Barbara to JAX

Began on an upbeat as Audrey is eager to visit with us and hear about our trip. We’re stopping by her office on our way to airport, so we're leaving home early. 

I am amazed at how many friends worried because I had not posted anything, but each decided that as no dire news was aired about the ship, my disappearance from the ether meant I had internet issues, not life-threatening ones. I am humbled. 

Mary Todd wouldn’t crank. Chris from AAA came, jump started us. We headed to Autonation after a phone call to Tammy, who fabulous person that she is, got us on the road with a new battery in under 45 minutes! She did point out that I had gotten my money’s worth as it was the original battery in my 2015 car. We cancelled meeting Audrey and delivered Barbara to JAX on time!!! 

Mary Todd watched over us, as is her wont; she had her battery die at home in the garage and NOT in the Park and Go in Ft. Lauderdale on Easter Sunday!  What a keeper!

It’s weird how after a battery replacement, I am almost hesitant to crank Mary Todd, just in case! 

I spent the remainder of the day posting to the blog (it’s going to take several days to catch up), unpacking, doing laundry and getting back to normal life, like grocery shopping and responding to numerous emails and messages. 

The cruise already seems like a distant dream. 

But I won't be home for long - May 14 I meet Barbara at Logan Airport to play tourist in Boston and its environs before heading to Cape Cod for a week. It's wonderful having a friend who wants to see where you grew up. Though I hesitated when she asked if I wanted to drive because I knew the area - I had to remind her I've haven't been to New England (except for one port call afternoon during a 2016 Queen Mary 2 cruise) since Mom and Dad left Danvers for North Carolina 30 years ago! I expect to be as much a tourist as she.

Random thought for this day – Can you be in a rut if, despite doing the same things in a routine, you wake up every morning happy and ready to see what happens?

Easter Sunday drive to The Burg

Breakfast was hugs from Denise, Roseanna and Sylvie. 

Back in our stateroom, goodbyes from Faizal and Dedi echoed in our ears as we decided to head down a bit early to disembark. We arrived to discover we had to have asked for “Expedited” service to walk-off. After a brief stare at each other, we shrugged and left this ship!

Park and Go picked us up with no issues, Mary Todd welcomed us, the lot’s gatekeeper gave us cold bottled water for our drive home and the gas station was exactly where he said it would be. 

North on I-95 was an easy drive, spotty traffic but no delays. We arrived in The Burg mid-afternoon and crashed. I didn’t even open a suitcase except to pull out my toothbrush.

Random thought for this day – Why does driving home seem to take so much less time than driving to location?

Last Sea Day

Breakfast was a splurge – Eggs Chesapeake – think Eggs Benedict but with fresh crab cake!!! OMG!!

A typical last day at sea, trying not to be amazed that my suitcases seem more full now than last week. My clothes seem to have expanded. It’s not due to gifts, as I only purchased 5 souvenirs

Barbara tackled Guest Services again. This time returning with tags for Black 1 and a much earlier disembarkation time. Neither of us wanted to argue any longer, so we tagged bags and made do with the situation. 

I went to a lecture on Rum-runners, that I wish had been given before we visited the islands. I would have enjoyed buying a pint of each island’s rum to have sample with Barbara, but didn’t know each island had its own individual rum. 

Spencer taught us about Southern Snacks today. I thought of Sheila as he showed us how to make fried pickles. Now I can reproduce them for her!! I’m not a fan of pimento cheese, so those biscuits did not appeal to me. But I was astounded to learn that the pimento comes from dried paprika!!

Barbara and I had a very light lunch as we have made reservations at Canaletto, the specialty Italian restaurant, for tonight because their special tonight is some prawn dish Barbara loves. 

America’s Test Kitchen’s afternoon show included Cheese Blintzes and my favorite dessert of all time, Apple Crisp. I learned how to make my own ricotta cheese and that only three apples are really good in crisp and one of them is NOT Mcintosh, as the pulp breaks down too easily.

