January 16th, After a somewhat rough day at sea yesterday and thru the night, we have arrived here in Oranjestad, Aruba at 10:40 to sunny skies and 80 degrees. We are at a different dock this time around and we had to sail through a 180 meter wide harbor entrance assisted by 2 tug boats and a pilot boat. Also at the dock is the Queen Victoria and the Horizon so will get to mingle with another 3000 cruisers. We have travelled 1090 miles to this point.
We went ashore and walked around the tourist trap part of town, Betty didn’t want any new jewelry so we walked outside the tourist section and saw the Fort Zoutman and the cannons. It was built in the late 1700’s. Next door was the King Wilhelm Tower constructed in the 1800’s and named in honor of Holland’s reigning monarch It is now home to the Historical Museum.
The beaches here are beautiful and resorts are grand.
Next, we headed to Iguana Joes for some lunch, and of course Bill had to have the Island’s beer “ Balashi” so he could add it to his list. The Iguanas loved the french fries!!
We then returned to the ship as it was really humid and drizzly. One thing about this island is the amount of local traffic, just constant. If you like the heat, humidity and like to buy jewelry this could be the place for you. It is not for us.
We went to trivia today for the first time, we did not submit our answers as we were really bad. Or as we call it we were Shirley! Sorry for the inside joke but a few people will know what I mean.
We sailed out of Aruba at 5:45, right when we go to dinner. The chatter was all about the Costa Ship that capsized. The ship’s crew is having a very extensive safety drill today in case we tip over. Leaving Aruba our Captain did well and we are now maintaining a west south westerly course along the Venezuelan and then Colombian coast towards the City of Cartagena, Columbia.
We went to our first show, it was a ventriloquist named Dan Horn, we think we saw him before, anyway it was a good show and we got a good laugh at the expense of a fellow cruiser. That is why we never sit in the front row.
Upon return to our cabin we got our Pacific Princess pin and lanyard, more stuff to pack!
January 17, today is a sea day and Betty did our laundry and ironing. I helped, as I carried it to the laundry room. (Then ran as fast as he could back to the cabin.) I attended a computer at sea lecture on the magic of Digital Photo Editing. It uses the Adobe Photo Elements 10. I signed up for the classes and plan on buying the program while we are in San Diego.
In the afternoon we attended a Scholarship @ Sea Lecture featuring Rolly Crump, a Disney Animator ,imagineer and Disneyland designer on the early years with Disney. It was very interesting to hear about the early years.
The evening show was a harmonica virtuoso named Bernie Fields, he was no Bob Dylan but he very good and we enjoyed our second show.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive in Cartagena, Columbia around 6-7 am.
Just a heads up for anyone interested, we will be going through the Panama Canal Thursday, January 19th. We are scheduled to begin the transit at 5:00am and depart at 4:30pm. I don’t know how much you will see on the web cam. The URL is www.Pancanal.com If we get a better timeframe I will email everyone.
