Day 99, Jan. 24th: Panama canal. I awoke when my body realized the boat had stopped at 6AM. We were getting ready to enter the first lock. I dressed and met a few hundred other passengers on the top deck at sunrise anticipating the passage.
It took about 90 minutes to traverse the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side. Our ship is small enough to go through the older locks hooked to little trains called “mules” (when the locks first opened in 1914, they used regular mules and the name stuck when the small trains took over). The area around the lake is known for wildlife and amazing biodiversity. The Smithsonian runs a research facility among several of the small islands throughout Lake Gatun. The largest island alone has documented more plant species than are found in all of Europe. I saw two canal crocodiles – one on an embankment and the other swimming. Unfortunately, my terrible photo of a croc as the dark brown spot in the midst of the lighter brown water would not load despite multiple attempts. I didn’t see any colorful birds or monkeys, but many pelicans, frigate birds and butterflies. I heard the howler monkeys first thing in the morning. We traveled through Lake Gatun, the markers for navigation lined the lake, backups for when GPS or other technology fails (and as ya’all know – technology sometimes fails). We also sailed by the high security prison that housed Noriega until his death in 2017.
Day 100! Jan. 25th: By the way, Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Pat. This was the last day of getting internet for a week (which I didn’t find out about until later in the evening). I’m glad I posted my blog through Colon. I enjoyed the disconnect and let the world go by. The 25th was also Burns night – I learned basic versions of “Strip the Willow”, “Gay Gordon” and “The Dashing White Lieutenant”. My dancing partner – Jerry #2, is a lively gent in his later 70’s that I “tower” over by a good 4 inches. The one oversight was they forgot to make a it a formal night (I did wear a skirt and blouse and John wore his suit to honor the Scots on board). Three Scotsmen dressed in their kilts and addressed the haggis, some women recited Robert Burns poems, and the great-great-great grandson of Robert Burns was on board who told some off-color jokes (Burns only lived to be 37, but fathered 50 children, so there are likely a lot of great greats out there). The dancing itself started out OK, but by the time we got to Strip the Willow it became a bit of a hot mess. Fun was had by all (except those Scots that were irritated by the basic version of the dances in the first place and the hash we made of them). The evening entertainment highlighted the music of The Proclaimers – the band that wrote I Wanna Be (500 miles) – their only hit in the US, but they have a host of beautiful music.
Days 101-102, Jan. 26th-27th: I was about as helpful on the Australia Day quiz as I was for the Burns Day quiz. For Australia Day, they did a program with ABBA music. The only connection I can make between ABBA music and Australia was the movie “Muriel’s Wedding” (which was my introduction to ABBA). The costumes of the show were stunning. A couple of passengers were confined to their cabins for a day due to an “ugly shouting match” in the laundry – basically given a time out. Another passenger will be let off at the next major port for assaulting a woman in the elevator (he grabbed her chest) – a lot more serious than shouting profanities in the laundry room. On a much more fun note- John and I made a team for an Escape Room they set up on board – so far we are 4 minutes ahead of the next team- fingers crossed (it’s just for bragging rights – there are no serious prizes involved).
Day 103, Jan. 28th: Unfortunately, the dreaded norovirus is working its way through the passengers and staff. They have closed down the gym, the casino, the pools, sauna, hot tubs and the spa. You can still do yoga and tai-Chi classes on deck, and generally walk or jog up on the 14th floor or the promenade. I walked and did planks today since I couldn’t go to the gym (eight 1-minute planks interspersed with a lap on the promenade). John and I indulged in scones – I wanted one with raisins, they gave me a plain vanilla. At dinner they wouldn’t bring me a rare tuna (they said all meats and eggs were to be cooked well done until the crises is over. They did bring me tuna cooked ‘medium’ which was less dry). Oh well, John and I remain healthy, as do our friends.