Mom would have relished this Test Kitchen experience as she would have appreciated the meld of science and taste. Also, she would have hugged Spencer when he reminded us, “You eat with your eyes as well as your mouth and nose.” How sad these two human beings missed knowing each other. 

We dressed up a bit for dinner and were greeted by Denise, who has charge of it! Dinner was superb, even though the dish Barbara so anticipated was made with shrimp and not prawn. We spend nearly 2 hours chatting with dining neighbors and savoring delicious foods accompanied by a remarkable Australian wine called Deakins that I hope to find in America.  I suggested to Denise that if the daily specials were posted to the passengers, she would have more business as we would have eaten there at least one other time because Tuesday is Swordfish!!!! 

Our bags are in the corridor awaiting pick up.  

We take the last of Barbara's Abuelo out on our balcony to relish our final Caribbean sunset.

Random thought for this day - Home is where I fit in, not on, my bed.

Good Friday - At Sea

It’s been a mostly good Good Friday. I took almost no pictures, but attended several interesting talks and demonstrations.

Spencer showed us how to make Pad Thai and Scallion Pancakes. I learned about umami, a “new” taste style, actually a fifth one alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter discovered by a Chinese scientist in 1909!!! It’s that taste of MSG. I also discovered that gluten is created when you knead or roll out flour dough! The harder you roll or knead, the more gluten you create!!!

I tried to capture an image of the mini-rainbow created by the bow wave as the ship clipped along at 22 knots, but it's very hard to discern. Still I know it's there. 

The second installment of Spencer was all about making a meal of salads. 15 kinds of salad greens?!?!?!?! I am stuck in a rut using the same three, time to branch out! 8-10 cups of greens to 1/4 cup dressing is the perfect ratio. Anchovies are the basis of Caesar salad dressing!!!!! A dish towel makes a perfect nest in which to anchor a mixing bowl so you can use both hands. Never use “Light Olive Oil” as it comes from the final pressing and requires heat and heavy pressure to generate the oil; it’s not really good for you and is definitely not “lite” healthy food. Richard Cobb invented the Cobb Salad at the Brown Derby by “shopping the cooler” one evening and his salad became famous for no carbohydrates; hence its favor with Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth. Seems everyone ignored the avocado and bacon and blue cheese on it. This anecdote echoed the creation of the Caesar salad by a Tijuana restauranteur named Cesar!!!

Barbara had an irritating time with Guest Services. She volunteered to ask about us disembarking as walk-offs so we didn’t have to wait to be called. She returned kind of annoyed as the woman all but called her a fibber at her statement that we had no Disembarkation Packet in our stateroom. The woman promised we could still be inserted into the computer despite the extreme tardiness of our request and our paperwork would be delivered.

A bit later Barbara met Faizal in the deck corridor and received luggage tags for Brown something at 9:30 AM. When I said those were not walk off tags, because walk-off meant we got no tags, we just walked off, she kind of seethed and postponed a repeat meeting until later.

I ignored the 5K Walk The Decks for cancer event, though I admired the ingenuity of the idea!  

I thoroughly enjoyed Bonnie’s talk on The Secret Language of Ships. She began with the hull markings (I was pleased to know Plimsoll Line and recognize stabilizers and the bulbous bow configuration), the 46 flags language would drive me crazy (my respect for brother Fred grows) but I believe a travel mug/container emblazoned with the blue and yellow one that means “Keep clear of me. I am maneuvering with difficulty.” would sell very well for any number of situations.

Barbara and I were amazed that a few years ago, a log got lodged in the Azipod of Zuiderdam and she limped into Ft. Lauderdale after two days of severe swaying and rolling. Very glad we weren’t on that cruise!  A ship has a whistle not a horn, and for a few minutes, I thought I would have an answer to a previous random thought - do foghorns sound the same all over the world? But no. 

