This is a large cargo ship traveling next to us through the NEW locks of the Panama Canal, which opened in 2016.  Ships pay their passage through the canal based on vessel type, size, and type of cargo.  Cruise ships pay by the number of beds occupied and un-occupied.   Our captain reported our cost of passage to be about $300,000.  In 1928, Richard Halliburton swam through the canal for 36 cents.

The Panama Canal Optical Illusion.  The water levels indicated by the red arrows are at the same level.  The water in the lock indicated by the yellow arrow is 27 feet higher than the water in the canal on the left and the water behind the lock’s gate.

DAY 7 — January 10, 2017 — Cruising the North Pacific Ocean

Sea days give us the time to explore activities we might not otherwise seek out.  On the second day of the voyage, I went to see a demonstration of how the Amsterdam horticultural staff puts together its beautiful floral centerpieces found around the ship.  I was impressed by the ease with which they can put together such stunning displays.  It turns out that most of the displays are very pot dependent.  In other words, it is the container that makes the work effortless.  And, of course, we, too, could be amazing floral arrangers if we had the right pots.  And, voila!  Here is an opportunity to purchase one of only 100 that were specially designed for the Holland America line with only 7 of them available to us here on the ms Amsterdam.    Everything becomes a revenue opportunity.  I bought one, of course.

Today, Ron and I and decided to take a dance lesson in Single Step Jive/Swing.  It’s the kind of step that we can use to dance to most of the music we like to listen to, so why not?  More women than men come to the dance classes. Big surprise.  All the women form a big circle around a small circle of men who had to work pretty hard to give everyone a chance to try out the steps they were learning.  It was a lot of laughs and not too strenuous.  You did have to hold hands with a lot of people you might not have otherwise.  No one sold anything, making Ron very happy.

DAY 8—January 11, 2017—Puntarenas,  COSTA RICA

Well, that was fast.  Ron spent all last night in the bathroom, stopped by the Medical Center for advice and within minutes he was given medication but was QUARANTINED to his cabin for a minimum of 24 hours.  The quarantine does not apply to other people in the cabin (not yet, anyway) so I happily waved goodbye and set off on a shore excursion that we had planned with four other couples.  I thought we probably would have a few weeks before either of us got sick, but, wow.  Holland America does not mess around.  They want all illnesses contained immediately. While I was out, a safety officer came into the cabin in haz-mat gear and disinfected the entire cabin.  They checked on him often and had food and drinks delivered.  He got a chance to stay in bed, recover from this hectic cruise ship schedule, finish a book, and visit his pillow port (that’s “take a nap” in cruise ship talk, I have learned).  Heh.  By the time I got back at 4:30pm, the meds had kicked in and he was feeling a lot better.  By the next morning, Ron was good enough to be cleared and I haven’t gotten anything . . . yet.  He obviously didn’t have the dreaded Norovirus because that takes a few days and a lot of personal agony before recovery is complete, so that may still be in our future.  In thinking back on the previous 24 hours, he did hold hands with a lot of women.  Hmmm.

I had a great day in Costa Rica, though.  I researched and booked a small group shore excursion with a nice little tour group called Thumbs Up Tours.  Great people.  I can highly recommend them.  Costa Rica always offers beautiful experiences because the country is committed to preserving its natural resources and its tourism industry has become pretty sophisticated.  We had a number of gorgeous scenic stops to appreciate the country’s natural beauty and abundant wildlife, we all tried our hand at triple pressing the juice out of sugar cane,  had a wonderful countryside lunch, and took an exciting boat ride down the crocodile-infested Tarcoles River.   This was our third visit to Costa Rica, so Ron did not feel like he was missing out.  The day was lovely — breezy and warm but not HOT!  Thank you.

Our Crocodile Man Boat Tour guide jumped out of the boat to feed a crocodile, putting on a nice little show for all of us tourists.  We were encouraged NOT to try this at home.