The first 2 days at sea were very choppy and I felt like a drunken sailor walking down the corridor. We spent time familiarizing ourselves with the ship we remember from 20 years ago. When we were on this ship in Tahiti, it was part of Renaissance Cruiselines. They sold this ship to Princess and she became the Pacific Princess (The Love Boat). She is still as elegant as we remember and one of the reasons we loved her so. The rich woodwork everywhere you look is something we both admired.

We enjoyed walking around town and seeing the flavor of dutch architecture mixed with modern.

We went on a submarine ride in Aruba and took Groot. First we introduced him to a very large iguana and almost lost the poor little guy. Lesson learned, apparently iguanas like groots. The submarine ride took us to the depth of 130 feet over a coral reef where we saw 2 sunken ships, sea turtles, sting rays and various fish including huge grouper.

Bob and I were invited to have dinner with one of the Officers. She was a lovely, young woman from Germany. We had a wonderful evening that we will never forget. We’ve been meeting so many nice people from all over the world, making new friends and memories. Bob is so handsome in his new suit (and elephant bowtie from someone very thoughtful).

Thursday was a day at sea. We could see the tall mountains of Venezuela and then Columbia in a distance. We sat out on deck and enjoyed watching the huge rolling waves as if our ship was surfing. The wave would break and make a huge crashing sound and start over again.

We’re almost to Panama and look forward to going through the locks on Friday morning. We will go through the entire Panama Canal and will be in the Pacific Ocean before sundown. The history of the canal is fascinating, not only the engineering behind it, but also the stories of all of the people that gave their lives building it.

Did you know the gate design of the locks were invented by Leonardo de Vinci (designs found in his notes)? Neither did I!

Setting my alarm for 5:00 am. I don’t want to miss a thing!