Days 25/26 Friday 30th and Saturday 31st - San Francisco

There’s now 8 hours between our times, so by the time we got up, though immigration and off the ship it was nearly bedtime in the UK. This means the live chats have fallen off a bit, which heightens the feeling of missing our lovely family L. 

San Francisco, once through immigration, is a beautiful surprise, the marina is like a town in itself, and reminds me of 1960’s London but with sun. Street performers everywhere one singing Joni’s Big Yellow Taxi, kiosks selling souvenirs and tours of all the attractions.  Our plan was to join a local boat trip to Alcatraz but they were all sold out, so plan B became a boat trip around the island and under the Golden Gate Bridge with wifi audio and historical slide show.  We were able to save the slides to our phones, so I will add them here as soon as I can, as they provide a lovely commentary.  We have been watching a P&O TV channel about San Francisco on the sea days, all about earthquakes, fires, prison break outs. These contain ancient speckly black and white movie footage make really interesting documentaries. The Alcatraz break out was absolutely fascinating using spoons stolen from kitchens then fashioned into chisels and life rafts secretly sewn from raincoats covered with some kind of glue.

Instead of the cool weather and rain we were advised to expect we got bright sunshine and clear blue skies all day J  For a big city everything seems comparatively inexpensive, so Khachik felt comfortable getting another box of red wine here.

And Saturday’s plan? We originally booked the Sixties Hippy bus tour, but the company P&O had previously used has gone out of business. Just not enough of us aging hippies taking it up!  So it’s going to be a City Highlights coach trip this morning and possibly a walk into Union Square this afternoon. More about that later.

We leave San Francisco at 7:30 Pacific time and then have 4 sea days towards Hawaii for 2 days, arriving in Honolulu on 5/2/2015 and La Haina 6/2/2015.

Day 24 Thursday 29th January 2015 Leon’s 2nd Birthday (celebrated by Nanna and Grandad on the Pacific Ocean)

Happy Birthday to our grandson Leon! It’s a strange feeling not to be phoning and chatting to Leon today, or getting frequent updates about the bairns. It is very hard to imagine that it was 2 years ago when we were waiting to meet the lovely little man. We hope everyone is well at home and the start of 2015 has brought love, hope for the future, that Leon has a great day full of fun & surprises

Well here we go – the last sea day before San Francisco.Passengers are reporting dolphin performances at breakfast these days, I love that.  The classes for sector one have finished, the art has been exhibited, many people are preparing to leave the cruise now and fly home, and there’s a feeling of excitement and accomplishment in the air.

The Sector One Cruise Choir (passengers) have just performed very beautifully and professionally on stage.  That was an unexpected treat. As predicted the temperature has dropped a little bit again, to 16C with a bracing wind, so we’ve all got our jumpers back on, and apart from brisk walking are doing a bit less out on the deck.  The clocks have gone back making an 8 hour difference now.  Tomorrow at 6 a.m. we will be sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge and coming in to port. Our captain predicts a temp of 8C at that time and has advised us all to wrap up if we’re going out for photos.

We have travelled more than 8000 miles since Southampton 3 and a half weeks ago yet it still feels brand new! More tomorrow, in port so with high speed wi-fi for sharing photos and Skyping a little bit too we hope, as long as it’s not too late when we get off the ship (USA immigration procedures). Bye for now.

Day 23 ALREADY? Wednesday 28th January 2015 Playful Dolphins

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Two sea days until San Francisco and we have had to cover up our arms and walk more quickly to keep warm, how spoiled we have been since reaching the Caribbean.  As we head to the USA the temperature is falling, overnight 24C and now 20C, predicted 11C on 30^th. Of course this makes the prospect of exploring SF very comfortable.  We still have brilliant sunshine, and a peaceful sea so all is well.  It won’t be long until the heat comes again in sector 2 as we head for the South Pacific and Australia.

