North Pacific Ocean

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    • Day 19

      Guerrero Negro, BCS, Mexiko

      January 16, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

      Die Sonnenaufgänge an der Bahia de Los Angeles waren wirklich unglaublich und trotzdem wollte gutes Wetter nicht so recht aufkommen. Am zweiten Tag wurde es richtig ungemütlich, der Wind wehte gnadenlos über den Campo Archelon. Ich entschied mich spontan zur Weiterfahrt in die nächst größere Stadt namens Guerrero Negro. Ich ließ den Golf von Kalifornien hinter mir und fuhr in westlicher Richtung an die Pazifikküste. Auf dem Campingplatz hatte ich ein deutsches Ehepaar kennengelernt, die in ihrem umgebauten Unimog unterwegs waren. Sie empfohlen mir wegen des Benzingeruchs im Auto doch noch einen langzeitreisenden deutschen Automechaniker zu kontaktieren. Vielleicht könne er mir ja helfen.

      Zufälligerweise traf ich diesen dann vor einem Supermarkt in Guerrero Negro, wo er eine Fehleranalyse machte. Mit der Information, dass der mexikanische Mechaniker nach der Benzinleitung schauen sollte, fuhr ich nach einem schnellen Einkauf auf Empfehlung von Victoria zu „Zihuls Campground.“ In Guerrero Negro ging die Zeit wieder eine Stunde vor, was für mich bedeutete, dass ich vor Einbruch der Dunkelheit nicht mehr all zu lange Zeit hatte. Zihul selber war nicht zu Hause, aber sein ältester Sohn Damian, der auch im väterlichen Kunstbetrieb „Zihul knives“ mitarbeitet, fuhr mit mir in die Stadt, um einen Mechaniker zu finden.

      Es war eine recht knifflige Reparatur, da sich der Automechaniker mit der Marke Isuzu nicht wirklich auskannte. Er schraubte den Motordeckel ab und zeigte mir die Dichtungsringe. Sie waren porös und kaputt und mussten ausgetauscht werden. Zihul und Damian wollten mich schon mitnehmen und mir ein Zimmer im Haus zur Verfügung stellen, als der Mechaniker nach ca. 3 Stunden anrief und mitteilte, dass das Auto abholbereit sei. Ich zahlte USD 45 und war sehr erleichtert. Am nächsten Morgen wollte ich zur Sicherheit nochmals in den Motorraum schauen und versuchte dazu die Motorhaube zu öffnen. Alle Versuche scheiterten und ich fuhr erneut in eine Werkstatt. Es war nur eine kleine Sache, die mit einem Spray behoben werden konnte. Das Auto hielt mich bis dato ganz schön auf Trab.

      Am Morgen des 18. Januar 2023 herrschte in der Dusche des Campingplatzes Wasserknappheit. Ich hatte mich so auf warmes Wasser gefreut und hatte vor, nach längerer Zeit meine Haare mal wieder zu waschen. Ich stand schon unter der Dusche, doch es tröpfelte nur eiskalt von oben herab. Freundlicherweise boten mir Zihul und seine Frau Perla das private Badezimmer im Haus an. Ich bin Zihul für seine Unterstützung wirklich sehr dankbar und wünsche ihm, dass er seine Messerunikate in Zukunft zahlreich verkauft.

      Gegen Mittag machte ich mich auf den ca. 25 km langen Weg an die Laguna de Ojo Liebre, in der Hoffnung dort die gigantischen Grauwale beobachten zu können, die gerade aus nördlichen Gefilden kommend, hier vorbei schwimmen.
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    • Day 48

      At Sea … Pacific Panorama Stats

      January 28, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

      Day 2 of our two days at sea … en route to Ecuador.

      Quiet day at sea. We relaxed and entertained ourselves with our respective hobbies … writing for me and painting for Mui. His is a new hobby and he is coming along nicely. Once he has a collection of paintings, I’ll feature them in a post.

      We had dinner with Sonia & Boris, and new friends Marguerite & Conor, who picked up the world cruise with us from Miami. It was a delightful meal with lots of chatter … mostly around our respective travels. It is always fun to hear other people’s stories and gain a new perspective on places through their points of view. Should have taken a photo, but we didn’t. I’ll try to remember to do so next time.

