Today we passed through the Panama Canal crossing from the Pacific Ocean through a series of locks and lakes in to the Caribbean Sea. It was a beautiful day and a long process. I woke up nice and early to have breakfast and with perfect timing to see us approaching the first set, the Miraflores Locks. It was pretty cool and pretty boring at the same time. The whole concept is neat to pass through a land mass by way of a man-made canal, being raised up and lowered...

May 3rd - Happy Birthday Heather We spent 2 days in Costa Rica and I feel like it was almost a forgotten port for many. We were so focused on the 19 day crossing of the Pacific and preparations for arrival in Miami, that when we arrived in Costa Rica, it was a surprise! I enjoyed our time there and felt it really brought the voyage back full-circle. I walked off the ship and down the long pier back in to the hot sticky equatorial climate and Spanish-speaking cou...

What a long stretch at sea! Things are pretty much as usual and its starting to feel like we're wrapping things up out here. Both nothing and alot seem to be going on at the same time. In the past few days since we left Hawaii, there have been alot of ups and downs but overall I know that I'm ready to come home. I will say that I'm a little disappointed we haven't sailed though any real storms thought. How is it possible to circumnavigate the world and not hit an...

Wow...I have alot to catch up on! The past 3 days in Salvador have been great; skydiving on Itaparica Island, futebol, a local guided tour, a Brazilian steakhouse, street food, coconuts and flip flops! I'm not even sure where to start. Day 3 - Feb 7, 2008 - KP and I decided to head back over to Itaparica and check out the dropzone there to go skydiving. We left the ship at 8:45am and after another crazy ferry boat terminal experience, we finally got on a boat an...

Day 2 - Itaparica Island: Misadventures in Language and Ferry Boats! We decided to head out to Itaparica Island today, which is on the other side of the Bay from Salvador. No real plan in mind, we set out for the ferry, but our group had conflicting information on the ferries and after a walk through some shady part of town, we ended up at the 'wrong' one; the car ferry that goes to a different part of Itaparica, instead of the passenger ferry to the part of the ...