World Tour of 2013
With Sophia (Sonya) and Brigit
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, January 27, 2013
On Sunday, January 27, 2013, a bright sunny day, Brigit and I left Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to begin a world tour that will take approximately 3 1/2 months. We headed south to Costa Rica, the land where the famed movie, Jurassic Park, was given life. Since the movie, I had longed to visit the primordial wilderness of a virgin rain forest of volcanoes (200 in all; 8 are active) and waterfalls.
Costa Rica, Thursday, January 31, 2013
After 3 days at sea, we landed in Costa Rica. Upon disembarkation, my senses were accosted by a strong petroleum smell coming from the ocean water. I was astounded to learn that the Gulf Oil spill of 2010 had decimated any chance for beach access on this beautiful Central American country to the present day.
Costa Rica has the greatest bio diversity in the world--home to millions of species of plants and animals because of its location between two continents.
We headed for the rain forest--a two-hour inland ride from the coast. We took to the tree-tops on gondolas (lifts) that would give us a bird’s eye view of the lush greenery below. This distance protected us from venomous snakes, army ants, and a wide variety of life-threatening animals and insects. It was a peaceful ride, and surprisingly, without mosquitoes, for indigenous bats took care of this nuisance.
We then headed back to ride the jungle canals that stretch for 80 miles across Costa Rica. From the water, we saw howler monkeys, a young cayman alligator, and many iguanas and colorful birds.
Miles of jungle canal waterways in Costa Rica.
 |
| Costa Rica is home to the beautiful iridescent Blue Butterfly. We saw one. |
Look for howler monkey on lower right.
In Costa
Rica the main export is bananas. Big businesses, such as Chiquita and
Dole, for example, pay the locals $7 for each stalk holding
approximately 42 pounds of bananas. If Costa Rica exports $700 million
dollars of bananas each year, can you imagine what the "big bananas" make
in profit?
P.S. Costa Rica is a democracy and has elected its first female president.
The Panama Canal, Friday, February 1, 2013
Panama, for its size, can be said to be one of the richest countries in the world. Why? Because of the obvious--The Panama Canal. Every day, a variety of cruise ships and tankers pass through this short cut from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean or in the reverse. Can you guess what it costs to take a short cut from an otherwise three-weeks ride around the southern tip of South America at a cost of thousands of dollars in fuel? About $350,000. That’s right. No typo here. That means billions a year in tolls.
Each ship enters a lock and steel doors close behind it. Water then enters the lock and lifts the immense ship effortlessly to another height. When it reaches the next height, the gates open, and the ship travels into another lock, where this process is repeated several times in three different locations until the ship crosses to another ocean.
Ecuador, Monday, February 4, 2013
One of Equador’s claim to fame is the Galapagos Islands, off its shores by 769 miles. It’s where Darwin came up with his theory of evolution and a research center in his name continues to this day. It’s where an extravaganza of unusual species of land and sea animals live. It was also home to the oldest living tortoise called "Lonesome George," who was alive when Darwin visited in 1835, but recently died in 2012. Brigit had the pleasure of meeting this dower fellow in the early 90‘s.
Unfortunately, we did not take this tour to visit the Galapagos Islands, which we are reserving for an extended future visit.
"Lonesome George"--the last of his kind of tortoise, which is now extinct.
Ecuador, Cacao Plantation
Instead, we visited a renowned cacao plantation called, “Hacienda El Castillo” (The Castle) Chocolate Factory. We looked for Willy Wonka, but they said he had retired. We then walked the fields of cacao plants with hanging pods that contained the beans that would be harvested and dried and converted into unparalleled rich chocolate. We bought 2 lbs. (forget the ounces), which we hope to share with friends when we return to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, provided chocolate fever doesn’t overtake us before our return.
Cacao pods.
 |
| Inside a pod. The white part is used to make a delicious and refreshing beverage |
Once the seeds are dry roasted, they are turned into...
 |
| Yum-O! Delicious chocolate! |
Ecuador, The Panama Hat Factory
On our return to Guayaguil, the port city of Ecuador where we had docked, we visited the factory where the famous "Panama Hats" are created from scratch. Though named, "Panama hats", they actually originated from Ecuador. Every stitch in this hat is “hand made”--which is given new meaning when you consider that a hat can take anywhere from one week to 6 months. One hat!!! If a USA hand-made hat was priced at minimum wage at $6/hr for 40 hrs. for 6 months, that same hat in the United States would cost over $5,000! Let’s keep our hats on from blowing in the wind.
Talk to you soon. Love, Sophia and Brigit
Panama Hats being stitched by hand.
The end result.
