Round the world 2

---

World Cruise, part 2



Thursday 12th January.



Bahamas. Grand Bahama



Ship alongside 8am. Nothing booked. Went dow to Reception to see Visa Lady after breakfast. Still no word from ESTA . A call was made to ESTA and I actually spoke to official. Went over passport details. Had wrong date of birth. Therefore need to cancel old one and reapply. Sounds simple. Ok. Now need to wait for cancellation to come through. Could take 10 days. So can’t stay on ship.

Have to get off! Told to go pack bag and they would help us find hotel if we wanted. Could leave whatever we wanted in cabin as ours for the duration of the voyage. Alternatives, maybe come through by Hawaii, or safer to fly to N Zealand and wait for ship there. This was quite a shock. Had naively thought could just stay on ship, just not get off, but ship in US waters so technically in US. Upset to begin with but then reflected……..Bahamas? New Zealand? …….a month? ……… could be worse!………. Went back to cabin to start packing.

Meanwhile the ship itself was having problems. The authorities were reluctant to give the ok for anyone to disembark due to our small number of gastroenteritis/ norovirus cases and possible infection. Captain not happy, poor communication, attempting to get authorities to change mind but at about 12 announcement was that no one getting off and as soon as refuelled heading off again. This left us with quite a dilemma. Good news though was that I had email to say old visa cancelled. 2 hrs instead of 10 days, great. Back to Reception. They helped me reapply for visa, pay another $21 and told me to just go and wait.

Was quite puzzled about our next step, getting off or not? Went for lunch and spied captain chatting to guests so asked him what we had to do. He confirmed not getting off under any circumstances and so ship would need to deal with our problem when got to Fort Lauderdale if not resolved.

Ship duly left the port middle of afternoon: about 5 pm had a call from Reception saying ESTA had come through! Relief! ( but just a tiny disappointment we were not going to have an alternative adventure!)

What a day!



Friday 13th January



Fort Lauderdale, Florida



Said to be the Venice of US. Has 165 miles of inland waterways. There were the usual number of excursions we could have chosen but decided to save ourselves for later in the trip and go local.

This meant a shuttle bus to a nearby Galleria shopping Mall. But only after going through the dreaded US Immigration. With 1800 people to process, that’s just passengers, likely to take some time. Trippers went first, the rest of us were told to collect a raffle ticket after 7am, then go and wait wherever on the ship til called. Then to go through immigration before coming back on ship for breakfast.

Finally called about 8.30, queued in terminal for about a hour before got through passport control, back to ship. When we were ready to go ashore told to wait as they were still calling passengers for immigration, this about 11 am!

The ship had to be totally vacated as there had to be a total disinfection of the ship due to our continued possibility of being contagious with our dreaded virus( that was confined with cases decreasing. ) but was the only understanding by which we were allowed to dock. We would not be allowed back on for 6 hrs.

Finally allowed ashore just after 11 ………to join another Q for the shuttle buses which seemed to be very sparse. Eventually got a bus about 12 for a 15 minute transfer to the shopping Mall. It was very clean, lots of big name shops, spent a leisurely time wandering in and out of them until we arrived at the food court where we had lunch.

Interesting to see food options, healthy eating having a higher priority as couldn’t see straight burger joint! Chose salad bowl options, very tasty!

Meandered back along Mall ready to find pick-up point, succumbing to a rather lovely handbag in a rather gorgeous store called Brighton!

4pm, joined another Q to get shuttle bus back to ship. Thank goodness allowed back on ship a bit early, Seem to have spent half of today queuing! Good job we’re British!



Evening performance was Nick Clegg, once a runner up on Britain’s got talent several years ago, comedian/ impressionist with tales to tell of his journey. Had arrived at ship at 9 am after flight but not allowed on ship til 5 pm due to disinfecting going on.



Saturday 14th January



At sea

Port talks, Mexico. Huatulco and Manzanillo



Never heard of either place before on the Pacific coast.

Huatulco means a place at the edge of the sea,and it is in Oaxaca province on the SW coast. There are lots of beaches and the Sierra Madre mountains. There has been lots of resort development since the 1980s but originally coffee was the main industry and there are salt flats nearby. They have an average of 300 days of sunshine. There is 30 km of coastline in a series of bays. We will dock in the Bay of Sant Cruz, one of 9 bays that makes up Huatulco.

The quayside has about a 300 m walk to reach the waterfront and beach bars ad cafes to sample the local beers, tortillas and salsa and other typical Mexican fare.



Another day at sea will take us to Manzanillo

Manzanillo is Mexico’s largest port on the Pacific coast. It is in the small state of Colima, in the Bahia de Manzanillo next to the Bahia de Santiago.

