Seattle to Florida 2021

Today would be a short 1/2 day at sea before we reached the anchoring point at Half Moon Cay (HMC).  We arose at our customary time of 8am so we could attend the coffee chat.  I ate my customary breakfast of 2 eggs over broken, a sausage patty, one potato cake, and lox with a small glass of cranberry juice.  Afterwards, I obtained a couple of sticky cinnamon rolls along with a cup of green tea and went down to the BB King area for the coffee chat where I shared one of the rolls with Angela.  Tricia Kelly, the vocal impressionist, was the guest and she was also a hoot with lots of stories about her life and career.  We had our last COVID 19 test immediately after the end of the coffee chat.  They are performed quickly and the chocolate reward at the end was a nice touch.   Afterwards, I went out to try more photography but it continued to be poor conditions.  With our projected arrival at HMC at 1pm, we ate our customary lunch in the LIDO and then assembled our snorkeling gear and camer

After a very pleasant short stay in Aruba with our friends, it was a smooth night sailing towards our next destination at Half Moon Cay, which is Holland America's private island in the Bahama's.  While some might consider it a cheesy destination, we rather like it because it doesn't have all of the glitz of, say, Coco Cay or Labadee which are theme park type destinations the Royal Caribbean owns.  We woke up around 8am to get ready for this last full day at sea on this voyage.  The coffee chat was with Hyperion Knight, the piano virtuoso.  He was really engaging and we learned that he's studying to be on the TV show Jeopardy.  He's got an excellent grasp of musical history and was a delight to listen to.     Parallel with the coffee chat was the Holland America charity walk, "On Deck for a Cause".  Because we were in the coffee chat, we couldn't do the walk this cruise, although we typically do participate in it.   The 10am EXC talk was "Unexpect

At long last we were at the southern entrance to the Panama Canal at 4:45am.     This would be our first time transiting the the Canal from south to north; we've done it the other direction 3 other times.     This is one cruise destination that should be on everyone's bucket list.     I'll not describe the transit in much detail as it's pretty much enter a lock, fill with with water, exit the lock chamber, repeat, sail across Gatun Lake, enter lock, discharge water, repeat twice, and enter the Atlantic Ocean under the brand new Atlantic bridge around 3:30pm.   Personally I love the transit process which is largely unchanged from 1914 when the canal opened and found a great view point on deck 10 mid ships under a protective ledge which kept me dry during the early morning portion of the voyage during which it rained.     When the rain stopped mid morning, I changed locations to the railing forward on deck 7 where I watched the rest of the transit

Of all the places in the Caribbean, I never expected to choose Aruba as a favorite place to visit.     Including this trip, we've now been here three times.     And on all three visits we've been able to spend time with a couple who live here that we met on an Asian cruise in 2019.   Overnight the ship sailed on smooth Caribbean seas and we apparently docked by 7am.     I say apparently as I didn't feel a thing and remained asleep. After breakfast we met our friends near the exit of the terminal area.     Our ship was docked at terminal 2 and we had the longest walk to the terminal exit having to walk 1/2 the length of our ship plus 1/2 the length of the Carnival Horizon which was berthed behind us.     From there it was a dogleg walk of about a quarter mile to the Main Street.     Since our last visits in 2019, the exit path has been revamped.   Just before the last vendor gauntlet, I spotted our friends and we enjoyed a friendly reunion before w

Today is our second to the last full day at sea.     The Caribbean Sea has been very flat with virtually no motion to the ship.   We started the day at 8:30am with our second Covid Antigen test which replaced our test scheduled for last Saturday which had been cancelled by the ship.     I then squeezed in a quick breakfast before the 9am coffee chat with gymnast Lance Ringnald which was very good. That was immediately followed     by a Port talk on Aruba and Half Moon Cay.   I tried some photography but all I could see were hundreds of flying fish which are very hard to photograph.     While the ocean was pretty flat, there was a stiff breeze and slight chop on the water.     I'm certainly becoming known for being the wildlife photographer as many people stop to chat with me not only on the Promenade deck but elsewhere onboard.     After my customary lunch, the Port To Table presentation was done by the very large Indian head chef.     He did a whole jerk

When I wrote yesterday that today would be quite different, I never dreamed how different it would be.   Our first view of outside was very low clouds and rain.     This would be interesting for photography.     But we made our way to breakfast a bit earlier than normal as we expected a full house at the coffee chat with The Alley Cats.     It was really good and that led to the Cruise Director's canned presentation on the Panama Canal which was quite good.   Afterwards I went out to see if photography was feasible, and it really wasn't.     So I gave up and we ate a quiet Lido lunch.     The afternoon was a repeat of the morning Panama Canal presentation followed by two Panama Canal documentaries: Panama Canal: Mountains & Mosquitoes and Big, Bigger, Biggest (a technical film about how canals work and are built). Both were quite good.   I tried to photograph more, but the conditions were poor, so I stopped by the Photo Shop and entered a few phot