Day 16 - Saturday January 13, 2024 Ensenada, Mexico

Arrival 10:00 All Aboard 17:30 Departure 18:00

Yesterday was a sea day as we cruise the Pacific Ocean towards Ensenada. The evening of January 11 and all day January 12 the ocean seas were somewhat rough. Sickness bags were placed at all elevators and the walking track was closed.

All cruise ships provide their passengers with a daily paper which for Oceania is the "Currents". This paper is given to each stateroom the previous night and details the upcoming port or if a sea day other topics appear on the first page of the "Currents" along with all the onboard activities. On January 12, the topic dealt with time zones and being on an Around the World cruise we will certainly be going through many time zones.

For you trivia buffs the country with the most time zones when you include their overseas territories is France with 12. The country with the largest land mass, Russia has 11 time zones, United States has 9 time zones including its overseas territories, Canada has 6 time zones. China has one time zone.

Throughout the cruise the bar staff carries out various alcohol tasting on sea days. Janice had signed up for a Gin tasting on this day and I will let her comment. Hello all!! I am definitely trying to expand my limited palette with wine and gin so I thought that a gin tasting would be fun. Little did I know that I would need a long nap afterwards as they provided very generous pours. We sampled 4 gins from around the world -Mermaid, The Botanist, Gunpowder and Wabi from Japan which was my favorite although I did enjoy the Mermaid. An added bonus was that I met a lovely gal Heather whom we had dinner on the last night but unfortunately they left the ship in LA.

Well today is the final day of this 16 day segment with fourteen ship tours including three with a AM and PM departures. We did not go on any of them but just walked off the ship into town for a delicious quesedila mexican lunch with margaritas.

Janice and I were here in May 2023 and basically did the same thing. Left the ship found a place to eat and then return to the ship after purchasing our door magnet.

With eveyone on board it is off to Los Angeles 152 nautical miles away. It was good to get our sea legs because after we leave Los Angeles tomorrow night we will have five consecutive sea days. That's alot of water to cross in the Pacific Ocean before reaching Hawaii.

During the cruise an Art Scavenger Hunt was carried out where fifty plus pieces of art, furniture, cushions or statutes are scattered around the ship which you must find and document their location. The results of the hunt provide passengers with Big O points which can be parlayed into Oceania swag such as hats, T-shirts.

The final "Currents" for the cruise was in our cabin when we returned from dinner. The Panama Canal Adventure cruise covered seven ports, daylight transit of the Panama Canal and eight sea days.

Total nautical miles traveled: 4,625