Poison Dart Frogs and Other Guests

Disembarkation and Home

2009-10-09T09:51:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, 6 October 2009 - Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

At precisely 8:30 am we vacated our cabin. The cabin stewardess was patiently waiting with her nose to our door to fumigate, desand, and debug our suite for the next guests, and we waited just as patiently in the Observation Lounge for our transfer from Puerto Caldera to San Jose where we will be put up in the Camino Real Intercontinental Hotel for our 10 am flight tomorrow to Dallas.

At precisely 9:45 am the expedition staff leave their gazebo to load our luggage which had been sitting in the 90 degree F (-14 C, I believe) heat on the door. (The staff needed to be in the shade to be able to wave to each and every guests as they disembarked the ship in small groups from 8 am on). The luggage was warm to the touch, and the Godiva chocolates--15 days worth of evenings, you know--and we boarded a bus for a 2 1/2 hour "1 1/4 hour" drive over the coastal mountains to the outskirts of San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica. A tour guide for the transfer bus who was briefed by the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce, extolled the virtues of Socialism and Democracy. He told us that there was 4.7% unemployment, free first 2 hours of cell phones, free 200 KW-HR of electricity, and maybe he said 2 free brothel visits each month for all citizens, but I had become distracted by the wonderful inland scenery. The guide lost steam after a while and retired to the LOCKED drivers cab where he apparently continued his narrative to the driver only since we made lots of apparently wrong turns and endless circles past beautiful homes behind chain link fences with barbed wire on the top. No doubt the first 100 feet of which is supplied free each month by the government.

We arrived at the very imposing Intercontinental, checked out the gigantic shopping mall across the street, and then settled in for a couple of Imperial cervazas and a typically Costa Rican meal of sushi, teryaki, and tempora at one of the hotel's restaurants.

Wednesday, 7 October 2009 - Boulder, CO

Flights home went on time (except for American Airlines posting a one hour delay for about one hour and then rescinding it and leaving Dallas on schedule).

Super but exhausting cruise with my trying to do both Silversea and expedition activities (i.e., eating fine meals, drinking fine booze, and then having to ride Zodiacs and get muddy). Oh well, someone has to do it. Looking forward to Sydney to Hong Kong via Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam in January. Stay tuned.

MB 9 Oct 09

The Walk Not Taken But Monkeys Later

2009-10-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Monday, 5 October 2009 - Quepos, Costa Rica

The planned "expedition" for the morning was another walk in a rainforest. Lots of people signed up a few days ago but after the "moderate hike in the rainforest" switched to the afternoon Mangrove Boat Ride. (What a mangrove boat is, I do not know).

We took a now familiar theme park like Costa Rican ecotourism small boat through the mangroves where a very enthusiastic docent pointed out the various abundant wildlife. Very enthusiastic I say as he described every snail, lizard, bird, or tree for heaven's sake as "beautiful." First he pointed out small crabs, then familiar birds, then "very rare" sightings of (beautiful) birds and snakes, and then he said as we approached the end of the 2 hour tour was that we lacked seeing was monkeys. Oh horrors. But sure enough, just as Disney would have done it, as we approached the dock at the parking lot there was a troupe of capulin monkeys all over the trees on both sides of the river, doing monkey things. The guide was besides himself about this "unusual event", as he said, until we noticed the cages and food supplies put in that spot to encourage the monkeys to remain in the very area. Even the not working guides were standing on the dock pointing at the more or less tame monkeys who were not going away from their human generated food supplies. Costa Rica, except for the "moderate hike" is show business, but nice I suppose, but it's easy to worry about the condos and retired North American folks who will crowd the wildlife into smaller and smaller true theme parks.

For all it's worth, I did think that the the Emberra village in Panama was legitimate, but with a government school and some telecommunications they were not quite as wild as they appeared to us. The loin cloths were brand new as was the paint tattoos, no doubt donned (and partially discarded) for our visit. I suspect a lot of western garb would have been visible on a normal day, and as they become more and more of an "attraction" for eco-tourists.

A Very Wet National Park

2009-10-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 4 October 2009 - Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

A 6 am breakfast for reasons unclear gave us ample time to prepare for the ever popular wet Zodiac landing on a beach to access the tropical rainforest national park in a huge, really huge, conservation area. We were offered either a short easy hike, a longer moderate hike, or not quite as long "let's cut this very wet, slippery, dangerous, steep, and scary longer moderate hike short" hike. We chose option three and had a wonderful time. Nobody got hurt, but some people got very muddy. Of course, it's a rain forest for heaven's sake. (That's a bat in the leaf, by the way.)