There is a big difference between Mexico and USA’s immigration policies and procedures. In Mexico we didn’t have to show our passports, just carried the cruise card (bar coded with all our passport details on it and a photo).  We have already had an A4 sheet of instructions for the USA, which involves all 2000 of us having a face to face with an immigration official in a booth in the port with our Passport, Cruise Card, Visa Waiver confirmation. It could take some time, we are advised there might be bag searches. No food drink or water allowed into the USA from the ship. Interesting though.

We have just returned to the cabin after our classes – as a few people finish their cruise and leave the ship in San Francisco (they call what we have just completed sector one) dance and art lessons for sector 1 are coming to an end.  They will start up again in sector 2 on the 5 sea days to Hawaii.

Dance today was revision of the rhythm foxtrot, jive, cha cha cha, rumba, waltz and quickstep. ;) we are ok at the slow ones but our quickstep is disastrous! The final art subject for this sector of the cruise was a watercolour of a dog, going well for us so far. We will be finishing it off tomorrow in time for the exhibition at 2 p.m.

We have been very lucky so far with both teachers’ patience and understanding of different learner styles. Impressive that it is all included in the cost of the cruise. Lessons every day (two of each if you want/can fit them in) would cost a fortune on their own. We are putting everything up on the walls at 1 p.m. and collecting them at 4 p.m. Just to recap…water colour of a meerkat, autumn landscape, robin, young woman portrait, mountain landscape, snowy forest, Venice landscape,  our waiters, Khachik and me, seascape, woman planting, koala, camel’s head, dog, and one pencil drawing of Mohammed Ali.  Khachik has never laughed as much as he did at my koala – honestly, in his whole life I dare say. Even now that I have amended the shocking oversized ear and the look it had on its face of being a bit of a bugger, the memory of my first effort is indelibly fixed in Khachik’s mind.  I am so glad he became a civil engineer and nothing "inter-personal".

 

Our captain calls from the bridge every time whales and dolphins are in sight.  Today we were walking on the Promenade Deck when one of those calls came and luckily we also had our camera so not only do we have whale footage from yesterday, but also 30 seconds of joy from this morning  when 3-4 dolphins came to play near the ship. These are incredible moments.  You can tell from the gasping and shouting out soundtracks! The foloowing picture is unfortunately not one of ours, but feel free to gasp any way.

We have another Black Tie dinner tonight with a Marco Pierre White menu, so it’s time to get ready for that.  We may not go to the Palladium tonight for our fix of after dinner entertainment, as we are already yawning!  That could change…

Bye until tomorrow xxxx

Day 22 Tuesday 27th January 2015 Whale watching in the Pacific Ocean

This morning we arrived in beautiful Cabo San Lucas between Mexico’s Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. We went ashore in tenders which felt very exciting as we got to feel the full effect of the waves, but only for about 10 minutes. These are the little lifeboats attached to the cruise ship underneath our balcony, and also on the starboard side.

 Once ashore we spent a sunny morning chatting first of all in person to the two entertainers from the last two nights in the Palladium – singer Peter Howarth (Hollies) and saxophonist Julian Smith (BGT’s runner up to Diversity and Susan Boyle).

Then we tried again with Skype to reach our “bairns” but made do with messenger as the wi-fi was, well, intermittent. For lunch we were off the ship so we had fish tacos with guacamole and salsa in a different restaurant.  Then came a two hour boat trip with refreshments and very satisfactory whale watching, particularly a family of hump backed whales

We got back to our cabin at around 5 after returning in the last tender for the sail away. We have started looking through our pictures short videos from the excursion. Hopefully we will soon find a piece of video that conveys all the joy of seeing these enormous creatures in the flesh! There were lots of sharp intakes of breath and ooooh, ahhhhh-ing going on. Quite emotional really. Very very grateful again today.

So today there were no art, dance or yoga classes and no deck walking on port days, but we now have another imaginary tick on the imaginary bucket list for “Whale watching on the Pacific!”

Tonight’s dinner was also a Mexican themed chilli with rice, beans and more guacamole – fiery hot and exceedingly satisfying. And in the theatre tonight Will Martin (link to a You tube clip) from New Zealand, described as “crossover” which I believe means combines classics and rock/pop vocals and piano.  He was very, very good. The standard of performances in the evenings is high now.

