We left New York on 28 February and flew to Fort Lauderdale in readiness for our cruise through the Panama Canal. The last few days in New York had been really cold due to the wind chill factor so to land in Fort Lauderdale to 26 degrees Celsius was heaven. After nearly 10 weeks of cold weather, it was now time for the warm stage of our adventure. No puffer jackets, yippee! As we strolled from our hotel to the beach, we could tell that it was a wealthy area. Crossing the Florida key, there were many million dollar plus boats parked in their private river frontage moorings and although we gave it our best effort there was no way we could get in to walk along that waterfront. Fort Lauderdale seemed a place of many wealthy retirees. It was nice to feel the warm waters of the ocean. There is a very strong Cuban influence in Florida, so that night we thought, why not try a local Cuban restaurant which was great.

We were both excited to catch up with 6 friends from Australia whom we had met on a 2016 cruise and stayed in touch with. Trish and John were staying at the same hotel as us in Fort Lauderdale and we caught up with them the night before our cruise commenced at the local Ihop restaurant. We had an ex marine as our server and it was an interesting experience. It was great to see them and we were so excited to catch up with the rest of our group tomorrow. They had extra friends with them which made up our group of 12 to sail through the Panama Canal. Our first port of call was Cartagena in Columbia. This is a very historic city, founded in 1533 by the Spanish and the old walled city was UNESCO listed as a world heritage site in 1984. We visited the cobblestoned streets of the old town, the fortress which was used 5 times in the sixteenth century to protect against pirates and sailors working for other countries and Las Bovedas, once dungeons now home to tourist shops. The Spanish Inquisition expanded to this colony as well. Our guide told us that the Columbian authorities were on top of the drug problem but that we may still be approached to buy! The Colombians welcome anyone to their country and no matter where you come from you can buy property there.

The next day was time to transit the 80 kilometre long Panama Canal first opened in 1914. The system to raise and lower ships using locks is one of the most amazing engineering feats ever using 5 million cubic yards of concrete. The locks act like elevators to lift the ships up to the level of the lake and then lower them back to sea level at the other end. It cuts approximately 8000 kilometres and 3 weeks off the trip between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and it cost ships an average of $250,000 to use. The cheapest trip ever was 36 cents paid by a man to swim through the locks. Not sure I’d want to attempt that as it isn’t unheard of seeing a crocodile. To sail through, our cruise ship cost $400,000 and a small yacht upwards from a few thousand and they’d go through with other vessels at the same time. Approximately 14000 ships a year use it. What a day meandering the ship from high, low, aft, forward, Starboard and Portside to see the lock process happening from all the different angles. One of the highlights was going through the Miraflores lock past everyone watching from the land on a viewing platform. One of our group was caught unawares in his cabin in his jocks with the balcony door wide open! What a bucket list tick! (The Panama Canal that is, not being caught in your jocks.)

That night the ship anchored off shore and the next day we tendered into Fuerte Amador which is a beautiful man made peninsula of four islands that are now joined thanks to the excavation of the canal. We caught the hop on hop off bus around Panama City with Marilyn and Gordon. The U.S. has had a huge influence on the country of Panama but it is now an independent country and seems quite wealthy. Panama City is the 2nd largest banking city behind Switzerland. The bus took us through the old city and the new city of which the skyscraper skyline is quite impressive. In fact it has the 2nd tallest building in South America behind Chile.

After another day chilling at sea, our next port of call was Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We walked off the ship and were handed a walking tour brochure which we followed and visited the historic sites. We were moored opposite another large passenger liner which made for an amazing sight on the narrow pier. The beach was long and wide with black sand. The town itself was small and narrow located between the beach and an estuary. Imagine suddenly having to cope with an influx of 4,000 plus tourists! It was nice to be in a slow paced destination where siestas were the order of the day. The fishing industry has been a major driver of the Puntarenas economy and the locals were very happy to pose for photos with their catch. They made it look so easy by just throwing in a length of fishing line (no rod or reel!)

Unfortunately, our next port of call, San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua, had to be cancelled as it was too rough for the tenders to reach the shore. This has happened to us in the Pacific before and it is always Mystery Island that is skipped in favour of Lifou which we have now seen 3 times. We will now regard San Juan Del Sur as Nicaragua’s version of Mystery Island.

A great night was had aboard, dancing the night away to some great Aussie rock classics as was proven by Sally’s bruises, sore shoulder and hoarse voice the next day. There is also a great photo of her leaning so far back to take our photo. After hearing a loud crack a quick straightening up of the lamps was required! This became known as the lamp incident for the remainder of the cruise! And Gordon who tells us he doesn’t dance became know as “Gordon doesn’t dance” but we have the “Nut Bush Evidence” oh and I’ve never seen a better Peter Garett impersonation. Another sea day and we couldn’t have been that far from land. We saw birds, flying fish, turtles, manta rays and the dolphins were forever putting on a show in the bow waves. Jumping forwards and backwards and sounding like they were entering a belly whack competition. There was even a Ray showing off for us. (Didn’t know they jumped out of the water too?) It felt like we were at SeaWorld. Of course, the elusive pod of whales hadn’t appeared as yet but we live in hope as it is the right time of year and others onboard have reported sightings.

