Post 5

We arrive in the early morning in Acapulco which has a lovely bay.  Imagine lovely bay pictures.  We have breakfast, and John prepares to walk the deck—three loops make 0.9 mile.  I will think about it this afternoon.  We are promised a very hot day—90+ degrees F.    

We go to see the cliff divers.  Actually the boat is a little cool because of the breeze from the speed of the boat.  We have a leisurely cruise around a spit of land to the diving area and are positioned far enough away that any pictures will not be very dramatic.  (I have some excellent pictures of the cliffs---no divers.)  We have a “snack” of chicken drumsticks, beans, guacamole and tortilla chips plus whatever beer and soft drinks we want.  After a leisurely cruise back—with extensive descriptions of who used to own the mansions on shore—we are offered the chance to stay on the boat for a shopping opportunity (and margaritas) or return to the ship.  We opt to return to the ship.  This afternoon there is a fine program of folkloric dancers with another promised for evening.

Tonight we set sail for Cabo San Lucas.

January 27, 2011: I can’t tell you what Cabo San Lucas is like.  I never set foot off the dock.  We went on a “Sail and Snorkel” which left early and returned late—that is, at 1:55 p.m. for a departure at  two.  Cabo is only scheduled for half a day.  The water was cold and since John had an unfortunate reaction to some guacamole a couple of days ago, we did not eat, but the fish were pretty, the beer and margaritas plentiful, and we got an excellent view of some whales on the way back.  Frigate birds and pelicans surrounded us in the harbor, and  as the QE sailed away from  Cabo, whales and dolphins were around us.  I have heard that turtles have been around the boat, but I haven’t seen any.

We thought of Jeff on his birthday yesterday and tried to email him greetings, but the Internet was not cooperative.

Panama Canal

Three lectures by John Laverick have explained much about what we will be seeing.  Before the Canal, there was a railroad which was the most expensive ever built per mile and also had the heaviest traffic.  Twelve thousand died during construction, not only workers but family members.  So many died that the corpses were sold to medical schools. 

Five canal routes were considered and many plans including a tunnel .  A plan by De Lessups, who built the Suez Canal,  proposed a sea-level canal without locks ignoring the mountain range through the center of the country.  President Grant favored a route through Nicaragua.  Ultimately, of course, the Panama was built.  It is presently being enlarged mostly due to the needs of container ships.  While passenger ships are nice, the backbone of the Canal economy is trade goods.  Although John Stevens introduced the idea of locks, the successful canal project was led through most of the construction by George Washington Goethals (as in the Goethals Bridge, I presume), and he received most of the credit.  A major step forward was the discovery of the mosquito as the major cause of yellow fever by Walter Reed.  This was a major life-saver. 

The successful canal shortened a 13,000 mile journey to one of 5200 miles.  

The toll for the Queen Elizabeth will be approximately $350,000 and will take us about nine hours to travel fifty miles.  We will be hitched to giant tractors called mule which keep up lined up straight.  We will actually progress on the ship’s engines.  

You might think that nine hours to traverse six locks and a short passage through a lake would be boring, but it wasn’t.  There are so many things that are obvious, but I had never thought of them.  For instance, the gates are enormously powerful but how to they push against that much water pressure?  Well, they don’t.  The water flows in and out through giant tunnels underground and the whole water system is done by gravity.  Garden designers have been using the technology for centuries as in the Tivoli gardens south of Rome.  Although you have no sensation of rising or sinking, and you can see that you are by the position of the boat against the light poles.

About 1960 electric lights were installed so that he canal can now be used twenty-four hours a day.  Imagine doubling the capacity of the canal by electric lights. 

The Queen Elizabeth is a canalmax ship—any larger would be too large to go through.  Very large ships have prioirty in daylight which, although the lights are extremely powerful and bright , is still better than electric illumination.  Small ships are grouped together, but we, of course, were the only ship in the lock at the time we went through.

