26th July to 10th August to Los Angeles

Friday 26^th July we continued through the North Atlantic, the ship now has a new Captain and a number of the Executive.  

The Captain’s name is Martin Stenzel and he is very different from the last one, it is funny how the how feeling of a ship can change.

The Captain told us during his mid-day report that there is a cyclone forming in the path we were taking to visit the island of Antigua so we had to change direction and make a path to Aruba. 

It is a shame as I hadn’t been to Antigua before but had been to Aruba which is where I went horse riding.

The weather is quite rough and the weather has cooled down quite a lot.  Our change of plan means that we will be at sea one extra day before we get to Aruba.

The sunsets had become to be earlier over the last few weeks and sunset is at 2000 although we are not going outside at all.

We went to see the Marionettes tonight, my gosh it was fantastic, it was nothing like the Thunderbirds, the guy had a trapeze artist that did amazing tricks, a dog that carried bones, a pianist and you forgot that they were puppet.  

Will see his show tomorrow night, we are lucky because of the cyclone we will have him for another night.

 27^th, 28^th and 29^th July still travelling across the North Atlantic Basin, passing Cuba and Haiti and finally towards the Dutch Antilles and the island of Aruba.

The world outside the ship is cold and wet and the mist has surrounded the ship, in fact if you sit in the front of the ship you can’t see the middle section, the fog horn is sounding every few seconds.

Tuesday 30^th July we embarked the pilot at 0715 and we were onshore by 0830.

Oranjstad, Aruba.  Currency – Aruban florin (AWG)

While native tribes from Venezuela settled Aruba as early as 1000 AD, Europeans did not discover the island until 1499.  After many years of colonial rule, it was not until 1986 that Aruba became its own country, although it still remains a Dutch protectorate.

Aruba is famous for gorgeous, palm tree lined white sandy beaches which are home to calm clear waters.

Last year when I was here I went horse riding and this year I decided on booking a private tour and drive around the island to see the sights.

Our first stop was to see the Ayo and Casibai rock formations which are boulders, some the size of a small house, once on top you can see our ship in the harbour.

We then moved on to the coast to see the baby natural bridge which is a rock and coral formation, the original natural bridge fell into the sea in 2005 but a smaller bridge remains.

On our way to the California Lighthouse we stopped to see the Chapel of our Lady of Alto Vista which must have the most beautiful view while praying.  The church is quite small but this is no problem as the parishioners sit outside.  I bought a lovely string off rosary beads to add to my collection.

California Lighthouse is perched on a high elevation and named after the steamship California, which sunk off the coast of Aruba in 1891.  This lighthouse was built in 1910 and offers stunning views of the Island and coastline.

We were back in Oranjestad by 1400 and we walked through the main street and found a pub for lunch, I had a spicy jambalaya and a few bottles of the local beer.  

The other ladies went shopping and as you know I hate shopping so I went across the road to another pub and sat and waited until they finished shopping and after a few more beers it was time to go back to the ship and go to the back of the ship to watch as we sail away into the sunset.

We didn’t have far to travel overnight as our next port was right next door.

Distance Travelled from New York to Aruba – 1767 Nautical Miles, average speed 14.42 knots. 

Wednesday 31^st July we arrived at the island of Curacao.

Curacao is an independent country and the largest of the three ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.  Currency – Netherlands Antillean guilder also called the florin.

The name ‘Curacao’ is most likely derived from the Portuguese word for ‘cured’.  Early Spanish sailors, suffering with scurvy, found themselves miraculously healed after eating local fruits rich in vitamin C.

This is a really lovey island, the buildings are painted very bright colours and trimmed with white gingerbread.  We all decided just to wander around the town which is quite small and the path from the ship takes us through small sea side stalls and nice shopping centres.

Bit of Tivia.  Curacao Liqueur, produced in Chobolobo, a 17^th century plantation estate, is used in such drinks  the Blue Lagoon, the fuzzy pirate and the zombie.  At last count there were over 508different drinks recipes containing Blue Curacao.

The Queen Emma Pontoon was built in 1888 and nicknamed the ‘Swinging Old Lady’; this bridge swings open to allow ships to access the bay.  It is interesting, the bells ring and everyone runs to get on the bridge and then the whole bridge swings across the bay to the edge and this takes about 20 minutes and while the bridge is open, a free ferry takes people across each side.  While we were watching the bridge opened to let a very small yacht go through.

We wandered around this pretty city for some time and then went to the pub near the ship and shared some tapas for lunch and tried the local beer before wondering back to the ship.

