Day 1 - 4, December 30 - January 2 Los Angeles and Ship

Day 1 It’s Thursday, December 30, and we’re starting our trip! Jodi drove us to the airport in Binghamton. We left home about 8 AM, picked up Jeanne and Skip Jackson, and went to the airport. It was zero degrees at our house, so we were happy to be heading to warmer weather. We got to Los Angeles about 5:30 PM and checked into the Hilton at the airport.

Day 2 December 31 - We are still on East Coast time, so we were up and ready early! After breakfast at the hotel, Bob and Skip went to pick up our rental car and then we headed to Pasadena to see some of the floats being prepped for the Rose Bowl parade. There are many volunteer groups who help put the flowers and other decorations on the floats, starting about 5 days before the 1st. Since this is the day before the parade, there were many people there putting last minute touches on the colorful floats. I liked the mustang float best because the horses looked so real! It is interesting to see what they put on them - rice, other grains, seeds, and many kinds of flowers.

Bob then drove us around the Burbank studios where he worked a few years ago, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. We stopped for lunch at Venice Beach and walked out on the pier enjoying the sunshine even though it wasn’t very warm. Several people were fishing and some hardy surfers in wetsuits were enjoying the waves. After that we drove down US 1 to the Long Beach Hilton. The Queen Mary was nearby, so we went and toured it and had a drink and dinner there before returning to our hotel. We had hoped to be able to stay on the Queen Mary (which is now a hotel), but it was completely booked because it was New Year’s Eve. We returned to our hotel and watched the ball drop in NYC at 9PM, then looked out our window and saw a fireworks show that took place over the harbor. We soon went to sleep as it was midnight our time. However I was awakened at midnight LA time by more fireworks over the Queen Mary in the harbor which I also watched out our window.

Day 3 –It’s Saturday, January 1 Departure day! We slept in, and then had a nice buffet breakfast. While talking with some hotel employees, we learned that Virgin Atlantic flight crews of 17 each are required to spend 3 days at the hotel upon arrival from Australia or South Africa. Their flights are so long they carry a medical team with them at all times. They lease the hotel van from 9 am to 5 pm. I’d like to think that when Jodi and Beth fly to Korea this summer that their flight will also have well-rested crews aboard.

We took a cab to the ship arriving about
11:30. Then it took almost 2 hours of standing in lines before we were finally on board. We ate lunch in a sunny spot on deck 12 by the pool. It's cool in LA - about 50 degrees. This ship is much nicer than any cruise ship we've been on before. The cabin is much bigger, with lots of storage. We’re so glad to be in sunshine that we didn’t want to go inside so we sat on deck and read for awhile even though it’s chilly. There was not much breeze so it wasn't bad in the sun. The ship departed LA about 4PM.

Day 4 - January 2 - This was a sea day. We spent the entire day cruising down the edge of the
Baja Peninsula. We were surprised it was so mountainous. It was very cool in the morning, but we tried to stay outside and read in the sun. We ended up going in a comfortable lounge where the sun was streaming through the windows. Then we went in the hot tub for an hour before lunch. We found a great hot tub on the front of the 14th deck. It’s well away from the main areas of the ship in an area labeled “Quiet Zone” so there’s not a lot of foot traffic or noise there. We enjoyed the hot tub so much, we went back in before dinner. It’s becoming our favorite place to hang out, and we are meeting lots of people from all over the world. The same people seem to head to the hot tub at the same time of day, so we’ve got our own little “club” in what we now refer to as “The Front Office.”

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Day 5 – 6, January 3 and 4 - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico


The Peso is the unit of currency in Mexico. The exchange rate is about 12.5 pesos to the dollar.

We arrived in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Cape of Saint Luke) this morning and took tenders in to shore because the harbor is not deep enough for the ship. This small city is at the tip of the Baja peninsula making it about 1,000 miles south of Los Angeles. To the west is the Pacific Ocean., and to the east is the Sea of Cortez.

As our ship approached the cape we saw quite a few whales off in the distance. We even saw a couple of whales breaching. We spent a few hours of our day here whale watching aboard a small Kodiak rubber boat which was about 24 feet long and held about 15 people. It was crowded and Bob and Jeanne ended up sitting in the bow bouncing off the cushions and several times almost out of the boat! We would spot a whale or whales in the distance (up to three miles away) and the boat captain would take off in a hurry to get near it, getting us sprayed with water or unseating us in the process. We saw 2 dozen or more whales, although I suspect some of them were the same ones we'd just seen in a nearby place. We'd see the waterspouts first, then they'd come out of the water a little way, and if we were lucky, we'd see their tail. We got really close, maybe only twenty feet away, to two of them. The first one showed his tail and went back under the water. The second one was trying to tell us something, probably to stop bothering them, as he slapped his tail on the water before going back down. We also saw some dolphins, sea lions, and a sea turtle. It was a great adventure for our first shore excursion!