We safely returned to the ship at noon and watched a baby and two adult orca's frolic and squirt. We have just anchored off a coral reef where "the drifting Zodiac" (clearly the name of a pub in South London) will provide a platform for the snorkelers. We have chosen the margarita option.

A Most Unaccessible Orchid Garden

2009-10-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 3 October 2009 - Casa Oquideas, Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

A couple from New Hampshire started the Casa Oquideas 25 years ago. They located it on the magnificent Golfo Dulce on the Pacific Coast of Southern Costa Rica. The Prince Albert II carefully navigated to the site and immediately made a 180 to go to the place 8 miles away that the couple moved to a few years later. The Captain didn't make any more announcements about our location for the rest of the day.

As garden has no boat landing we made a "wet landing" in the Zodiac. The reef walker shoes became our very soggy hiking shoes as the Casa Oquideas site is many hectares (equaling many more acres in a quirk of science). I took pictures of lots of, uh, flowers and stuff.

We had dinner with the Staff Captain, a delightful Ukrainian who speaks a few English words very well. The Puilly Fume went well with the Swordfish with capers.

Overnight sailing 2 Oct 2009

2009-10-03T06:24:00.001-07:00

On a Desert Island with 5 Advanced Degreed Experts

2009-10-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Friday, 2 October 2009 - Granito de Oro off Isla de Coiba, Panama

Just spent a number of hours on a half acre island off Panama. We
looked at hundreds of hermit crabs, snorkeled, walked on the beach
(for the 50 feet of it since it covered just half of the island
around), and came back to the ship at 1:30, just before the dining
room closed for lunch. (The beef short ribs went well with the iced
tea or was it a crisp white wine, a food fashion risk.) Most of the
other 49 guests went on a hike in the mud with the bird guy while we
snorkeled. So we had a marine biologist assigned just to me, an
anthropologist to act as life guard, and the assistant cruise director
running a "rescue" Zodiac, just in case--JUST FOR TWO OF US. Oh, the
way of the traveler is so, so difficult.

No pix for this stop. Still taking sand out of my swim shorts. Got
yesterday's shoes back after calling the Reception Desk and just
having to say, "The butler took our shoes." She started laughing very
loudly and asked, "I bet you want them back. I'll call him and make
your request." I'm glad I didn't tell him to jump over the railing.
Then we wouldn't have ever gotten the shoes back.

Whoops, tea time. Gotta go. Ciao.

PS. The Captain came with us on the Zodiac to the tiny island. We
paddled a plastic imitation Kayak, but tried to look very regal. Then
the three Chinese laundry men appeared for probably their first R&R
since Greenland. They each sat in other plastic kayaks which were
sitting on the sand but didn't go into the water. Then they build a
sand mound and put a sea shell (without crab) on the top of it. Boy,
these guys know how to party. Now, our laundry will be late. Oh well.

Embera Village Trek

2009-10-02T05:57:00.001-07:00

Thursday 1 October 2009 - Darien Jungle, Panama

Prince Albert II anchored 3 miles from the mouth of the Mogue River. A very rare Oil Bird was sitting on the anchor chain, no doubt mistaking the anchor locker for a cave. What a start of the day! We Zodiac'ed across the bay and then into the jungle for an additional 5 miles to the Embera Village. Some of us seemed to enjoy the long Zodiac ride. The Embera's live throughout Panama and into Colombia in their traditional ways, really traditional ways. This village is one of the most accessible, meaning that many of the passengers had to get out of the boats to pull the Zodiacs over sandbars since the tide was a couple of hours from cresting and the mud on the trail wasn't more than knee deep. We then walked about a mile along the mud track accompanied by the native children who were assigned to us. I'm sure they felt like the folks who entered the space ship by Devil's Tower.

The village was clean, well organized, had a government school, and a curious telecommunications facility, but life there is otherwise untouched by the modern world. Dress is, uh, appropriate for living in 95 degrees F/95% humidity all the time, and paint tattooing is the only garments except for brightly colored loin cloths purchased from the proceeds of village grown fruit and an occasional fish. Our ship's Captain even came along--driving one of the Zodiacs no less with his wife and looked appropriately out of place but seemed to enjoy himself.