I chatted with Dawn from Greensboro, NC. She teaches knitting and, not only had she heard of the brioche stitch that’s been hampering my current project, but she is taking a class in Atlanta next month on it. She couldn’t help me figure out what I was doing wrong, but we bonded for a bit and I’m sending her the pattern name and link.

Also, Susie and her (I think) sister (ardent Spencer fans) are quilters in Citrus County, FL. We commiserated the closing of shops we all will miss. 

I broke down and bought a pair of Swarovski earrings - purplish blue!!  

Shrimp. Shrimp. Shrimp for dinner. I’m in Caribbean heaven!

The magician uses puppies in his routine - no desire to see puppies even fake mangled. Gross!

Barbara and I enjoyed a second Abuelo experience! Still great.

Random thought for this day: Hot cross buns on Good Friday? A new to me tradition, which Barbara explained. 

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

(A personal aside concerning the appearance of this blog - my amateur status is evident as I can't seem to discover why some parts post in grey and other in black. One day when I have enough time, I'll have to work on that problem.)

Another early day - breakfast at 6:20 AM so we can get down to Mainstage for our tour departure at 7:30.

Our tour began in a brand, new bus (heaven after a couple of the ones we’ve ridden in), a short tour of the city of Puerto Limon (named for lemon trees that used to be plentiful here) and a gorgeous walk through a forested area to board our pontoon boat. on the walk, I stopped short when I spied a plat I knew - the Pagoda! Just like the ones that grow along my patio!!!!

The trees are called sangritas or bleeding trees because the sap is red like blood. No one offered to take a machete to one, so we took the guide’s (Geraldo, call me “Boa.”) word.

We’re off to see the Tortuguero Canals, the Amazon of Costa Rica. At first I was disappointed as all the pontoon boat did was stop for passengers to take pictures of herons, egrets and a caiman (cousin to a gator) that was asleep on a dock. I thought, “Crap! I expected a rain forest and really cool birds and wildlife. I could have stayed home!” Then I remembered most of my fellow passengers were not from Florida and were tripping over each other to take pictures of these exotic beasts. I calmed my inner rant, the boat turned around and began to move through the canal, a brief rain splattered, the air cooled and my mood improved immensely. 

I learned wild bananas are inedible but have gorgeous flowers. Each plant has only one flower and it hangs from the plant by a kind of umbilical cord. The flower is NOT the banana. When I spied on hanging over the canal, the helmsman get up close, then Boa snapped the cord and passed around the flower! Light odor, gelatinous surface on the inner lower part, much cooler temperature on the outer covering.

The guide was witty and informative which made the cruise interesting. His spotters were astounding. It took three times before I finally spotted a sloth hanging from a tree but was too late to get a picture. B managed to capture a great snap of a sleeping one’s backside! We saw three-toed (grayish brown) and two-toed (blackish brown) sloths and even a mama carrying her baby (like 3 inches long!) on her back.  

We did see a Kingfisher grab a meal and perch on a limb to munch out and digest. Geraldo, couldn’t believe the bird sat still long enough for every one of the boat to photo him. 

We never saw the turtles the canals are named after, but we saw a lot of howler monkeys, which were noticeably smaller with much less howling than the ones we experienced in Carracol, Brazil.

We stopped in a Delmonte banana plantation and discovered how labor intensive that work is. Everything is done by hand, even encasing the banana bunches in blue bags to help repel insects and lizards. Also, banana trees only give one harvest, then they are cut down and the remaining stem becomes a reservoir for the “son” plant growing near it. Botany is amazing!!

 

My favorite sight today was an Emerald Basilisk, known hereabouts as Jesus Lizard because it can walk on water. Disappointingly, this one walked on a tree limb, but I did get a pretty good picture of him. Look for him a bit right of center.

I LOVE fan palms, I can’t wait to ask Jean if they’ll grow in my back yard!