      We wrapped up the evening with Viviana Guzman’s encore performance. She had obviously been chatting with Mui when I arrived in the Insignia Lounge as she not only greeted me by name, but did so in Turkish. She made the flute sing again tonight.

      But before all that, tonight was the second of the two Oceania Club Parties being held on this portion of the world cruise … a necessity when 508 of the total passenger complement of 578 on this segment are repeaters!!! That there are so many who come back year after year says a lot about the product Oceania offers.

      Some other stats that OCA Cella shared … the usual four countries rounded out the “most passengers from” list … USA, Canada, UK, and Australia. But 5th place was a tie between Switzerland and Japan. The number of top-tier passengers on this segment break down as 222 gold; 121 platinum; 42 diamond; and 19 president’s circle. The most-traveled passengers on the ship have 1,456 days on Oceania … the same couple from the previous segment.

      I didn’t take any day-specific photos today, so here’s one of a mosaic wall on the ship. Let’s see how many of the readers of the blog will chime in to say where the wall is? 😊
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    • Day 30

      We have now left Haiwai

      February 1, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Yes we are on our way to the next destination, but more about today
      Did a tour of Honolulu then went to pear harbour where I visited the submarine museum and went aboard US's Bowfin a WWII sub was amazed at the complexity then went to Walmart what a dayRead more

    • Day 2

      Halfway to Singapore

      April 5, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

      Halfway through the flight and almost to Japan. The 4-month-old across the aisle from us has taken this long flight really well up until the last half hour, poor thing. We were able to finally watch “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, which was fantastic!Read more

    • Day 19

      The Wake in the Moonlight

      May 4, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 63 °F

      Pictures don’t do it justice but I ran into my Sunset Bar server buddy a few minutes ago and he said, “Mr. Peters, you must come out to the bar.” I hadn’t been up there today - the temperature has really dropped keep in mind. But I did go out and was treated to this amazing view of the wake in the light of a nearly full moon.

      524 nm to LA. Headed to bed, though we do get one extra hour of sleep tonight as we make the final clock adjustment to Pacific time.
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    • Day 193

      At Sea

      June 22, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 63 °F

      After 11 days of non-stop sightseeing, today we got a break. Definitely much appreciated. We pick up with another Japanese port tomorrow

      We wrapped up our day with a 60th anniversary celebration in Toscana for friends Mary Jo and Doug, whom we met on RTW2017.Read more

    • Day 162

      We left JAPAN-now in the Kurile Islands

      June 25, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

      Where are we spending my 67th birthday? At sea! But is it in Russian or in Japanese territory? We are in the Kurile Islands. These islands are in dispute (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, & Habomai) between Russia and Japan.

      We left Hokkaido, Japan last night (and then did a short 6 hour roundtrip back due to a passenger emergency). We are now sailing for the next FIVE days and will be at sea from Japan to Alaska.

      You might say where are the Kurile Islands and who owns them? Russia AND Japan both maintain they do and have been debating this since the end of WWII. The islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. Russia took control of the islands at the end of the war, and by 1949 it had deported all residents to Japan.

      Currently, as of February 7, 2023, the 168th anniversary of the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, Japan reaffirmed its position that it considers the 4 islands to be illegally occupied by Russia. In a statement, Fumio Kishida stated that "It is completely unacceptable that the Northern Territories have yet to be returned since the Soviet Union's illegal occupation of them 77 years ago". On March 22, 2023, Russia said it deployed a division of its Bastion coastal defense missile systems to Paramushir. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said it was to bolster Russian security around the Kuril Islands and partly in response to the United States efforts to "contain" Russia and China.

      I will "choose" to say I spent this birthday with my 380 close friends that I travelled with around the World ... and we are somewhere in "safe waters" in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific is the Worlds largest body of water ... 70 million square miles (double the size of the Atlantic), covering one third of the earths surface. If all the Earths land masses were put in the Pacific, there would still be room left over. Plenty of room for everyone.
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    • Day 197

      At Sea

      June 26, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

      Day 1 of five days at sea.

      Having bid Japan goodbye yesterday, our next “land Ahoy” is scheduled to be the Aleutian Islands of Alaska … on 30 June.

      But wait. That means only four days at sea not five … 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th. True. Except that we cross the International Date Line on the 28th and get to live it all over again the next day. The first 28th and the second 28th is how we are referring to this phenomenon on the calendar since it has only one block for the that date.