This visit was something that can not be described. Enjoy the pictures. The trip back was faster with the river current with us but wetter with the sky opening up. I suppose that have a policy of "if you don't have children, you will be assigned a couple of ours" or perhaps they were just afraid we needed escorts to find out way out. At any rate, our dress was not nearly as appropriate as that of the locals. I looked all over for loin cloths, but found they had nothing in a 43 regular with pleats. We washed off the mud on our clothes, our butler took our shoes (so far not returned) to removed the mud further, and the beef tenderloin was super with the Chilean Merlot.

Gee, the Traffic is Terrific

2009-10-01T16:20:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, 30 September 2009 - Panama Canal Transit

A strange phenomena this Panama Canal thing. As part of the (somewhat unexpected) entertainment provided by Silversea Cruises on this cruise, we arrived early to see dozens of large cargo ships all at anchor awaiting their performances for our amusement. All of a sudden at 7:30 am or so, we joined in the conga line behind a fully laden ZIM Israeli container ship with another smaller container ship into the first of three 1000 by 120 foot Gatun Locks. After being raised (not an Israeli concept) 85 feet, we were allowed to travel for hours through the lovely untouched tropical paradise of Gatun Lake. Untouched except for a number of classy dredges and those dozens of bulk, car, container, and rust carriers joining us for the performance. Within the lake we passed Gamboa where we glimpsed the "1st Transcontinental Railway" right of way (and saw a train pass), and then traveled through the being widened cut to the Pedro Miguel and double Miraflores Locks back into the sea, but not the same one. Panama City passed by just to the left (south!) side just after the new Millennium Bridge connection North and South America before they drift away. We then watched the sun set over land to the West of the Pacific just as we had watched the sun set the night before over the Atlantic to the West. All is explained by the Atlantic to Pacific transit of the Canal being NW to SE or maybe due to the Pisco Sour before dinner. Or maybe not.

At any rate, we stayed on deck for the entire 8 hour, 45 nautical mile transit, got wet and sunburned (but not at the same time) and listened to a fantastically good narration provided by a local who had grown up in the US Canal Zone (when there was a US Canal Zone). She pointed out all sorts of geeky details and kept quiet when appropriate. My, my, this isn't your average Princess Cruise. We also had three (3) Panamanian guides circulating around the ship to chat with the half of the 49 guests who chose to watch the transit about anything of interest regarding Panama and the Canal. This was one of the best days ever on a cruise. I did make sure to show every fly that I observed my Yellow Fever inoculation booklet. You can't be too careful.

All the Way From Wichub Wala to Wailidup in a Rubber Boat

2009-09-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 29 September - San Blas Islands, Panama

Last evening we passed the sea lanes for the Canal. Apparently the man had a plan as there were lots of ships. We sat by the pool deck, well actually the Jacuzzi deck since there's no pool on Prince Albert II (or the ship by the same name) and played the, "What kind of ship is that" game. We then watched the sun set west into the Atlantic. (Look at the map.) A good time was had by all.

We were invited to the Captain's Table for dinner, and much to our surprise the Captain joined us. Most of those at the table talked with each other, but I chatted with the Captain about, uh, ships. Nice dinner. The oso bucco went well with the Chianti.

After being anchored all night in the nice calm (!) anchorage we took the Zodiacs this morning to Wichub Wala Island, a 1 acre atoll inhabited exclusively by Kuna Indians, a protected self governing group who make and sell Molas which hand make textiles. Molas are very colorful, made by cutting away holes in multilayer fabric--a kind of reverse appliqué. Since selling Molas are almost the sole source of income for the Kunas, every house on the little island had a number of women and children wearing and selling identical Molas. There were a lot of houses and therefore a lot of Molas for sale. I say that Molas are almost the sole source of their income since charging $1 per photo is the other. Knowing this, I took a number of pictures of some dug out canoed Kuna and decided that a word is worth a thousand pictures. You will have to imagine, therefore, the folk dance (with pan pipes, of course) we observed. Something about a starfish or marriage rituals. Maybe both.