Turns out Zuiderdam is docked at the pier in such a place that Barbara and I look at Isla Uvita (Little Grape) which is actually the first land mass Christopher Columbus touched upon in this area. Now it’s a public park with walking trails and picnic areas about a 20 minute boat ride from the harbor of Puerto Limon.

The tour began as a C-, but ended a solid B/B+. The day went quickly and we even managed to visit the souvenir shop a bit at the end. We missed all the icky weather occurred up in the mountains where several of the tours went, ones we again passed over as they required hours' long bus rides.

Returning to 8082, I was so glad to wash off the Cutter’s that I’d liberally sprayed on before the tour (a Zika horror avoidance) only to discover that this is not the season for mosquitos, so I was redolent with eau d’ insect repellant for hours for no reason. 

Barbara napped on the Lido deck by the pool that's covered with a sliding dome for cold weather, not an issue on this cruise!

As evening fell and Zuiderdam exited this port, Boa and our pontoon boat appeared alongside to bid us farewell. Not really, it turns out ours in the last ship of the season to visit this port. No more cruise ships until October, so the pontoon boat is being stored for the season and they had to pass by us to reach docking. 

I tried to get a good image of the mountains of Costa Rica, but cloudy mists kind of hampered me. Look closely. 

Little touches like fresh orchids on each table in the Lido Market really brightened every dining experience. 

We stopped by a trivia contest but all the questions were science or space based; though I did guess correctly that the most perfect spherical object in the universe is a black hole and Hamilton was one point of the Bermuda Triangle. Barbara knew another was Miami, neither of us knew San Juan, Puerto Rico was the third. 

We came back to 8082 feeling kind of inept and soothed ourselves with this fabulous rum Barbara bought in Colon - Abuelo...if you ever find it, try it!! One of my post-cruise tasks is to find if it's imported to the USA.

Bonus: a pair of small dolphins played around beneath our balcony as the ship left port. 

Second Bonus: mostly clear skies, gentle breezes, mild seas and a full moon made this night magical! 

I couldn’t sleep, so went out on balcony and conked out in the lounge chair, waking up hours later refreshed and amazed. Inadvertently enjoying the quiet, balmy calm of a Caribbean night at sea.  (I really like this photo from my iPhone!!!)

Random thought for this day: There are many places in the world I want to see, but I don’t want to suffer to see them. Yes, I am self-indulgent!

The Panama Canal and Colon

The weather station predicted rain here, but the morning dawned bright and sunny, with just a few wisps of clouds above. I know that because B and I were up at 5:30 to watch the ship enter the Canal. It was different than I remember from 2012 - the river was not lined with ships awaiting their turn; instead it was a clear sail way. My guess was confirmed by the commentator later when he noted that the new lock (though only one lane, so ships have to alternate directions) has doubled the transit capacity. We never saw an accumulation of ships until we came into the harbor at Colon, which was when we learned that it is significantly cheaper to transit the Canal at night....no one explained why.

The size of each lock is evident when a cargo ship, tugboat and catamaran enter ahead of Zuiderdam in the same lock. I wonder if each pays the same fee, not the tug, of course. 

Unlike 2012 when Mom and I stayed on our balcony and watched the process from there, Barbara and I went out on deck to catch the lock doors opening and experience the transit. I was amazed by the road in front of the initial lock at Gatun Lake. The engineering behind this place still flabbergasts me. Stephens was a genius!!!! 

It’s like the Grand Canyon - you have to experience it to appreciate the end result. One day, I’d like to transit the entire Canal just to see Culebra Cut and the Miraflores locks… that’s for a future cruise. 

 

Like last time, the silence of this place is so relaxing and surprising as these massive ships slide through with no sound. Well, almost no sound. The mechanical donkey engines rumbled, and the line of 15 men walking abreast with raspy buzzing weed whackers “cutting” the grass disturb my bliss, momentarily. 

