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December 2014 - June 2015
A 181-day adventure by Jim and Nancy Read more
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  • 78footprints
  • 35countries
  • 181days
  • 149photos
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  • 40.7kmiles
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  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 13

    Puntarenas, Costa Rica

    December 27, 2014 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    We are docked in Puntarenas just across the bay from where we stayed on our boat coming down the coast 20 years ago. We had our bottom painted here in the little town and it has grown considerably since we were here. We remember this area well. We had a great time over off some little islands with many of our friends. We took the bus to San Jose from here so we remember the poor road quality most of all.
    Today the roads are great and we are off to the rain forest to the south of town to zipline above the canopy. Nancy was a little nervous at first but by the second line she was swinging through the tree tops with the best of them. She is even doing "no-hand" tricks on the "photo" platform. It was beautiful up in the treetops and a lot of fun to do.
    Tomorrow a day at sea to relax from this "grueling pace"    Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 14

    At Sea

    December 28, 2014, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Who-hoo, today is Festivus. You remember "Festivus, for the restofus". We celebrated the made up Seinfield holiday with salsa dancing lessons and drinks on our balcony with Jeff and Ali. Room service is nice in that you can order a little "potluck" without fixing a thing. Of course the "Airing of the Grievances" and "Feats of strength" highlighted the evening before retiring to the dining room. We seem to have made friends with the cruise director Moss Hills (who does Jeff not make friends with?). We told him all about the Festivus holiday and I am sure that next year the cruise line will be celebrating it with a feast or somethingRead more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 15

    Puerto Quetzal, Gautamala

    December 29, 2014 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We are in the little port of Puerto Quetzal. It is a newly made port for commercial shipping and mining, it appears. There is a small sportfisher marina that had no sailboats in it at all so it is either shallow or there is not much to draw cruisers on their own boats to the area. There are no real towns around. The ship offers a tour of Antigua and several flights to the ruins inland around Tical. We didn't book those early enough and just decided to hang out and enjoy the leisure that we thought we would have in abundance but really haven't had as much chance to enjoy.Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 16

    Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

    December 30, 2014, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    A cool little port that used to be called Puerto Medero when we were cruising it and not very cruiser friendly if I recall. Now they have a nice cruise port and marina. You can get a shuttle to town (Tapachula, about 30 minutes away) and we walked the downtown. Of course like any town in Mexico there is a shoe store on every corner so the Zapataria was the first stop as Ali needed another pair or tennis shoes and I needed some sandels. Great time shopping as the dollar is strong in Mexico and things are cheap. Finding the right size between Mexican sizes, European sizes and the few American sized shoes was fun but we managed.
    The archeology museum was closed (I hope for the holidays) but interestingly there was a huge tent set up on the town square with an ice skating rink in it and there were a lot of Mexican youth that were pretty good ice skaters. For having no natural ice anywhere we thought that was impressive.
    We ate a local restaurant that our guide says she eats at and we could see why. Great mole and the fresh tortillas we remember as the staple of the diet down here. We broke down and had to try this great looking drink that was made by letting the water sit on the rice overnight and then adding sugar and spices and chilling it until you get a milk like drink that was very good. Of course the "Mexican water" sitting on the rice was a little risk. We will see how that plays out for the next couple days of the cruise. Fortunately there are lots of bathrooms on the boat.    Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 17

    At Sea

    December 31, 2014, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    New Years eve could not have been a better party. The weather was great so the pool deck filled with what seemed like all the passengers and most of the crew. We danced until 1:30 or so and then had a quiet "wind down" on the balcony because you know "nothing says the holidays like Lemoncello" turned in about 2AM with the promise to actually stay up till midnight next New Years eve as well. We are usually in bed by midnight and didn't realize that there was "fun to be had" We will probably have to walk a few miles to make up for all the champagne.Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 18

