Melsea's 1st Half World Cruise, Arcadia 2016 Part 10

[melsea]

Day 36. At Sea.
Hot today. Clocks went forward, Mexico City time zone

17th April 2016

Bill went to the Christian meeting. 10am we both went to the church service which was taken by the Deputy Captain.
Breakfast was soon beckoning.
Clocks went forward and I made sure that all devices were put on the correct time.
I went out to sunbathe for an hour then went back to cabin to quickly shower and went to the Spa to have a Spa special treatment of a top to toe massage & facial. Very good it was too.
Stephen Garcia magic and comedy mix, it was hilarious again.

Day 37. Huatulco, Mexico. 9am - 4.30 (7pm)
Very hot & sunny.

18th April 2016

Didn't rush to get off as this was to be a lazy day in a place we have visited before, 3 times I think we have been.
I noticed on the hill where there are houses/villas adorning the sun drenched trees that are surrounding theses buildings. There was a group of grey structures that have not been finished. I looked on my iPod to see if I have this view on a previous visit which for us was back in 2011, the year & cruise we got married on. And yes I had the same view and lo and behold those grey slabs of buildings where there then as well. One can only speculate as to why these are not lovely buildings being lived in, money ran out, legal wrangling, family issues who knows.
I went ashore at just after 11.30, it was to say the least, very hot and humid, not too humid that it knocked you out.
I walked towards a small square that has various little market stalls around the perimeter but nothing there to entice me to buy anything. In time I got to the end of the beach which is situated as probably the closest beach to where the ship is docked, certainly no issues of getting back on board unless you go further afield and even then this is an area where traffic jams do not exist.
I had worn my croc slip on sandals and my full length cotton white trousers for comfort and keep mosses off me, since I seem to have forgotten to pack my insect spray of which I know exactly where it is at home but for some reason I did not bring it. Where we are travelling now and will be until we get to our last Caribbean port are home to the Zika born mosquito which has been in the news late last year and before we left on this cruise, it was mainly Brazil but has rapidly been extended to other areas and the WHO (World Health Organisation) has upgraded its 'warnings' to other areas. We had a letter yesterday to tell us about it
So once I had got to beach I rolled up my trousers and took my crocs off and walked along the beach, which was buy but not heaving. Occasionally I would go into the sea when it came up onto the beach. It was a present walk and it was doing good to my feet.
Along the way I could see various members of the crew enjoying themselves. I saw a couple of people from the ship trying to photograph fish in the shallow water close to the beach. It turned out to be a lone fish that seemed to be going round in circles and was in a beige and cream colour and puffy in appearance. I tried also to take some pictures but they were not very good and photographing things in water is a tricky thing to do if you are using an ordinary camera.
Once I had arrived at the other end of the beach I sat on a wall and tried to wipe off the sand off my feet as the I could not get the sand off by using the sea water as it was a good few feet away and so I ended up using my bottled water to wash my feet. This did the trick, I had taken a flannel from the ship to wipe my feet. Once all cleaned up I then walked towards the marina and walked to the other side of it and got a different view of the area and the ship which you can not miss. I did go into the few shops there, the jewellery ones, but nothing grabbed me which funnily enough when I came out of one of the smaller ones the man from the shop said to me, nothing grabs you, I was so surprised that I didn't say anything at first & then I uttered no it hadn't. Another shop I went into the man of the shop greeted me with Buenos Tardes ( good afternoon) I said the same back to him, it took him by surprise and asked me did I speak Spanish? I replied "muy poco' meaning very little. To which he replied we have to get you practicing your Spanish. So in Spanish I asked him his name which was Carlos, I almost expected someone from television programme set of El Dorado to enter left, I think I watched a couple of episodes before it was axed, it looked as though it could have worked had they left it to run. So, Where was I, ah yes, Carlos was his name and of course I was asked as well ' me llamo Melanie'. As it turns out he too didn't have anything. Said our goodbyes and onto the next place to snoop. I bought on a previous visit a ring to match a necklace & earrings which I had bought in Pago, Pago a good few years ago. One thing I noticed in these shops that the items they had for sale were not the best I have seen and were mighty expensive too. I had bought a coupe of things in Cozumel and they were not so expensive but I guess in 5 to 6 years ago maybe the prices were more favourable, as the prices I saw today were way beyond what they were.
Having done enough looking around I decided to go back to the ship, it was just after 2pm and it was very hot out here too.
I went in search for Bill and he was in the buffet. I went to the sandwich bar where they have someone make up sandwiches but he had literally closed up, which annoyed me as when I was looking for Bill he was open and I thought I will go there but it shut just as I went there. I have no idea when this opens and closes as it was not shown in the horizon. So I ended up with a hamburger from the pool side food outlet as I really didn't want what was on offer in the buffet which has not been good at all. Everyday they have Indian, pasta, noodles, with maybe a pie dish. In fact the choices at buffet has been very limited and not much of it either, think I have been spoiled by the larger offering on Aurora unless they have scaled down too. Having said that my burger was absolutely delicious.

