It sure did not look like it was going to be a sunny day when we woke up this morning. The clouds were thick and the seas choppy once again. At least it is not raining, and it is still warm, but sticky.
The morning's activities began with another ship's fire drill. We could see the water from a fire hose cascading from deck three or two in the forward end of the ship while we were walking. There is a handful of passengers that walk in the morning like us, but not many. Most all of the teak lounges have filled up now that we have a few days at sea. Wonder if this ship will ever be converted to have lanai suites on the lower promenade deck? Bet that would start a war with the regulars.
Barbara H gave a talk on things to do and see in Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica. Actually that stop has been moved to a much better location at Puntarenas. At least there, we can get off the ship and walk the town and beachfront. Dozens of vendors are set up along the beach, as well as many bars and cafes. Tours out of the area take you far into the mountains and the country's capital of San Jose. It's a long and winding drive, which we have done numerous times in the past.
The Panama Canal is coming up soon on Saturday. We have lost count as to how many times we have transited this famous waterway. There is always something to learn about its history, and also the continuation of the improvements being made over the last 10 years. We have been lucky to see the new projects taking place as the locks are being expanded on both ends of the canal.
This may sound funny, but we were happy to find that the broken elevator in the aft section has been repaired, and it is finally working. This elevator has been stuck on 8 for four months now. There is still one problem however. The sign inside the car will say deck B when you are really on deck 4. If you ignore the sign and listen to the annoucement in the elevator, you cannot get lost.
Wine tasting was held at 2pm in the lower dining room, complimentary by invitation for being a five star Mariner. Since we seldom drink wine, we usually do not attend. Red wines can give one of us a pounding headache, so it is something to avoid completely. Thank goodness there is no such problem with a good, smooth and aged scotch.
Even though it was cloudy, we spent a few hours at the aft pool. It was still warm and muggy. The funny thing was we counted about a total of 10 people sitting back here today. Someone on the bar staff had decided to change the piped music back here, and play something new and loud enough for us to hear it. By 4pm, we had time to watch a movie, The Bounty Hunter, in our room. Yesterday, we watched, Saving Mr.Banks, and found it very well done.
Dancing With the Stars at Sea involved learning the cha-cha this afternoon. We will have to take a peek inside the lounge to see how many potential dancers are participating on this cruise. It sure was popular on the grand world voyage, although in all fairness, we think that it was more of a personality contest as much as a dance contest.
At 7pm, we were invited to another cocktail party with Captain Fred and Henk M in the Explorers Lounge. The staff did something different in here tonight by taking out most of the single chairs, and putting tall cocktail tables in the center between the couches. This worked well, because you could leave your drink on the table, and be able to snack on the jars of formal nuts and the appetizers that were being passed around the groups. A new duo, Adagio, entertained us for the hour of party time. There was one violinist and one pianist, a woman that could be a sister of Emily, our librarian. We do believe that Margaret and Keith would have been much happier with this duo, as they played quite well together......on key and not shrill.
Dinner followed at 8pm, and we each had a different entree. The parmesan-crusted veal was really tasty, and the twin stuffed roasted quail were also good. The show was at 10pm, and it appeared that Jordan Bennet may have been a comedian, reading between the lines of Gene's description.
On our way back to the room, we checked out the casino to see how busy it was. We can report that it was full of customers, which will make the staff and HAL quite happy.
With the time change last night, we were finding that we were tired and glad to turn in by 10pm.
Tomorrow's port is a short stop in Cartagena, Colombia. Doubt that we will leave the gate.