Day 104, Jan. 29th: We crossed the equator last night! The toilet has a vacuum flush, so there was no way to observe the phenomenon of the straight flush followed by the opposite direction. This is likely a good thing for the ships plumbing, otherwise they’d have 800 cabins flushing twice in a row. The sink is now spinning clockwise. The spa is open – massages and hair styling are a huge profit center, so they closed it for a day for a “deep clean”. My scheduled pedicure for tomorrow is still on. My abs are killing me from the eight one-minute planks – obviously I needed the core workout so maybe should incorporate that when the gym re-opens. In the buffet, the workers have to spoon everything out for you – this is likely good for portion control. They drop the Tabasco sauce on a tablespoon for you to mix in with your food, so much for finally finding the hot sauce. I finished the book “This Is Going to Hurt” by Adam Kay – fabulous book by a Junior Doctor in the UK and what he went through in his training. So many shared experiences across the ocean, including funny things like patients texting during pap smears (he also reported one FaceTimed during hers) and the one that left me sobbing for 15 minutes at the end – a similar experience as a 3rd year med student was the reason I chose not to do any type of obstetrics, and the reason he gave up being a practicing physician. At sunset – we saw the green flash! Well, partially, as a halo around the sun, and not the rapid spreading out along the horizon we saw in New Zealand over 20 years ago. That was only the second time in my life, and I have watched many sunsets.
Day 105, Jan. 30th: More planks and walking, more things shutting down. We did 2 loads of laundry first thing in the morning – which turned out to be fortuitous since they closed the laundry at lunch time (people cleaning sick-soiled clothing is their excuse). The first of our friends was affected – Archie from the dining table took ill after Tai-Chi, so Doreen is also in quarantine for 48 hours. They have also closed the self-serve 24-hour coffee and tea station. I’ll go through withdrawals.
Day 106, Jan. 31st: “Happy” Brexit- day, for those that are happy about it. Happy Birthday to guitar Allen. We spoke to an American couple – Don and Elee – who were just released from their rooms. She had some mild stomach upset and reported it, and she and her husband were promptly confined, never any other symptoms. I briefly got internet and could see the emails but not open them (at least I know that our COBRA payment went through on schedule – “confirmation of payment” was in the subject line). We are seeing clouds of flying fish – which seem to be bigger than the ones we saw in the Caribbean. Maybe I can get a photo of this type. I did karaoke – “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” again, I could never get the book to see what other songs looked interesting. John was actually there this time! On the sad side, Christopher, a wonderful gentleman that gambles with John in the afternoon is in the ICU bed on board. His wife has been unable to call the mainland and let their son and daughter know. It could not have happened at a worse time – as far from any hospital as we will be on the entire voyage. Please keep Christopher in your prayers.
Day 107, Feb. 1st: Wendy, Christopher’s wife, was able to contact family. She has many friends on board, and they are being as supportive as they can be in the situation. It doesn’t matter how much medical training you have, “being supportive” is about all any of us can do. There were two storm petrels on the promenade deck when I went down to exercise. A nice Scottish lady scooped them up and tossed them over the side and they flew off. Petrels cannot take off from the ground. When picked up they are very calm, which makes it easier for the rescuer. Without the gym, I have added lunges and triceps dips to the morning routine – walk one lap, 1 minute plank and one other exercise and then another lap. The evening show was particularly good, Bradley did “The Madness of King George” as his theme, discussing George III’s mental health issues. They no longer think he had porphyria, instead they think he was bipolar, and “laughter” was one of the remedies. Bradley nailed the King George song from Hamilton (Prove My Love? – the title is something like that). He also did a medley of songs from famous Georges (George Harrison, Boy George, George Michael, etc).
I have been having a (losing) battle with technology over the last 2 weeks – I had planned to use 8 photos and have only been able to get 3 photos to load despite no less than 10 attempts at the other 5 (one looked like it had loaded and had not). I will do my best to get the beautiful South Pacific represented. A last update on Christopher – Wendy joined him at the hospital in Papeete, their daughter is flying in, but prognosis is “grim”. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.