Bye for now.

Day 21 Monday 26th January 2015 A sea day, with lots of sea and sun, and a few clouds.

On the port side we can see more of Mexico in the distance, shades of pale lilac mountain ranges against the blue sky.  We have stayed this close to the coast since we left Huatulco and are making great progress towards Cabo San Lucas, where we will arrive tomorrow morning.   It has been 26C most of the day, with a not at all unwelcome cloudy spell allowing very comfortable time in the pool area. Binoculars at the ready, and you will be the first to know if we spot a whale!

At dance lesson we had a go at Rumba One, which we now know is a sequence dance, and then a sequence quickstep to Irish country music – sorry I have forgotten its name, but it was fast and confusing. We then reviewed the Square Tango.  So in theory if we ever did go to a dance we could join in with…..waltz, foxtrot, tango, rumba, jive, cha-cha-cha, quickstep and a few sequence dances.  My only concern would be not having a teacher to call the steps out!!!!!  It is wonderful having a professional dance teacher once a day for an hour. He’s called Jeffrey Dobinson and was himself in the first stage performance of Cats, and today he had a call from his son in the middle of the class which he took, only to find out that his son has got the part in Cats of Mr Mistophiles (sorry about the spelling), so Jeffrey was very happy and excited for him.

Art gave those who are colour blind an opportunity to come into their own with a pencil drawing of Mohammed Ali as a young Cassius Clay.  I have to say Khachik is a most talented artist, and ought really to enjoy more pencil or charcoal drawing. His work will be highly sought after in the exhibition on 29^th.

It’s Australia Day today, and as there are over 100 Australian’s on board there are a lot of things happening to celebrate the day.  Judy and Jim two of our dining partners are from a village near Brisbane, and reminded us of a Barbie on deck tonight, so we are not having the Black Tie 5 Courser, but instead open air eating.

After our trip to Cabo tomorrow there are two sea days (and one art exhibition) to San Francisco.  We have already been forewarned about the logistics of 2000 people having face to face interviews with immigration in San Francisco, so hopefully the excursions will happen without too much delay, or any hiccups.  We are relieved to say we do have the right visa waiver documents.

We are planning an independent visit Alcatraz on 30^th and have booked a 1960s hippy trip with appropriate flower power music in a psychedelic bus on 31^st.  

Time to get ready for the Barbie. See you tomorrow.

Day 20 Sunday 25th January 2015 Huatulco Bay Mexico (and of course Burns Night)

Wow, it appears there were storm force winds overnight and I slept right through them, according to the captain’s message this morning as we came into port.  Khachik said the ship was rocking and rolling so much he woke up and was compelled to watch a bit of telly instead of sleeping. By the time I woke up it was as calm as can be and the outside temperature was a very comfortable 26C, peaking at 29 at lunch time.  After breakfast we left the ship and walked to the nearest beach, and sat down to update the networks and Skype.

Huatulco was beautiful, and looked like a great resort if anyone would like to spend any length of time in Mexico on a beach holiday. Rocky sea views with turquoise water and the clearest blue skies. I got to practice my Spanish when ordering in the café, paying and saying thank you. Ha!  Just 4 and a half hours in port today and then we were off.  Heading for Cabo San Lucas, our second Mexico stop  arriving Tuesday 27^th. It’s on the Californian (Mexican) peninsular and looks idyllic.  This is where we have booked Whale watching.

Back on the ship we had a 2 hour art class painting a camel, and learning to mix more colours.  The longer class meant we missed the chocoholics buffet L, but it was all in a good cause.

Didn’t miss yoga though, my lifeline to inner calm and outer flexiness. I was so chilled I forgot my shoes and was nearly at the cabin when I had to go back for them.

Tonight I also finished the second portrait of our waiters, and I gave Vivek a painting as promised.  Lots of smiles, not sure if it was a good likeness but not to worry, if it’s the thought that counts.

