ARUBA

We have reached the half way point and now head out southeast for two days in the Caribbean…Have picked up lots of new cruisers in Ft. Lauderdale, will get to know some of them as we head back to San Diego.

Open seating is fun, generally have lunch and dinner with 2 new couples everyday…Saturday dined with a couple from Scottsdale who summer in Montana and a couple from Logan, Utah who winter in Mesa. Sunday met a minister and wife who live in Seal Beach but teach in Thailand in the summer and another couple from Henderson, Nevada on their 64th anniversary trip.

Sunday morning Liz found a man swimming with her, so she had to speed up a bit to leave him in the dust (waves?)…I read some classic books in the morning…TS Eliot’s poems…maybe that will help me? and the War of the Worlds, with pictures…Nothing like reading the classics and observing the people around the library. Everyone had glasses!! Very quiet and sedentary except for one loud gentleman and his PAPA? There’s always one?

Saw a rich skinny old man with a very attractive redhead eating breakfast at the Pinnacle? Didn’t know the Pinnacle was open for breakfast…I guess they will do anything to part you from your money.

Liz and I both were in the finals for the 4th Blackjack tournament…I had qualified with $3100 and Liz with $1800…Liz came in 4th and could have won the $500 bucks with a blackjack on the final hand but NO…I came in 5th…Two more blackjack tournaments…The odds are getting better??


Tomorrow morning Aruba…we are looking forward to an interesting day in Aruba… Pics and Videos below…

Arrived right on time...Neat little town and Island...should have fun and get FREE internet??


Bye for now....Liz and Dick

Caribbean Sea, on the way to Aruba

Saturday on the high seas...wonderful stopover in Ft. Lauderdale...Dave & Marge met us and we saw the sights, broke bread and played some Wisconsin rummy...Marge Won!!

Some pics and videos below...

Caribbean Sea, almost to Florida

It’s the day after Cartagena, Columbia and we will be sailing the Carribean for two days…

Cartagena was fun, the taxi driver was a kick, he found an internet café for me and shopping for Liz…Very interesting city…A security guard at the entrance to the ship like my straw hat so much that he wanted me to give it to him??? He kept telling me that HE WAS SECURITY…and I should GIVE him my hat?? I told him NO…but was glad to get by security and onto the ship…

We lost one of the ship’s 4 engines just out to sea, but our Captain assured us that things were under control, so we didn’t worry, just sat in the Sea for a while?? Fun all day Wednesday…Nice lunch with all the people who have become Mariners…We now have 77 days in…quite a lot but paupers considered to some others, who are on the ship a lot…

Blackjack is coming back strong…Haven’t lost for 5 days…Yesterday up $175, so on…Hope to win one of the tournaments on the way back to become completely healthy…Formal night tonight, big deal…another steak dinner…wow…this is the life…

Looked closely at people on the 8th deck this morning…here is what they are doing in poem form??

The Catholic Priest was reading the Bible and taking notes…
The nappers were napping…
The emailer’s were emailing…
The puzzle people looked puzzled…
The card people were playing cards…(duh…)
The Computer People were learning to fake their digital photographs…(Scary?)
The crossword people were looking cross-eyed…
The Scrabblers were scrabbling…
The Gamblers were gambling…
The Readers were reading…
The Eaters were eating…(they buy food in between meals??)
The walkers were walking around Deck 6…
The shoppers were shopping for art…
The dealers were dealing…
The pushers (like a slot machine?) were pushing…
and last but not least…
The Mariners were marinating in the Main Dining Room…

Sorry, but feel I must add more content to the internet…

Tomorrow we will be go through the windward channel, see Cuba and head for Florida…

We had a very interesting lunch with a couple from Vancouver and two couple originally from CUBA, but now retired in Sarasota…The CUBAN experience was still very in their hearts and they will NEVER return…We tried to understand their terrible experience and thank God for the good ole USA…

Won $100 this morning...Blackjack tournament again at 4:00???

