During the night, if we get up for any reason (wonder what that could be?) , we witness another huge lightning storm, this one off the coast of El Salvador as we sail southeast on our way to Costa Rica. They are so far away that we rarely if ever hear the thunder, but it is an impressive sight, especially at sea. I stand at the door to the veranda and watch for ten minutes or so. Then I go back to bed. Cathy probably watches if she wakes up as well. It’s interesting because at home thunderstorms usually only last for a few minutes but we have seen many on this trip that last for hours!
For the past couple of days, we have been seeing documentaries streaming on our TV about the building of the Panama Canal. The best one is a PBS Nova 2-hour documentary written and produced by David McCullough. The cruise line tries to prepare us for special events like the passage through the Panama Canal. They will run these two documentaries several times, and will also have movies set in Panama. It’s very creative and does give us important background info that enhances the trip when we actually arrive at the places in these movies or documentaries.
Peter Croyle has another lecture about Central America, this one specifically about Costa Rica. As do the movies and documentaries, Peter’s lectures really improve the experience we have when we reach the places he talks about. I think we have said this before, but it bears repeating: Peter Croyle is a fantastic addition to our cruise that we did not anticipate. He is a fine person, a real Renaissance man with tons of differing interests, genuinely enthusiastic about the subjects he brings to these lectures, and a person that truly enjoys enhancing the experience for us guests aboard Insignia. We rarely miss his lectures, and often return to our stateroom to watch them again on the television.
At 4:00pm, we join Pat and Lou, our two friends from Key West, at Afternoon Tea Time in Horizons on Deck 10. We have been trying for some time to get together with them, but they are very social and very popular, so our best bet was to meet them now. Of course we have a delightful time and are glad to see that Lou’s recent gastrointestinal issues have been resolved. He and Pat are very careful about their health and are both in great shape, so it’s a bit of a warning for all of us that illness can strike out of the blue even to people from whom you would least expect problems. It seems that most of the time when this happens it is because people have eaten something off the ship! Which was disappointing for us to learn because we had been looking forward to lots of exotic local food. But we learned pretty quickly and we were never sick thank goodness.
At the end of teatime, some people in the lounge spot dolphins playing in the bow waves of the ship. Pat and Cathy (I don’t know where Lou and I were at this point) join the growing crowd on the port side to watch the show. These dolphins are having a ball and it is a joy to see them frolic around our ship. It was amazing! They were frolicking like they were putting on a show for us. Leaping and twisting around. They are fascinating creatures indeed.
The rest of the day is uneventful, except for a beautiful sunset round 6:15pm. We include three pictures of yet another memorable sunset.
Because we are skipping Nicaragua, we will be arriving in Puntarenas, Costa Rica much earlier than anticipated. – 6:00am. This has resulted in our excursion being moved up to 7:45am, giving us an opportunity to use Excuse #145 as to why we should retire early!