      Confused? Don’t worry. Just trust that we have five days at sea before we set foot on land again … 🤞🏻 the weather cooperates!

      Today was a busy day and plans to do some catch up port footprints went out the window quite early. I’ll get to them eventually.

      In the meantime, here are two of the fun things that ate into our R&R, which is much deserved after two weeks of non-stop port calls.

      First up, the Special RTW2023 Auction … with proceeds going to the Insignia Crew Welfare Fund. Emceeing the event was CD Ray … who is not the CD on this segment. He rejoined us in Tokyo to run the special events planned for the RTW passengers on this final segment of the world cruise.

      On the auction block were a number of items, including the painting that was displayed at the RTW Event in Argentina; three sets of voyage charts showing our route … hope we make all of the ports that are still ahead of us; a ship’s ensign that was flown on this voyage … signed by the senior staff, including Captain Maro; a number of certificates to take two crew members to dinner at various dining venues … special treat for the crew; a certificate to dine with the Panache Quartet in the GDR; and a certificate to be the CD for a day … under the guidance of CD Dottie. We’ll find out how much was raised in total after the White Elephant Auction, which is planned for 6 July.

      The next special event was a RTW dinner … the last one of the voyage … and appropriately offering a delicious Japanese themed menu.

      Since there are 374 of us world cruisers, this dinner was presented over two nights in the two specialty dining rooms … Toscana and the Polo Grill. Our invitation was for tonight and we were seated in Polo with our friends, the Gelmans and the Craddocks. Sonia, who was feeling under the weather, was absent and missed by all.

      (If interested, you can google the menu selections to see what we ate as describing each here would add to the length of the footprint considerably.)

      All in all … a very pleasant and fun day at sea … the cold temps and pea soup thick fog notwithstanding. While I missed not being able to sit out on the veranda, I’ll take cool/cold over hot/humid any time.
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    • Day 197

      Simply More

      June 26, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

      Feel free to skip this footprint if you are not an Oceania cruiser or have no interest in booking Oceania cruises in the future.

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      One other thing that ate into my writing time on our first sea day after a long series of ports was OCA Cella’s “Future Voyages Presentation.”

      The focus this time was not so much on where the ships in the Oceania fleet cruise. Rather, Cella reviewed the Oceania Club “free cruise” perk and announced the details of the new booking program. The current O Life program — described as a promotion — is going away as of 1 July. It is being replaced by Simply More.

      The new program basically has some inclusions in the cruise fare that one can no longer opt out of as we used to do be able to do with O Life.

      (1) Ship’s excursions … in the form of a specified amount of non-refundable shipboard credit (based on length of cruise) that can only be used to book ship’s tours on a use-it or lose-it basis. There are no restrictions on which type of excursion one can book with the credit.

      (2) Champagne, Wine & More … at lunch and dinner … from a select list … on a drink-it or lose-it basis. You can upgrade this package, but both passengers in the cabin must do so.

      (3) Unlimited WiFi … two logins per cabin instead of a single, shared one … made possible by the upcoming installation of Starlink across the fleet.

      Frankly, I don’t much care for having (1) and (2) included as part of the fare. And while having two logins to use the internet would be nice, it’s not a big enough draw for us to overlook what I expect will be some steep price increases to cover (1) and (2) … and (3) as well.

      Nonetheless, we have learned to never say never. We’ll just wait and see how this new program plays out.
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    • Day 199

      At Sea: (First) 28 June

      June 28, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 46 °F

      Day 3 of 5 days at sea.

      Today’s featured event was a brunch to which all passengers were invited. As they always do, the culinary team put on a great meal with lots of variety. Delicious and beautifully presented. Since Mui had his art class this morning, we went around noon and shared the meal with our friend CD Ray … our first chance to catch up now that he is back on the ship to manage the last of the RTW-specific activities.

      The wrap up to the day involved more food and drinks — happy hour hosted by Younga & David in their cabin … followed by dinner in the GDR.

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      By the way, no idea where in the footprint timeline this one is going to post. It should be on the 28th. At least that is the date we are observing on the ship. But due to the time zone changes we’ve made, the calendar is showing today as yesterday because it is indeed still yesterday on the other side of the International Date Line … which we will be crossing some time tonight. It’s all so confusing!
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    North Pacific Ocean, Océano Pacífico Norte, Océan Pacifique Nord

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