Whales come all the way to Mexico from Alaska going about 12,000 - 15,000 miles round trip. We saw mostly humpbacks, but gray whales and blue whales come to this area also. They come to have babies and mate, spending about 3 1/2 months in Mexico.

Day 6 – January 4 - It’s Tuesday and another sea day. More sunning, relaxing in the hot tub, reading, eating, a massage, and a drink at the bar overlooking the pool deck. A very relaxing day!

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Day 7 – January 5, Acapulco

We arrived in Acapulco early this morning. We ended up seeing 4 performances by the cliff divers today. When we got off the ship, we took a cab to the restaurant near where the divers perform (La Quebrada) so that we could get "the lay of the land" and know where to be for the first show at 1 PM. It was not quite 10 AM, but we figured we'd look around the neighborhood until lunch time when we had reservations at the restaurant so we could eat while we watched the divers. Just as we got there, we realized the divers were going to do an unscheduled dive for the two tour groups that were there, so we went down the steps to the viewing platform and watched in awe as the divers dove into the narrow space between high rock walls. There were five divers, one a girl about 14, the rest boys as young as 12 or 13 up to about 18. The divers walked down about 200 steps to the viewing platform, climbed down the viewers’ side of the cliff, swam across the water which was about 20 feet to the other side, and then climbed up the sheer rock walls barefoot with great ease. They dove from different heights depending on their skill level, with the girl and youngest boy diving from about 50 feet all the way to top height of over 100 feet where the oldest dove from. As we climbed the 200 steps back to the top, we learned they were going to dive again in about twenty minutes so we walked back down the steps to claim the best places for viewing along the wall. This time there were 11 divers - the original 5 plus more teenaged boys and 2 older men. All but the two youngest climbed to the top of the cliff even if they were not going to jump from that height. As they were preparing to dive, many of them knelt before one of the two altars at the top to pray. Then they would climb to the precipice of their choosing to jump.

After they got in the position from which they were going to dive, they would take a while to get mentally prepared and also waited until they knew the waves would bring enough water into the narrow pool giving them about 15 feet of water in which to jump. With it only being 15 feet deep they certainly didn't want to hit the water when it was several feet shallower Sometimes 2 or 3 of them would dive together, and sometimes one or two would dive backwards. It was amazing and scary. Besides the fact that hitting the water from that height is like hitting a brick wall, the divers had to be very careful to jump far enough out to avoid hitting the cliff on the way down as well as not jumping too far and hitting the cliff on the other side.

After the second show we climbed back up the stairs to the top and walked around the area looking in the shops. There weren't many shops and it was very hot, so we decided to go to the restaurant early to eat and wait for the show. We had a nice lunch of chicken enchiladas while we watched three youngsters aged from about 8 to 11 practice their skills to become the next generation of famous divers. The divers preformed two shows in a row again at lunch time, so in all we saw four shows! The view from the restaurant was good, and allowed us to see them knife into the water. I was glad to have seen them from the viewing platform earlier as there we were closer and could see the expressions on their faces. In the afternoon several people arrived in boats to watch the performance and after completing their dive, the divers swam out to the boats to get tips.

We walked a mile downhill back to the ship followed by two young sisters trying to get us to buy a woven fan. We passed many extremely small shops/businesses (5x5 up to 10x10). We saw a couple of shops that must have been tailor’s shops as there was just enough room for a sewing machine set up in each. Neither had anyone working in them, although the doors were open. We saw another shop for clothes pressing and some for fruits or juices- some just set up on sidewalk. Dead chickens hung on a rope across the street or piled on a counter outside uncovered. Gray water (we hope it wasn’t black!) drained out of houses and businesses onto the street. There was lots of traffic trying to move, but getting nowhere. At the harbor a man was skinning a fish, leaving the smelly remains by the sidewalk. The city was very dirty and felt unsafe. We felt a little bit uncomfortable at times but it was an eye-opening experience to be sure. We take too much for granted. By the pure grace of God we were born in America. Bob says even though he was born poor, he never experienced anything like most Mexicans experience every day right now.

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Day 8 – January 6, Huatulco, Mexico

We are now in Huatulco, Mexico. It is so much cleaner than Acapulco. This small city was built to be a resort and tourist destination. Although the coastline is mountainous, there are nine small bays with sandy beaches making this a very beautiful sun-lovers paradise. The City only began about 30 years ago and it is definitely a planned, clean, green city.

