Carpe Diem: Explore.Dream.Discover.

 Day 10/138 Sunrise:  5:55 A.M.  Sunset 5:28 P.M.  We're sailing the Pacific on our way to Cabo San Lucas.  Because of the hull cleaning yesterday taking longer than expected we will not be stopping in Costa Rica.  We're somewhat disappointed because neither of us have been there but we've learned in cruising you need to be prepared for changes in itinerary. We now have six sea days until we reach Cabo our next scheduled port. It has rained off and on today resulting in wet decks and we've been happy to stay inside. There are many interesting talks aboard and the crafts corner started meeting today. First Crafts Corner meetup.     I brought some Japanese Sashiko to work on.  There are some very talented women in this group including knitters, crocheters, painting, crewel, hand embroidery, dot painting and watercolors.  We're scheduled to meet again tomorrow morning.  It was fun to hang out with these ladies and o...

  DAY 9/138   Yesterday afternoon after our walking tour of old Panama City we returned to the ship and expected a departure time of 5:00 PM.  John and I walked up to the top deck for a drink to watch the ship sail away from Panama on our way to Costa Rica.  Much to John's surprise he saw 3 scuba divers go over the deck to the water below and heard equipment start up on a small boat below the Viking SKY.   Word quickly spread that the ship's hull needed to be cleaned before we could enter New Zealand or Australia.  Apparently this cleaning had been scheduled but they got a late start so our departure was delayed for several hours.  Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning and the ship had still not left port.  Apparently the visibility was too low for work to continue last night and resumed this morning  until around 1:00  PM.   Picture of  dive boat parked alongside our ship.  Photo of  a diver ...

Day  7/138  Sunrise: 6:29 AM  Sunset: 6:06 PM  Forty eight miles long, the Panama Canal crosses the narrowest stretch of the isthmus of Panama.  Witnesing this engineering marvel at work is truly memorable.  At the Caribbean and Pacific ends, a vast series of locks lifts and lowered our ship 85 feet from sea level, guided by electric engines that do the job performed by mules on more ancient canals.  Between, this astonishing waterway divides continents at the river like Gaillard Cut and the enormous Gatun Lake.  Far from the mechanics of the locks' chambers, the canal is embraced by the lush beauty of Panama.  emerald-green forests stretch into Soberania National Park to the south and Gatun lake is dotted with tranquil islands like so many jewels.  Sunrise on our way into the Panama Canal on the Atlantic side:  We passed under two of these bridges over the Canal.  Quite impressive in height and they carried a lot of  vehi...

 Day 5/138    Sunrise: 6:45 AM  Sunset: 5:44 PM  Sailing the Caribbean Sea Wonder of wonders!  Fran has started taking a writing class on board the Viking Sky.  Today's class was about travel writing and the instructor had us write a story that was honest and was memorable.   I wanted to make this a truthful, funny story for Day 5/138 and here goes.  I finally unpacked my all of my  luggage and thus began a story I've been telling people all day. I think it's funny.  We're going on a 138 day cruise and  I  somehow forgot to bring a swimsuit!  I had initially packed three and decided that one was sufficient but on the day before we left Yuma I pulled out the one I had selected and while I was going to find another one that I preferred I somehow got distracted.  Thus, I ended up with no swimsuits on a cruise!!  I mentioned this story to our female room attendant and she suggested going to Guest Services b...

DAY 2/138  Sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel.  Both of us slept like babies last night being rocked to sleep by the rolling waves on our way to Cozumel aboard the elegant Viking Sky.  John is very well organized and has done all of his unpacking.  As of tonight, I'm still only about half way done.  But it's been a wonderful day full of getting lost and then finding new things to see.  Each time this happens I say to myself, now where am I on this ship and where do I need to go.  In the atrium are beautiful Christmas decorations and of course a wonderful Gingerbread Christmas Village.   I'm still trying to make this blog interesting and including photos.  Challenging to do. Today included working out in the gym, listening to interesting talks in The Star Theater, and this evening an introduction to the management staff and the Enrichment speakers we'll have in the weeks to come.  Then there's the delicious foods which includes a...

We're finally on the Viking Sky and  sailing south has begun.  No photos tonight but there will be more later.  The last several days have been crazy.  Saturday the 16th we rented a car, Sunday we did the final check on the house and made sure everything was locked up, and the last thing that John always does is turn off the water to the house.  We drove to Phoenix, turned in the car, and stayed overnight at the Drury Hotel and then the next day their shuttle took us to the airport  where we boarded the plane to start our journey.  Fortunately our luggage arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and we checked into the Westin Hotel, our home for two nights. We explored Ft. Lauderdale and began meeting other people who were going on the cruise.  On the evening of the 19th we began meeting many, many people whom Fran had met online on Cruise Critic.  Big gathering in the hotel bar where Fran lost her voice talking to all these interesting people who had previ...

 Viking Cruises offered us an opportunity to forward one large piece of luggage each.  We had some older bags that could hold 50#  of  clothing and shoes.   I wish I had a photo of the young driver who easily picked up one bag for each hand and marched them off to his truck.  It was all we could do to lift one bag.  These bags made a one way trip to Ft. Lauderdale via UPS last week. They are being stored in a warehouse and will magically appear in our cabin on the day of our arrival to the ship on 12/20/2023.  For this trip we needed additional luggage straps.  I already had the buckles and ordered 2" webbing for the strap portion.  Quite easy to make and we felt better about having straps horizontally and vertically.  

 The itinerary has evolved from the time we made our reservation until now.  Here's how it looks now. 

 This world map of the 2023-24 Viking World Cruise was enticing enough to pay down a deposit and start making plans for 138 days on a cruise ship with 900+ other passengers.  The big day for the start of the cruise is December 20, 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale.  We will fly there from Phoenix and spend two days enjoying the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean  beaches of Ft. Lauderdale before boarding the ship.