As it was Burns night we had the bagpipes playing as the haggis was paraded around and served up as a starter with tatties and neeps.  The other Scottish food I tried was Clootie Dumpling with ice cream. It had to be done. After dinner I had a conversation with a young (younger than us!) couple we have got to know more and more every day, Peter and Nigel. We covered so much ground I couldn’t grasp how we did it in such a short time – including average age on board this cruise (68, we have had confirmed), what happens if someone dies on board (mortuary arrangements!), living for the moment, what our jobs were/are, how long we had been with our partner and even “What did you have (to eat)?” a bit like Barbara Royle. e now feel like we’ve known each other for ages, and i am sure we will stay in touch.

As a result there wasn’t a lot of time for deck walking between dinner and the Palladium, 1.5 before the cabaret and 1 after made 4.5 today, so we’re doing ok, and getting up walking speed.

Who knows Peter Howarth, the lead singer of the Hollies for the last 10+ years? And West End performer as Roy Orbison?  I didn’t.  I still think in terms of Alan Clarke and Graham Nash – I know, I know!  Anyway what I want to say is we both loved him. He did all the Hollies classics Bus Stop, the Air that I breathe, He Ain’t Heavy, Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.   Two of the Hollies songs he did without the resident band, just him and his acoustic guitar, Here I Go Again, which he described as his own interpretation, a tortured love story, and Jennifer Eccles.  He also did 3 of Roy Orbison’s, “Running scared”,   “You got it” from his Travelling Wilberries era, and his first big hit in the 1960s “Pretty Woman”.  I wasn’t expecting tonight’s performance to be so good.  I even felt like going back for the later show.  He has lifted the bar a bit I would say, and stirred up a few old emotions too.

Here's a year old recording of He Aint Heavy

So, a day of highs and lows in more ways than one. Bye for now.

Day 19 Saturday 24th January 2015 Sea Day leisurely progress towards Mexico, with glimpses of whales

Last night there was a beautiful newish moon and reflection in the sea at bed time.  How good are the peace and opportunity to take time to notice. Then the clocks went back one hour again and we are now 6 hours behind GMT. Although I originally wanted to Skype lots, the window for Skyping is now mainly the morning here, to avoid bedtimes there, and then only in port when we can get better speed wi-fi.  So the blog and Facebook are doing all the work for now.

The temperature has been a consistent 28C since we got to the Caribbean, today clear blue skies are back after a cloudy start, live music on the top deck and half a dozen different kinds of music in various indoor venues.  There’s a passenger choir who meet every day for an hour and who will be performing before we get to San Francisco on 31^st.  Today at art (when painting the infamous koala!) we found out that all of our offerings are going to be exhibited in the gallery on 29^th. How exciting,  I might have to make one or two (maybe a few) of my slightly disappointing ones disappear, but I am happy that Easa, our teacher  thinks they are worthy.

Around about 2 p.m. I returned to our cabin to get into my swimsuit after lunch – and while I was there Khachik and everyone else on the Lido deck saw a hump backed whale. Sadly it had disappeared by the time I got back, but it seems they are out there and when we get to Cabo for our Whale Watching Excursion we will I’m sure get close up. As Khachik had been noticing how many really obese people there were sunbathing in tight swimsusits, I am sorry to say that I thought he was referring to someone on board when he said he'd seen a hump backed whale.

Bye for now.

Day 18 Friday 23rd January 2015 Sea Day passing Costa Rica, Happy Anniversary!

We are so contented in our little world here, travelling at less than 20 miles an hour on the Pacific Ocean towards Mexico with nothing to see but the sky, sea, flying fish and sea birds diving for them.  28C for us again.  Today we are having an at sea celebration of our wedding anniversary as its 23^rd of the month and our cruise is in honour of it.  Khachik has just happily received his first ever pair of cuff links (essential wear on a Black tie night like tonight), as he has up to now been wearing family heirlooms that have seen better days, but did the job.  Look at this lovely on board celebration.

Last night I gave my water colour painting of Blyton to Blyton, one of our waiters, he said it looks like him, so that’s reassuring.  I took a photo of Vivek, our other waiter, and in a couple of days will give a painting to him too.  Here’s hoping I can capture something he can relate to.  They are both young, and both handsome, so I think that makes it easier.