We took a sightseeing tour of the bays in a catamaran which stopped near one beach so we could take a swim. We jumped overboard and swam to shore. There was quite a strong undertow and the water temperature was only about 78 degrees. After exploring the area for a while, we swam back to the boat.

We boarded the catamaran that morning at about 8:30 AM. We were informed that they had drinks for us. The guide said they had soft drinks and beer. He said, “I know it may be too early to be drinking beer but we also have tequila.” I guess that meant it was never too early to drink a margarita, so by the time we got back on the ship at 1:30 we had had three margaritas and two beers. Bob says, “It was a great day!”

It was a very relaxing day. We looked through the market near the pier. It was very clean, and we weren’t stalked by people trying to sell us everything like we were in Acapulco. This is one Mexican town we wouldn't mind returning to!

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Day 9 – 10, January 7 and 8 - Guatemala

Guatemala means "the land of forever spring" because it is always so beautiful here. The Guatemalan currency is the Quetzal. The current exchange rate is about eight to the dollar.

We spent the day on a tour to Antigua, about 90 minutes from the dock. Along the way we passed several volcanoes, none of which were spouting today, although they often do. It was an interesting drive through the countryside. We saw people carrying bundles of wood on their backs, or heads, and one woman carrying her baby in one hand with the other holding the wood on her head. A boy walked along leading four goats on a rope. In several spots we saw horses tied to edge of road to eat the grass along roadway. The houses were little more than shacks made of concrete blocks and sheets of tin. Most were like a compound with gates and razor wire strung all over because of the rampant theft that takes place here.

Nearby we visited the Filadelphia Coffee Plantation where they cultivate about 250 acres of coffee. They plant seedlings which start producing beans after one year. After about eight years the bushes are about eight feet tall and they are cut down leaving a sprout that grows for about eight more years after which the process is repeated. So after about 24 years they dig up the plant and start over.

There are two varieties that they grow on this plantation -- one that grows at 900-1,500 meters elevation and one that grows on the mountains up to about 2,000 meters.

Virtually all work is manual labor. They have a few small trucks and tractors for hauling people and coffee beans around but almost all work was with hand tools such as shovels, scoops, wheelbarrows, etc. The plants are planted and cultivated by hand. The beans are picked one by one by hand only in the morning. Pickers are to only pick the ripe red beans. At the bean processing facility these "cherry" beans are dumped into tanks of water. The less mature and unripe beans float and are separated from the ripe beans which sink. These cull beans are not discarded but processed for lower quality coffee.

The cherry beans go through a machine which breaks up the outer fleshy layer. This layer is washed off and the damp beans are left to ferment for a day or so until the mucilous layer will wash off. The remnants of the cherry layer are composted and used for fertilizer.

After that washing, the beans are spread out in a thin layer on a tile floor to dry in the sun. They are stirred every two hours until the papyrus layer cracks open and is easily removed. The beans then go through another simple machine that cracks the papyrus layer so it can be blown off. The remnants of this layer look much like sawdust and are used for animal bedding.

The beans then go through another machine that removes the "silver" layer. This very thin layer is silver in color and resembles the red husk on freshly shelled peanuts. The remaining "green" beans are sorted by size and then either roasted or bagged green in 150 pound bags for shipment. We were told that the medium sized beans were the most desirable as they roasted more uniformly.

The vast majority of the bags from this plantation are shipped green. Much of their product goes to Japan, and the rest goes to Starbucks! The plantation only roasted coffee for the local market. We were told the current price for premium green beans was about $210 per 150 pound bag.

All handling of the beans was by hand, shovel, and wheelbarrow or, in the case of the bags, on the back of someone weighing considerably less than 150 pounds.

When we were in the coffee groves it was lunch time for the workers and a girl with a basket on her head walked by on her way to deliver lunch to the workers who had built a small fire on which to heat the tortillas, etc. Mayan women carry their things on their heads or on their backs, either in small tubs or much larger baskets or bundles. They make small fabric pieces (like bandanas) that they then wind around into a circle to create a level, stable place to rest whatever they’re carrying. Then they put what they’re carrying on top of the fabric band. We also saw women doing this when we were in Colombia later in the trip.

Workers there can make $250 month in the five month season from November to end of March. Lots of families work together, and although no one under 16 is supposed to work, some of the younger children who stay in the fields with their parents may pick some beans on the “sly”. The plantation provided shelter and basic needs to the workers. Starbucks comes to inspect the plantation every 2 years. They do not allow anyone under 16 to work. If everything meets their specifications, they give the plantation a certificate good for 2 years.

