Aboard Coral Princess

Sunday, November 29, 2015

On Wednesday 25 November, we got underway about 1730. Our next scheduled stop was San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua.

It is quite a haul from Cabo San Lucas to Nicaragua about 1800 nautical miles and we had three and a half days to get there. Because of this Andrea Poggi, our captain, rang up twenty one knots. Up until now, we had been cruising at about seventeen knots. Over twenty knots, these big cruise ships creak, shimmy and groan a lot.

To digress for a moment, Coral Princess is relatively new, twelve years old, she is 965 feet long and displaces 91,627 tons. As a comparison, Constellation the aircraft carrier I was stationed on in 1963-64 displaced 84,000 tons, was over 1,000 feet long and had a three acre flight deck and she was a big SOB. At 0500 the air group would go to flight quarters  and ring up forty knots and stay there until 2300 and she rode smoother than a cruise ship at half that speed. USS Waddell, the destroyer I was a plank owner on was only 4,500 tons. Because of her relative smallness, she pitched and rolled a lot more but she didn't shake or shudder unless she was taking green water over the signal bridge.

OK, I'm done for now and will climb off of my soapbox.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had diner in the Bordeaux dining room. I had the standard turkey with stuffing meal and Jamie had Dover Sole. FYI, after having an absolutely wretched "Captains Feast" in South Dakota I vowed never to have seafood more than 500 miles from the ocean. Also part of the same vow, as God is my witness,   was to never have Mexican food outside of  California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas. The food aboard this Princess ship is very good and we are now in a food rut. Breakfast of coffee, croissants with butter and orange marmalade, yogurt and Special K is brought in every morning by room service. About 1300, we stroll up to the Horizon court buffet for lunch with a most spectacular 270 degree view one deck over the bridge. Dinner is at a different venue every evening.

The weather since we left Cabo San Lucas is sultry. Eighty six degrees F and a bit more humid since California and Mexico.

This morning, Sunday, we anchored at San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua at 0700. One could hear the wind howling outside and when we went out on the balcony you could see whitecaps everywhere. After about an hour, Captain Poggi got on the 1MC and told us that it was just too windy to take people to the beach in the tenders. We got a bunch of photos of Nicaragua and then the anchor was weighed and we set out for Puntarenas Costa Rica. Being we left at 0800 instead of  1800 we are now ten hours ahead of schedule so we are now drifting along at what looks like four knots so we get to Puntarenas at about 0700. Puntarenas has a pier so there is no fear of people getting dumped into the drink when lightering from a tender.

Well that's all the news that's fit to print for now, so I believe I'll take a short nap now. 

Aboard Coral Princess

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

We landed in Cabo San Lucas this morning. We left San Pedro on Sunday 22 November and have been at sea for the last three days. Life at sea aboard a cruise ship is a tad bit different than a Navy ship. We have a nice stateroom with our own head with shower. We have a queen size bed and a balcony. A steward comes to our door at 0700 with our modest breakfast consisting of coffee, of course, croissants with butter and orange marmalade. Milk for the Special K and Raison Bran and grapefruit. Lunch is mostly informal up at the Horizon Grill on deck fourteen directly above the bridge with a 270 degree view.

In the afternoon, I've been reading Bill Bryson's Walkabout which I borrowed from the ships library. Walkabout is, as the cover declares, "Two classic Bryson bestsellers in one volume. A Walk in the Woods and Down Under. I'm a big Bryson fan having already read his Mother Tongue and Made In America.

After reading for an hour or two, I usually nod off for my obligatory afternoon nap. Dinner has been a bit more rigorous however.  Sunday evening after getting under way, we just dined up at the Horizon Grill. Monday night however was a formal night. I donned dress shirt, nice trousers, tie and jacket and we dined at the Boudreaux dining room. We were back at the Boudreaux again Tuesday only this time sans tie and jacket. Tonight, Wednesday, I want to try The Grill / Smokehouse.

To this old  Cleveland boy who after fifty plus years in California still can't believe how nice the weather is in California, Baja Sur in late November is absolutely mind boggling. It's in the low eighties today. We took the liberty boat into Cabo and strolled around town. It's amazing how much this place has changed in the last thirty years that I've been coming here.

We first went to The Giggling Marlin and had a few Pacifico beers and tacos. At the GM they have a guntackle mounted on the wall with a stylized marlin painted next to it. Usually after a few beers, margaritas and tequilas some unsuspecting tourista will get slung up and photographed looking like they are the marlin's catch of the day. Well folks, this silver tongued devil managed to get someone who, for the time being, shall remain nameless got someone upside down saying quesa in front of my camera.  I have photographic evedance to back up my claim. We bought a few T-shirts as souvenirs of the place and moved on to see what else the town had in store for us.

Onward we wandered to the Squid Roe for more Pacificos, laughs. and T-shirts. I bought a "genuine Cuban cigar". It really was, it said so on the wrapper.

Anchors aweigh

We are about to embark on a bucket list undertaking. We're going to transit the Panama Canal.

On 22 November, Jamie and I will board Coral Princess in San Pedro. 

We will be at sea for three days and arrive in Cabo San Lucas for liberty call.

Three more days at sea and San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua will be our next port of call.

The next day, we'll call at Puntaarenas Costa Rico. Another day at sea and then we get to the canal.

We're scheduled to go through from 0600 to 1630, 4:30 PM.

The next day we call on Cartagena Columbia. I'll buy everyone who responds a pound of cocaine.  Note to NSA, just kidding.

Next day is Aruba and then three more days at sea.

On Pearl Harbor Day, 7 December, we end up in Ft. Lauderdale at 0700.

How we get home to Long Beach, we don't have a clue. We are kicking around Amtrak, renting a car or hitch hiking. I'm not fond of flying in this day and age.

Travels with Lady. We're back.

I have learned that there is a correlation between how busy I am and how much I write and based on my recent production,  I have been a very busy boy.

In April, I had to put my sweet Golden Retriever down. She developed cancer on her scull that was inoperable. She lived about five months between the time I discovered the lump and the end. This thoroughly spoiled dog experienced a new, higher  level of spoiling. 

To ease my pain and help to pull me out of my funk, Jamie booked us an ocean voyage, what else, on a cruise ship. So on 30 April we were off.

It was a short, three day jaunt to  Ensenada and back. Jamie had asked me if I had ever been on a cruise and I replied that after eight years in the Navy that I had been on many. Did I enjoy them, she asked. Yes, I replied, even the ones where they were shooting at us. She suggested that we try a fun cruise to see if I liked it. Fun? Would I like to have some fun? I'm glad you asked.

Of course I enjoyed it and want to cruise some more.

In May we rented a car and drove to Denver to inspect and load a three station rotary vacuumformer.

In August, we, me Muncie Mouse and Lady the dog, were on a  five week roadtrip from 30 August to 12 October. It was a multipurpose trip. We ended up renting the very same Nisson that we drove to Denver. The trip was part vacation, fiftieth high school reunion and work.

We drove from Long Beach to Muncie Indiana and did a small job. Off to Michigan and up to the UP, upper peninsula of Mich. 

From the UP to Ohio and my high school reunion. 

Ohio to Biddiford Maine for another job and then back to Muncie for another job.

I am now just getting over my blank page fright, I'll quit when i'm ahead and give details soon.