Today’s discovery is the Peninsular Club!  This is a loyalty programme our dining mates told us about last night, so we have been to investigate.  Whenever we cruise with P and O we get 10 points for every night of the cruise. We have 140 points already from our first cruise in 2009, and when we get to San Francisco we move up a tier to “Pacific” (150-500 points), when we get to Sidney we move up to “Atlantic” (501-1000 points) and by the time we get to Dubai we should move into “Mediterranean” (1001-2000 points).  Each tier has benefits, discounts, gifts, party invites and the Mediterranean tier even offers us free slippers!!!!!

We also realise that our Travel agent managed to get us a substantial on board credit which our dining mates didn’t get. So we are feeling happier about spending, even Khachik ;)

My yoga practice today felt really good. In spite of joint pain getting in the way of strength, I have managed to maintain what can only be described as outstanding flexibility, and my focus on that feels just right.  I guess in the past I might have dwelt on the pain, and got more upset about it, but I do feel great about flexibility, and the feeling deep inside that goes with it.  Pain management is quite an art form. I am unable to lower my body in charuranga dandasana (plank), and am unable to take any weight through my shoulder, or lift my left arm sideways or backwards, needing help to put my arm in my sleeve.  But there's still a lot of movement I can manage. Naproxen is reserved for special occasions, and these days seem "special".  Hope the meds last until home.

After Yoga I caught up with Khachik on the deck walk, explored all the shops and then we went for a dance lesson after a couple of days off. Today we were into sequence dancing, one was based on the Charleston, the Cindy Swing? one revising the square tango and the third a sequence Calypso.  We’re doing ok! No injuries, incidents or crashes on the dance floor. Just as long as nobody is gathering video evidence, we’ll be fine.

Bye for now. Back tomorrow

Day 17 Thursday 22nd January 2015 Panama Crossing

From about 6 a.m. today we have had a live commentary by a member of p and O staff, the port presenter Sam, of our day on the Panama Canal. She must be exhausted as its 5 p.m. and we are still not quite through.  We have been able to move around the decks taking everything in, as we moved through huge locks Gatun, Gamboa Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, where we were lifted up 85 feet (30m) and down again in two stages in canals that Arcadia just fits, into man-made lakes. There was a ship traffic jam at 9 this morning so we spent 2 hours anchored on the lake between rain forest and road before we moved on.  It is really hot, we have done 6 laps on deck 3, that’s 2 miles, but were relieved to get inside again to cool off. The air is very still and very humid. Land very green as promised and many pelicans and frigate birds, though no crocs. What a privilege to have the opportunity to go through, and to have a souvenir newspaper explaining all the history, present statistics and future plans.

I went to a Spanish revision class today and learned the words of the song La Bamba, directions to significant buildings in the town, positions for objects (above, below etc) and the names of various animals.  It’s a long time since my Spanish O Level (46 years!), although not so long since I had Contraception the Computer Game translated into quite specialised sexual health Spanish, and relatively recently travelled to Mexico using food ordering, taxi journey and hotel Spanish. 

At 3 this afternoon we both went to art and painted a seascape which was really relaxing and cool.  My colours were too bright so I am removing some of that.  Otherwise happy with it.  Khachik’s look amazing.  

Now we are getting ready for dinner as we head out of the canal into the Pacific!   Hopefully during our next two stops over the next 5 days around Mexico (Huatulco and Cabo San Lucas) we will be able to manage a few words of understandable Spanish if we get lost or require sustenance.

Bye until tomorrow x

Day 16 Wednesday 21st January 2015 A Sea Day with excitement building for the Panama Canal

In the cabin we have a telly with news, sport and a few recordings of things like Ashes to Ashes, Rev, Call the midwife.   Several of the channels are P and O’s own information and advertising channels, and one is P and O Radio.  For the last 3 days there have been three different documentaries and historical programmes about the channelling of the rocks, the politics and the final building of the Panama Canal to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific. The earliest mention was at the time of Charles V, but it was considered to be impossible.  Projects to cut through began to be considered long before 1900, and then taken over by the USA in 1905.  What a convoluted story. I can’t say I had ever taken any notice of the achievement, and certainly didn’t appreciate the risk to life, the abuse, particularly abuse of the predominantly black workforce, the working conditions or the losses of life because of building, scorpions, tarantulas, Yellow Fever and Malaria.   Until now the Panama Canal to me was just a name.

