Day 05 - 10/11/23 - Puerto Límon, Costa Rica

 What a day!  We were up before 7am as we needed to meet our shore excursion group at 7:45.  Overnight we left the flat screen TV on the bow camera and it gently introduced the day's light to our windowless cabin.  As we ate breakfast, we watched our arrival in Puerto Límon (named after the tree of the same name).

After breakfast we gathered up our belongings and joined our group led by Beth in the 5th floor Ocean Bar.  Shortly after 8am, we received Jeremy's announcement over the PA system that the ship was cleared to disembark passengers.  This is our first time in this port, but we've visited Costa Rica a number of times on the Pacific side.  We made our way off the ship and walked the long pier to the port exit where we easily found our small excursion bus. Ricky, the proprietor, was there to greet us.  He had driven 6 hours from the other coast the previous day to do this tour.  He's a jovial person, ready to share information.  The bus had 7 empty seats and its only downfall was that the PA system was echoey and very difficult to hear.

We headed out of town through the traffic into the countryside and at our first stop, we all paid our $95/person for the excursion.  At the little fruit market, we sampled fresh bananas, papaya, coconut, and pineapple.  Totally yummy.  We then took a tour of the back side of the market examining local fruits growing on trees.  There was a small gift shop next door and we all had the opportunity to visit it.  Back on the bus, we continued down the highway that leads to Panama and made a stop in a banana plantation.  There are 3 principal growers:  Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte.  It's a major cash crop for Costa Rica.  

Our trip eventually brought us to a canal where we boarded a canal tourist boat and explored up and down the canal where we saw egrets, blue heron, sloths, Jesus Christ lizards (so named because they walk on water).  While caimen live in these waters, we didn't spot any.  It was a fun boat ride and we love spotting sloths.

Back on the bus, we retraced our path a bit and eventually ended up at Reina's Restaurant for a Costa Rican lunch of rice, beans, chicken, fish, and salad served buffet style.  After lunch we continued on our drive back into Puerto Límon where we drove to the highest point in town for a view of the ship at the harbor plus the island that Columbus visited on his 4th and last voyage to the new world.  It was then a short drive back to the port where we were dropped off at the main gate entry to the port.  

We went across the street to a chocolate store and listened to a short presentation about how the proprietor processes chocolate.  Given how hot it was, we headed back to the port and did some shopping in the craft market.  We found a pair of sun protection shirts with sloth designs that we purchased.  

Back onboard the ship, there was a message waiting for us to contact the Front Desk regarding our request to move rooms.  We went up there and eventually ended up speaking with the Manager of Guest Relations, Joanne, who informed us that due to our strong loyalty status, there was a room that we could move to just down the hall from our current room 1800.  So one of her associates took us down to 1818, we liked it, and accepted the change.  I obtained new room keys while Angela began packing.  We moved all of our worldly goods to the new room and finally began to unpack.  I had 4pm appointments in the Ocean Bar, but the people never arrived, so I went outside on the lower promenade and watched the ship back out from its berth, rotate, discharge the pilot, and make a course towards the Panama Canal.  After that I came back to the room to change clothes for our special dinner tonight in the Pinnacle grill.

The special dinner is a Tamarind Pop Up featuring menu items from the popular Tamarind Grill found on the larger HAL ships.  It's a favorite venue for us and we really enjoyed it.  A couple sat next to us and we enjoyed good conversation with them.  When we were leaving the restaurant, the hostess said that they commented that they really enjoyed conversing with us.  We've returning tomorrow to the same Pop Up with a different menu.  We may see them there again.  

During dinner, Captain Smit came on the PA system and announced that due to civil unrest around presidential elections in Ecuador, when we arrive in Guayaquil on Sunday at 4pm, nobody will be allowed off of the ship that day and that the gangway will remain closed.  It remains to be determined whether we can get off of the ship the following day to do shore excursions.  We shall see.

The evening entertainment was a quintet playing classical music under the moniker, Lincoln Center Presents.  There was a violinist, cellist, pianist, guitarist, and a clarinetist.  It was quite good and energetic.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day.  We are scheduled to arrive at the Gatun Locks at 8am, the Pedro Miguel Locks at 1:25pm, and the Miraflores Locks at 2:40pm.  While these times are approximate, those with access to the Canal Webcams should be able to see us. For us it will be our 7th time through the locks and it never gets old for us.

Today's blog has been a bit long, but it was that kind of day.  We're certainly pleased with the cabin move, and we are on the land side going all of the way around South America which is pretty cool.