We then shuttled by a 5 mile Zodiac run (at 18.5 mph, but who's counting) to Wailidup (I'm not making these names up) Island which we apparently rented for the day. There are a lot of San Blas islands, really a lot. We snorkeled, swam, some kayaked in plastic boats, and had a lunch of local rock lobster--which went quite well with Balboa Beer. A quick Zodiac ride took us back to the now repositioned ship so that we could enjoy an elegant tea time. The English Breakfast Tea went well with my left over dairy free morning pastries. Note the Cruise Director who is called "Expedition Leader" on this ship looking self important in his expedition leader garb. He also talks a lot over his walkie talkie with things like, "Is the Zodiac #1 in position?". Very impressive.

This evening we set sale for the NW entrance to the Panama Canal where we will start a daylight transit tomorrow morning. I remember from the last time that the ride has its ups and downs.

You Can Pronouce it Both

2009-09-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 27 September 2009 - Puerto Lemon, Costa Rica

Some pronounce it "slarth"

Some pronounce it "slooth"

You can say it one way

Or you can say it both

We arrived at this small port town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica during lunch time and disembarked the ship at 2 pm for a 4 hour tour (!) to the "world famous" sloth sanctuary. Apparently an American lady has devoted her life to rescuing these very slow moving and painfully cute creatures. Even I thought they looked, uh, cute. When another guest on the ship asked me if I liked sloths, I said, "Of course, especially with onions." We drove along the spectacular coastline for a about 45 minutes for a video about the efforts of the sanctuary to save this endangered species, looked at dozens of them being healed back to health and/or in the trees and then took a canoe ride into the jungle. We saw lots of birds, more sloths, monkeys in the trees, various scary slithering things, and then took a guided hike in the rain forest with an enthusiastic docent as the sun set and it got scarier and more slithery creatures seemed to appear and more screeching monkeys, uh, screeched. We visited the gift shop where I avoided buying sloth refrigerator magnets and came back to the ship in the dark where the Chianti went quite well with the Weiner Schnitzel.

English Speaking Colombia

2009-09-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday 27 September 2009 - Isla de Providencia, Colombia

Santa Catalina Island is connected to the much large Providencia Island by a wildly colored unstable foot bridge. We landed on the larger island after an equally wild (but safe, the ever patronizing Cruise Director/Expedition Leader said) Zodiac ride of 3 miles. Since Providencia is owned by (not settled or particularly desired by the English speaking locals) Colombia, this is my country number 128, the only new "bagged country" of this cruise (but who's counting).

The onboard docents conducted a morning guided walk of a couple of miles on Santa Catalina to a namesake's statue and old fort. The naturalists pointed out crabs, lizards, more crabs, more lizards, and a couple of birds. Some of us saw iguanas, but the docents didn't. Very loud toads were heard but unseen, really heard, and we observed a number of homes built no doubt by the builders of the foot bridge. Everyone seemed happy, thought, so who am I to say.

After lunch, we joined the "4 hour snorkel trip". Noodles (not for lunch but for flotation, make of that what you will) were provided to those who needed them, and a good time was had by mostly all. We snorkeled over the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world, which means that the water was very deep off the boat with live coral heads coming almost to the surface. Lots of fish and all sorts of coral forms were observed, even my those with 41 year old cracked (but prescription) masks. Maybe I should have used the ship's modern (but not prescription) equipment. On the way back we stopped at a local bar for a "Redds" cider beer, a most refreshing beverage. The cervaza here is of the apple cider variety. Travel is wonderful.No drug cartels were noted.

We sailed away towards Puerto Limon, Costa Rica after recovering the Zodiacs with a big hook. The "Study of Beef" entree was delightful with the Chianti.

Zodiacs Are Fun

2009-09-25T08:49:00.001-07:00

Thursday 24 September 2009 - Black River, Jamaica

Black River is in the SW corner of Jamaica. 41 years ago I was told
not to venture to the area due to Arawak attacks and "lawless people".
Today it is an area of small, clean fishing villages surrounded by
very large ostentatious homes. The nearby hills are full of fruit,
flowers, small guest houses, and lots of unemployed men who help
themselves to the fruit: ackee, mangoes, bananas, etc., and don't seem
to want to attack or be particularly lawless. The Rastas are allowed
to indulge in their smoking at religious ceremonies and "at Bob
Marley's grave site". There's lots I don't understand about the
Jamaican government.

We took an all day bus tour after a 3 mile Zodiac ride. The Zodiacs
can float with three compartments deflated. I didn't test this. We
stopped at a small restaurant where the tour guide shuffled to Harry
Belefonte music and at a workshop where women make prints on hand
towels and scarfs with leaves. Apparently the skill is being taught by
a 1st grade teacher.