Unlike my previous Canal experience, this ship dropped anchor and let off tenders to transport several hundred passengers to a variety of Panama excursions. Neither B nor I wanted to go as each one entailed hours on a bus. We were delighted to stay on board, listen to the commentary and take pictures of some of the ships, especially as we were anchored just north of the Gatun Lake end of the northern new lock, so got to watch those enormous container ships transit. Barbara watched this GIANT crane go through the original locks on a barge...the Zuiderdam was dwarfed by it! 

But the coolest sight was this small yellow tugboat transiting the canal, the Elsbeth II from (drumroll, please!) Palatka, FL. Barbara and I speculated for minutes of where she could be bound and why she was so far from the St. Johns River!

We upped anchor and headed for Colon to pick up our excursion passengers. B and I had a chance to go ashore in Colon. We wandered around the small terminal shop for a few minutes then returned aboard. I learned a REAL Panama hat is made in Honduras!

Despite no tour, the day went by quickly. B rested her ankle which has been bothering her and we walked decks and gaped.

I had the Asian menu (Korean) for lunch. I just pointed and nodded at the chef, Sato. The only thing I recognized was Ramen Noodles! All was excellent especially some pork dish. I really do need to bring my camera with me when I come to eat so I can record the menu!!! 

I did give Denise, Lido maître de, a bit of a scare when I found a whole peanut in my dish and asked why not nut warning was posted on the menu? She called someone, went into the kitchen and returned worried I’d eaten some and needed to go to Medical. I assured I had not and was just concerned about others. She did come by to check on me a couple of times as we ate. This is what I miss. 

We have thoroughly enjoyed the remarkable Bushnell Legend L Series binoculars which were part of our cabin accoutrements. They have come in very handy and B thinks she might find some for herself. I have put my old Bushnell ones on my pre-trip packing list.

Canal Facts I learned: 

·      The most expensive passenger vessel to transit is NCL Bliss which is charged $900,000 per  canal transit. 

·      The transit fee is determined based on Revenue Creating Space of a ship, so no crew quarters or kitchens or engine rooms are charged but the entire stargaze part of a car carrier or all the cabins, bars and shops. I wonder if the restaurants that are included in my cruise cost would be considered chargeable? a question for another time.

·      The first four passenger ships to transit the Canal in 1914 were all White Star liners!!!!!!

B wanted to watch something light and non-thought requiring, so I introduced her to Dwayne Johnson in Jumanji...I love Barbara, but how could she be completely ignorant of Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart???? I really need to up her media education!!!! Regardless, she enjoyed the film and chuckled throughout it. 

I’m not certain how I have such a great friend who thinks 9:00 PM is bed time!!!! I feel bad reading with a light on but she assures me it’s not a problem.  I find the evening activity very limited on this ship as I neither drink nor gamble nor play games. 

One personal irk - the woman next door, Diana from Washington, smokes and I HATE that my balcony is redolent with her cigarette stench! B assures me she will probably be fined as the odor is obvious when she opens her cabin door, but DAMN!!! B also feels some sympathy for someone who is so addicted to a substance! (She is a MUCH nicer person than I am.)

While we waited in Colon Harbor for the excursions to return, Barbara and I used those fabulous binoculars to spy on the buildings across the harbor and conjecture if the really, really fit looking gentleman in the penthouse left his floor-to-ceiling drapes open on purpose while he ran through his exercise routine. We had no doubt the karate class in the other building didn’t care a lick if anyone was watching, they were so focused on each other.  I never knew I was a closet busy-body.

I can check Panama off my list of visited countries as this time I actually put feet on Panama soil. 

Random thought for this day: I wish some airline would resurrect the China Clipper!!!

Cartegena

Last night we had to set our clocks back and I discovered that my Fitbit hadn’t synced since we left Ft. Lauderdale, turns out it requires the internet, not Bluetooth like I thought. DUH! On me. I guess I’ll find out how much memory the watch has, at least.

