Studio Villamil

 Many years ago, after our wanderlust had been fueled by our travels with our lovely daughters during their respective junior semesters abroad and retirement had made longer journeys possible, we ventured to New Zealand. Probably the fall of 2011, shortly after the devastating Christchurch earthquake. We had booked a land tour, probably with Road Scholar, scheduled to start in Auckland but with an optional earlier start in Waitangi, location of the beautiful Bay of Islands and an area of tremendous historical significance to the Māori people. When Road Scholar dropped the early start because of lack of interest, we did it ourselves.  More on that in a later post. Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud. 

 The passes through the reef surrounding Moorea can admit strong currents depending on wind direction and velocity. Such was the situation on our snorkeling afternoon, so we had to visit an alternative location.  The corals we visited were dispersed coral heads on a relatively shallow sandy bottom, far enough below the surface that we weren’t really concerned about bumping into them (there was almost no current in this location) but close enough to the surface that we could really enjoy them. The day was somewhat overcast, do the colors were subdued, but still beautiful different greens and blues and purples.    This photo posted by a fellow cruiser who had an underwater camera is representative, but taken in somewhat better lighting than we experienced    Note the absence of fish.  When following the “Slower is better” mantra of my snorkeling Jedi Master we observed numerous small black or yellow/silver reef fish darting in and out of the nooks snd cr...

 We are scheduled to visit Mumbai for several days in early April, and enter the Red Sea on April 11. Meanwhile Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Aida and others have announced cancellation of voyages through the Red a Sea through April or May. Crystal Serenity,  P&O,  Cunard and Holland America have all announced that they are watching things closely. No word yet from Viking, which is privately held, unlike many of the others that are public companies (greater public disclosure obligations). The dotted line on the map around the Cape of Good Hope is approximately 25 days sailing at close to top speed. We shall see.

 Quite a different experience. The port is in a true city. It looks lovely sailing away   The city has a large open but covered market, half tourist oriented clothing and shell jewelry and half fruited, vegetables and unrefrigerated! Meats and fish!  I’ll pass. Half the shops on the streets were offering pearls, or so it seemed. Almost all but the younger adults were smoking. And most of the mature women were substantial. Think Juanita Hall of South Pacific fame rather than her daughter.  It isn’t very far from Papeete to Moorea, and there is high speed catamaran service available   We didn’t see it in Moorea  it has two harbors. There were numerous sail boats moored where we were, some of which seemed not to have been used in a while, and also modest looking homes. Our guide said that people from Papeete often came over for the weekend - think Bostonians hopping over to The Vineyard. Expectant mothers from Moorea also hop over to Papeete when their babies ...

 Moorea appears out of the mists like a larger more mysterious version of Bora Bora, which it is. More mountain peaks, bigger surf on the reefs, much narrower channel to Opunohu Bay, which is where we anchored crosswise in the channel!   On the way in one passes the shuttered Intercontinental Moorea Resort, thatched roof cabins located overwater or crawling up the hillside. Sandy beach, places for kayaks and snorkeling,restaurants and beachfront bars - all shuttered, deteriorating plywood coverings over windows. Asked “Why?” our snorkel leader said that shortly BC the hotel workers went on strike, and then COVID came.  Asked “Why did they go on strike?” He gave a Gallic shrug and said “They are French; that’s what they do!” The openings in the reef (see the channel marker) or passes, are created naturally when during the rainy season fresh water floods down the narrow valleys in the mountains and rushes out to sea. The corals don’t like the change in salinity. When we arr...

 Approaching this island of French Polynesia by sea, you get a glimpse of the past. It appears out of the mist, announced by land-based seabirds that we haven’t been seeing while at sea. It wants to claim South Pacific” fame, although that actually belongs to Vanuatu, located in the Coral Sea, much closer to WW II combat, where Michener was stationed while collecting his “Tales of the South Pacific.” The waves breaking on the encircling reefs are beautiful from the deck of a modern vessel or a surfboard but must have been terrifying from the crows nest of as square rigger. 

 Today we crossed the equator. It is an impressive experience. One can see it off in the distance from about 20 km away.  As you get closer to it you can see that it gets broken up by wave action.  The other dramatic aspect is the change in the weather from Winter in the Northern Hemisphere to Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Before the crossing in Winter it was 27.8 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy.    Immediately   after we crossed the Equator into Summer it became partly sunny and 82 degrees Fahrenheit.   

 As I mentioned, I didn’t recall having seen the plaque about the burial of survivors’ ashes on our last visit 30 or so years ago. But why wasn’t it there? The average age of the Arizona’s crew was around 20, so the survivors would have been in their mid-70s then, and the passing of time hadn’t caught up with this group yet. Somewhat later, it started to, and the requests probably started the program. It will end soon - there is apparently only one living survivor.  There is still an active joint naval/air base at Pearl, and we saw an AWACs plane followed by a string of fighters of different types coming back to base. No carrier in the vicinity - the closest one coming from poke China exercises in the South China Sea. Pearl Harbor is apparently not really suitable as a carrier group home port - somewhat narrow. 

 Our ship is docked at pier 2 in the Honolulu Cruise terminal, within sight and sound of the Coast Guard base on Sand Island. Sitting having coffee with our window open I heard Reville and looked at my watch thinking “A few minutes before 8:00 - kind of late, and not really timely.”  My wiser spouse also heard and noticed the time, and observed “That’s the time the attack began.” This is our second visit - the first one was almost 25 yeast ago  The emotions are the same  The gun turret holds its own against the sea  A plaque that I don’t remember having seen tells how Arizona survivors can, when their time comes, rejoin their comrades.

