Lecture about Nicaragua which I have included in the post re our visit there. Here are some tidbits from my scribbled notes. Let me know if some things are incorrect.
Lecture about Panama:
Five miles on each side of the canal makes the Canal Zone. The port was founded in 1519 to transport Inca gold and silver. "Sacked" by Henry Morgan (a pirate) in 1671. A railroad was built in 1855 across from ocean to ocean.
Panama is south of the hurricane zone.
$1 equals 1 balboa
Princess pays $120 per passenger to go through the canal. It takes our ship eight hours to transit the canal.
Small locomotives are called mules as this job was done by mules at first. The mules do not pull the ship but with the wires keep the ship steady so it will not hit the sides.
Art lecture but did not take notes.
Wildlife lecture:
Some birds migrate 40,000 miles! The albatross needs wind to glide. Some only come ashore to mate. Frigate, gull, and pelican need land. There are surface dipping birds (gull), plungers (pelicans, masked booby), and divers (cormorant).
The Portuguese Man of War i not a jellyfish but a colony of many organisms - all working together. The mouth eats for all of them.
Phytoplankton - carried by currents - produce O2 and remove CO2 - critical to the world. Zoo plankton - also carried by currents - eat phytoplankton. Nutrients are brought up from the bottom to the top of the ocean.
Dolphins are all whales with teeth. They do not dive deep into the ocean. Sperm whales go down miles for 2 hour and stay up for 10 minutes.
On the way to find Jalil I had to go through the photo area. There Nikon cameras were demonstrated. Of course, I had to check them out and found a Coolpix with very neat features. The sales person spent a lot of time on me. The camera knows when the object smiles and takes the picture automatically! And it will not take it, if the person blinks! Zoom x 26! It can take 120 pictures/second. I told him that I really did not need a new camera. When he saw it, he could not believe that it was only three years old all beat up with rubber parts missing. But he stated that he would keep the old one if it was his decision. Nice to hear an honest word. And to save $409.
Eventually, I found Jalil who had now done all his exercises, steam room, and whirlpool. We sat in the sun for a short while to get some vitamin D. The air is very humid and hits you when you come through the door. The sky is somewhat overcast. Temperature is in the 80's.
Jalil had not had breakfast yet (1200) so we headed up to the cafeteria where I ended up quizzing the staff on the butter. It does not taste like butter to me but he insisted that it was.
Now it was time to plan the day. Every evening we got the Princess Patter delivered to our cabin. It lists all activities on the ship for the next day. Then you have to plot what you are interested in so that they do not interfere with the other things you want to do, as many things overlap. I go to all lectures. Jalil does if it does not interfere with his gym! In the evening there are two shows at two different times so you can see both. But you have to plot your dinner at the right time so you have time to get to the show. But if it is too early, it interferes with the Afternoon Tea. There are also movies - one screen is outdoors - and many music events here and there. I hardly have time sleep or work on my pictures or write my blog.
Sat outside reading my book while Jalil played Bingo. It was so warm in the shade which made me soo tired. Back to our cabin. Felt woozy so I drank a lot of water which seemed to revive me.
The hypnotist show by Kelly Karl was not that interesting. Checked out the movie outside by the pool - Iron Man 2 - awful. We were served pieces of pizza while we were sitting there. We walked to the Wheelhouse bar where we heard nice music, danced a little. We saw Mrs. Australia with her Irish man. They were the only ones dancing and they were so cute, danced so well together, in such good shape. We waved to each other. But we never talked to each other again.
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