We got up about 6, breakfasted lightly, went down to Mainstage to wait for our tour to be called. Almost to the meeting area, a man coming from there asked is we had our passports as they were requiring them. UH, This was news, as we thought photo ID was all that was required. We looked at each other, glad we’d decided to come down a bit early and headed up to retrieve our documentation. (Which was never asked for.)

Boarding a very nice tour bus, we met Hugo. He’s been guiding tourist for 32 years and seems undaunted by anything. 

A comment from a passenger about the number of fully armed and guard dogged Army and National Police we were seeing, prompted the news that the President of Colombia was in town for the day hence the extra presence. Although Hugo did note that Cartagena has a very visible police force as all Colombians are required to give a year of military service and many choose the police rather than actual military as they can stay at home and not be sent away to serve. Sounds like a great idea to me!

I did not realize Cartagena was only 10 degrees from the Equator. That explains the heat. And I’ve learned on this trip that the ABC islands and Cartagena are not in the hurricane corridor as they are too close to the Equator.  The varied architecture of this place reminds me hugely of New Orleans!

Our tour began with the San Felipe Fortress. It took a century to build this place; a definite comment the importance Spain gave to this harbor city in the time of Spain’s Treasure Fleets bringing booty from South America. I’ve spent years thinking St. Augustine’s Castillo de San Marco was huge, but it is diminutive compared to this massive structure. Deboarding the bus at the plaza was many passengers’ first experience with the hucksters who are so in-your-face in so many countries in this region.

 

Our second stop was the Las Bovedas Artisan Center. I found t-shirts for Caleb and B acquired emerald earrings. I wish I had a yen for fine jewelry. Sadly, that’s just not me; my bracelet and earrings do me fine.

We also visited the Inquisition museum and the San Pedro Claver church, honoring the priest who baptized 300,000 blacks back in the day when no one even saw them as human beings, just as property. The very colorful cathedral of Nuestra Senora de la Sanger (Our Lady of the Blood) was not on our list as Colombian law requires churches to close their doors to tourists for several hours each day or be considered (and taxed) as businesses. Nuestra Senora chose to be a “real” church and not welcome tourists. 

Once again, I am tickled to have a companion who can speak the language and help me read the signage. I can’t calculate how much I would have missed had I not been with Barbara here and in Spain.

I am astounded at the absence of graffiti on the walls of this city. 

We walked the Old City cobblestone streets for more than 2 hours before heading back into the traffic, which was so congested (Thank you, Senor Presidente!), we made it back to the ship with 10 minutes before the deadline. The port authority even allowed our bus to deliver us directly to the gangway, despite the law requiring tour busses to drop passengers at the Oasis, a park like area of sales and eateries between the dockyard entrance and the cruise terminal piers.

Back in 8082, we find our toilet is broken - the lid comes off completely - very discombobulating when that lid must be closed for the toilet to work. Calls to Guest Services have not yet produced a fix - it’s been 4 hours so I guess that’s a statement on this cruise line’s attitude toward passenger comfort. 

We grabbed early dinner then went to watch Spencer create a Tapas Party in America’s Test Kitchen. Barbara was as pleased with him as I was yesterday. His vibrant personality and professionalism are evident. We learned that potatoes are very different depending on how much starch each contains and each cooks very differently. And you should always use Yukon Gold potatoes when making a Spanish Tortilla!!!!

Spencer did warn us that Holland America is going green and trying to do away with paper, so from now on the recipe cards and instructions we collected at the door would no longer be available except on line. I decided this explains the miniscule note pad in our stateroom. 

Back from Spencer, we found our toilet repaired. Hurray!!

As we balconied, we espied a small, single-masted sailboat off in the distance. Neither of us wished we were aboard. I recalled the size of the boat whose captain QM2 had to rescue a few years ago and my first visit to Gypsy Moth IV in Greenwich UK. Sailors are/were brave!!!

Tomorrow is the Canal.

Random though for this day – How would America be different if our Army and police actively patrolled with machine guns and crossed bandoliers?