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Day 1, December 10, 2009 of my cruise began witha flight from Houston to Ft. Lauderdale.  Once on Ft. Lauderdale, we boarded the Island Princess.  The Island is a mid-sized ship with a passenger capacity of 2300 passengers.  The ship is decorated for Christmas.  It has a wonderfulf 4 deck atrium all aglo and ready for the 10 day voyage. Tomorrow will be a day at sea as we head to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. 

Day 2, December 11, 2009, was a day at sea.  I explord the ship; I discoverd a wonderful mid-sized ship tastefully decorated throughout.  To please everyone, it has two pools; one enclosed with a glass roof and the other open to the sky.I discovered many bar areas such as the Crooners Bar, Churchill Lounge and Wheelhouse Bar.  Each is decorated in a different motif.  We sailed past the island of Cuba today. This is the closest I've sailed to the island.  I could see the mountaines as well as beaches along the coast.  After dinner, we saw the show starring Adiran Zmed with the Princess Dancers. Although I didn't recognize his name, he stared in the tv show TJ Hooker with William Shatner and Heather Locklear.  It was a great show.  Tomorrow, we dock in Ocho Rios.

Day 3, December 12, 2009, we docked in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  The island of Jamaica is mountainous and surrounded by the beaufiful aqua colored water of the Caribbean.  We chose a shore excursion on a catamaran sailboat that cruised to a private side of the island.  Along the way, we saw several waterfalls cascading down the mountainside.  As we passed homes, someone pointed out the former home of Mick Jagger.  We docked and many people left the boat for a swin in the water. After an hour or so, it was time to pull up the anchor and set sail back to the ship.Our time in Ocho Rios ended with a little shopping and a meal of nachos at Margarativille.  Tomorrow is a day at sea as we sail for our next destination; the Panama Canal.

Day 4, December 13, 2009 was another day at sea.  While we were heading towards the Panama Canal, we attended an onboard seminar of how the canal was built.  I didn't realize the French began the project, but later gave up.  Disease, lack of proper housing and other calamities kept the project from  proceeding.  President Teddy Roosevelt saw the project completed in 1914.  The project is actually being expanded now to accommodate today's larger ships.  The current endeavor will be completed in 2014; which is the 100th anniversary of the opening of the original canal.  We are scheduled to enter the canal at 5AM and enter the Pacific Ocean at 5PM tomorrow. 

Day 5, December 14, 2009, I awoke at 5:45 AM and peered out on the balcony.  It was still dark, but I could tell we had arrived  at the Panama Canal.  I saw tug boats assisting the ship as we began our journey thru the canal.  Our day was going to be a 51 mile long trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific thru the Panama Canal.  It was to take approximately 9 hours.  As daylight began to break, I could see the area was mountainous and very tropical with banana trees and palm trees.  I saw a rowboat come out and they brought us the lines we would need to travel though the first set of locks.  It's quite an interesting process how the journey takes place.  The lines are attached to "mules", which are actually locomotives about the size of large tow motors.  The mules are on tracks and they guide ships into the locks.  The first set of lock doors opened and our trip began.  After the Island Princess was completely in the first lock, the lines were tossed back on shore and the lock doors closed.  Then, water slowly was drained from the lock and the ship began a slow descent down the lock.  After we were at the bottom of the lock, the doors opened and the ship proceeded.  "This went on thru 5 more locks and we sailed between the locks in the lakes betwen them.  It was truly a remarkable process!  We saw container ships and other types of ships going thru the same process.  The Island Princess had about 2 feet of clearance between her and the sides  of the locks. The day ened in Puerto  Amador, Panama.  It was a small town approximately 30 minutes away from Panama City.  I was completely surprised at the size of Panama City, which we could see off in the distance.  It was the size of Manhattan!  Skyscrapers everywhere and spread out for miles.  I had no idea is is that large of a city.

Day 6, December 15, 2009 is our last day at sea.  We are cruising along the coast of Panama towards our destination of Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  We are expected to be in port around 7:30 AM tomorrow.  We have an ecological tour booked for tomorrow.

Day 7, December 16, 2009 we docked in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  The Pacific side of Costa is actually the driest side of the country.  Our tour took us inland on the Pan American Highway for about an hour, then we cut off the main highway on a dirt road.  Our destination was a river where we boarded boats for a tour down the river.  It was sn ecological tour to see wildlife in the area. As we traveled along the river, we saw crocodiles from small to large, several types of birds and even an anteater.  It was well worth the trip.  Costa Rica is known for their coffee and we managed to purchase some while there.  Intel also has a plant on Costa Rica that manufactures microchips. We finished our visit with a typical Costa Rican meal of black beans, rice, fried plantains and fish.

Day 8, Decembe9, r, 17, 2009 we docked in Ssan Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.  I found the town a delightful surprise.  Mountainous in the background, but surrounded by pristine beaches with aqua colored water.  Along the shoreline, there were restaurants,small motels and other businesses.  Nicaragua offers fine leather goods and wood carvings for sale.  There were many surf shops in town as well as American surfers there for vacation.  @e were there for just a few short hours, but I"d love to go back and explore the area.

Day 9, December 18, 2009, our port was Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.  Quetzal is just as the name implies; a port for thr many ships that dock in Guatemala.  We hired a taxi driver that took us 1 1/2 hours inland to Antigua. Along the way, we stopped at an organic macadamia nut farm.  We continued to climb in elevation as we drove to Antigua.  Once we arrived, the town was much cooler due to the elevation.  Antigua is an old town with narrow streets and buildings made of stucco.  We ate lunch, toured the town and returned back to the ship.  I couldn't pass up buying many of the textiles such as table cloths, shirts and purses Guatemala is famous for,