Ready for a night out to dinner.

 Sunrise over the Panama Canal.

The crowd waiting for the canal

My lovely family enjoying their Panama rolls.

The locks going back out.

Lock doors opening.

Panama Day

Today we passed through the locks of the Panama Canal. Then we anchored for an hour or soo within sight of the locks, weighed anchor, turned and went right back through them. Still pretty cool.

Ahhh...I think I may have figured out the trick with the whitespace again. 

It was an early day.  We rose before the sun and went out on the entry into the locks with a thousand of our closest friends.  Space at the rail was at a premium.  I tried to get some decent pictures but, with the kids and the crowds I don't think I will be winning any awards.  Maybe next time...or the next time...

Max got so tired he was laying on the deck trying to sleep.  So I took him back to the cabin halfway through the transit and let him pretend to sleep before revealing he was only really bored and wanted to watch TV or play some games.  Oh well, like I said, next time. 

Now...

Here are a few pictures.  This represents thirty minutes of upload time.  I will try to get more later. 

Sunrise over Ft. Walton Beach, FL

SR-71

Max under some playground equipment at Half Moon Cay

Curacao during sail away

2-20-13

For some reason, the carriage returns I do to inject white space into the blog to improve readability have not been making into the published blog whenever I use this computer. Like this. Or this one. So sorry dear reader. I am trying. Perhaps when I return to civilization I will correct them. Until then, I guess I am just stuck with it. Today was a good day. Last night was a good night. That was the second night as first call where I didn't get one phone call all night. I am not afraid to jinx myself at all because: A-I am not supersitious and B- There is no way that is happening again anyway. So I will brag instead. It was a nice and relaxing day for the most part. Sarah and I even put the kids in club HAL and went to the gym. Good times. I still hate the treadmill though. Tomorrow is the Panama Canal and we arrive depressingly early. 0530 or 0600 with entry shortly after. We of course want to see it, so it will be early to bed tonight. We set the clocks back an hour after setting them forward an hour on the first night. So, I won't know what time it is. All of the crew have fallen in love with Michael and Max. Ayu, one of the cabin steward girls, told Max tomorrow she wanted a kiss. Suddenly Max was shy. Cute. We are figuring things out little by little. About the time we really feel like we are getting it, Sarah and the kids will be heading out. I just hope it means an easier transition on the next cruise. There certainly won't be much time to forget it. This is such an artificial reality they create here. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is, just is it a sea day or port day. You don't have to worry about doing dishes or cooking, but you must be very aware of what time it is so you know which uniform to wear. The rules are all there and everybody seems to know the unwritten ones except me. So I am just trying to abide by the written ones and I hope the unwritten ones I am told are correct. It will all wash out in the end. I keep promising pictures and I will deliver eventually. Promise.

2-18-13

Aruba. Today I was second call. However, the first call was the CMO, otherwise known as the crew doctor. So I had to be in the clinic for a good portion of the day so he could do his normal thing. I needed to be in here anyway, just to refresh some things. We pulled in to Aruba around 1300. Our LMO got off to catch a flight that will take her to San Diego for the LMO conference and our new temporary LMO arrived. Her name is Dale and she seems very friendly. I like her already. She is from Houston and has been doing this part time for 8 years. All the full timers and LMOs are headed to the conference. Since we arrived in Aruba at 1300 and I had to be in clinic at 1600, there wasn't a ton of time to get out and do anything. We managed to get out and get a fan for our room. Last night the swell got a little bigger and the ship rolled a little more. nothing too bad really, but it created a new noise where two wall panels bind against each other and then release for a wonderful creaking, scratching, 'WTF is that noise?', noise. So we got a fan. In our room, the hallway and messdecks noise can be a bit loud anyway. Oh yeah, and a bloody nose. Same thing happened to me on the Eurodam. The air below decks is so dry, I got a bloody nose for a few days, intermittent of course. Good times. Life on board can be frustrating at times. Something as simple as getting a cup of coffee or a sandwich can take forever. Lunch is tough with the kids, because it is buffet style. That means we take the kids to get their food and then one of us sits with them while the other gets food and then the other gets food, by which time the kids are already finished. Oh yeah, don't forget another trip for drinks. Ugh. And we are trying to learn who is who and who can help with things like excursions and information about, well, everything. It is still such a foreign world. So we got an hour or two on shore in Aruba. Then we went back and while I went back to the clinic, Sarah took the boys swimming in the pool while it was relatively quiet. Everyone that would normally be in the pool was ashore. So, it was a good, if frustrating day. We are progressing. It seems like we have been aboard for a long time, yet it is only day 4. Tomorrow we go to Curacao. I am first call, so I will see it from the ship. The kids spent a little more time in Club HAL today. They really seem to like it. I think they may need a little break from Mommy and Daddy. Michael got to see a real wild iguana today. He seemed pretty jazzed. Altogether I think it was good. Now, let me go see if that fan works. Hope my buddies are having fun in San Diego at the conference.

