Day 78

Day 78 – Puntarenas to Los Angeles – Wednesday 1/8/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny. 26C – 30C

Sunrise – 5.41am

Sunset – 6.29pm

Time difference - minus 16 hours ex Sydney

Throughout the day Sun Princess steered a north-westerly course through the Middle America Trench. In the early hours of the morning Sun Princess passed the Guatemala Basin. At 5am we passed the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Todays geography lesson - We are close to the North Equatorial Current – a significant Pacific current that flows between approx 10 degrees North and 20 degrees North, so despite its name, it is not concerned with the equator, but flows just north of it. In both oceans, it is separated from the equatorial circulation by the Equatorial Countercurrent, also known as the North Equatorial Countercurrent, which flows eastward. The westward surface flow at the equator in both directions is part of the South Equatorial Current. You will be tested on this when we get back !!!! :)

A quiet day at sea today, the first of five in our voyage up to Los Angeles. We did all the usual sea day stuff which I have mentioned many times before, so will not repeat. We had another well attended CC lunch today which was good.

After lunch I sought some back pain relief in the hot spa, and swimming pool. Bloody back has been getting a bit painful of late, but today it was quite bad. No doubt the extra padding I have put on during the cruise has contributed, so that will need to be remedied..yet again.

The Captain advised that they will be relaxing the self serve restrictions in the buffet tomorrow, as the gastro numbers have reduced considerably now. So that means we will revert to the dining room for breakfasts again, as I dont feel comfortable with the hygiene practices, or lack thereof, of some fellow passengers. Besides, it is nice to be waited on in the dining room, particularly on sea day, when the day is there to be whiled away:)