There are coral reefs off the coast.

There is a mile long sea front promenade, the Malecon, with the most enormous blue Salefish statue - Manzanillo is the Salefish. Apical of the world.

The main industry of the state used to agriculture, fruit, chillis, papayas. etc. but now is tourism.



12 noon. We have travelled 204 miles since leaving Fort Lauderdale at an average speed of 14 knots, with 585 miles to go to Jamaica. Latitudes 22 degrees N, winds at Force 6.



The evening show was a piano virtuoso, Who could certainly play the pianos. Excellent show,





Sunday 15th January



At sea.

8am, Pedicure for us both.

Roger went to church service in theatre.



Lunchtime There was another Peninsular Club meal. Apparently should have been in Southampton?? ( didn’t know that).

Food excellent as usual, wine free flowing. There was Fizz as an aperitif, followed by more Fizz if requested, and table wine. Looking around there seemed to be a lot of tables set out but not filled. Fizz had been poured ready for expected No of guests and the waiters then passed it round as it couldn’t be saved! Diners were being encouraged to make the most of the free booze on P & O!

The afternoon passed very quickly once I made it to the cabin for a siesta. I’m obviously out of practice! Still felt rather worse for wear when got up for supper but soon rallied after a glass of water!



Evening performance of Headliners, ships company with a erfamanceof a Queen tribute.



Monday 16th January



Jamaica. Montego Bay.



Nothing booked, planned to get off and have a meander close to the ship which turned out to be a non starter. The gift stalls next to the terminal building were minimal. Looked like needed a taxi to get anywhere. We had chatted to someone who said they were going to a nearby beach club which seemed like a good idea. Not really interested in tourist tat. There were maxi taxis just outside terminal building but didn’t look as if would take a wheelchair. We were pondering what to do and one of the security girls asked if we were looking for a taxi. She knew someone( of course she did!). Asked how much and the $7 each quoted sounded reasonable so we agreed. She called Karl and we went outside the gates to wait for him.



Karl duly turned up after about15 mins and soon loaded the wheelchair and us and off we went. We had been warned about getting fobbed off with any old drivers , someone’s, brother, uncle, etc, but Kirk seemed ok. I laughingly asked if the girl at the terminal was his cousin and he looked at me in surprise and said - how did I know!!!Headed off to Doctor Cave beach and club. Recommend as safe. Karl chatted, seemed like a nice chap, did we like Jamaica?, etc, Bob Marley blaring from the radio-what else would it be?! Would we be interested in a mini tour of Montego Bay for $50, half an hour, before going to the beach? Seemed like a good idea. Took us in towards the town and turned off into some narrower streets. It was the fruit and veg market area, oops being sold off barrows, from the back of tracks, vans, etc all very colourful and noisy. Karl seemed to know everyone. Traffic everywhere, all sides of road, we weaved in and out, not a tourist area, but interesting to see. We drove on to more residential areas, past his son’s old school, as his new school, to area where rich folks live. Then back towards centre and main municipal buildings , all the while insisting it was important we had a good time. After about 40 mins we got to the beach club.

I had assumed it wold be long sandy beach, with some sort of shack selling food. Oh no, just down an ordinary street with shops, apartments, etc, through some gates, you pays your money and you go into some gardens fronted by the beach. There were lots of loungers on the beach, tables and chairs in the gardens and a substantial food outlet with waitress service. Karl insisted in coming in with us, making sure we had his number so we could call him if we wanted to leave earlier than the arranged time when he would come back for us.

We ordered loaded nachos and rum punches and had seats in the shade under the trees for a couple of hours. Managed to get wifi and emails, etc . Kirk appeared to help us back out to the road and took us back to the cruise terminal. Although he had given us the impression that we only needed to pay him the tour price plus $7 each from the beach it suddenly turned into each way plus wasn’t he worth a tip! We had had a safe and enjoyable time, the taxi was new and comfortable, he had been polite and respectful and so were really didn’t begrudge him it.

That was Jamaica. We had felt safe there although had been warned not to take credit cards, wear too much jewellery, etc. Think it’s quite poor compared to some of the Caribbean islands.



Palladium theatre in the eve had Soul sisters of Motown. A good show.



Tuesday 17th January



At sea. Talk in the morning- Making Assumptions. Paul Sloane. Has written several books about lateral thinking. An entertaining talk.



Doug Field also have a talk about the forthcoming Southbound Transit of the Panama Canal. Although we came through from opposite direction in 2018 could not fail to be looking forward to it again. It is a marvellous feat of engineering.