The computer on the ship is really slow unless you use it in the middle of the night so postings will not be as regular as I planned.  Regrets.

Curacao and Limon, Costa Rica

The days on shipboard find a rhythm.  The sail is smooth but with some movement, but the ship creaks a little, and every once in a while, it gives a hitch and throb.  Everything is too new to break, we remind ourselves, and what can go wrong a maiden voyage?  The cabin is comfortable but with a teeny tiny shower.  We are not sleeping well yet. 

We awaken in good time, have breakfast and then the daily lectures—three in a row.  How much do you want to know about the lectures?  Usually one is about a port, one is somewhat historic and at the moment one is usually about show business. 

Lectures take us to one o’clock and lunch.  Afternoons are reading, some activity—today they have shopping (half off!) and a wine-tasting.  Yesterday I took two computer workshops.  Then it is time to dress for dinner.  Last night and tonight are formal.  Port days are “elegant casual.”  I wonder if “elegant” means no blue jeans and tee shirts, because I can’t really tell the difference between “elegant casual” and “semi-formal.”  I should have taken a committee shopping before I came. 

READING:  I am currently reading Stacey Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra—very restful although well-written and a new book by a British author called We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka.  There will be a discussion of this last.  It is described as “gorgeously funny” on the front which I do not find accurate, but it is absorbing and relevant for me.  Well, not the fashion, divorce and child-care issues, but the plot about the old woman who does not want to go to a nursing home rings a bell.  The writer’s voice is sure, and the characters are well-drawn.

It is time for ship pictures which I will not upload until I find a cheap spot.                                       

No ship pictures yet.  But about the wine-tasting.

I have three categories of wine: not worth the calories, OK and surprisingly good.  This does not help the wine salesman to figure out what I might like.  When they offered a wine-tasting, it seemed like a good idea to at least learn enough to have some words.  Cunard offered five wines—a champagne, two whites, two reds and an ice wine—relatively sweet.  Prices $48-$98—these are dining room shipboard prices, but I don’t know that I will be ordering any of them soon.  We looked briefly at color and then ignored it.  We sniffed.  We tasted a little, sniffed more, swirled the glass for the reds and then were asked to describe it.  Obviously I was a “listener.”  I now know that I like a wine that is not oaky or as acidic as chardonnay, something grassy, flowery, and fruity with notes of lemon and melon. I may not really know what I like, but I take reasonably good notes.

CURACAO morning.  The island of colorful buildings because an early governor had migraines and though the bright white house made it worse.  The map was very confusing and the Emma Bridge was turned to allow a ship through so we walked just one side the town and browsed a few shops.  I keep thinking of one islander’s description that, “Nothing is made here; we just import it and sell it back to you.”  Lots of familiar brands.

Back to the ship for an early lunch and to prepare for afternoon snorkeling.  I do hope the water is calm.

The water proved to be calm, but while they had said one should be a competent swimmer, they said nothing about being a competent paddler.  The kayaks had inadequate back support, and John and I found the paddle to be longer than comfortable.  Fortunately there was a guide on a Skidoo who snapped a line onto our kayak and gave us a tow. The water was lovely, the fish, if not plentiful, were present and colorful.  John saw the big blue ones eat some of the little yellow ones.  All in all a good enough afternoon.

LIMON, COSTA RICA, and the Veragua Rain Forest:  Costa Rica, approximately the size of West Virginia, has 4.6 million people and 2 million foreigners, some of them expat Americans who find the clean water, good medical services and relatively low costs to be a good trade-off.  The population is quite mixed including native groups, Hispanics, Chinese who came with the railroad and former Jamaicans, the last two because they were relatively sturdy when faced with local diseases such as yellow fever.  Transportation is the largest part of the economy in Limon.  Bananas and pineapples are major crops.  Costa Rica is the leading exporter of pineapples world-wide.  Limon has the wet season and the wetter season with 225 inches of rain in an average year and double that in 2010.  We climbed (in a bus) 2,000 feet today to the Veragua Rain Forest where we walked 300 some steps to a water fall finding sloths, turtles and a few birds on the way.  We also visited displays of snakes—a really impressive python—poison frogs which we were assured would not kill us unless we swallowed them, lizards and butterflies.