There were children around because they are still on their vacation. Vacation from school follows the coffee harvest here which is from October until the end of March. The children do not have school from mid-November until mid- January. Although the plantation we were on did not have child workers, other plantations may allow them to work, so that is why the school vacation is so long. The literacy rate here is improving, and children are supposedly taught to read, write, and do math by the age of 6!

The plantation is in a beautiful spot with two volcanoes visible from the manicured grounds. Besides the coffee business there is a hotel and spa with bikes to rent, and horse and mule rides available there. This would be a place that the upper class Guatemalan citizens might come for a vacation in the mountains.

We had a nice lunch on the patio and were entertained by a Marimba band and giant dancing dolls that are supposed to represent the merger of the Indian and Latino cultures.

We spent some time wandering around the village square in the old city of Antigua which was a few miles from the plantation. The city was nice with lots of big beautiful trees and other flowering plants, but it was obviously very poor. The old buildings on the cobblestone square were quite beautiful. Everywhere we went we were inundated with street vendors attempting to sell us jewelry, wooden flutes, beautiful strips of cloth and various other crafts. They sometimes got pushy but wherever we went a few “torismo policia” (i.e. tourism police) also accompanied us to keep the “have nots” away from the “haves”. It was very sad to see.

Guatemala is a country with a very tiny middle class. The vast majority of the country is poor. And then there are a few wealthy families that own just about everything

The most beautiful things there were the many colorful woven fabrics, bags, and dresses that the Indian women and girls were selling. When we first stepped off the bus that was the first thing I noticed. I saw a teenage girl carrying a beautiful sling, and I thought it was how she carried her baby. As I looked around, I saw that most of the older girls and women had similar colorful slings and then realized the slings were stuffed with the brilliant colored cloths they were hawking to the tourists.

Hand-woven fabric is made on a loom tied to a post. The colors are remarkably bright. Guatemalan women are known for weaving the most colorful fabric in Latin America (and possibly in the world). Frequently, they embroider or weave in designs that represent their culture – the sun and moon, quetzals, pyramids, volcanoes, jaguars and people.

As we drove around the city we saw lots of “Chicken Buses.” These are brightly colored former U.S. or Canadian school buses. They are called Chicken buses because the Maya people ride them to market (and everywhere else), piling all their wares (including meats and live animals – like chickens) on top.

Guatemala is a place of lots of color. Surprising to us, even the vaults at the cemetery are brightly colored!

The ship’s entertainment tonight was a hypnotist, and Bob took part. He was not completely under the “spell”, but he did follow the hypnotist’s commands! I wonder if he’ll do whatever I say!

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Day 10 - January 8 - This was another Sea Day. Of course we spent a lot of time in “The Office”, but we also saw an informative movie about the Panama Canal.

Day 11 – 12, January 9 - 10 Puntarenas, Costa Rica



Punteranas means “sandy point’ or “a long narrow stretch of land”, and that is exactly what this area where the ship docked looked like – sandy, long, and narrow. Costa Rica is about the size of Tennessee. It currency is the Colones. The current exchange rate is about 500 Colones to the dollar.

We took an hour bus ride to a mountainside up in the rain forest where we boarded a cable car up the mountain. As we got near the mountains there was a delay in the traffic due to the fact that a bridge had washed out a couple of years earlier. There was a temporary detour while they rebuilt the bridge. Our guide said is we come back in about ten years there would be a new bridge. I wondered why it would take so long until I noticed the complete lack of heavy equipment. I saw that the excavation was being done by hand. I saw several men loading a worn out old dump truck with shovels. Other than the dump truck there was not a single piece of motorized equipment on the job site.

Once we got to the cable car on the way up the mountain we saw a huge variety of very tall and diverse trees. We also saw monkeys, toucans, humming birds, etc. We also learned about some of the things plants do to compete with each other for sunlight or protect themselves from insects.

We then took a series of about 10 ziplines down the mountain over the canopy of trees. Nancy and Jeanne don’t like heights, but the canopy was so thick we couldn’t see the ground which was between 100 and 500 feet below us! We didn’t know what to expect when we signed up for this tour, but it was an awesome, exciting experience.

We were all clad in a harness that went around our backs and chests, and also over our thighs and waists and around our rears. Two clamps were attached to our chest straps and then clamped over the two cables each time we were on the zipline. A guide hooked us up, one at a time, then told us to sit down (our bottom harness kind of worked like a seat) and we took off flying to the end of the cable. At the ends of each cable there was a platform build around several trees. The platforms were big enough for about 10 people to stand on them. Once we got to a platform, we were unhooked from the zipline, but hooked to a safety line until it was our turn to “zip” again. We all had so much fun we were ready to do it again!