Friday 25 September 2009 - At Sea

I am tuning green. The Prince Albert has the stability of a cork. So
do I. The sea is not bad and wouldn't be noticed on Silver Whisper,
but oh well it will be ok. I did notice that the dining room chairs
are TIED DOWN WITH CHAINS. Otherwise all is well I suppose. We will
arrive at Isle de Provendicia early tomorrow for snorkeling and quiet
walks on the beach. Sounds like a singles' ad. Tough life. More
later....

Jamaica 41 Years Later

2009-09-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 - Port Antonio, Jamaica

We arrived in Port Antonio, Jamaica after a day at sea on board the
Prince Albert II. The overnight stays in Miami and La Romana,
Dominican Republic were quite pleasant with a wonderful Cuban dinner
with old friend Neil (N3DF) and spooky respectively since the Case de
Campo resort isn't in La Romana but kind of the other way around. It's
on 7000 acres (that's 4,974.3 hectares, I believe), so big that every
room comes with a gasoline golf cart and a map that dissolves in high
humidity. We rode all over a small corner of the resort in a downpour,
found a bar with a small amount of shelter but high amount of pesos
per glass of wine and had a nice dinner before embarking the next day
with less money but memories that will last a week or so.

I visited Port Antonio in 1968 during a trip with the Bell Labs
Holiday Club. At that time I didn't take the "world famous" raft trip
on the Rio Grande. Now I did. The rafts are about 20 feet long but
made entirely of bamboo held together by ants. The float to the
Caribbean takes 2 hours during which the guide said nothing other
than, "We work for tips". The ride was said to be very safe except for
the rumor that circulated after the trip that another guide fell off
and was now being searched for, presumed drowned. We were told at the
most annoying and mandatory evening "briefing" that the rumor was
absolutely true. Yikes.

Nevertheless, the ship's food and service is even better than the
standard Silversea product (which is unbelievable fantastic anyway), the
crew includes many old friends, and the Expedition Staff aren't completely
annoying. We saw a Rasta fisherman as we sailed away that evening to a
nice sunset while hoping that we wouldn't see the lost raft captain
float by.

A Prince Albert, but not that kind

2009-09-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Prince Albert II is the Silversea Cruise's expedition ship and also its smallest. The name of the ship is for the prince of Monaco, the home of the owners of the cruise line and not for the, uh, unique jewelry of a similar name. One hundred seventeen crew members--the largest group involved in food preparation and service I believe--serve an absolute maximum of 132 guests and probably much fewer given IT'S HURRICANE SEASON. So the adventure aspect may involve getting in and out of the Zodiacs after overeating and figuring out where we might be the next day. The 6072-ton ice-class 1A vessel, originally the sister ship of the one that hit a sand bar (not an iceberg) in Antarctica and sunk a year or so ago, will not see any sea ice I presume on the upcoming Dominican Republic to Costa Rica itinerary, but there will be lots of bird watching, jungle bug swatting, and a bit of snorkeling, hiking, and visits to a couple of quaint native villages. The usual Silversea showrooms featuring a couple who can sing but not dance and another who can dance but not sing that well are replaced with a lecture hall where naturalists (no, not naturists) will share more than they know with the hung over guests. (See Silversea's "all inclusive" policies on their web site.)

This trip should be fantastic nevertheless--for a number of reasons. The transit of the Panama Canal will be my second, but this time I will definitely not be wearing a "Computer University @ Sea" (sic) tee-shirt and be locked in a class room with 80+ year olds as I try to teach Windows 95 while looking over my shoulder at Lake Gatun and attempting to hear the announcements about the ascent and decent of the ship through the locks. The voyage begins in just over two weeks, starting with an overnight at a resort in La Romana that is so huge that each room is provided with a golf cart (for traveling over the hotel's property, not the room I presume) and ends with an overnight in San Jose, Costa Rica. The cruise covers only 2500 miles but looks like a nice change of pace from the larger ships (for Silversea anyway since my other SS cruises have been with no more than 300 or so guests at most and sometimes just over 100), and the plane flights involve no overnight economy tortures.

Further reports to follow after departure.

Jungles During Hurricane Season

2009-08-30T15:59:00.000-07:00