Each person on Arcadia is charged $180 to get through the canal.  The Captain said he’s received the invoice for $360,000 for the whole ship!  Apparently that includes a no claims bonus!

Highlights, apart from the engineering and general sightseeing and gasping with wonder, are going to include – crocodiles, pelicans, many different species of bird, rainforest, and much more.

But not yet, tomorrow.  The crossing starts in the morning of 21^st January and finishes in the evening, with a commentary and historical overview happening all through the day.  Panama made products are being brought on in the morning for sale in the shops.

Today has been another lovely restful sea day starting with a watercolour of a scene in Venice.  Doing this was really enjoyable, and with exception of one of my buildings looking cock-eyed a good job done by both of us.

We had a great lunch and then walked our first mile of the day on the deck.  It’s 28C so we aren’t racing.  Cloudy at times, but definitely not in a bad way.

At lunch we met someone called Mick, a retired design and technology teacher who we both found really interesting. For leisure and pleasure Mick now makes wooden furniture. Khachik was happy to hear this as most of our wooden furniture was also hand crafted in the barn.  We kept him talking for so long I think we made him late for his partner whist this afternoon.  We shared cruise stories first.  Then he talked about his own experience and compared teaching secondary age students in London, forces students in Germany and in a private school in Wakefield.  He also talked about his wife, Linda, who didn’t join him for lunch today.  I would love to meet her, she has worked in PRU’s with excluded students in a few different places, and most recently in a residential school for students for whom next stop would be a YOI. She did her Masters at Huddersfield where I did my Cert Ed, and is clearly passionate about the well-being of teenage students. I hope we bump into each other again.

Otherwise we have just been sitting with our feet up today, doing crosswords and Sudoku and finishing off paintings.  There’s another smart casual dinner tonight, so I will sign off for now, have a quick cup of tea and get my frock on ready for our next 5 course delight.

Day 15 Tuesday 20^th January 2015 – Beautiful Aruba

We arrived just before breakfast, it was 28C then and got a little bit warmer 31C  by lunch time.  I posted some pictures onto Facebook this morning from a cafe.  Aruba’s location is very close to Venezeuela, on the most northerly coast of South America.  Tropical heat.  There were a few clouds but these were probably a blessing. We have started using factor 30 now, no signs of burning or any rapid colour changes, just a healthy look with no discomfort. Phew. Long may that continue. Daily swims and hot tubs are a regular feature, and a little bit of late afternoon sunbedding and listening to music by the pool, just as the sun is starting to go down.

In Aruba we stayed close the sea, the iguanas and the cafes and just kept walking. We bought sandals for me and another brightly coloured shirt for Khachik from one of the markets today. US$ is the currency.  The shops near the port are all designer clothes, watches and jewellery stores. Very, very different from the poverty in St Lucia.

The afternoon went so quickly, and that made me think how quickly the last 2 weeks have gone for us. Glad I am writing a little every day.   Next up, a sea day and then the Panama Canal, pictures of the Panama canal.  As well as a daily publication of events and activities on board, there’s a fact sheet about each port.  Thank goodness we will be able to look back at them too, there is so much to learn, I think we might forget otherwise. 

The world cruise is divided into 5 segments or sectors. The first one finishes on 31^st January 2015 in San Francisco, where a few passengers get off, and several more get on.  I think I might have already said there are over 500 of us going all the way round, and 1500 going part/s of the way.

The blog is late tonight, I’m sorry, after tonight’s cabaret,  I have been working on a watercolour painting of one of the waiters from a photo. So much to learn and I got really absorbed.

Blyton

Tomorrow we are at sea, enjoying yoga classes,  painting and dancing  so I will report back on our on board activities after dinner. Bye for now.