Page 2 of DavidGarvin2012 Travel Blog Posts


Oceans and Seas » Pacific October 4th 2012

We wanted to go to sea in a ship and today was our chance to experience it when it felt like a real ocean instead of a lake. We had strong winds all day and you could definitely feel the ship’s motion either while you were sitting or when walking around. The noon report from the bridge said that it was 86 degrees and we were sailing southeast at 24 miles per hour, aided by a 52 mph wind from the north. However that produced a lot of whitecaps most of the day and everyone walked with a distinct sway back and forth due to the roll of the ship. Having said all that, it wasn’t bad enough to make you sick, but it is certainly more motion than we’ve had any other day. We went ... read more
Another view of the seas
Closin the Pool
Formal Dinner #2

Oceans and Seas » Pacific October 3rd 2012

Hello from the big blue Pacific ocean. Notice we did not include the words quiet or smooth. About 3:30 in the morning we sailed through a fairly big thunderstorm. We heard it and saw the lightening, but we didn’t get up to watch. Other did and described it as very heavy rain. We just went back to sleep. In the morning it was sunny again but this afternoon became overcast and periodically there were more showers. This has given us some “ship motion” that we really hadn’t had before. And it was a little cooler than yesterday’s near-90 temperature. Other than not getting any suntan, it wasn’t actually bad weather. We tried the deck-side breakfast bar this morning, but again it was just waffles, pancakes, and French toast. David grabbed a waffle and then we went ... read more
Uncarved Ice Block
Carved Ice Block

Oceans and Seas » Pacific October 2nd 2012

This morning we arrived in Mexico, at Cabo San Lucas and anchored in the Sea of Cortez. About 1000 years ago Cabo San Lucas was part of the Mexican mainland. Then a massive rupture of the San Andreas Fault sent the waters of the Pacific crashing into the newly formed depression, creating the Sea of Cortez and the Baja Peninsula. Lying at the very tip of Baja, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez, Cabo San Lucas - or "Cabo" - is a premier resort. We had set the alarm for 5:30 because we needed to be in the Princess Theater for our tour at 7:15. It turns out that we allowed quite a bit too much time, but that’s better than the alternative. We went up tot the Horizon Court for breakfast and met ... read more
Island Princess in Cabo
Arch at Cabo San Lucas
Catamaran

Oceans and Seas » Pacific October 1st 2012

Had trouble getting on the satelite last night, so this is a little late. Today we got up around 8:00 and had a wonderful breakfast in the Horizon Court which is on one of the top decks. They offered a breakfast on the pool deck this morning, but all they had were pancakes and French toast, and we wanted bacon and eggs, so we ate at the Horizon Court buffet. Anyway, with the time change, many people had not gotten to breakfast yet, so we have a fairly quiet morning breakfast. The weather has gotten considerably warmer. The skies are almost cloud-free and the temperature in mid afternoon was high 80’s or low 90’s (good pool weather). And thankfully, the seas are smooth and you can just barely feel the ship moving. Afterward breakfast we did ... read more
Janet in our Cabin
Cabin Diagram

Oceans and Seas » Pacific September 30th 2012

Hello, We started the day with the “sit down” breakfast in the Bordeaux Dining Room. We were seated with a couple from England who had started the cruise in Anchorage and had taken the Alaskan Cruise, the 2-day cruise from Vancouver to San Francisco, and were staying on all the way to Ft Lauderdale. They said that each time the cruise changed, they had to move to a different cabin, but that the staff had loaded everything on racks (not needed to pack suitcases) and moved stuff for them. Anyway we had a good breakfast to start our day. After breakfast we stopped in one of the ship’s stores and bought a couple of souvenirs for ourselves. Janet always gets a mug from each cruise and we try to find a representative T-shirt for each of ... read more
Captain's Reception

North America » United States » California » San Francisco September 29th 2012

Today we start the “sailing” portion of our trip. We have had a great couple of days visiting in California, and learned about many additional places we could have visited if we’d allowed ourselves additional days, but the ship sails today and we aren’t going to miss the ship.. Before leaving the hotel this morning, David had time to add pictures to the Wednesday and Thursday episodes. If you’ve already read those stories, you might want to scroll back anyway and see a few pictures (7 and 6 respectively). They do not adequately reflect the good times we had the past two days, but it might at least give you an idea. We slept in this morning so we would start the cruise well rested, had breakfast in the hotel, packed all the stuff back in ... read more
Leaving Port
Sailing under Golden Gate Bridge
Leavinf California behing us

North America » United States » California » San Francisco September 28th 2012

Today was another fun day touring in California. We started in Santa Cruz at the Dream Inn. It is a really nice hotel and we really appreciate Janel and Kelly for arranging it for us. But we had said our Goodbyes last night so we hopped in the car, had breakfast on the road, and headed north this morning. Coming south we had traveled the highways and interstates, which was efficient but not too exciting. This morning we followed Janel’s advice and went north on US-1, all the way to Half Moon Bay. It is mostly a 2-lane highway running along the coast. The scenery was more picturesque but unfortunately it was partly foggy so we could not see it as well as might have been later in the day. We did take a few minutes ... read more
Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco Skyline
Janet wanted to Visit Here

North America » United States » California September 27th 2012

Today was a wonderful visit to Santa Cruz with David’s sister Janel, her husband Kelly, and later having dinner with her daughter and son-in-law Rebecca and Brendan. The day began by sleeping in at the hotel in Hayward and then having their complementary breakfast. We packed an overnight bag and headed off for Santa Cruz (a little over an hour away). Our arrival was planned for noon so Janel could complete a couple of conference calls, and then we all had a terrific afternoon and evening together. We started with a tour of their house in downtown Santa Cruz. This is a truly neat home will a ton of character and many special attributes. They have a 3-story house in a nice quiet neighborhood. They have two large huskies (the larger – Noel – weighs almost ... read more
Sea Lions Under the Pier
Seagulls on Natural Bridge
Kelly, Janel, & Janet

North America » United States » California » Hayward September 26th 2012

We’re off! The time has come again for another wonderful trip. The suitcases have been carefully packed, everything is as prepared as possible to leave the house, and our friends Ken and Terri Schmalbeck have taken us to the Airport. Elizabeth will be watching things at home so we can have a worry-free vacation. So let the good times begin! Janet stayed up late last night to print boarding passes, and we were in Group-2 on both American Airlines flight. We arrived in plenty of time for our flight from St Louis to Dallas, which actually arrived 10 minutes early in Dallas. We connected to our flight to San Francisco without any problems, The first flight was only about 2/3 full but the second one was packed. So the main event today was simply getting to ... read more

North America » United States » Missouri » Florissant September 9th 2012

This is the beginning of another wonderful 2012 trip for the Garvins. We are leaving on September 25 and will post updates as regularly as possible so you can share in our adventure. Thanks to Elizabeth and Valerie for watching the house and tending the cats, so we can go on this cruise. Once again we are beginning a tremendous trip – this time from the US West Coast to the US East Coast through the Panama Canal. We have been intending to take this particular cruise for a couple of years, but each time another opportunity came along, so the "canal trip" kept getting postponed. Now the canal is in the process of being widened to accommodate larger ships, so we want to see it this year, pretty much in it’s “original shape”. Anyway, the ... read more




Tot: 0.174s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 10; qc: 88; dbt: 0.1039s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb