Currently 2145 central time on the ship and our location...
Latitude: 7 degrees 19.25' N
Longitude: 80 degrees 3.67' W
Course: 65 degrees
We will be transiting the Panama Canal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal tomorrow morning and we recently got the schedule for the transit which I will share with you so that you can watch online if you'd like to. John and I plan to be on the deck somewhere, but so will about 800 other people, so not guaranteeing you will be able to see us! As you may know, the locks actually fill with water and raise the ship to move it along the canal to artificial lakes, then another series of locks lower the ship again so that it enters the ocean on the other side at sea level. As one of our professors on board said today, it will be like being on a water bridge that takes us overland.
All times are Central Daylight Time in the schedule below. The following website will allow you to see the ship's passage on the internet http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
9:10am - 10:00am: Transit Miraflores Locks
10:50am - 11:30am: Transit Pedro Miguel Locks
12:45pm: Pass by Gamboa
2:45pm - 5:05pm: Transit Gatun Lock
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
last time to board the ship...
We left Puerto Quetzal (Latitude: 13 degrees 55.65' N, Longitude: 90 degrees 47.24' W) about an hour and a half ago. We will be transiting the Panama Canal in two days. It was quite emotional for many getting on the ship today as we realized this was our last time to board. The next time we get off, we will not be getting back on.
Guatemala was a great experience. Many people went to Antigua http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigua_Guatemala expecting to stay for the day, and decided to spend the night. Others went for one night, and elected to spend two. Hearing them talk today, I wish we had gone, but we will have to add that to our list of things to do "next time". This often happens -- we are very happy with the things we decide to do, but when we hear others talk about what they did, we think maybe we should have done other things. Obviously, it's impossible to do everything!
I did hike Pacaya Volcano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacaya as planned and it could not have been a better day. There are three other volcanos visible approaching Pacaya: the Volcan de Agua http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volc%C3%A1n_de_Agua or Vocano of Water, the Volcan de Fuego http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volc%C3%A1n_de_Fuego or Volcano of Fire and Acatenango http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acatenango. Pacaya is quite near Antigua, although we did not go through the city to get there. There were about 25 people on this trip, a mix of students, faculty and family members -- the youngest two were 8 and 13 and I think I was the oldest.
We had a wonderful Guatemalan guide on this trip, Chickie. Our shipboard "daughter", Victoria was on this hike too. I'm not sure I have mentioned in the past that Victoria has an identical twin sister, Stepha
nie; she was also on the hike. I have included a photo -- Victoria is on the left, Stephanie on the right, and Stephanie's boyfriend, Patrick is in the background. Sorry I did not get one with Patrick more in the photo!
I didn't realize until much later that armed security guards had accompanied us from the ship, as they apparently did on all the SAS trips in Guatemala. They were in vehicles that followed the buses. I guess that people in Guatemala realized that if they expected to succeed in tourism, they needed to protect tourists from being robbed and assaulted, and now many of the tourist agencies provide
protection as part of the package.
The bus drove us into the hills near the volcano to the start of the hike. For five quetzales (about 65 US cents) you can "rent" a hiking stick from one of the young Guatemalan boys in the area. Since I usually hike with two poles, and since I had read that it was better to have a hiking stick given the terrain, I rented one from a very persistent young man who introduced himself as Francisco. Our group set out, accompanied by other enterprising young men offering "taxis" (horses or donkeys to take you to the top) as well as by our armed guards (photo of one of the guards and a self-appointed "guide" whose name escapes me at the moment) and climbed for a little more than two hours to reach our destination. It was not an especially difficult hike for me in terms of the climb, although I was the slowest, but then I am used to hiking in the Rockies with people in their 60's and 70's (who are also faster than I am), not university aged people! There was one down slope that was very steep and covered with loose cinders and ash, and I found it difficult, although I think I could have skied it easily ;-) and the areas where we were climbing across solidified lava were challenging.
We were told that although hikes of Pacaya used to go to the cone, earthquakes in the past had changed the mountain so that it was no longer possible to go that way but that we would go toward one of the two additional cones that had been created. The original cone is now where steam escapes from the volcano, and lava can be seen flowing from other cones. When we reached the top of our climb, we did indeed feel heat from the rocks and see lava flowing. Students roasted marshmallows from the heat before we came back down a bit to eat the sack lunches provided by the tour agents. After lunch and just before we started our descent, we noticed that large amounts of lava were starting to flow from one of the lower cones, an amazing sight and one we had not expected to see. Here you can see photos of the smaller lava flow as well as the one we saw just before leaving.