I bought myself a new top to wear to the Christmas in July party that was being held on the deck that night.  We wandered up to the deck after we finished dinner that night about 2130 and we danced, threw streamers and had a great time until the band left and the DJ took over.

Distance Travelled Aruba to Curacao – 97 Nautical Miles, average speed 9.8 knots. 

Thursday 1^st August we travelled through the Caribbean Sea toward the entrance to the Panama Canal.

The ship’s photographers leave the ship and travel along the canal to film our trip tomorrow and they have a poster completion. 

Our group decided that we would make a poster so we met up in the evening and spent a couple hours making it, we were lucky because Lorraine brought her colour printer and I had brought staples, paints and other bits and pieces.

Friday 2^nd August we took on our pilot and waited to begin our transit of the Panama Canal.

Panama Canal.  This marvel of engineering took 34 years to construct at a cost in lives of over 25,000 people who died from either tropical diseases or landslides. 

The Panama hat isn’t made in Panama at all it originated in Ecuador but was worn by the balding Ferdinand de Lesseps during the building of the canal.  

They were imported from Ecuador to be used by the thousands of canal workers to protect them from the intense tropical sun.

At 0600 everyone was up on deck as we slowly leave the Caribbean Sea and proceeded along jungle covered banks, through the channel towards the Gatun Locks.  The whole process is truly amazing, we travel through two locks, we approach the first lock at 0630 and move up to the lock gate and the gate closes behind the ship and the water rises, we rise 9 meters in 8 minutes and the water is gravity fed

We have been held in place be mechanical ‘mules’ on either side of the ship, these mules travel with us to the end of the lock.

The ship paid just under $400,000 to pass through the canal and that included a helicopter for the film crew.

It is quite strange standing on the deck and feeling the ship rise so quickly, the gates open and we then move into the next lock and the process begins again, 9 meters in 8 minutes, we are now towering over the land below, we then carry out the same process of 9 meters in 8 minutes, twenty seven meters higher we enter the Gatun Lake.  

Gatun Lake is a man-made lake and it is huge and ships anchor up each end of the lake while they are waiting for their turn to go through the locks, we waited over 40 minutes until we could move into the lake.

We passed under the Sentennial Bridge and at 1328 arrived at the next set of locks which are the other end of the lake and we had to commence our decent into the Pacific Ocean.

Pedro Miguel lock, the first of the last two locks was entered at 1408 and we proceeded to drop 9 meters and we then moved on to Miraflores Locks where we moved through two locks and dropped a further 18 meters.

At the end of the last lock was a lovely surprise, a very large group of about 200 hundred Panamanians from the nearby city of Panama City  were there to welcome us to the Panama Canal and of course we had to yell “Aussie, Aussie, Oye, Oye” at least twenty times as we went through.

At this point we were back at sea level and were soon passing under the Bridge of America at 1643 and into the bay of Panama, continuing on our passage to Puntarenas.

The Panama Canal Authority has been working on an expansion including the construction of two new lock complexes, one on the Pacific and the other on the Atlantic, with thee chambers, water saving basins, a lateral filling and emptying system and rolling gates.

The Panama Canal was truly one of the manmade wonders of the world and very different from the Suez Canal, both canals enable thousands of miles to be saved by sailing ships travelling around the world and of course save many weeks of travel.  

Some of the passengers last year said that they saw monkeys in the jungle and this year I used my binoculars and saw nothing!!

  Guess what, we won the Poster Competition.

Distance Travelled from Curacao to Panama Canal – 639 Nautical Miles, average speed 18.5 knots. 

Saturday 3^rd August at sea in the Pacific Ocean heading towards Costa Rico, it is sunny and about 28 degrees.

We won a bottle of cheap champagne tonight in a fun game where the entertainment team tell stories and we have to work out who is telling the truth.  

This is the 3^rd bottle we have won and we will have to drink them before we leave the ship, it really is awful stuff.

Sunday 4^th August at 0140 we entered the Nicoya Bay at 0140 and we were berthed at 0415.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  Currency – Costa Rican colon (CRC). Language - Spanish

When I came out on deck this morning, the ship was already moored and we were looking at beaches whose sands were brown because it was ground up lava and it seems that we were back into 3^rd world counties again. 

Puntarenas was discovered in 1519 and is located south of Nicaragua and north of Panama; Puntarenas sits off the Pacific Ocean in the Gulf of Nicoya.

I visited this island last year and saw most of the inner island so this time I just stayed in the port and wandered around the township which was very poor and very dirty.