 Captain’s noon navigation report: closest land now Hawaii. But full gale!  It will be bouncy. 

 Santa Barbara is on the Eastern side of its time zone - earlier sunrise and earlier sunset. It is also apparently a windy area of California and the winds were picking up as we headed back to the tenders and ship. 25 MPH winds out of Northwest. Captain set a more Southerly course to avoid a big low pressure area North of Hawaii and increased speed to make up for the longer distance.  Rockin and rolling all night. But the wind backed around to the East and things eventually smoothed out.  

 Wealthy small town surrounded by even wealthier small town. Think Montecito with Oprah and Archie (love him even if you have problems with his parents). The cruise ships have trained the local seals/sea lions if they swim up to the ship when tender operations are underway and flop on the embarkation deck, the crew will make them go away by feeding them fresh salmon! (In the spirit of academic integrity, not my photo). The area has numerous wineries and our guide says that the weather this year, in the opinion of the winemakers, has beer perfect 

 Don’t miss the Aquarium of the Pacific. Spectacular Coral Reef 🐠 section. Not posting any photos as I’m waiting until Polynesia to post them as Morea snorkeling photos. Also there are the Queen Mary (penetrating foghorn at Noon) and the Battleship Iowa. 

 We docked for our LA visit at the Port of Long Beach. I’ve never been there before. It is impossible to imagine the extent of the container activity here. From the top of the bridge going into Long Beach, all one can see in every direction are container ships, cranes and stacked containers 

 A bumpy ride last night- 20 mph wind on the bow and driving into the California current. Roller coaster. But Wave Finder says calming down as we reach Los Angeles tomorrow and Santa Barbara (a tender port) the next day. 

 Interesting place, Cabo. Rock cliffs and arches reaching out to the water, sea lions barking, long stretches of beaches. Public access via off road vehicles through dry washes. Just off the pier, a few soldiers with face covering and AR15 style rifles. But a prosperous and peaceful looking town. Construction projects almost side by side, one humming with activity and the other, presumably a pre-covid start, abandoned. Brutalist architecture. Huge marina with dingys, party catamarans, and Jeff Bezos level yachts. Probably a vibrant nightlife. Pharmacies advertising every prescription drug imaginable. In a nearby village, an historic mission church dominates the town square. 

 Unlucky; Lucky. Several hours after leaving Puntarenas, a passenger had a medical emergency and the ship turned around, returned to port, and put the affected passengers ashore via a tender   The captain announced the next day that the passenger was OK, but apparently not well enough to rejoin the voyage. I slept through the whole thing. 

 When the canal was being built, the two biggest challenges were mosquito-borne diseases and fierce flooding from the Chagres River. A challenge today is insufficient water!!! On the original canal Gatun Lake fills the top lock, which feeds the middle lock, which feeds the bottom lock, which empties into the Atlantic. Imagining yourself as a young Northeastern engineering graduate saying to her boss: Sir, maybe we should design a way to store and recycle that water instead of letting it just flow into the sea. That young engineer’s granddaughter must have been listened to when the new canal was built because it does have a recirculating system. 

 Fourth sea day out of Puntarenas. We have been accompanied from P which is quite close to the Equator, by various species of seabirds- an occasional frigate bird, several varieties of boobies - brown, masked, Nazca, a cluster of phalaropes and others. The boobies overnight on the sea or on the ship!  But today - No birds. Perhaps we have reached the edge of their migration range from their Galapagos Home.  It has also gotten quite a bit cooler - mid 70s instead of mid 80’s. The bird identification is from a naturalist on board. Sea creatures that have been spotted include porpoises 5by me), dolphins, sea turtles, a ray and jellyfish. Apparently the best way to see the sea creatures is to spend the day looking straight down from your balcony. 

 So far, we’ve visited four Central American ports: Cozumel (small tourist Island); Cartagena (larger trading port); Panama City (most important city in Panama) and Puntarenas. Cozumel seems to and claims to have little or none of the criminal unrest present elsewhere in Mexico - “an island far from the mainland,” “too small - everybody knows you or your parents,” or “only six gas stations; if you steal a car, the police can wait for you at the gas station.”  Don’t recall any police presence. Cartegena had visible police presence, but dressed and equipped like beat cops in NYC. Panama City, as I’ve mentioned - motorcycles carting two armored machine pistol carrying officers. Puntarenas - a very friendly place with no visible police presence. They apparently don’t even have an army, and apparently are welcoming to immigrants fleeing troubles in Nicaragua. The Pan American highway passes through - we drove on part of it - so those who have conquered Rte 66 from Chicago to Califo...

 But probably not until after Costa Rica tomorrow 

 Before embarking on this adventure I read The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough, and it prepares one for experiencing this engineering marvel. Shortly after passing through the modest breakwater (no hurricanes this far south) and under the Atlantic Bridge one reaches the Gatun Locks, three locks that climb from sea level to Gatun Lake, the manmade lake that is the heart of of the water supply/Isthmus travel route/hydro power supply/taming of Chagres  River system that made the canal possible. Along the way one can see the clay hills that continually slid into the excavation during construction. One can also see the continuing efforts to combat malaria  anywhere along the canal where there is staffed infrastructure (locks, etc.) the jungle is cut away and replaced with grassland, which apparently the mosquitos don’t prefer. Great places to build a golf course!  The photos are not in order - still new to the blogging  game - but they show ships waiting, f...