We took just over an hour
to come back down and left to come back to the ship shortly after that. We were all anxious to get back for showers -- I'm sure the ship's gray water contained lots of volcano ash last night! I was falling asleep and went to bed at 7:00pm and didn't wake until 7:30 this morning, although Victoria and Stephanie and some of the others got up this morning for a mountain biking trip! Ahhh youth!
Tomorrow is a study day with the last of the exams on Saturday. John and other faculty are busily grading in order to have everything in on time. The Abassadors Ball is on May 3, the same day as the Panama Canal transit. You can watch us pass through the Panama Canal -- the link is on the right side of this page.
Happy Birthday, Sharla! I know you will be around for many more "big" ones!
Guatemala was a great experience. Many people went to Antigua http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigua_Guatemala expecting to stay for the day, and decided to spend the night. Others went for one night, and elected to spend two. Hearing them talk today, I wish we had gone, but we will have to add that to our list of things to do "next time". This often happens -- we are very happy with the things we decide to do, but when we hear others talk about what they did, we think maybe we should have done other things. Obviously, it's impossible to do everything!
I did hike Pacaya Volcano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacaya as planned and it could not have been a better day. There are three other volcanos visible approaching Pacaya: the Volcan de Agua http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volc%C3%A1n_de_Agua or Vocano of Water, the Volcan de Fuego http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volc%C3%A1n_de_Fuego or Volcano of Fire and Acatenango http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acatenango. Pacaya is quite near Antigua, although we did not go through the city to get there. There were about 25 people on this trip, a mix of students, faculty and family members -- the youngest two were 8 and 13 and I think I was the oldest.We had a wonderful Guatemalan guide on this trip, Chickie. Our shipboard "daughter", Victoria was on this hike too. I'm not sure I have mentioned in the past that Victoria has an identical twin sister, Stepha
nie; she was also on the hike. I have included a photo -- Victoria is on the left, Stephanie on the right, and Stephanie's boyfriend, Patrick is in the background. Sorry I did not get one with Patrick more in the photo!I didn't realize until much later that armed security guards had accompanied us from the ship, as they apparently did on all the SAS trips in Guatemala. They were in vehicles that followed the buses. I guess that people in Guatemala realized that if they expected to succeed in tourism, they needed to protect tourists from being robbed and assaulted, and now many of the tourist agencies provide
protection as part of the package.The bus drove us into the hills near the volcano to the start of the hike. For five quetzales (about 65 US cents) you can "rent" a hiking stick from one of the young Guatemalan boys in the area. Since I usually hike with two poles, and since I had read that it was better to have a hiking stick given the terrain, I rented one from a very persistent young man who introduced himself as Francisco. Our group set out, accompanied by other enterprising young men offering "taxis" (horses or donkeys to take you to the top) as well as by our armed guards (photo of one of the guards and a self-appointed "guide" whose name escapes me at the moment) and climbed for a little more than two hours to reach our destination. It was not an especially difficult hike for me in terms of the climb, although I was the slowest, but then I am used to hiking in the Rockies with people in their 60's and 70's (who are also faster than I am), not university aged people! There was one down slope that was very steep and covered with loose cinders and ash, and I found it difficult, although I think I could have skied it easily ;-) and the areas where we were climbing across solidified lava were challenging.
We were told that although hikes of Pacaya used to go to the cone, earthquakes in the past had changed the mountain so that it was no longer possible to go that way but that we would go toward one of the two additional cones that had been created. The original cone is now where steam escapes from the volcano, and lava can be seen flowing from other cones. When we reached the top of our climb, we did indeed feel heat from the rocks and see lava flowing. Students roasted marshmallows from the heat before we came back down a bit to eat the sack lunches provided by the tour agents. After lunch and just before we started our descent, we noticed that large amounts of lava were starting to flow from one of the lower cones, an amazing sight and one we had not expected to see. Here you can see photos of the smaller lava flow as well as the one we saw just before leaving.
We took just over an hour
to come back down and left to come back to the ship shortly after that. We were all anxious to get back for showers -- I'm sure the ship's gray water contained lots of volcano ash last night! I was falling asleep and went to bed at 7:00pm and didn't wake until 7:30 this morning, although Victoria and Stephanie and some of the others got up this morning for a mountain biking trip! Ahhh youth!Tomorrow is a study day with the last of the exams on Saturday. John and other faculty are busily grading in order to have everything in on time. The Abassadors Ball is on May 3, the same day as the Panama Canal transit. You can watch us pass through the Panama Canal -- the link is on the right side of this page.
Happy Birthday, Sharla! I know you will be around for many more "big" ones!
Monday, April 27, 2009
tomorrow, guatemala!
Location at 2145 ship time...
