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Cactus central,SHB at Eagle Beach, ,Twins,Cowgirl Donna

Day 82

Day 82 – Puntarenas to Los Angeles – Sunday 5/8/12

Weather – Fine, Cloudy. 17C – 28C

Sunrise – 6.09am

Sunset – 7.36pm

Time difference - minus 17 hours ex Sydney

Throughout the day Sun Princess maintained a northerly heading. At about 8am we passed Isla Cedros, which is the home of the Marias Federal Prison. At 10am we were abeam of San Jose as we continued our northerly course along the coast of Baja California.

Today is the last of the 5 sea days enroute to Los Angeles, which is the end of another sector. As it is the last sea day of the sector there were quite a few items on the program today of interest to us.

Today was the photography contest voting session. This sectors topic was 'people' and we had 2 entries, one of which was the photo of Donna with the macaw of her shoulder ( I posted this photo on the Dubrovnik post of the blog)..we did not win (:

Of course it was bingo jackpot session this arvo, which is the only one we go to..we did not win (:

Also a laundry day for us, as we are needing to pack for our 6 days ashore in LA and Hawaii. Those who have cruised will know how hard it can be to get an available machine at times, but have really been lucky as we are on a small lower deck, so not as many people to have to share the laundry with, so dont have the laundry rage that other floors have.

CC get together for drinks this arvo was well attended, so for the second day in a row we had pre dinner drinks before our pre-dinner drinks.

Donna collected the last of her ceramic masterpieces today, she has done very well with them. The ceramics is another of the items that Princess are withdrawing from their ships, which is the cause of some disappointment to a few folks.

Hopefully all is in readiness for our holiday on our holiday in LA and Honolulu, we'll soon find out :)

Day 81

Day 81 – Puntarenas to Los Angeles – Saturday 4/8/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny. 25C – 27C

Sunrise – 5.51am

Sunset – 7.08pm

Time difference - minus 17 hours ex Sydney (back an hour last night)

Throughout the day Sun Princess steered a north-westerly heading through the Pacific Ocean. At 9am we were going to pass 30 miles off Cabo San Lucas, however we had to make an unscheduled detour into the bay to make another medical evacuation. No helicopters this time, a ship to tender transfer of two critically ill passengers. We hope they too will make a good recovery.

After the transfer, we continued on our way, past the Golfo California, past Banco San Jaime, and then continued throughout the day parallel to the coast of Baja California, which is one of the 32 states of Mexico. The Captain advised that the detour will not affect our arrival time into Los Angeles on Monday as we have been tracking along nicely in calm seas.

Today was all about finalising arrangements for holiday on our holiday, by making our hotel bookings for LA and Hawaii. What is usually a short task on land can be quite a challenge whilst on board with the problematic Internet connection. The LA hotel was relatively simple as we wanted to be near LAX, so we confined our search to a small area and picked one, and got online at 5.30am (when the Internet usage across the ship is light, therefore a bit quicker) and had it booked in no time.

The Hawaii hotel was not so simple. There are sooooooooo many to pick from, so we listened to as much advice as we could get from others who had stayed there, and came up with a short list. Getting a booking was not so easy as summer holidays makes for booked out hotels, but with the help of Pam and Randy we got it sorted, so we are all systems go.

Hawaiian Airlines have very generous hand luggage allowance, 11kg, plus a personal bag, so we should not need any check in luggage, which makes life easier. Randy, who is a retired Airline Captain, was kind enough to inform us that the flight from LA to Hawaii is the longest flight going that does not have an alternative airport to land at...gee thanks for that Randy, very reassuring. Someone else at drinks told us that a 767 only has two engines, and if one goes, the 767 just falls like a brick...yep we are on a 767 !!! Anyone else want to have a slice of this pie ???

This evening we had pre-pre dinner drinks, before our pre dinner drinks, which will now be a regular occurrence on formal nights, which we have one of tonight. When I said this was a very social cruise I meant it, though having a double dose of pre dinner drinks which start at 3.30pm in the afternoon, for dinner that starts at 8pm can only lead to one thing...drink fatigue!!!:), but it is good fun getting to that point !!

Day 80

Day 80 – Puntarenas to Los Angeles – Friday 3/8/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny. 27C – 30C

Sunrise – 6.29am

Sunset – 7.35pm

Time difference - minus 16 hours ex Sydney

Throughout the day Sun Princess steered a north-westerly course through the Pacific Ocean. We maintained a minimum distance of 15 miles off the coast of Mexico. At 7am we passed over the Orozco fracture zone, at which time we will be abeam of Bahia Petatlan.

Day 80..wow !!! Sea Day 3 of 5 of our voyage to Los Angeles !! Well...guess who is going on an Hawaiian holiday !!!! Yep, we have booked our flights to Honolulu from Los Angeles with Bob and Wendy !! We have advised the Pursers desk that we will be jumping ship for a few days, no problemo !.

