At Sea & Grand Cayman January 22-23

Sunday was a beautiful sea day.  We attended the Traditional Maritime Service in the morning.  Always some good hymns that everyone knows – “What a friend we have in Jesus” – and ending with the Mariner’s Hymn.

An interesting lecture on the history of the Panama Canal, which opened August 15, 1914, was given by John Laverick.  A good refresher since it has been 8 years since we’ve been through the Canal.  It is an amazing structure and we will get a chance to see the area where they are expanding it to be able to accommodate the larger container and cruise ships.  Other facts:  Gatun Lake, part of the Canal, is the largest man-made lake in the world; the Chagres River, which provides all the water used to operate the canal (2.1 million gallons are required to operate just one of the several locks) only flowed to the Atlantic Ocean and now flows to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; the Pan American Highway Bridge crosses over Gatun Lake.  A voyage from New York to San Francisco around South America is over 13,000 miles and through the Panama Canal it is approximately 5,400 miles.

Every day we receive a Daily Programme which outlines the day’s activities.  There is also a nautical term of the day.  They start off easy and seem to be getting more difficult – like starboard, aft, fathom and ‘cut and run.’  In the program you can also learn something about the next port.  Grand Cayman is a place where you can see turtles, seven mile beach, stingrays and of course shopping.  No taxes and duty free.  There is a seminar on how to buy gems and where to buy them.  Definitely there are a few places to check-out.

Tonight is the Captain’s Reception and the Cunard Ball – dress is Formal.  The evening is fun because you get to see all of the beautiful gowns and the men looking quite handsome in their tuxes.  We meet a couple at the Captain’s Reception where we also learn about the passenger mix from the Captain.  The passengers on the ship represent 35 different countries and the crew is from 55 different countries.  The country with the most passengers is the U.K. around 750 followed by the USA with 560.  And there is only one passenger from Ecuador.

The evening’s show was modern dance and orchestra accompaniment to Jazz, Blues and Rock ‘n Roll.  Steve and I had to laugh because every show so far we are sitting by people who like to talk and some that like to hum or sing along – no matter where we sit in the theatre.  Strangely, it has been some of the same people even though we go all day without seeing them and we don’t know them.  As for the people we boarded with in New York City, we didn’t see until yesterday at breakfast.  Cruising oddity.

Today the ship docked early.  We took the tender to the Georgetown, Grand Cayman pier to do some shopping.  The temperature is perfect for us – 79 degrees.  The shopping is the usual: Diamonds International, Del Sol and many other stores.  We see people gathered and hear a band.  It is the National Heroes Day in Grand Cayman and there is a formal ceremony occurring.  We watch for a bit and listen to the band playing and see men and women in uniform (military?) marching.  Very British looking since Grand Cayman is a British colony.

Back on ship, a little pool time and now an update of the blog.  We sail away from Grand Cayman around 5 pm and head tomorrow toward Cartagena, Colombia, which we reach after a full day at sea (and yet another formal dinner!).  We will tour the Old Town of Cartagena that morning.  This will be our first time to Colombia; very exciting!