Today we arrived in San Pedro (the port for Los Angeles) and demonstrated that we knew how to put first things first. After we cleared customs on the ship (pick up your passports on one side of the lounge and turn them in on the other side with your customs declaration form), we hailed a cab with MaryAnn and John and told the driver to take us to the nearest grocery store. We became preferred customers at Vons, which seems to be connected with Safeway, and stocked up on toothpaste, hair styling gel, hand wash, dish detergent (for hand washables), Excedrin, other over-the-counter medications, wine and beer--all the things you need for a cruise. After taking a cab back to the ship with our precious purchases, we went to Ports O' Call for our whale watching trip.
Whale watching is a misnomer--it would be better to term it "whale glimpsing." Our captain on the Spirit spotted a gray whale, which our boat and four others chased. The gray whale has two nostrils, like a human, and was heading north for Alaska. He or she came up about about every seven minutes for air. All we could see was the spray, in the shape of a heart, and a small portion of its back. The best sighting was of the sea lions sunbathing on the buoy in the wonderful 80+-degree temperature. We also talked with a delightful couple who live in San Pedro, she a high school teacher in a ghetto school and he an independent business owner who restores '57 Chevys and learned how wonderful it was to live facing the San Pedro Bay. It was an absolutely picture-perfect day. A sail boat had a heart-shaped sail and a blimp sported a heart in honor of this day of love.
MaryAnn and John, romantics that they are, invited us and Lu and Mike, all of us from Cruise Critic, to Sabatini's, the Italian restaurant on board, to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. (MaryAnn is the wonderful Wowzo, Ken's pen pal on cruisecritic.com What fantastic company and incredible meal! All we had to order was any soup or salad and our entree. The waiters then surrounded us with all the other courses of absolutely outstanding food. The meal took three hours, and every bite was a gourmet's delight.
Today ends Segment 1 of our world cruise. Every day has been fantastic, and we look forward to Segment 2 in which we will visit Honolulu; Suva, Fiji; Vila, Vanuatu; Noumea, New Caledonia; Bay of Islands, Auckland and Picton, all in New Zealand; and Sydney. We have been warned that the sailing may be through quite rough waters, but we are sure that we will get no sympathy from any of you who live in the 49 states that have experienced record snowfalls and cold temperatures. We will be sailing the next five days to the one state that has not had snow (Hawaii) so you may not hear from us again until the day after we take the VIP tour of Pearl Harbor, February 21. However, Sara's friend Evelyn has requested that we tell you about the ship and what activities are scheduled for sea days. (Rooms are small but very functional, and the activities can keep passengers busy from early morning to late night.) So we may give you a picture tour of the Pacific Princess and describe what a typical sea day is like. We truly feel very lucky and blessed to be taking this trip of a lifetime!
The photograph of the group of people is from our Cruise Critic get-together on Monday, February 15. We have a meeting at the beginning of each segment and lunch once or twice during the segment.
thanks so much for the wonderful updates and we are very much looking forward to hearing more about your adventures .... and to meeting you when we get on board in Dubai.
ReplyDeleteYou guys look like you are having so much fun!!!! I've been reading your blog but hadn't realized I could comment so this is my first try. I've been thinking about you constantly, imagining what you are doing and what you are seeing. I'm most excited to hear about this segment 2 part - these are the places I really want to see one day. I miss you both and love you!
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