2017 WBPC: Zen, Self-Deprecation, and Reflections of a Life Well Cruised

[lucas]

Excellent!!

 

[Bethany10]

I didn't realize you brought all the family photos with you, I thought that you had just photoshopped them in!

You're not the only one. Wow now that is some forethought.

 

[JohnGalt]

Excellent!!

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it.

JG

 

[JohnGalt]

You're not the only one. Wow now that is some forethought.

Well thanks! The strategy was, bring a ton of pictures and see which ones speak to me for each day's review. I have all the photos we brought in a folder on my computer and I just counted. We brought 36 photos. You're only going to see 14 of those. Well, 15, because here is one of the pictures we brought, a picture of my daughter in Puerta Vallarta on a previous cruise. This one won't be showing up in any of the cruise day reviews because it just never seemed to quite fit with the mood:



That's a tarantula. I really can't believe we let her do that! I see this picture and I am immediately reminded why I never won the parent of the year award!

JG

 

[lucas]

YIKES!

 

[lorimay]

Awwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkkk..............She's a brave girl!

 

[ukintheus]

Kudos to the organizational skills for taking the photographs along, and it's a very neat idea. The one of the tarantula has an "ick" factor about it, even if you don't mind spiders! I'm looking forward to the at sea day reviews, we love them as it feeds our desire for laziness.

 

[JohnGalt]

Day 7, Saturday April 29, Panama Canal Day, Part III
Music Recommendation: “I Can See Clearly Now” Bob Marley

The ceremony in Palo must have completed because I noticed the ship was gradually descending again. We entered the second chamber, and then the third. It's funny how the anticipation of clearing the lock system was tangible all around the ship. I guess folks were just excited to be in the Pacific, and so was I. This picture was taken as we were descending the third and final chamber of the Cocoli locks.




And then that last gate opened and it was over. We had completed the first cruise ship crossing of the Panama Canal in the New Panamax locks. Hello Pacific. Good to see you again. Do you remember when DW and I used to take walks every evening along the cliffs at UCSB, and then make our way down to the beach to soak our feet in your shallows? That was 31 years ago, and I have to say - I've aged, but you haven't.




Although we had experienced torrential rains just a couple of hours ago, the rain had subsided, and although it was still a bit overcast, I could see clearly now, the rain was gone.




Panama City rises from the jungle, a witness to the economic impact of favorable tax laws.



The Bridge of the Americas. I really don't want our crossing to be over, but once we cross this threshold into the Pacific, there's no denying it.

 

[Credit Man]

John, I wish we had the opportunity to meet on this sailing. I am very much enjoying reliving the memorable moments reading your report. Now lets get back to some more coffee floats, great meals, and sailing north in the Pacific to San Diego.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Great photos. Great wit!

Kate

 

[CaseyJo]

Wonderful trip report. Love all your pictures and your writing style.

 

[adSimba]

missing these great reports, are you on another vacation?

 

[JohnGalt]

missing these great reports, are you on another vacation?

No, I wish. Work got crazy busy, but I expect it to wane a little bit in one week. I hope to return to this then.

JG

 

[TigerTown]

I'm really loving your trip report! Your writing style is really fun and the song selections are perfect! I've even made an iTunes playlist

 

[adSimba]

still missing your posts...

 

[JohnGalt]

I'm back on it. Sorry for the month of radio silence, but life happens. My work responsibilities required me to go down to Buenos Aires for a little while. I just got back this weekend. It was quite moving, hearing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," sung by an Argentinean woman, in Spanish, at dinner one night. People in Argentina love the musical "Evita", and they loved Eva Peron. But one thing I learned at dinner that night is that Argentinians aren't especially happy with the choice of Madonna playing their patron saint in the movie version. Ok, that's a story for another time.

I'm halfway through this incredible 14 day cruise, and I'm looking at what I've written and I'm thinking – man this is a long trip report. You deserve some kind of medal if you’ve stuck with me this far. I really don’t think that there will be as much to report on for the next 7 days of the cruise. In fact, I’m reviewing my notes and at some point, the days start to blend together. Anyway, to you who are still with me, thanks! You must be some kind of crazy, fanatical, Disney Cruise fan. Like me.

I'm trying to get my head back in the game, and I'm reviewing all the PC crossing pictures, and I can't help but think that it all seems a little antiseptic, like I've sterilized it of all fun. But I was so enamored by the engineering of the thing, I just walked around taking pictures in every direction. Here's a fun picture. As we made our way under the Bridge of the Americas, I noticed that a group was gathering for a photo down in the crew's recreation area on the bow of the ship. We zoomed in with DW's camera and captured this picture:





On inspection, we realized that these are the dancers and singers in the Disney production shows. We had seen some of these very people at the beach on Cozumel 4 days earlier. This was a really great Disney cast, and the picture was made more poignant when it was later announced that this was the last sailing for this particular cast. We would be treated to the highly acclaimed "Frozen" in a few nights, and that would be the last time this cast would ever perform "Frozen". So let me just pause to tip my hat to this cast. Well done folks, well done.

We cleaned up for dinner. It took two bars of soap and several Brillo pads to get the toxic combination of sweat, insect repellent, and sunscreen removed from my skin. I probably removed a few layers of epidermis too, because I had this raspberry pink radiance when I got done. Oh well, it was worth it. John Galt - 1; Zika virus - 0.

We had a little time before dinner and we somehow wound up in front of Crown and Fin, where we took this picture:



Cool? Yes, but I wanted it to be a blue police box. And bigger on the inside.

Here are the grainy dinner pics we took that night at Tiana's Place. Note to self: Next cruise, go ahead and bring DW's good camera to dinner. The low light conditions, particularly in Tiana's Place, were not ideal for my iphone camera.







Grainy picture notwithstanding, that prime rib was the real deal.

 

[adSimba]

Hurrah you are back!

 

[bcwife76]

Yay! Still following along!

I had the prime rib in Tiana's when we were on the Wonder a couple of weeks ago and it was fantastic! Honestly I think it's the best prime rib I've ever had!

Great photo op of the performing cast! Esp since they were done performing (in that particular group) at the end of your cruise.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Still here. Thanks for continuing. Yep, life does get in the way sometimes.

 

[ukintheus]

Glad to see you back and looking forward to hearing about the last 7 days.