Day 10 -- Manta, Ecuador

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The Star Princess officially entered the Southern Hemisphere at 0122 this morning, and we docked amidst a fleet of fishing and cargo vessels about 0800. Dave and Mary, American friends we have met, blew off for the Galapagos’ Islands at O’Dark thirty this morning, and we cannot wait until they re-board and tell us all about their adventures. Manta is about a four hour’s drive from Quito (Capitol of Ecuador), so we’re not sure why stopped here, as we sailed at 1800. There was one small town nearby that specializes in Panama hats (called so, because although “invented” and still made here, they were shipped by the thousands to the men building the Panama Canal in the early 1900’s. After our day in Costa Rican Rain forests and jungle rivers, this made a lot of sense. Anyway, we hit the gym hard today, relaxed aboard ship, took a lot of photos of other ships in the harbor, and got our first upload of blog posts and photos completed. Cost us $15 (Ecuador uses the USD as its official currency) at a hotel along the waterfront, but compared to the 70 cents a minute aboard the ship, it was a deal. Had a great dinner, were entertained by Jackie Wilson’s son (Geney, you would have LOVED his show – he sang all of the stuff you used to listen to on 45 rpm records when we were kids!!), and then attended a huge “Crossing the Line” party celebrating all of the new Shellback’s who crossed the equator for the first time. Distance is 693 miles sailed from Puntarenas.

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