so far

Well, so far it has been an interesting trip. Two days of helicopter rescues, so the people could be taken to Jackson hospital in Miami. One of the passengers, I understand a 57 year old man, was in the gym when he had a heart attack. You never know. Because of the latter, we were not able to tour or dock in Cartagena, Columbia. We anchored at about 6 this morning in Cartagena for a couple of hours because of the requirement of a United States law called the Jones Act. It is a maritime law that regulates commerce and places certain restrictions on the transporting of goods or passengers between U.S. ports. Making call at the country of Columbia and clearing immigration satifies the requirement. It is a "technical stop" I believe we do this again on the round the world.

We could have taken on the extra fuel that was burned due to the emergency, but the city was closed for the holiday. This evening, the first we will anchor inside the breakwater of the Panama Canal and wait for daylight to transit the canal. After the transit we will anchor for a few hours to replenish the fuel.

Because, at this point we are one day behind, we will not be touring Flamenco Island, Panama and go directly to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We will arive on Monday.

New years eve was a fun time. James Bond theme in the Theatre, with martinis. Then a show, then the celebration in the atrium. I was not going to dance. But the music was great, Everyone was dancing, or shaking. It did not matter if you knew someone or not. Women with women, men with men; dancing 3 or 4 together. The singers and dancers dance with everyone. It was a good time. Father time left as an old man and came back as a baby.

I did not think, I would be able to laugh and have a good time;but I did. It was good and Sherman would approve!

(posted on behalf of Roberta Rootberg)