All in all a worthwhile day,

Next, on to the Panama Canal.

Queen Elizabeth--boarding and first days

January 14, 2011

Leaving Long Island adrfit in several feet of snow, we enter the ship on the 13^th in New York City.  There is a champagne reception for those of us going all the way around the world (or most of it) with pins to wear.   There is also a “three queens” group who took the Victoria to New York, is now on the Elizabeth and will eventually go to the Queen Mary 2 in Sydney.  I presume they get three pins by tour end.   We are an “maature” group with tales of past cruises common, and tales of the recent crossing and its waves which apparently topped the ship rampant.   It was, the Brits say, “Interesting.”  Or maybe those are the Chinese. 

This a very big deal for Cunard as they tell us repeatedly.  The Empire State Building is lit up in Cunard red. 

 It is a brilliant, cold day.  At evening the sky is clear, and the city lights sparkle, but it is COLD.  We have a choice—dinner or fireworks—lots of dinners, only one fireworks that we know or.  The three Cunard Queens start to move out around six to rendezvous at the Statue of Liberty with the fireworks—very hard to get a good photo as first, you cannot photograph a ship you are on, and second, there are 200 people in front of me at the railing, but the experience is fine.

We dine in the Lido and look up and there is Liberty lit up.  Big wow.

Friday, January 14, 2011

We are in “code red” for sanitation which means that to cut down on infection, one is not allowed to pick up food in the buffet lines—gloved staff must hand it do you making service espcially at the doffee station very slow.  The good new is that his is precautionary and will cease in three days if no plagues run rampant.

This is a day at sea as will be tomorrow.  We sleep in and explore the ship.  We are chugging south at 21 miles per hour and 58 feet per gallon.  We hear a lecture on Fort Lauderdale and Florida—not much new there.  The computer center is jammed and slow, and the pricing is confusing.    

Just before lunch we hear an interesting lecture by Steven Revellino on “The Business of Broadway” and the influence of costs which have become astronimical.  Many costs have gone up.  A stagehand at Lincoln Center makes $290,000 a year, but lighting, costumes, real estate and so on have all also gone up and up and up.  Television advertising is now major.  With huge costs comes fear—and muscials especially are now very much marketed to mass taste.  But you knew that; it was the details that made it interesting.

I have always wanted to live where I could see the moods of light and water each day.  I wll start my water moods pictures.  There is slight roll to the ship; it is not expected to get worse, but I am debating Bonine.

No Bonine, no illness and no picture today--too long to upload.

Movie: Black Swan

Friends have praised Black Swan as a thrilling and involvoing movie, and we finally saw it.  Not involving for either us, but, I think, well-made.  It is the traditional story of the ambitious woman who is led into insanity and death in the pursuit of her goals.  Although it has sexual exploitation, bulimia and self-mutilation (am I telling you too much?), it isn't about any of those things--only about the dedication to be the best which it turns out is fata at least if you are a woman.   Nina, the main character is not sufficiently developed for us to feel drawn to her or involed with her tragedy.  The choreography is interesting.  Needless to say, lovely music.  And there were parts I could not watch.

If you think you will like it , you probably will--not my cup of tea.

Apologies, sort of

It has been a couple of weeks, and for those kind enough to have checked this spot, apologies for the dry spell, but this blog is about to make  sharp turn into an account of our travels.  We are now packing and closing up the house and  about to take a cruise around the world.  From now on it will be about the ship, the weather, the stops we make, and hopefully include pictures.  And since this is a cruise, I will include on board happenings--lecture, books read, indulgences, and all sorts of odd happenings.