Latitude: 14 degrees 17.8' N
Longitude: 93 degrees 48.3' W
Course: 106 degrees
Just watching "The Reader" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/ on the loop -- I think it may be an illegal copy (seems to be pretty common here -- international waters and all that), but it is an exceptionally good movie. Not sure what it has to do with Guatemala, but excellent nonetheless.
We just had our logistical pre-port for Guatemala where we learned that information being distributed by the State Department concerning this stop is no worse than information being distributed by Australia for travellers to Detroit. Hmmmmm.
It does seem that with a little attention and caution Guatemala, like other ports we have visited, should be safe. John and I don't plan to do a lot there -- we arrive tomorrow morning at 8:00am and can leave the ship soon after that. There are shuttles to nearby beaches and shopping and we may do a bit of that tomorrow. On the 29th I will go off to hike the Pacaya Volcano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacaya with a volcanologist and others from SAS. We leave this port on the evening of the 30th.
Today while eating lunch on the back deck we spotted hundreds of small dolphins that were playing in the wake of the ship. They were jumping in and out of the water and keeping up with the ship -- it was quite a show! Some people saw sea turtles off the bow later this afternoon too.
Half of the finals are now over and people are starting to sort things to pack for home. In Tymitz Square, a central location on the ship, there is a huge pile of clothing that will be given away in Guatemala. We understand this will continue and there will be more clothing to give away when we arrive in Florida as people make room in their luggage for their souvenir purchases.
Latitude: 14 degrees 17.8' N
Longitude: 93 degrees 48.3' W
Course: 106 degrees
Just watching "The Reader" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976051/ on the loop -- I think it may be an illegal copy (seems to be pretty common here -- international waters and all that), but it is an exceptionally good movie. Not sure what it has to do with Guatemala, but excellent nonetheless.
We just had our logistical pre-port for Guatemala where we learned that information being distributed by the State Department concerning this stop is no worse than information being distributed by Australia for travellers to Detroit. Hmmmmm.
It does seem that with a little attention and caution Guatemala, like other ports we have visited, should be safe. John and I don't plan to do a lot there -- we arrive tomorrow morning at 8:00am and can leave the ship soon after that. There are shuttles to nearby beaches and shopping and we may do a bit of that tomorrow. On the 29th I will go off to hike the Pacaya Volcano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacaya with a volcanologist and others from SAS. We leave this port on the evening of the 30th.
Today while eating lunch on the back deck we spotted hundreds of small dolphins that were playing in the wake of the ship. They were jumping in and out of the water and keeping up with the ship -- it was quite a show! Some people saw sea turtles off the bow later this afternoon too.
Half of the finals are now over and people are starting to sort things to pack for home. In Tymitz Square, a central location on the ship, there is a huge pile of clothing that will be given away in Guatemala. We understand this will continue and there will be more clothing to give away when we arrive in Florida as people make room in their luggage for their souvenir purchases.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
approaching guatemala...
At 2130 ship time, which is now the same as MDT, our location is...
Latitude: 16 degrees 46.8' N
Longitude: 103 degrees 6.7' W
Course: 105 degrees
We have just had our final cultural pre-port -- the one for Guatemala. It was done by two students who have traveled there on their own and I must say it was one of the best we have had. After looking at their photos, hearing the music and seeing the dance of this country, I am excited to arrive there on Tuesday morning.
We saw today that a public health emergency has been declared in the US because of the flu which seems to have started in Mexico. Just goes to show you don't need to leave home to live with risk! Everyone is healthy on the ship, although we are all wondering what kind of hoops we will be put through on our arrival in Ft Lauderdale given the flu situation. Hope you are all doing lots of handwashing!
It was a beautiful day today with calm seas and lovely blue skies. We talked at dinner about how we are starting to take beautiful sunrises and sunsets for granted.
Latitude: 16 degrees 46.8' N
Longitude: 103 degrees 6.7' W
Course: 105 degrees
We have just had our final cultural pre-port -- the one for Guatemala. It was done by two students who have traveled there on their own and I must say it was one of the best we have had. After looking at their photos, hearing the music and seeing the dance of this country, I am excited to arrive there on Tuesday morning.
We saw today that a public health emergency has been declared in the US because of the flu which seems to have started in Mexico. Just goes to show you don't need to leave home to live with risk! Everyone is healthy on the ship, although we are all wondering what kind of hoops we will be put through on our arrival in Ft Lauderdale given the flu situation. Hope you are all doing lots of handwashing!
It was a beautiful day today with calm seas and lovely blue skies. We talked at dinner about how we are starting to take beautiful sunrises and sunsets for granted.
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