Costa Rica and our day at sea

 

Between Guatemala and Costa Rica, we had a day at sea.  It allows us to get a breather between ports and relax a bit. 

This day at sea we got to tour the bridge.  This was a special event for Cruise Critic members and it doesn’t always happen, but this time they allowed it.  We had to show up at a certain time, get signed in and screened using the wand.  We got to see some of the equipment they use and were told how it gets used.  We were allowed to take pictures but not use the flash on the equipment.  It also has the best view from up there. 

After the bridge tour there was a Captains Club party and for 1 1/2 hours the booze was flowing (for free).  They also had a great food spread (as if we needed more).  We got a lot of personalized entertainment too.  Sure beats what Carnival gives their past passengers.

I went to bed early as I had a tour to organize the next day.  Doug got in late as he went to a movie at 10pm. 

We got up at 6:30 and I was off the ship by 7:15 to make sure I was outside to meet my group.  Some where out there already and the rest trickled out until about 8am.  The start of the tour was a little rocky, but once we were all settled, we had a great 7 hour tour. 

We started the tour with a stop to see the monkeys.  They gave us food to feed the monkeys and those monkeys enjoyed helping themselves to it.  They were very cute and we got some great pictures.  Doug also got a little video of them that we will post on facebook at some point.  Then the next stop was a sugar plantation where they showed us how they squeeze the liquid out of the sugar cane.  They let us drink some of it (mixed with ginger and lime) and boy was it good.  Doug and I only had a little bit as we figured it would spike our sugar levels a little too high.  We also got to taste a few other things like cashews and another fruit wine they made.

Our next stop was for our zipline.  There were 8 of us who did the zipline and 8 did the skywalk tour and Doug and my mom stayed at the hotel and enjoyed the surroundings.  I did the zipline along with Dad.  There were 6 zips all together and they were a blast.  It was a bit of a walk to get there and then we did 3 zips… then there was a bit more of a hike and we did the last 3 zips.  I managed to not make it to the end of 3 zips and had to pull myself to the end of them.  Good thing I had been getting upper body strength with all the pushing of Doug on the wheelchair.   I really enjoyed the zipline and would do it again.  I am not a huge fan of heights, but this was easy to deal with as you were not too high up.  By the way, Mickey Mouse did not join me on the zipline.  I figured that would be too hard for me to figure out.  I did manage to get a video of one of my zips… I will post that at some point too.

For anyone who says they can’t zipline, here is a pic of my dad doing it.  He is 70 years old… I think if he can do it, anyone can.  Doug was really sad to have missed it though as this was his idea in the first place.  I guess we will have to do something like this again so he can do the ziplining.

 

 

After this we were all pretty tired, but we managed to see about 10 parrots in some trees along the way to lunch.  The bus driver stopped and we got some really good pictures of Macaw’s in their natural habitat… how cool was that :) 

We had a great lunch (included in the tour) at a restaurant and it included some great authentic Costa Rican food.  We were all pretty full after that.  Then there was a stop at the beach to take a few pictures.  We also stopped at a supermarket for some coffee, but found the same coffee was sold on the ship for cheaper, so we didn’t buy anything.  By this time everyone was pretty tired and wanted to get back on board.  We could have stopped to see some crocodiles, but we wanted to get back.  Once we got back to the ship, Doug and I went straight to our cabin and slept for an hour before getting ready for dinner.  Mom, Dad, Conny & Eleanor went back out to the port and did a bit of shopping yet.  I just couldn’t manage doing that yet as I was so tired.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going through the Panama Canal.  I plan on getting up at 5:30 to find myself a good spot on the deck to watch it.   I guess it is early to bed tonight so I can stay awake for the whole Panama Canal experience.