Our next port of call was Huatulco, which sits on the Riviera of Mexico. Even though it has been inhabited since the pre-Columbian era, Huatulco was revived as a seaside resort in the 1980’s. We had carried our snorkels half way around the world and they finally got a workout. Although the marine life was nothing sensational, it was nice to float, swim and explore the bay coastline. The visit was finished with a couple of Coronas on the beach and the best guacamole ever. The next sea day we went on a tour backstage of the theatre which we both found very interesting. In can cost up to 2 million US dollars to stage a production but there was no expense spared in the dressing room with each of the casts name handwritten on a scrap of paper at their dressing table! Some of the maintenance crew get to work back stage after they finish their day jobs to help the dancers alleviate quick costume changes. Apparently, this role is in high demand! I wonder if this could be a possible career change for me? High Tea in the dining room was a treat worth indulging in even if Ruthie made me skip lunch before we went!

It’s all about The Love Boat on Princess cruises and true to form we stopped in Puerto Vallarto, Mexico, which we both remember being a destination on the series back in the 1970’s which was filmed on the Pacific Princess. It is located on the Pacific Ocean in the Bay of Banderas or Bay of Flags which is one of the largest natural bays in the world and breeding ground to whales. No, we didn’t see them but were reliably told they were there yesterday! Puerto Vallarta was also made famous by the film Night of the Iguana, starring Richard Burton in 1964. He went on to buy a home here with Elizabeth Taylor and that was the start of celebrities flocking there. Ruthie went off with Marilyn, Gordon and Sandra on a Tequila tour and cultural show which they all loved. Ruthie commented that a lot of the performers had braces on their teeth. Marilyn seemed to miss this point but that may have been as one of the male dancers had his fly undone! I hung out with Curly and we caught a local bus to town which gave me a good feel feel for the place even if the first thing I spotted was a Male strip show which was advertised for “men only”. Curly spotted what he called the “rub and tug” around the corner. I think we were in the Mexican version of the red light district. I was caught without 7 Pesos for a toilet visit! Once again a local helped me out saying “here’s 7 pesos amigo”! We strolled along the Malecón which is a path along the beach. I imagine if all of Mexico was like this tourist destination, they wouldn’t be looking to climb a wall to get out. Visiting Mexico taught some of our group you don’t pronounce the ll’s in Tortilla and the Aussies taught Kim and Gerri (the Americans in our group) how to pronounce scone like an Aussie. That night there was a deck party that had a love boat theme! This was a great night unlike the “balloon drop” night which Sally called “F$&@ing lame. This also became a catch cry during the cruise.

We’ve had so many laughs this fortnight and have firmly cemented our friendship. We continued the tradition of a cabin “soirée” for pre-dinner drinks on formal nights. The formal nights are also the nights used for the Captains welcome or other celebrations with free bubbly. When we cruise on our own we usually attend these nights and Ruthie sees how many free drinks she can get. Our cabin parties have become legendary and the Captain doesn’t know what he is missing (unless the room steward complained about the mess!) Our group was too large for one table at dinner so we had two tables of six and were well looked after by Kat and Ching. We switched places each night but the last couple of nights it was like a true Aussie party. The girls on one table and the guys on the other.

Travelling in a group is great. We were always running into someone and comparing notes on what to attend next. We are all a little more Trivia educated. How many of you know Pogonophobia is the fear of beards? The men in the jewellery store will miss Kim and Jerri as they were always there. They may have been his best customers as he came out of the store to chase Kim down one day. Maybe he’d heard she’d had a win in the casino and at bingo? Sandra earned the title of Zumba Queen as she didn’t miss a class. We did spare a thought for the sad stories we heard. Early on a passenger had a stroke, we saw a passenger stretchered off by ambulance with his wife and luggage In Puerto Vallarta and another couple were leaving the ship one day with luggage and told us their house had burnt down. What was in those suit cases was all they owned. Me getting lost onboard, going the wrong direction to our cabin or trying my key in the wrong door (even though our names were on the door) was the least of my problems and did give the rest of the group a laugh at my expense. Our last day at sea was spent trying to win a drink bottle at trivia, (we failed) attending a cooking show hosted by the Maître de and head chef which was hilarious, followed by a galley tour. The chef explained we all arrived as guests but will be leaving as cargo! This isn’t far from the truth as we have all enjoyed the food. Gary organised with the head waiter for us all to have cheese rolls at dinner. They were scrumptious. The Maître de was also a chef whose signature dish was chicken ding. His recipe – put the chicken in the microwave and wait for the ding! We then went to a talk by a retired detective on how to catch a serial killer which was fascinating.

In the words of the cruise director Miranda, “a big shout out” to the mob that made this journey so thoroughly enjoyable. May there be many more holiday get togethers.