    At Sea

    January 1, 2015, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We recovered and made our two mile walk and poolside breakfast before they took the fruit away at 9:30. We thought that was doing pretty good after last nights big affair. All the crew were in good moods as many off them got to party as much as the passengers. Of course there was more great food for lunch as they fixed a big buffet so we had to try all these things that we might not have tried yet. More walking later this evening it appears. :-)
    At sea was always where we thought we would have plenty of time to read, work on the computer, do some little projects we brought with us. Jeff and I both thought that we could surely find time to do a little art. Turns out the days aren't as empty as we thought.
    We try to exercise several hours a day to keep the weight of the great food and abundant drink off our body or we will be buying new wardrobes by Australia. The ship also offers enrichment lectures that so far have been very enjoyable about topics we would probably never thought we were interested in. Then we have finally been getting the schedule of the dance band and ours together so we dance for a little exercise prior to getting ready for dinner. Usually a show at 10 after diner and more dancing or just visiting afterward until Nancy reminds us that her bedtime was several hours ago and we retire.
    The shipboard personnel all know us. We think it is because they have to know all the World Cruise guests but it also could be that we are always laughing so it is easy to spot us coming. We have not met as many others on the cruise as we would like but, like we remembered, the ship is bigger then you think and there are lots of little hiding places so we don't often bump into people like we thought we would. We have also been eating together which is usually the prime meeting time. I suspect that after the holidays we will make a concerted effort to get to know some of the 30 or so folks that will be continuing on with us in LA. There will be 145 of us going the entire way and many doing several legs. Some of the crew are staying and they are very happy to be doing it so it must be fun for them as well as us.    Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 19

    Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur

    January 2, 2015 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We arrived at Cabo around noon today. It rained and blew pretty good getting up here across the Sea of Cortez. We tendered into the marina. Hardly any signs of the recent hurricane but there is some construction that looks like it might be "re"construction.
    The bay is so much different then when we were here 20 years ago. The town was not really recognizable to us. The marina is much bigger and there are actually paved roads in places where they were dirt. We had a fun little afternoon activity making 7 different types of salsa and 3 types of margaritas. We have been trying to reproduce the margaritas on board but haven't been able to yet. We are still experimenting with different tequilas though and by the end of the trip we are certain we can "solve" this puzzle. Here are Ali and Jeff in full cooking mode.    Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 22

    Los Angeles, California

    January 5, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    This is the end of the road for most of the people on the boat. We have avoided all the farewell parties, etc. They were just depressing. :-)
    Jeff is having a "big" birthday celebration tomorrow so his (and since meeting them, our) good friends Trish and Don stayed in LA on their way home from New Zealand and took him out to celebrate. He will outline the day on his travel blog but suffice it to say it was very special. I don't think I have ever eaten a better soft pretzel then the one we had at Nelson's on the coast north of town.
    Leaving was a much less raucous affair then at Fort Lauderdale. The World Cruisers were a little tired from their travels to get here and the party that most of them had last night. We were pretty excited to be facing 8 days out at sea and going out of the massive harbor in LA was pretty special but it was not like leaving the dock the first night.
    The ship lost 50 crew members here and some 300 passengers. We have about 240 passengers on board for this leg and almost 300 crew so nothing is crowded except the walking track. :-) Next stop Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas.    Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 26

    At sea

    January 9, 2015, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We are at sea. The waves are picking up a little today but we have had flat water for the last three days so it is not too unexpected. Otherwise beautiful weather. Nancy is learning photography and we are enjoying the wine lectures (tastings) a little too much. :-) We are meeting quite a few interesting people. We may have solved the tequila search. We will have to test a few more samples before we come to consensus but someone needs to do the research. I will report back.
    Not much wildlife out here. A few birds but we haven't seen whales since off of California. We also haven't seen another boat either. Seems this is not a popular shipping route.
    Just getting into the routine of life at sea. You would think it might be boring but the opposite is actually true. We are looking forward to getting to land so we can slow down a bit. :-)    Read more

  • Jim and Nancy KleinschmidtWorld Cruise
    Day 30

    Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia

    January 13, 2015 in French Polynesia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Land ho! We finally sighted land this morning while walking on the deck at sunrise. The lovely island of Nuku Hiva came into view rising out of the sea. We anchored in one of the two great bays off the town of Taoihea. It was a quaint little town that had maybe 30 sailboats in the bay and a little grocery store and a couple little restaurants. Not much else but great to get off the boat and walk around the town. The locals would surf their canoes behind the ships tender for fun. We didn't feel too wobbly after 8 days at sea. The beaches were black sand (lava) so didn't look as inviting as the white sand beaches we are coming to on the next few islands.Read more

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