At Sea & Puntarenas, Costa Rica January 27-28



Sailing the Pacific

The Pacific Ocean is just as blue as the Caribbean Sea with the sun glistening on it as we sail from Panama to Costa Rica.  Our morning routine of exercise sometimes includes walking on the deck.  Today, there is a sea gull huddled in a corner on the promenade deck.  We tell a crew member who captures it in a box.  The story is it will be set free at the next port…..

The ship creates beautiful waves that sea birds (we are told albatrosses) fly along and through gathering up the fish disturbed by the ship.  Dolphins also are seen swimming along side.  Our biggest decision of the day is what to wear tonight – formal.  Steve thinks we may have to have formal evenings when we get back home because after this cruise we will be really good at dressing up.

The daily lecture series includes an interesting talk about how Central America was formed, geologically speaking, millions of years ago and the number of active volcanoes.  There are over 550 active volcanoes in the world with a great number of them in Central America.  The climate of this region also creates a great diversity of plant and animal life.  In Costa Rica alone there are over 400 different varieties of orchids.

The second lecture is all about The Kiel Canal, which is claimed to be the world’s busiest canal and Europe’s largest shipping canal.  The lecture is so interesting we want to take our next cruise through this canal.  It is always a reminder during these lectures that we are on a British ship and everything told is from that perspective.  Lots of European history we know little about along with a lot of geographical features we are unfamiliar with so it makes for great learning opportunities.

Another lecture series we missed is by Col. Stephen Bauer who wrote a book “At Ease in the White House: Social Life as Seen by a Presidential Military Aid.”  We caught the tail-end of his lecture and he told about how that couple (can’t remember their names) were able to crash the White House Dinner Event and how Lynda Bird Johnson met, rather forcibly, her husband.

Our evening includes a reception by the Captain for World Club Members.  These are nice events with the opportunity to meet other travelers and hear the Captain speak.  A nice Canadian couple sits down with us and we find they are just cruising to New Zealand to visit their daughter and then fly back to Toronto.  The Captain announces tonight the four top cruise passengers by the number of days they have cruised on Cunard ships.  The first three are in the 2100’s and a lady who has cruised the most days is the winner with 2,441!  At less than 30 days on the Cunard ships, we have much to aspire to.



Beach view of QE

Black Sand Beach & Mountains

The clock was turned back an hour last night (we are now in Central Time), making for a nice additional hour of sleep!  The ship docks this morning in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  This is a very small port that is primarily for people interested in taking tours into the country to explore and sample the diverse culture, climate and adventures.  We have already sampled greater Costa Rica so our tour is only of the town of Puntarenas.  This is mainly one street and the main attractions are the beach and the market that is set-up on Saturdays and when cruise ships come to town.

Child resting at Market



Store in Puntarenas



Colorful shawls

The market is mostly comprised of tarp covered stalls with trinkets, hats, dresses, wood carvings, cigars, postcards, etc. for sale.  It is fun to walk through, see the wares and people-watch.  Everything is very colorful and so inexpensive.  For us, it is enough to walk through and then back to the ship.  The temperature is 86 and the sun is hot.  With everyone on tours or walking the market, the ship is nice and quiet.  We tag-team doing a load of laundry while people are away on shore.

Tonight is the play ‘Twelfth Night”, the comedic one-hour version, and the movie is “Midnight in Paris.”  Dress tonight is elegant casual, aka Florida formal but with socks for men!

Nautical Term of the Day – Beaufort scale: an empirical measure for describing wind intensity based mainly on observed sea conditions.

Cruise Musings:  We write down questions every day that we want to know the answers to.  However, with the internet being so expensive and slow, we won’t be able to find out the answers unless we pose them to people reading this blog.  For example, who found the solution for yellow fever and malaria that permitted building of the Panama Canal?  When did Prussia become Germany?  Please post your answers as blog comments, or email the answers to these and all future posted questions.

Tonight we depart Costa Rica and will be - At Sea - for three days until Cabo San Lucas.  This translates into many lectures, concerts and formal evenings since these all tend to be at-sea experiences.