Soon it was time to go to our 2nd sail away so far. I took my free Champagne voucher and got my drink, I noticed there were a good number of people redeeming their voucher. You get one per cruise, Bill got his and let me have it, which he did on our last sail away in San Diego. So I watched the entertainment team doing their usual dances and sing song, encouraging us all to join in. It was mighty hot and they must have been absolutely wet through from the heat afterwards. So nearing the time of us to sail away I went away from the party and looked over the side to see that the gang plank was still there in position, so they were waiting for some one or more to arrive back. It wasn't long before they made an announce for a passenger to call in. They did this twice and then no more. I walked round and there was an announcement which I did not hear as I was near a very noisy vent. When I noticed that the gang plank was still there and this was just after 5pm, I learnt from another passenger that they were waiting for an ambulance to come which should be soon. Some 40 minutes later it arrived. Two paramedics went on board pushing a trolley stretcher with the top covered with various medicine paraphernalia which seemed an awful lot to take in. The minutes were passing by and still they had not come out. We saw the driver who was got into the vehicle and had been on the phone just before. He turned the ambulance round so that it was facing the way to go out. He then drove off without the patient or his colleagues. By this time it's almost 6.15. I then went inside and back to the cabin. I went out again as I remembered I needed to go to the photographers gallery about something. At around 6.30 I popped out to the prom deck where I just saw the ambulance go off. Apparently patient went of and we eventually sailed away an 7pm.

The new Bond movie was shown in the Palladium.

Day 38. At Sea
19th April 2016

Very hot & very hot.

Sat on deck 3, the prom deck for a while. I moved when a couple sat almost in my lap.
Lunch was a prawn baguette. Bill had Tuna & tomato from the sandwich bar. When I got them it had started to rain very heavy but it did not last.
Sat on the sun deck later, it was very windy.
When I came downstairs I got myself a tea and sat in the shade in the pool area. When I got back to the room I could see I had caught the sun quite bad and this was when I sat in the shade on the prom deck so I obviously caught the sun from a reflection which I only surmised later that ti was the sun reflecting on the tender boats above me.

Evening entertainment was Will Martin who we first saw in 2007, he has come a long way since then, I bought a CD this time around. He is only doing the one show.

Day 39. At Sea heading ever closer to the mighty Panama Canal.
Rain, lots of it.

20th April 2016

Comedian Victoria Woods dies from Cancer.
Saw Nigel Marven, wild life presenter.
Eventing entertainment the second showing of the New York City Rhythm.

Day 40. Transiting the Panama Canal.
Very hot & humid.

21st April 2016.

Having been through here on numerous occasions I never tire of watching this amazing landscape of engineering along with the forest thats close also. Seeing the extended areas of the new locks was quite something as when I last saw it in 2015 it was just mud and holes. Now its pretty impressive. Lets hope it lives up to what they want from it and that the finance of it is sorted out, but something tells me this will not be the case.

Today another celebrity has died. Prince the artist & performer died in his hometown Minnesota he was 57. It is without doubt the worse year so far for deaths of celebrities world wide.
The evening entertainment was the Variety show of different acts.