We attended a lecture the other day on Nicaragua and the speaker talked about the Papagayo Jet— the winds that jet down through the country at this time of year (60 mph). The winds were so strong when we arrived this morning in San Juan Del Sur, the captain decided it was too dangerous for transport to shore so we are moving on from this country up to our next destination Huatulco, Mexico. Too bad, we were scheduled for an incredible zip lining excursion and I was hoping to catch some surfing in the afternoon.

When ships travel from the Pacific to the Gulf and approach the Gatun locks, these guys row out and catch the lines thrown from the bow of moving super tankers and row back to the pier and hand them to the electric mules who guide the ships through the locks.

Over the past 100 years they have tried various incarnations of this: shooting lines from the bow, which proved too dangerous for the receiving end; they tried motor boats, but those too suffered stalls during the rainy season in which the canal can receive more than 200″ in the season….. so they stuck with row boats.

I am having issues uploading images, of any size, on this blog… but being the IT geek I am I did some testing in the computer lab and it appears the Crystal Cruise Line network staff has given Facebook and Instagram much higher priority in the routing tables than WordPress (what I use and quite likely the most dominant web platform on the internet). I asked the staff to relay my message. So I might be relegated to posting images late in the evening or at sunrise.

That said, we passed through the Panama Canal this morning and it was beautiful. I am posting some images on Facebook during the day.

When out at sea, bandwidth is a precious commodity and image uploads are held far back in the queue of data streaming. I know this to be fact. So until I can get near port to upload some images, you are stuck with my prose.

The seas over the past 24 hours have been driven larger by stiff winds out of the NE and the hallways and promenades are a choreography of, what appears to be, drunken passengers weaving from side to side like pachinko marbles.

Last night we attended a black tie event in the Stardust Ballroom where the main shows take place. Meredith was stunning in a black laced dress and I in a tux. We both have spent too much time together and each had the petite beet salad and poached lobster entree paired with a crisp and delightful Sauvignon Blanc.

We crashed after that from the first two days of overindulgence and are still searching for our cadence.

This morning we were awakened by the rising sun and hit the bistro for cappuccinos and a latte to go before heading up for breakfast overlooking the seas

After, we attended three lectures: Columbia, which will be our first stop in Cartagena, then a fantastic lecture by astronaut, Scott Kelly. Awesome. Then a continuing lecture on the Panama Canal. Somewhere in there we were in a newly formed trivia group (The Know Nothings) and managed to get 10 out of 15 questions right and will move onto a collective four days of scores. The high score was a couple of groups who got 12 out of 15, so we are not far off. Meredith then went on for a bridge game, and I donned some new wireless headphones and found a comfy oversized lounge on the back deck and finished up on some final edits of my upcoming SciFi novel, Silversides.

This evening we will regroup, shower, dress, then head down to have a cocktail in the main lobby while listening to live music. After, we will seek out one of the many fine dining experiences aboard– tonight perhaps– Nobu for sushi. Then off to the Avenue Saloon with its smoky dark lighting, romantic booths and sideways glances by other guests as if they know something more than we do… and they probably do, for there are a lot of repetitive world travelers aboard ship.

This will be our home for the next four months and the world is truly our oyster.

At sea writing. A french press and four-minute timer. The princess is still sleeping….

John might not be leaving us…

We were greeted at the pier by a gentleman in top hat and tails, then ushered to our room but not before picking up a couple glasses of champagne. The crew welcomed us back–how they knew we sailed with them before is a delightful wonder?

Yikes! We just discovered something in the fine-print of our World Cruise Contract…. We had no idea BYOB meant Bring Your Own Boat!

emergency root canal today… 3 days before we leave. Hopefully the next two canals: Panama and the Suez will be a little easier

The amount of time spent on the computer getting visas for various countries is mind boggling.