OUCH and #*%#@##+?

When we got home I got some boards to work into signs for the gal that paints and sells them. Even though I got the material on Sunday I did not start working on them until Tuesday morning because Carol and I were so tired.
In all of my many years doing woodworking I have never cut myself but that ended on Tuesday. Somehow I bumped my finger into the table saw blade and cut my left small finger at the outside base of it. I  had leather gloves on and that may have helped prevent more damage or the gloves may have pulled my finger into the blade. Either way, I am sure everyone within a block or two heard my cussing at myself for my stupidity.
We got to a local emergency room and we confirmed what I felt I already knew. I had not damaged any tendons and the nerves seemed full intact. The flesh wound did take 10 stitches to close though.

Here is what it looks like after 5 days of  healing. The redness seems to be bruising and not an infection. There is Neosporen on it for infection control and I have been taking an antibiotic.

Nearly Home - Key West

After two days at sea we arrived at Key West, FL on a dreary and drizzly day. We had to clear immigration on our arrival so it was not until about 9:30 AM before anyone could leave the ship. Carol and I went ashore dodging raindrops but came back on board before 11AM. The rain never eased up but instead became more intense.
We went by Captain Eddies Bar to see if we could see a nephew of Jim and Donna Henry but were were there before their opening time. Captain Eddies is the original location of Sloopy Joe's Bar from 1934 to 1937 (I think). We did stop in at Sloppy Joes and it reminded me of the times the officers of the Hazelwood gathered there over 50 years ago. It was early enough in the day and the bar was not crowded like it gets with all the tourists so it looked like it was 50+ years ago!!
The ship pulled out of Key West early, 2 PM and we headed for our last stop, Tampa. Jim Henry will pick us up at the pier, we will get our car and head home to recover from our vacation.

Cartegena, Columbia

We arrived at Cartegena about 10 AM and we were surprised to see that we were at a large container port. The pier was not near town at all and  it was not going to be possible to walk to town as we planned to do. I was able to get the last available tickets for a town tour that left at 3 PM. Since we had time we walked to the end of the pier and there were a few very small shops there.

At least they had the pier nicely decorated with potted flowers!!
We had lunch, played gin rummy and napped waiting for the tour. The ship was not scheduled to depart until 7 PM so we had plenty of time for the tour. I took no still pics of Cartegena but took video instead.
Our tour guide said that Cartegena is much safer since they got the drug cartels out of Columbia. I guess they are now in Mexico. Columbia is the emerald mining capital of the world and they have some real beauties. Carol was looking at one bracelet and found out that the price was $27,000!! We had a very nice walk through the street of old Cartegena and in a park music was played by a group of policeman!! Also, Columbia is know for their coffee and we  had the opportunity to buy some but they had no decaf!!

Panama Canal Transit

We had another day at sea while going from Puntarenas to the Panama Canal. It was a rainy and even a little cool. We got word that there was a hurricane hitting Mexico City and this probably was the cause of our weather.

We arrived at Panama City and the entrance of the canal early in the morning as we were scheduled to enter at 8 AM. I was surprised at the great number of ships anchored waitng to go in or had come out. Another passenger counted 45. I took more video of our transit than still pictures. We also purchased a video from the ship photgraphers that shows the transit better than I could do. Here are a few of the pics that I did take.

There are three locks to lift the ship and three to lower the ship. The total lift is about 27 meters or 90 feet. The distance through the canal is about 50 miles and it takes about 5 - 6 hours for the transit. The canal authority has 2 rules that must be followed. Each ship must carry a qualified canal pilot and the ship must pay the toll in cash prior to entering the canal. Naturally agents are used for the money transfer.

The day before we went through,  a sister ship, the Norwegian Pearl transited the canal and set a toll record of $419,000 for the canal.

Here we are in a lock with one of the "mules" that pulls the ships through the locks. These are not the orginal mules as they were replaced only a few years ago. That's Carol supervising the operation! You can see that there is not much clearance between the lock and the ship. We were told that this ship and it's sisters are the largest size allowed through the locks. There is a major project ongoing to add wider and longer locks.

Here is one of the tour boats that are operated on the canal, loaded with passengers.
After exiting the canal we headed for Cartegena, Columbia and will be there tomorrow morning.

Puntarenas, Cost Rica

We had a day at sea yesterday on our way to Costa Rica. It was a lazy day reading, loafing, doing puzzles and playing gin rummy. The evening show was excellent with a group of four tenors called Fourever. They sounded a lot like El Divo.
The weather this entire trip so far has been quite good. The seas have been smooth even though there was a hurricane in the Pacific several days before our departure from LA.
We did get off the ship and walk around the flea market shops at the end of the pier and Carol did some shopping. She did find a necklace of native variety but we found no appropriate shirt for me.

We will have a day at sea before we arrive at the Panama Canal. It rained most of the day while heading toward the canal. We are hoping for a clear transit of the canal.

Hautulco, MEX, and Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Both of these ports are quite small and we stayed on the ship while at both of them. Huatulco did have some flea market shops near the pier and the beach near the pier looked nice but we just loafed and I shot some video from the ship.
The evening were spent dancing in the Spinnaker lounge or listening to music in the atrium. They have a real good trio that plays music we really enjoy for listening or dancing.

The previous evening was Dress Up If You Want and we did. Not many dress up on NCL with their Freestyle Cruising though. We had our picture taken and here it is.

Acapulco, MEX

Rather than walking around on our own we got a tour that would allow us to see the cliff divers. It gave us a good view of many parts of the town but I took more video than still pictures. Here is the cliff. It is 136 feet from the small shrine at the upper right. Several divers dove from lower spots but the one that dove from the top spot did a back-flip from there. It is on my video so you will have to visit to see it!!

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Naturally there were stops for shopping and Carol was interested in this statue. I wonder why??

During the tour our guide was telling us of how the tourist business has dropped. The number of ships coming to Acapulco is nearly dried up. During October only 2 or 3 were coming in rather than a dozen or so. Many of the hotels that were owned by major firms have been sold to local interests. The drug cartels are causing problems in the countryside. In fact while we were there the teachers had a protest parade demanding more protection from the cartels for them and the students in the more rural areas.
The next day were are scheduled to be in Hautulco, MEX, a small port.

Panama Canal Cruise - Cabo San Lucas

After spending a week in LA, on OCT 1 we boarded the Norwegian Pearl at Long Beach, CA to cruise back to Tampa going through the Panama Canal. We had stops in Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Huatulco, MEX, Puerto Quetzal, HON, Puntarenas, CR, Cartegena, COL and Key West, FL.
We were at sea 2 days before we got to our first stop. In Cabo San Lucas we just walked around the marina area and the part of town nearby. It was really hot, so we stopped and had a drink at a local spot.

On our way back to the ship Carol saw the largest Caribbean lobster ever!!

We spent the next day at sea on the way to Acapulco.