Fabulous Sun Fun...
I’ve had some amazing experiences so far. I haven’t been updating this in a while because my laptop totally went dead on me and I won’t even be able to get an assessment until I reach Ft. Lauderdale to get to a MAC store on the 12th. Yuck!! So far I’ve been to San Diego, Puerto Vallarta, Santa Cruz, and Puntarenas. San Diego was a blast and it was great to see familiar west coast faces. I had some fabulous Mexican food in Old Town and did some shopping at familiar sites such as Fashion Valley and Horton Plaza. The weather was absolutely perfect. I didn’t want to leave it was so good. We were headed to Cabo San Lucas when we got in the path of a hurricane going through Mexico so we had to re route and totally missed the port that day. Oh well, I was going to be stuck on board doing “in port manning” (IPM) that day anyhow. We had some rough seas though, but not as bad as the rough seas we had just a few weeks back for that last trip to Alaska. Oy!! We finally arrive in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and very excited. We took a cab into town to take in the sites. We found a nice and relaxing bar and restaurant and started the day off well with a few filling appetizers a Bloody Mary and some rum punch. We stayed in town for a bit, but the heat was too intense and we were beach bound. We cabbed it back to the port area where there was a nice resort. We went into the resort and stayed by the pool sipping rum punches and having a blast in the sun all day. The seas were too rough to be out on the beach. Waves were crashing in around 5 feet high. Good for the surfers, but not so much for me and the wonder of the undertow. I went out there for a bit and turned my back on them as they crashed up against me. WOW!! I got some major sun that day. We all had a blast out there as well acting all crazy and doing lifts in the pool. Ahh the times, and I get paid for this. Woohoo!!
The next port was Santa Cruz, Hualtulco in Mexico. I was stuck on board doing IPM duties, but got the fabulous view. I was looking forward to Puntarenas, Costa Rica in Central America. We arrived early a few days ago and arranged a cast tour to a place high in the Costa Rican rainforest to go zip lining. Oh my God!! That was THE most amazing experience I’ve had since the helicopters in Alaska 5 years ago. We went up to the most beautiful spot in the mountains, got harnessed up, and attached ourselves to a cable wire. From there we shot down cable to cable flying over the tree tops of the valleys of the rainforest. We had fresh tangerines, saw fresh avocado tress, cashew trees, and coffee trees. It was a thrill just to be hanging over the canopy and flying over it via this cable. We had the pleasure of taking one of the former most longest cables through the canopy as well. I believe it was quoted at 750 meters long (I’ll have to convert that to feet later to see how far that actually is, damn the metric system, lol). They’re building a new one though that’s supposed to be 1,050 meters and the new longest zip line cable in the world. It should take about a year. You can stay at this resort for merely $49US/day and get a 6-bedroom room for merely $69US/day!! Costa Rica 2006 here I come. Any takers?
The food they prepared for us at lunch was phenomenal. We had tequila sunrises where the orange juice was squeezed from fresh oranges off the Costa Rican trees. After the zip lining, some of the cast went rock climbing on the wall they had there and I went bounding on the trampoline. I’ve never had so much fun. It was a day I’ll remember for a long time. Now I’m sitting here in the ship’s library at 6am waiting to go through the Panama Canal this Friday morning. Five years ago I went through it the other way and now I’m heading from west to east. We’re planning on meeting in a few hours as a cast to have mimosas and the infamous Holland America Panama Rolls that are supposedly sweet rolls filled with apricot and cream. Yum!! I sent an e-mail as a heads up, but we’re going to be live on www.pancanal.com where you can see our ship going through the locks. The first sets we’ll be going through at 8:45am and 11:45am and the next set starts around 2pm. This is all in central time. We’re off to the Caribbean!! I’ll be seeing the Gatun Locks on our regular Caribbean run every 10 days starting on the 18th. So, if you missed the live feed of the Zaandam this time, say hello on the 18th of October and every 10 days after until I’m gone December 1. Boy that’s coming up quickly. Time sure does fly.
The next port was Santa Cruz, Hualtulco in Mexico. I was stuck on board doing IPM duties, but got the fabulous view. I was looking forward to Puntarenas, Costa Rica in Central America. We arrived early a few days ago and arranged a cast tour to a place high in the Costa Rican rainforest to go zip lining. Oh my God!! That was THE most amazing experience I’ve had since the helicopters in Alaska 5 years ago. We went up to the most beautiful spot in the mountains, got harnessed up, and attached ourselves to a cable wire. From there we shot down cable to cable flying over the tree tops of the valleys of the rainforest. We had fresh tangerines, saw fresh avocado tress, cashew trees, and coffee trees. It was a thrill just to be hanging over the canopy and flying over it via this cable. We had the pleasure of taking one of the former most longest cables through the canopy as well. I believe it was quoted at 750 meters long (I’ll have to convert that to feet later to see how far that actually is, damn the metric system, lol). They’re building a new one though that’s supposed to be 1,050 meters and the new longest zip line cable in the world. It should take about a year. You can stay at this resort for merely $49US/day and get a 6-bedroom room for merely $69US/day!! Costa Rica 2006 here I come. Any takers?
The food they prepared for us at lunch was phenomenal. We had tequila sunrises where the orange juice was squeezed from fresh oranges off the Costa Rican trees. After the zip lining, some of the cast went rock climbing on the wall they had there and I went bounding on the trampoline. I’ve never had so much fun. It was a day I’ll remember for a long time. Now I’m sitting here in the ship’s library at 6am waiting to go through the Panama Canal this Friday morning. Five years ago I went through it the other way and now I’m heading from west to east. We’re planning on meeting in a few hours as a cast to have mimosas and the infamous Holland America Panama Rolls that are supposedly sweet rolls filled with apricot and cream. Yum!! I sent an e-mail as a heads up, but we’re going to be live on www.pancanal.com where you can see our ship going through the locks. The first sets we’ll be going through at 8:45am and 11:45am and the next set starts around 2pm. This is all in central time. We’re off to the Caribbean!! I’ll be seeing the Gatun Locks on our regular Caribbean run every 10 days starting on the 18th. So, if you missed the live feed of the Zaandam this time, say hello on the 18th of October and every 10 days after until I’m gone December 1. Boy that’s coming up quickly. Time sure does fly.
posted by Chris | 1:14 PM
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