PUNTARENAS - COSTA RICA

We awoke to a Costa Rican morning & were very excited at the thought of walking through a rainforest

We left at 7:15am for our forest skywalk & Pura Vida garden tour with Ricardo our tour guide & Miguel, our erratic bus driver - we were driven through the outskirts of the town - homes that looked as if they should have been condemned, homes with bars across the front, garbage in the streets, not a very pretty sight :-(

We thought, being a tourist destination the town would be quite pretty, but that was not the case. 

The further we travelled the worse it got & once out of the residential area the roadside was littered with rubbish & the land was extremely dry & dusty. Ricardo explained it was the end of the dry season & the wet season would start in about 2 weeks, he also said most of the rivers are polluted, but were full of crocodiles -  so don't swimming

After travelling along an extremely dusty (slightly scary) dirt road we were dropped off to begin our skywalk - you can see from the below picture of Cliff just how dry the forest was. Maybe we had seen too many David Attenborough documentaries on the Costa Rican rainforests, so disappointment was an understatement. 

It did become greener the further we walked -  but still very dry.

We then went to privately owned botanical gardens. An American couple had bought the property 15 years ago & created these beautiful gardens which had great views of the coast.

We saw beautiful hummingbirds & colourful butterflies, but the highlight was seeing wild macaws, which was incredible - they were as noisy & crazy as the white cockatoos in Oz

After a nice lunch it was back on the bus for another stop. The river was quite pretty & we saw lots of iguanas

Back in town we wandered for a little while through markets then back on the ship to wash away the dust.

     

What can we say - Farewell Puntarenas,looking forward to a rest day at sea tomorrow - then it will be the Panama Canal.

Take care xxx

CABO SAN LUCAS - MEXICO

We disembarked the Aurora and as we started to walk along the pier we were swamped by locals trying to sell tours, cuban cigars, jewellery and toys. Restaurant staff urging us to come in to eat and drink.

 All we wanted to do was wander along the marina, enjoy the sights and check out the shops

Now this is an interesting mode of transport for the local Police 

check out the helicopter on this boat

mmmmmmm Corona 

 

Some interesting advertising billboards for over the counter medications from local pharmacies 

and the pharmacies are also the local bottle shops!!

Enough time was spent wandering around, so we entered a little restaurant  "Alexander's" where the staff were extremely friendly and genuinely helpful with all of our silly questions. Our afternoon was spent eating spicy Mexican food, a bucket of coronas for Cliff and Margaritas for myself as we watched the passing crowds

Cliff with 2 of our waiters - Karim and Armardo

we were serenaded with a Santana song

As we sailed away to our next port of call - we sat on our balcony admiring the rocky landscape 

called "Lands End" - Santana playing on our iPod and thought to ourselves - What a great day we've had.

SAN FRANCISCO

What a first day we had, docked at 6am, left the ship at 7:30am (30th March - sunny day but a very cool breeze) We walked around the streets of San Francisco for 6 hours -  up hill (Lombard St aka the crooked street) & down hill, from one end of San Francisco to the other. Caught a cable car, checked out the shopping district & walked up to Coit Tower.

View from Coit Tower - the best views in San Fran - our ship at the pier

We made a quick stop back at the ship to change into comfy shoes, then made our way to Pier 39, found a great little italian restaurant - Swiss Louies. Cliff ordered the famous clam chowder in a sough dough bread roll, carafe of wine, views of Alcatraz, watched the seals sunning themselves on pontoons.

Caught the evening ferry for our Alcatraz tour.

 Dinner at Nicks italian seafood restaurant at the famous Fishermans Wharf.

Back to our cabin by 11pm

Our excursion today was Muir Woods - beautiful big Coastal Redwoods - tallest trees we have ever seen.

Currently sitting at a cafe in Union Square opposite Macys - retail therapy after lunch.

Good Bye San Francisco - We'll be back.

BIG ISLAND - HILO

   As we neared our destination of Hilo we were greeted with a sunrise that look like a volcano 

                                     a beautiful view of a snow capped peak

AND then we witnessed an incredible display by humpback whales. We decided our day would be best spent relaxing & wandering around Hilo. As we disembarked the ship there was a guy calling out to passengers to join his bus tour, change of plan, so off we went. There were 24 of us on the bus with the driver (and what a character he was). Malaki helped make our memory of Hilo all the more enjoyable. He took us to the markets where we bought lots of yummy tropical fruit

                                                 then off to Rainbow Falls

        Before we left for our next destination Malaki sang us a song (he had a great voice)

We drove to the Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park to see the volatile Kilauea - this volcano has been erupting continuously for the last 20 years. The weather changed quite fast, it was much cooler at the volcano.

                     The crater was an incredible sight -  the air was hazy with sulphur

                                       We stopped at natural steam vents

             walked through a lava tube

                                               Our final stop was an orchid farm

We had a great day and as we said goodbye to Hilo, a mother whale & calf were only 30 metres from our side of the ship - what can I say :-)

ALOHA HAWAII

FINALLY - LAND & it feels so good to have our feet on solid ground in  beautiful downtown Honolulu - the clouds have disappeared, the sun is shining, the ocean is blue & I think we are in for an interesting day. First stop Pearl Harbour then I think some retail therapy is in order (although Cliff doesn't think so)

Pearl Harbour

Very Sad to think so many people lost their lives in only 2 hours.

Great day for a stroll

Wellington to Pago Pago

Wellington - a very large city probably more like Melbourne than Sydney - Great shops, restaurants & bars - it apparently has more bars & restaurants than New York! 

We wandered through the beautiful botanic gardens

The begonia house was a colourful delight - lots of gardening ideas for Cliffy

Found the highly recommended "Sprig & Fern" hotel. Great english bitter Doug - friendly staff.

Due to Cyclone Pam we had to detour via the west coast of New Zealand.

After a slightly rough night we awoke to a stormy day as we passed over the top of Cyclone Pam - pretty rough but still afloat - Due to the detour we will only visit Pago Pago (our next stop of Apia has been cancelled) so straight to Hawaii - lots & lots of days at sea.

PAGO PAGO - American Samoa

                       (Note the mast sticking up out of the water - sunken boat left to rust)

The humidity was overwhelming - not a great deal to do in town but the people were very friendly. We found a nice place for lunch - Goat Island Cafe - big meals. After lunch found the "Sadie Thompson Inn" for a few bottles of ale - no tap beer & no real internet access but lovely bar staff.