Maisie and I spent a few hours in the township and then went into a local pub for a glass of the local beer.  It was interesting, 

Maisie doesn’t like beer so we asked for lemonade to make a shandy, after much discussion with the waiter we thought we had it right until he returned with a glass of lemon juice!.

The other girls had a great day as one went to see the active volcano and the others went up the jungle river and saw crocodiles and monkeys.

We were at the back of the ship waiting to watch the ship leave and we notice a couple strolling down the wharf towards the ship when the ship’s horn rang out and they realised that the ship was leaving and they weren’t on board.  

As you can imagine they started running and we were all calling out to them to ‘run’, all good they had plenty of time before we actually left.

Distance Travelled from Panama Canal to Puntarenas – 478  Nautical Miles, average speed 13.1 knots. 

Monday 5^th August at sea in the Pacific Ocean, the weather is warm and foggy and the seas are rough.

Bit of Trivia. The idea for Princess Cruises came about because there wasn’t enough hotel space in Seattle during the 1962 World Fair.  Local business man Stanley McDonald thought of a unique way to solve the problem and in the process started a cruise line and made history.

Tuesday 6^th August at sea and we continued north westerly course leaving the coast of Mexico over 30 miles to the north, the winds have increased to force 6.

I love the rough weather; the only problem is that you can’t get out on deck.

I didn’t show you my cabin

Wednesday 7^th August at sea, the weather has cleared and the sea is as flat as a table and a beautiful day.

I was out on deck all morning reading and enjoying the sun when a large pod of dolphins went by and from then a lot more, they were enjoying the sun and flat seas as much as us, we even saw a little turtle in the middle of nowhere.

We had another free wine tasting this afternoon and enjoyed a great movie under the stars, I still needed a blanket but wasn’t as cold as other times.

Thursday 8^th and Friday 9^th August still at sea.

I really enjoy being at sea, we spend our time eating, talking, reading and when possible sitting on the deck in the sun.

We had our end of sector formal and there were only 3 of us at our table.  I forgot to mention that we have now an 80 year old man at our table.  We were at dinner the other night when one of the head waiters told us that his gentleman as coming to sit at our table in our spare chair.

We were and are still not impressed, he is OK but we have been together for over 70 days, it is a bit sad and we tend to stay away now.

The Maître d on the ship is and Indian who lives in Poland and he is really ‘out there’, dressing up in kilts, Mexican hats and much more, he visits every table and stops to have a chat.

He and the Chief Chef put on a cooking demonstration every section and this one was Mexican, so much fun.

Saturday 10^th August we embarked the pilot at 0415 and we entered the port of San Pedro which is the port nearest to LA.

Los Angeles, USA.   Currency – US Dollar.

It was a beautiful morning when I went up on deck, the sun was shining and we have been promised about 18 degrees and clear skies. 

The Immigration people came on board with the pilot this morning and we had all been given a time to see them in the Vista room and fortunately it only took 30 minutes which was an improvement on New York.  The actual disembarkation was an anticlimax.

Ann and I were on a city drive of LA by with just a couple of stops on the way, we left the Port and got onto the Freeway and headed to Olvera Street which is the birthplace of the City of Los Angeles  and is very Spanish as this area was settled by the Spanish and then later handed over to the US.

We drove past Disney Theatre, many Government buildings and we then set out towards Hollywood Bowl which is an enormous natural outdoor amphitheatre and is one of the most renowned music venues, the only problem was that there was a function on and we could not get near it so we had to drive past. 

We saw the letters ‘HOLLYWOOD’ up on the hill although it soon disappeared behind trees and buildings.

Hollyood Boulevard is the home of the Walk of Fame, a committee of legends, including Walt Disney, Cecil B De Mille and Sam Goldwyn met at the Brown Derby restaurant in 1956 and nominated the first 1,558 inductees. Today, there are more than 2,400 brass stars along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard.

Built in 1927, the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre seats 2,200, Sid Grauman accidently stepped into wet cement during construction and inspired the idea of movie stars imbedding signatures and prints to harden for eternity.  

It was very busy with heaps of tourists and locals wandering around looking at the stars. 

We stopped at the Farmer’s Market for lunch.

Unfortunately we headed straight back to the ship, the trip was a disappointment as we were back early and also didn’t get to see the footsteps which was the main reason I chose the tour.

Sail-a-way commenced at 1830 and we proceeded to leave Los Angeles, still don’t think much of the city.

Distance Travelled from Puntarenas to Los Angeles – 2507 Nautical Miles, average speed 18.9 knots. 

Total Distance Travelled from Sydney to Los Angeles – 26,801.2 Nautical Miles