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Day 12 – January 10 - Sea Day
It was very hot with sun bearing down so we stayed in the shade a lot, but Skip and Bob got sunburned anyway.

Day 13 – January 11 - Panama Canal Passage


We were up at 5:15 to get a good place on the upper deck at the bow along with hundreds of others. We had a pretty good view point, but no cover from sun. The temperature was about 95 degrees. It sprinkled some around noon which cooled us off, but of course that didn't last long. We pretty much stood there until we completed the passage at about 4:30 PM. We crossed under the Bridge of Americas at 6:30 and entered the first lock eight miles away about 7:45 AM. There is a lot of waiting involved in crossing through the 50 mile long canal as only two ships of our size (Panamax) can use the locks at one time, and it takes a long time to fill up, or let the water out of, each lock.

The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax. A Panamax cargo ship typically has a DWT of 65,000-80,000 tonnes, but its actual cargo is restricted to about 52,500 tonnes because of draft restrictions in the canal.

Our ship arrived in Panama Bay long before daylight to be sure we were all set for our scheduled entry into the locks at about 6:30 AM. Throughout our trip we rarely saw even more one other ship in the open sea, but this morning we could see about 20 ships awaiting their turn to go through the canal. The canal operates 7x24x365. However, large ships such as ours only go through during daylight hours.

The Canal operates on a 1.2 billion dollar annual budget and employs 9,000 workers.

It was a fascinating experience watching the passage, seeing this historic place, thinking about all the effort that went into the completion of the canal in 1914, and looking at the jungle that we went through.

It’s also surprising that the canal still works for modern ships! The Bridge of the Americas that we passed under on our way from the Pacific to the first locks was high enough to accommodate our modern ship, and the locks were just barely large enough for our ship. They are currently building another set of locks at each end of the canal just for the larger ships to use. This construction began in 2007 and it is scheduled for completion in 2014 -- the 100th anniversary of the original canal.

Surprisingly Panama is in the Eastern Time Zone. Equally surprising is the fact that the canal runs in a southeast to northwest direction as it goes from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Panama City (the second largest banking center after Switzerland) is on the Pacific side. Limon Bay is on the Atlantic side. Columbus landed here in 1502.

There are six pairs of parallel locks. They can be used for one-way or two-way traffic as needed. Since the Culebra Cut is currently too narrow to permit two-way traffic for Panamax ships, they were being used for northbound traffic only when we went through. The eight mile Culebra cut that ships pass through on the way to Gatun Lake in the middle of the canal is 500 feet wide. It only allows one way traffic for ships our size. It is being widened to 730 feet.

The locks are 45 feet deep and ships with a 39 foot 6 inch draft are allowed. From the Pacific, the first and second locks are called the Miraflores Locks, and they each lift ships 27 feet. The third lock is the Pedro Miguel which lifts ships 31 feet.

The locks are 1,000 feet by 110 feet. Ships (except battleships) must have two foot clearance on each side. Our ship just barely fit in the lock as it was 965 feet long by 105 feet wide! The upper decks are significantly wider, so if you look at our ship when it is in the lock, it looks like it’s being stuffed into something way too small!

For a ship our size (a panamax) they normally use 8 electric locomotives -- two on each side front and back to keep the ship positioned exactly in the middle of the locks. The ship moves forward under its own power.

As we got out onto the canal, we noticed how muddy it is. This is because the hillsides have very few rocks to hold the soil in place and it is constantly being washed into the canal by rain. Therefore, the workers need to constantly dredge the canal and haul the dirt away.

The canal is narrow and winding. Tugboats escort the ship to make sure it makes it through the cut. We had two assigned to our ship, but they were not hooked up, just accompanying us. Along the way there are big white “targets” on the sides of the canal near all of the winding turns. These help the ships stay where they need to in the canal. If the ships line up two of the symbols they stay in the middle of the channel. If they line up the other two symbols they stay to the right. During most of the time we were in this channel, the Culebra cut, it was so narrow that we just stayed in the middle since two ships wouldn’t have been able to pass each other there.

After getting through the cut we entered man-made Gatun Lake which takes the ships another 20 miles across the isthmus. From there we entered the three stage Gatun Locks which took us back to sea level on the Atlantic side. When we emerged from those locks we were in Limon Bay, five miles from the breakwater.

The average toll is about $100,000. We paid $360,000 plus tug fees.

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