Celebrations at Sea!

Celebrating at Sea!

Who knew that getting older could be such fun!! There were a slew of birthdays in March....and each one was a birthday blast! Philip's came first....

Easy to find the birthday boy in this group shot!

Damon's party was also memorable. Mr Tambourine Man Roger McGuinn, founder and lead singer of The Byrds, was on board doing a series of fantastic presentations. We invited him to Damon's birthday party....and HE CAME!! That's Roger and his wife Camilla right in the center....

Roger was AWESOME!!!!!!!

Yep....he got his wish!! Happy Birthday Damon!!

And then there was mine! Here we are waiting for the first guests to arrive....

....and the honors went to Larry and Ruthanne.....

Charlotte and I both like men in uniforms....especially Andy, the Chief Security Officer. (It was a very safe birthday!)

I didn't snag Roger McGuinn, but we had our share of dignitaries....like Chief Engineer Brian and his wife Maggie. (Yep....love those uniforms!)

We were all honorary Fugawis for this celebration!

Definitely a fun time!!

San Francisco

OOPS! On the first day of our two days in San Francisco, a sudden storm came up and blew Queen Victoria off the dock! The aft mooring lines broke and both gangways fell off the dock and were left hanging alongside. It was fortunate that nobody was on the gangways at the time. Since we were in Chinatown having lunch when this happened, we have no photos to display.

....but we do have a photo of Chuck trying out one of the cells during our tour of Alcatraz! (After being together on the ship for almost three months, I found it a positive sign that he did buy me a round-trip ticket to the island!!)

Our fearless band of Fugawis was amused when we came upon this photo op. (They only spelled our tribal name a little bit wrong!!)

It's impossible to be in San Francisco without a stop at the Buena Vista for Irish coffee....or rather, Irish coffees! Chuck's recommendation to everyone was, "One is good, two is great, three is a mistake!" We took his advice and stopped at two!!

Transit of the Panama Canal

Panama Canal - April 10, 2014

Before entering the locks, we passed under the Bridge of the Americas. Until 2004, it was the only non-swinging bridge connecting North and South America.

As we approached the Panama Canal at daybreak, we received the following alert from the officers: "The heat and humidity could be intense today. Take caution, avoid strenuous exercise and drink plenty of liquids." Since our most strenuous activity will be releasing the shutters on our cameras, we should be OK!

The Panama Canal is a 50 mile canal that cuts across the Isthmus of Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It officially opened on August 15, 1914 and will celebrate 100 years of operation this summer.

That orange and green arrow situated between the locks indicates that Queen Victoria will be transiting these locks in the right lane.

Queen Victoria is a Panamax ship, which means that she was specially designed to fit through the canal's two existing channels. The  locks will accommodate ships no larger than 965 ft long and 106 ft wide. A third lane of locks is now under construction that will accommodate much larger ships.

The following photo is one that daughter Courtney emailed to us from the canal's webcam site and shows us coming into the first lock in real time. Not much room to spare!! (We only hit the wall a few times!)

Tight squeeze.....

....so tight that the stowage position of the ship's tenders had to be adjusted to slightly reduce the width of the ship.

The Panama Canal is one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. Loss of life was huge, primarily due to malaria and yellow fever. It is estimated that every mile of the canal cost 500 lives.

The transit will take our ship an entire day.

Lots of people came out to watch us transit the canal....

Although animals were never used to pull ships through the Panama Canal, the sturdy vehicles...shown below... that keep the ship aligned are still referred to as "mules."

Approximately 52 million gallons of water were spilled into the sea to move Queen Victoria through the locks. We were told that the amount of water consumed in the operation of the Panama Canal in one day would supply the city of Boston for two weeks.

And now we're in the Atlantic and on our way home!!

memories!

Memories!

It wasn't so much the destinations we visited....but the fun we had getting there! Most importantly, it was the people who made the ride such a memorable one!

As we once again take on the jobs of making our own beds, putting our own napkins on our laps and preparing our own food (Wow! We're going to be busy!!) we'll be remembering the good times we've had with all of you! Hope it won't be many moons before we're making more fabulous memories with all of you!!


Damon trying to reason with a statue in Fortaleza.

Bwana Larry....

Lunch time antics in Rio....

Views of Rio from the sea...

Taking in some culture in Uruguay.

Lunch in Punta del Este did not disappoint!!

Rounding Cape Horn....yes, it was cold!

Yep....Cape Horn....and not a ripple in the sea!!

It was seafaring tradition that sailors who rounded the Horn for the first time were entitled to eat dinner that night with their foot on the table. Ruthanne is celebrating appropriately!

Can't get enough of these penguins!

Chuck preferred Tahitian hip-action to waddling penguins....

Ginny and an equine friend.

We'll miss all the bakers who spoiled us with confections like this....

Larry all bundled up for the Chilean summer!

....and taking a little rest while we visit the penguins.

Chuck with Jacquie Christian from Pitcairn. She is a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian who precipitated the mutiny on the Bounty and then settled on Pitcairn Island with the other mutineers.

Celebrating after our visit to Pitcairn!

Fellow cruiser known to us only as "Underpants Man"....insisted on showing up on his Deck 4 balcony for every sailaway in this outfit!

Don and Marilyn's surprise entrance in Sydney completed our tribe! One of our favorite days......

All the people who came out to watch our ship cruise by....

Fun and games on the bus to Hobbiton.

Ginny and Damon enjoying Middle-earth.

Chuck and Larry, buddies forever....

Our repeat visit to Pago Pago was the BEST!!

Acquiring some colorful souvenirs....

Great spot for a repeat birthday celebration!

Love these friendly islanders!

Oh!....more souvenirs!!

And lots (and lots!) of photo ops!!

Karsten and Charlotte dressed for the gala in Hawaii.

Jytte and Philip too!

And Elvan and Mike....who were kind enough to share their forward balcony with us for sailaways!!

Dr and Mrs Gump!

Ahhhh....civilized meals in the Verandah.

Relaxing sea day afternoons in our cabins.....

....which have, on occasion, been known to involve wine!

Taking a rest from the dance floor on ABBA night....but still groovin' to the music!

Damon too!

Our handsome men!

Our handsome men reverting to their Fugawi ways....

Damon....dressed for Chinatown!

Cable car ride to Buena Vista.

Don and Marilyn surprising us yet again! They left the ship in San Francisco and left for the airport....we thought! As we waited in a long line for a must-have breakfast at Mama's, this cab pulled up and guess who got out!!!

Together again....for a few more bonus hours!!! Yippeeeeeeee!!!!

Karsten overseeing our transit of the Panama Canal!

Lunch in the Verandah with fellow Neapolitans.... Susan, Philip and Jill....

....and Jytte and Chuck.

Philip and Jytte on our last formal night....YAY!!!

Bryan and Jill enjoying Argentine steaks in Aruba.

Ahhhhh.....'til we meet again!!!