We arrive in LA on Monday, fly out on Tuesday, and beach bum until the Sun Princess arrives in Honolulu on Saturday, so that will give us some time to enjoy the place we have heard so much about :) As much as we love cruising, it will be nice to have extra time ashore !

Double dose of trivia today, firstly the normal version, then a Jeopardy style version, a bit different, and good fun, and filled the morning up! Relaxing, reading and socialising the afternoon away...again.

We passed on the evening entertainment options, instead went searching for accommodation options in LA and Honolulu, although the ship's satellite Internet was really lagging tonight, but you do get used to it :)

Day 79

Day 79 – Puntarenas to Los Angeles – Thursday 2/8/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny. 27C – 30C

Sunrise – 6.04am

Sunset – 7.02pm

Time difference - minus 16 hours ex Sydney

Throughout the day Sun Princess cruised on a north-westerly course through the North Pacific Ocean. At around 1.45pm today we passed the Golfo De Tehuantepec which is a large body of water on the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southeastern Mexico. Most of the hurricanes that form in the Eastern Pacific organise in or near this body of water. We later passed over Tehuantepec Ridge and continued towards the O'Gorman Fracture zone.

Day 2 of 5 sea days on the hike up to Los Angeles, in fine sunny and warm weather. The atmosphere has bounced back in the last few days, with all the open decks awash with sun lovers, outdoor activists and relaxers enjoying the fresh air.

A late start to the day for us, I did not wake until 8am, and Donna even later, so too late for breakfast in the Dining Room, so it was buffet,with self service is now permitted again, and it did feel odd being able to help yourself again.

Yesterday whilst I was sitting in Rendezvous, I was going through my task of downloading and culling photo, both on the iPad, and the netbook. Whilst doing this a lady walking passed asked for a couple of tips on using the iPad, which led to me agreeing to arrange a time to walk thru a few things with her and some friends today. Well that became a group session of 8 !!, and good fun.

We are toying with the idea of staying ashore in Los Angeles on Monday and having a day or two there, and then flying on to Honolulu to meet the ship on the following Saturday, which would give us extra time in both locations. We have checked with the ship about doing that, some papers to complete, and at this stage we will probably do that, more later.

After dinner tonight we did a movie in the Princess Theatre – Saving Grace, it passed my 20 minute test, and I stayed awake, so it must have been OK:)

Sorry, but these updates are going to be brief on these sea days as we dont want to continue to repeat what we have already said we do on them, suffice to say...relax !!!! :)

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:)

Day 77 - Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Day 77 – Puntarenas, Costa Rica – Tuesday 31/7/12

Weather – Mainly cloudy. 24C – 33C

Sunrise – 5.29am

Sunset – 6.01pm

Time difference - minus 16 hours ex Sydney (back an hour last night)

At 4.10am this morning Sun Princess passed the island of Negritos Afuera which is in the Golfo De Nicoya, 8 miles from Puntarenas. The pilot boarded and guided us to our berth at Quay 5 west side.

Mucho gusto Costa Rica !!!!

This trip continues to pull surprises outa nowhere. Before this cruise I had never heard of Puntarenas, and it certainly did not make the 'must not miss' lists of ports in our itinerary, but we are so glad we called in here and got a little taste of Central America – we want more !!!!

We did a Princess tour in the morning which entailed a boat ride (coz we have not had much boat riding over the last 11 weeks) and a country drive to a macaw sanctuary. As mentioned before, it is all about expectations, and they were not that high to be honest, so what a treat we had this morning.

A short bus ride through the town of Puntarenas to where we boarded a little 15 seater boat. The rest of the bus were on a larger 30 seater, but we had to spilt up. We were lucky to be on the smaller one as it turned out, as it was able a bit more nimble through small offshoots of he river we motored along.

It was a lovely ride for about an hour through the most dense mangrove/rainforrest area with lots of birdlife. We also saw 3 crocodiles, but no photos unfortunately as the big suckers ducked under water by the time I had the camera ready.

We then took a 45 minute drive through the countryside, through little self sufficient towns to the macaw sanctuary. I expected a few birds in a few cages..again expectations blown away. 230 photos later, we had seen first hand in the open the most colourful display of big birds, particularly macaws and toucans I have seen. There were birds in pens, being rehabilitated, but after they complete their rehab, they hang around and fly all over the place, quite a sight.

Back into town, a quick freshen up on board, then back out again. We walked through the markets stalls set up along side the beach, and met up with friends Ross and Margaret. After a little shopping we headed inland looking for somewhere to eat. It did not take long until we came across a local seafood cafe/restaurant/cantina where we had a yummy lunch.

Then strolled through the main town of Puntarenas, an ice cream, and look see and we were back on board, after yet another wonderful day ashore. Pre-dinner show, drinkees, and dinner and we were done for the day.

At 7pm we will leave our berth and retrace our courses out of he port, and once clear we will steer a south westerly course passing Cabo Blanco. Sun Princess will round the headland finally steering a north westerly course across the Middle America Trench, beginning our 5 day ocean voyage towards Los Angeles.