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San Diego to Victoria – sea day 2

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April 28, 2023 – Friday – Sailing from San Diego, California to Victoria, British Columbia – day 2 off the Oregon coast

2023 Panama Canal Cruise

We are sailing north offshore from the Oregon coast today. Bird watchers are setup on the Promenade Deck with their spotting scopes, binoculars and some have cameras. Apparently they are spotting seabirds, but I only see a few that are close to the ship.

I go up to the Explorations Cafe just after 7am for cappuccino and relax for awhile in one of the chairs facing forward. It’s quiet up here at this time of day – too early for the trivia or game players. I have breakfast in the Main Dining room, sharing a table with a couple from Surrey, who mainly go to Mexico all-inclusive resorts, but are trying cruising. They are finding Holland America doesn’t offer enough onboard activities, but they are otherwise enjoying their time aboard, especially the Panama Canal transit.

Ship's position off the Oregon coast at 5:30pm
Ship’s position off the Oregon coast at 5:30pm

I drop off my Canada Border Services declaration to the staff who are setup mid-ship on my floor this morning. I declared the Halley Hansen jacket and a Holland America 150th Anniversary 2-mug set. I didn’t buy anything while I was ashore on this trip! I give a gratuity to my room stewards this morning, after getting a couple of envelopes from Customer Service.

I watch a movie this afternoon: A Man Called Otto with Tom Hanks in the lead as a grumpy old man with a heart of gold. I enjoyed it, since he always brings so much subtle emotion to his roles. Mariana Treviño knocks it out of the park as his fiery new neighbour.

It continues to be cold, foggy and some rain is falling today as we sail up the coast of Oregon on our way to Victoria. As can be seen by the ship’s position map, there is lots of shipping traffic along this coast!

I go to the Main Dining Room this evening, and have some Prosecco with my Rack of Lamb. Later, there is a lovely sunset over the ocean, which I watch and photograph from Deck 10. I surprise myself with the good quality photo I take of the 9 day old Waxing Gibbous Moon directly overhead. Canon’s image stabilization works amazingly well, even from the deck of a cruise ship!

Sunset over the ocean
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San Jose to Tamarindo Flight

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Feb 28, 2009 – Saturday – Flying from San Jose to Tamarindo, Costa Rica

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

This morning I share breakfast with several of the Southern Skies group before they leave for home. I also hook up with a couple from our group to share a ride with them to Pavas airport (Tobías Bolaños International Airport), where we catch a flight to Tamarindo. My friends I’ll be spending the next few days with in Tamarindo have arranged for a private driver and van to drive them to Hotel Las Tortugas. I’m glad to be flying to Tamarindo, since it takes about an hour, whereas my friends will be on the road for over four hours.

Nature Air (no longer operating) charges me US$25 for my overweight bag, which I expected since they have a strict 35lb limit for baggage because they use Twin Otter aircraft. They also weigh each passenger (including carry-ons), so they are pretty careful to avoid overloading their aircraft. Pavas Airport is small enough to make it easy to find the airline counter you are looking for, and the staff are casual, friendly, and helpful.

Flights versus driving San Jose to Tamarindo
Flights versus driving San Jose to Tamarindo

Our flight leaves at 11:45am, which is a bit later than the 11:15am departure time printed on my e-ticket, but who cares since we don’t have to make any connections. I get some really nice aerial photos as we fly to Liberia, and then to Tamarindo. Liberia’s Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport has flights from American Airlines, Continental, and Air Canada landing here. If I had known that, I would have returned home from Liberia instead of taking an extra day to fly back to San Jose and having to stay overnight before flying home.

The taxi ride from Tamarindo airport to the hotel costs me US$30 – I think the taxi driver saw me coming on that one, since I was expecting to pay $20 for the short drive. The staff at Hotel Las Tortugas are very friendly, although not all speak English, they all understand some of what I say. I am booked into my room #10 as previously arranged, and have some time to settle in and have a shower before my friends arrive mid-afternoon. We have a beer and a chat before they go to their room to have a siesta.

I see the Sun setting at 6pm from my balcony, so quickly go out to the beach to take some photos of the beautiful panorama. There are quite a few people on the beach watching the sunset, which reminds me of Long Beach on Vancouver Island, Canada where my family and I stayed for a few days last September. By the time I return to my room, my friends are ready to have dinner. I take a photo of the Crescent Moon & Venus from my balcony before going to bed. I have turned off the air conditioner in my room, since I want to acclimatize to the local warm temperatures.

Flights - Tamarindo, Liberia, San Juan
Flights – Tamarindo, Liberia, San Juan
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La Ensenada Lodge – day 1

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Feb 23, 2009 – Monday – La Ensenada “Star” Lodge, Manzanillo, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

I shoot a time lapse video of the southern sky from 3:30am this morning to sunrise using my digital SLR camera. It turns out pretty well, so I’m pleased with the result. Our astronomy tour leader Gary Seronik alerted us to a conjunction of the thin crescent Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars happening just before sunrise this morning. The clouds reappear in that part of the sky, but I managed to take a photo capturing all three planets with the Moon.

Conjunction of the thin crescent Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars

Today is “at leisure” as they say in the travel industry. Jorge is leading a nature walk this morning at 6am, so I join in since I’m already up from the night before. We only walk about a hundred metres along the Lodge’s driveway and spot so many birds it takes over an hour! I think the new people on the tour are pretty impressed that Costa Rica is such a rich wildlife area. After having breakfast, I go back to my cabin and process the individual frames from my southern sky sequence into a video. It turns out quite well, and after returning to San Jose where there’s faster Internet, I post the video online. I’m pretty tired, so I catch up on some sleep – first in the hammock on the front porch, and then in bed with the ceiling fan on low. After lunch, I go for a swim in the pool, and then go back to bed for an afternoon siesta.

Gary conducts a tour of the night sky this evening at 7pm. Everyone reclines in the lounge chairs by the pool while Gary reviews the sights in the early evening sky. I return to my cabin after, and decide to have a nap before the night’s observing begins. I wake up at 5am – oh well, so much for observing last night!