01/22/13

San Juan. Puerto Rico.  The long awaited day off.  As soon as they released us I was off an on my own out in the streets of a strange city.  It was lovely. 

I can't wait to get home where I will be able to update the Adventure Nickel website with some pictures and videos. 

Old San Juan is much like what my imagination brings to mind when I hear the phrase 'old world city'.  The streets are narrow and lined with blue bricks.  Three and four story buildings spring up after only a foot or two of sidewalk.  As I walked down the streets I was occasionally met with the sound of a television blaring and I could see as I walked past, a grandmother watching not three feet from me.  Comfortably ensconced in her sofa, she paid no mind to the passers by.  Another time a calico cat sat perched on the counter of a kitchen, peering through the slats of the wooden shutters at all of the people. 

I wandered back and forth between the two old stone forts before descending the hill and wandering through the old city.  Many beautiful parks were nestled in between the buildings and streets.  It is a city where I could imagine you must be a part of the larger community.  The proximity thrusts you into the lives of your neighbors.  Each person must become a diplomatic ambassador for their family in the community.  I saw friends slow to shout greetings through upper balcony windows open to receive the cool carribean breeze. 

Another thing I saw was more cats.  There seem to be an endless stream of semi stray cats around the city.  People leave thin aluminum roasting pans full of food out for them.  I don't know if it is more because they love the cats or loathe the rats that might spring up in their abscence. 

It was a beautiful day made less so only because I was not able to share it with Sarah.  Next time dear.  Until then, pictures will have to do. 


The mighty "E".  Kind of fitting really.  Sometimes it is hard to get over just how big this thing is. 

 This is the picture I took while I was talking on the phone to Sarah.  I never actually made it down into the cemetary, but there were some really ornate statues and memorials.

Man, I miss my good camera.

The blue brick streets.

The lighthouse for Jane.

I guess this is one way to entertain the kids.  I'll not pretend to understand this one. 

 A lovely little park sprung up.  There are a ton of cats wandering throughout and a cat lady there to tend them.  She is in the back on the right extolling the virtues of the cats to passers by.

That's all for now.  Man I miss the good camera.

10/26/12

Busy busy busy.

Houston for two days, home and working for two days then driving back to Houston for another night and then driving home the next day then working for two days and finally...off today.  Not a ton of blogging or writing time at all. 

Haven't been sleeping much lately, a lot on my mind. As we sat down in the truck and Grandma and Papa's driveway getting ready to drive home on...what day was that...Tuesday I guess, we got a call.

I am thinking about taking a full time position again for the first time in a few years.  The call was the scheduling manager saying they wanted me to start orientation on January 5th. 

Did I mention that the company is Holland America Cruise lines and this would mean we would be taking the Adventure Nickel international? 

Like a black hole, these type of changes have an event horizon beyond which there is no turning back.  We haven't reached that point yet, but I can see it from here.  The circumstances are aligning which make it possible. 

We already have a scaled down life possessions wise.  The kids are young enough that they don't really mind the idea of sharing a bed and aren't so large that it would be prohibitive.  Sarah's friend Victoria, who used to full time in an RV and has land 2-3 hours from Houston, has agreed to let us put our RV and truck on her land.  She has even said she will periodically start up the truck and open up the house.  Aunt Miche has agreed to watch the pets while we are gone.  Financially it looks like we won't be saving money or knocking chunks of car or RV payment out, but we can cover everything. 

Still, the thought makes my stomach hurt a little.  Back when we started all of this, hell before.  Back when we were reading bumfuzzle.com and dreaming of sailing around the world on a catamaran, we used to buy some of those sailing magazines.  We found a small article in there that had a phrase we grew to love. 

Adventure = discomfort.  If you are comfortable, it isn't an adventure.  It might be fun it might be vacation it might be exciting, but if it is adventure, it almost always will be at least a little uncomfortable.  Well, this would be uncomfortable in many ways.  We would be going from a lifestyle where we are free to do what we want, when we want and how we want most of the time.  We choose where we live, which park, what our daily schedule is, what we wear and even, to some extent, what schedule I work.  On the ship we would lose control of almost all of those things. 

But the perks...damn.  Just go on Holland America's website and look at the cruise routes.  Go ahead, this will still be here when you get back. 

So the final decision is still up in the air, but we are leaning that way.  Perhaps I should say we are heeled over to that side, or maybe listing that way.  There is still some information to come from the cruise line that will factor heavily into the final decision.  I would ask if we were crazy, but I already know that answer. 

More updates as events warrant.