The country of Panama lies in an East / West direction with the canal trig through NNW/SSE. The towns of Cristobal and Colon are on the north side with Panama City on the South.

Christopher Columbus was the first European to set foot in Panama in 1502, his only landing on the American Continent, although of course there were indigenous Indians there already. The above mentioned cities. are obviously named after him.



The Spaniard Vasco Nuñez de Balba was the first to set eyes on the Pacific Ocean which he called the Southern Sea. The port of Balboa near Panama is named after him.



1855 the Panama railway was finished

1881 - 1894 Ferdinand de Lesseps , a Frenchman who had been the engineer for the Suez Canal attempted to construct a Canal. He thought it should be able to be constructed at ground level, like Suez, although at the maximum height the land is 85 feet high. For a number of reasons he failed, due to costs, the unstable geology of the region, with the loss of 22,000 men, who died from the mosquitoes and malaria.

1904 -1914 the Americans attempted and finally succeeded to build the canal, by building 3 locks at either end of the canal to take the ships up to 5 feet and then down the other side to cross the continent.

It was finally opened on 14th or 15th August 1914. The President of USA was Teddy Roosevelt who was not too pleased the the FirstWorld War in Europe had just begun and had overshadowed the open ending of the Canal.



After the talks we tried t go and do some washing at the laundrette on our deck. No luck. There were 3 people waiting in the very small laundry room, the standing space not much wider than the width of the doorway. There were 3 washers and 3 driers ( only 2 of which were working! ) it was obvious we’d need to return later.

We returned after lunch. There were only 2 people waiting, with one washer having just started a load, the other 2 part way through. I decided to lay claim to the washer that had just started a load and wait the 40 mins the cycle took and luckily had the wheelchair so I didn’t have to stand. I parked just outside the room , the doorway being wedged open with a laundry basket. It’s quite a convivial time, doing the laundry as there’s always several people to chat to and bemoan the limited facilities. Having finally put my washing in I then went back to the cabin for a while but made sure I got back in time for the finish so I could then claim a drier! There were tales of people removing others laundry etc and just leaving it if. We finally completed it all in 2 and a half hours! Hopefully we’ll manage for another 3 weeks before we have to go through this again!



Wednesday 18th January



Panama Transit.



Facts and Figures
<ul class="ul1" style="caret-color:� color:� -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.3); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The canal has been open 109 years this year<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Today it operates24 hrs a day, 365 days a year<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">9500 men and women are employed on the canal to assist with the transit of more than 14000 vessels a year<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Since it’s opening in 1914 more than 1 million ships from all over the world have transited the canal<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The total length of the Panama Canal is 48 miles(77km)<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The first transit was by SS Ancon<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">If a cruise ship were to sail from the Atlantic coast of Panama around South America to the Pacific coast of Panama it would cover 12000 miles and take bout 23 days.<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">It takes a cruise ship about 9 hours to transit the canal compared to 24 hours for a cargo ship<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">The cost for Arcadia to transit the canal I’d approximately $300,000<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Each locks measurement are the same<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Lock chambers are 1000 feet long and 110 feet wide( 305 m by33,5 m)<li class="li3" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal;">Each lock is capable of contains up to 11 million gallons of water (55 million litres)



Who could fail to find it interesting? Roger was definitely looking forward to it and was up really early, checking out progress towards the entrance. We had to wait for the pilot who was with us soon after dawn. As Roger was up I gave up trying to sleep and got up too and joined him for breakfast before 7am so we were out on the deck to see us go under the Centennial Bridge, finished in 2019. In 2018 it still had to be completed and we have photos of the 2 sides reaching towards each other with a gap still in the centre.

We followed the progress of Arcadia into the first lock, as she glided along the canals and through the lakes. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, with few clouds, about 26 degrees C, fascinating to watch the jungle go by either side of the ship. At one point we had to stop and tie up to the quayside to allow a medical emergency off, to be taken away in an ambulance. No other information.

The Panamanians are very patriotic and proud of the canal and there are lots of flags as we went through the locks along the quaysides.

We finally came out of the last lock in the late afternoon, and sailed under the Puente de las Americas, the Bridge of the Americas (the PanAmerican Highway) into the Pacific Ocean with Panama City looming to the South in the distance.



What a wonderful experience.



We are travelling n a direction of 301 degrees. 7 degrees N, 82 degrees W, winds Force 2 and calm seas..



Will try and upload this in Huatulco on Saturday 21st. Will complete rest of sea days from Panama up to Mexico next time. After Manzanillo on 23rd will have 8 days across the Pacific to Hawaii on 31st.

---