Itinerary:
1 Sun Jan 27, 2013 Fort Lauderdale, United States -- 4:00 PM
2 Mon Jan 28, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
3 Tue Jan 29, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
4 Wed Jan 30, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
5 Thu Jan 31, 2013 Limon, Costa Rica 7:00 AM 7:00 PM
6 Fri Feb 1, 2013 Cruising the Panama Canal, Panama 7:00 AM 4:30 PM
7 Sat Feb 2, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
8 Sun Feb 3, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
9 Mon Feb 4, 2013 Guayaquil, Peru 5:00 AM 7:00 PM
10 Tue Feb 5, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
11 Wed Feb 6, 2013 Lima, Peru 2:00 PM --
12 Thu Feb 7, 2013 Lima, Peru -- 1:00 PM
13 Fri Feb 8, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
14 Sat Feb 9, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
15 Sun Feb 10, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
16 Mon Feb 11, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
17 Tue Feb 12, 2013 Easter Island, Chile 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
18 Wed Feb 13, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
19 Thu Feb 14, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
20 Fri Feb 15, 2013 Pitcairn Islands, Pitcairn 10:00 AM 2:00 PM
21 Sat Feb 16, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
22 Sun Feb 17, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
23 Mon Feb 18, 2013 Papeete, French Polynesia 8:00 AM 8:00 PM
24 Tue Feb 19, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
25 Wed Feb 20, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
26 Thu Feb 21, 2013 Crossing the International Date Line 12:00 PM 1:00 PM
28 Sat Feb 23, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
29 Sun Feb 24, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
30 Mon Feb 25, 2013 Auckland, New Zealand 7:00 AM 5:00 PM
31 Tue Feb 26, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
32 Wed Feb 27, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
33 Thu Feb 28, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
34 Fri Mar 1, 2013 Burnie, Australia 10:00 AM 6:00 PM
35 Sat Mar 2, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
36 Sun Mar 3, 2013 Sydney, Australia 7:00 AM 10:00 PM
37 Mon Mar 4, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
38 Tue Mar 5, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
39 Wed Mar 6, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
40 Thu Mar 7, 2013 Cairns, Australia 7:00 AM 5:00 PM
41 Fri Mar 8, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
42 Sat Mar 9, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
43 Sun Mar 10, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
44 Mon Mar 11, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
45 Tue Mar 12, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
46 Wed Mar 13, 2013 Guam, Guam 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
47 Thu Mar 14, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
48 Fri Mar 15, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
49 Sat Mar 16, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
50 Sun Mar 17, 2013 Osaka (Kyoto), Japan 8:00 AM 8:00 PM
51 Mon Mar 18, 2013 Hiroshima, Japan 9:00 AM 4:00 PM
52 Tue Mar 19, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
53 Wed Mar 20, 2013 Inchon, Korea 9:00 AM 7:00 PM
54 Thu Mar 21, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
55 Fri Mar 22, 2013 Shanghai, China 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
56 Sat Mar 23, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
57 Sun Mar 24, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
58 Mon Mar 25, 2013 Hong Kong, Hong Kong 8:00 AM --
59 Tue Mar 26, 2013 Hong Kong, Hong Kong -- 5:00 PM
60 Wed Mar 27, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
61 Thu Mar 28, 2013 Cai Lan, Vietnam 7:00 AM 8:00 PM
62 Fri Mar 29, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
63 Sat Mar 30, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
64 Sun Mar 31, 2013 Ho Chi Minh City (Formerly Saigon), Vietnam 7:00 AM 5:00 PM
65 Mon Apr 1, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
66 Tue Apr 2, 2013 Bangkok, Thailand 7:00 AM 7:00 PM
67 Wed Apr 3, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
68 Thu Apr 4, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
69 Fri Apr 5, 2013 Singapore, Singapore 7:00 AM 5:00 PM
70 Sat Apr 6, 2013 Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia 8:00 AM 7:00 PM
71 Sun Apr 7, 2013 Penang, Malaysia 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
72 Mon Apr 8, 2013 Phuket, Thailand 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
73 Tue Apr 9, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
74 Wed Apr 10, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
75 Thu Apr 11, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
76 Fri Apr 12, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
77 Sat Apr 13, 2013 Mangalore, India 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
78 Sun Apr 14, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
79 Mon Apr 15, 2013 Mumbai (Formerly Bombay), India 7:00 AM 11:59 PM
80 Tue Apr 16, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
81 Wed Apr 17, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
82 Thu Apr 18, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
83 Fri Apr 19, 2013 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 8:00 AM --
84 Sat Apr 20, 2013 Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- 5:00 PM
85 Sun Apr 21, 2013 Doha, Qatar 8:00 AM 11:00 PM
86 Mon Apr 22, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
87 Tue Apr 23, 2013 Muscat, Oman 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
88 Wed Apr 24, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
89 Thu Apr 25, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
90 Fri Apr 26, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
91 Sat Apr 27, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
92 Sun Apr 28, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
93 Mon Apr 29, 2013 Safaga, Egypt 6:00 AM 11:59 PM
94 Tue Apr 30, 2013 Sharm El Sheik, Egypt 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
95 Wed May 1, 2013 Aqaba (Petra), Jordan 7:00 AM 7:00 PM
96 Thu May 2, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
97 Fri May 3, 2013 Cruising the Suez Canal, Egypt 1:00 AM 5:00 PM
98 Sat May 4, 2013 Port Said, Egypt 7:00 AM 8:00 PM
99 Sun May 5, 2013 Jerusalem, Israel 7:00 AM 8:00 PM
100 Mon May 6, 2013 Limassol, Cyprus 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
101 Tue May 7, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
102 Wed May 8, 2013 Istanbul, Turkey 12:00 PM --
103 Thu May 9, 2013 Istanbul, Turkey -- 6:00 PM
104 Fri May 10, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
105 Sat May 11, 2013 Athens (Port of Piraeus), Greece 6:00 AM 5:45 PM
106 Sun May 12, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
107 Mon May 13, 2013 Kotor, Montenegro 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
108 Tue May 14, 2013 Day At Sea -- --
109 Wed May 15, 2013 Venice, Italy 4:00 AM --
If you'd like to follow our ship via live webcam, especially while in port, log onto Princess.com.
Go to "Learn About Princess" > "Cruise Ships" > "Pacific Princess" > "Princess Bridge Cam". When we're out at sea, all you see is water, water, everywhere.
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment