December 15
Aboard Independence of the Seas
The first few days of December we spent
exploring the Perlas Islands, aiming to get back to
Balboa for my flight to David to inspect the progress of
the Panama house. It was very strange to find ourselves
back in the land of tides and current, given in the
Caribbean our tides maxxed out at about 18 inches, and
at the Perlas it was as much as 12 feet. Have to break
out the Chapman’s and relearn the rule of 12s, for
sure. And it made for some interesting perceptions,
anchoring with a view of one landscape and six hours
later seeing rocks and islands that weren’t there when
we dropped the hook.
That last few days onboard prior to
joining Independence were a bit stressful, with
the generator conking out AGAIN, and Ole having to
special order another actuator and related parts to be
flown in and cleared through Customs the very morning we
were to leave for Ft. Lauderdale. I don’t know how many
hours he and Dale worked on it, but it didn’t help that
we might have had to leave the boat with the Bixlers
with a non-functional and vital piece of machinery.
Dale has nicknamed it the “Westerbeast.”
On December 11, we flew up to Ft.
Lauderdale, staying overnight at the Marriott Biscayne
Bay, right next door to where we used to live. We had a
great sushi dinner and caught up with Svein and Lise
before boarding Independence on December 12, and
reconnecting with shipboard friends.
December 31
Aboard Independence of the Seas
Life onboard has been very quiet this
month, with an outbreak prevention protocol in place to
eliminate any whisper of norovirus onboard. Therefore
the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations were subdued,
with traditional offerings available in the staff mess.
Although we had a great Christmas tree and the usual
Christmas Eve glogg celebration in our cabin, the mood
was a bit gloomy without the usual Norwegian food and
trimmings.
The ship did a beautiful job at
celebrating, though, and Ole got to drive the zamboni
prior to our joining the staff for a carol sing and
midnight mass in the theater. New Year’s Eve found us
on the Royal Promenade with at least 3,000 other happy
souls while the 10,000 or so champagne-colored balloons
dropped from the ceiling. Hope 2010 holds many good
things for all of us!
To
read about where in the world Emma Jo, the cats and the
Bixlers were during December, check out their log here.
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