Hello Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow morning...

Congrats to Lennie Holness he is in the elite 8 in the golf tournament back home...

Bye for now....Liz and Dick

Leaving Cartegena, Columbia

It’s the day after Easter Sunday, April 13, day 11…as we go thru the locks of the 100 year old panama canal…

We learned tonight by email of the passing of our dear friend Muffy Hayden on Easter. Our wishes and sad condolences are passed on to Skip and the entire family…What a shock!!! She was the greatest lady and a greater mom…We loved her…We will always remember our Holland American Cruise with her and Skip through the Baltic and the Mediterrean in 2006. So sorry and shocked…Hang in ther Skip, I know you are going thru a very rough time as well…We are praying for you…

Life, however, goes on and Liz and I enjoyed the canal, it took all day to traverse the 50 miles, very interesting and probably the greatest engineering project ever on Earth….Had a good time in Panama, but the next stop might prove even more interesting….Cartegena, Columbia, tomorrow morning..

May Muffy rest in peace….

We are now in Cartegena, took a taxi tour and liz is shopping and I am interneting…I love it…with a local beer called Aguila…Connected to CABLE…beautiful and historic town…big wall protects it from those nasty Brits and Frenchmen…Our taxi driver is Mestico…and loves OBAMA…All is good….May even buy a panama hat…Next two days at Sea..

Will meet Dave & Margie in Florida, Friday…

Will try posting a few more pics and videos on Picasa?? Winning lately in Blackjack…


Bye for now....Liz and Dick

Easter Sunday in Panama City

Its Easter Sunday, April 12, day 10…as we arrive near Panama City and anchor the ship until tomorrow when we make the trip through the canal to the Carribean Sea.

Saturday was a really great day at sea, met many new friends at the formal dinner, came in 2nd in the Blackjack tournament, attended a few computer workshops, saw a good show, went up for late night drinks all in all a great day…

Took some pictures of the sunrise, not too good a little cloudy, but watched from Deck 7 as the ship anchored and we will tender ashore in a few hours…

Saw the Catholic priest in the elevator on my way deck 12 early this morning…He was in a tee shirt and asked me what my plans were for Easter?? Told him I was just going to look around…He didn’t seem impressed…

Hope everyone is having good Easter…Look for us tomorrow at:

http://www.pancanal.com/

…a webcam will show us going through the canal, but I really don’t know the exact time…Should be fun though, take a look, We Will Wave??


Bye for now....Liz and Dick

2 Days at Sea and another poem?

Its Friday, April 10, day 8…as we cruise the Costa Rican and Panama coastal waters.

Yesterday had a neat stop in Puerto Chiapas, small but interesting little community, filled with native dancers, shops an internet connection for $5…Got caught up with the web pages and had fun watching the locals and fellow cruisers do the town…

Friday and Saturday will be at sea…Sunday and Monday at the Canal…Another blackjack tournament tomorrow and Digital Workshops 3 or 4 times a day…Not bad, we were the 1st class so had our picture taken for their website…

Saw another great sunset and sunrise…so what else… a poem??

Let’s take a ship down to Panama…hope we don’t get stuck in the locks…

See the sunrise over Costa Rica, orange and white colors abound…

Passing Ships, a’working…A lonely bird a’flying…

Nothing like a pre-breakfast at sea, coffee & muffin…

Saw a man with a GPS and a map of the pacific, making calculations…he seemed very serious…

Saw another man awed by the sunrise, the ships and the bird…

Remembering the “Wal-Mart” in Vallarta, made friends in Hualtuco, can’t wait to get to Aruba…

8 days down…20 to go…Long live the cruise lines…



Bye for now....Liz and Dick

Greeting from Chiapa...Goodbye to Hualtuco

Great time in Hual...and fun leaving...big party...

See ya in Chiapa and Panama, in a few days...