Sea Day #5 (in place of Corinto, Nicaragua)

Sunday, April 22

Our wake-up call from the sun came around 6 am. I don’t necessarily like being up that early, but it is so much easier on my system compared to being in an inside cabin where it is always dark. Without natural light, I really struggle to wake up. (And thanks to Holland America for the free upgrade to an ocean view cabin so I don’t have to deal with the darkness!)

Today was our unplanned sea day in place of our stop in Corinto, Nicaragua. There was talk around the ship of the rioting and violence happening in Nicaragua, so I was more than content to be safe in our little cocoon of a ship. (We do not watch much news when we are on a cruise. It means being uninformed, but it is nice to detach from the evil and violence in the world for a short time.)

Bob had made tentative plans to meet the few other pickleball players at 7 am. He had stopped by guest services last night to request that the court NOT be hosed off this morning, but when he arrived it was soaking wet. No one else showed up. The When & Where had pickeball listed at 10 am which probably caused some confusion to those planning to attend. He squeegeed off the court and then joined me for breakfast at the buffet. He had his usual oatmeal and I had a couple of poached eggs on an English muffin.

I walked a couple of laps with Bob and then spent some time backing up all of the photos from Costa Rica. I am getting the hang of using the Rav Powerhub so the process is going quicker. I will also say that I am totally loving the camera on my iPhone 8+.

At 10:00, Bob went up to the pickleball court while I went to the Crow’s Nest for the coffee chat with the hotel director. I had a chance to inquire about the status of the laundry rooms on the Zaandam which were just closed during the drydock prior to our cruise. Unfortunately they were closed for safety reasons and the change is permanent. We will have to plan accordingly when we go to Antarctica on the Zaandam in January.

I saw Bob briefly when I returned to the cabin. He was showering after pickleball and getting ready to dash out to see a Star Wars movie at 11:30…sort of a strange time to start a long movie in my mind. I went to lunch by myself, but Danny and Stan showed up a few minutes later. All three of us chose the Asian station for lunch. Today the nationality was “Indian.” I didn’t “think” that I liked Indian cuisine, but other than the lamb, I really enjoyed it! There was some type of chips offered (I have no idea what they were called) that were so good. Danny and Stan had missed them so I went back and got a bowl full for us to share.

Our Australian friends didn’t show up for afternoon trivia so Danny joined another group. As usual, I was a bystander since the groups have a limit of 6 people. It is rare for me to know any of the answers, but I actually knew a few!

The cloudless blue sky made for a perfect afternoon to swim and get some sun. The ship was sailing at a very slow speed (since skipping Corinto gave us ALL DAY to get to the next port) and even the water in the pool was calm instead of sloshing around. I could definitely feel the intensity of the rays so didn’t stay out too long. Bob joined me for the last 20 minutes after his movie was over (and he had consumed a taco at the Dive in!)

Ad Danny’s request, we arrived in the dining room a bit early and informed Yazzir that we would like to be finished in time for 7:00 trivia…and we were even though the guys all ordered multiple appetizers and desserts!

Appetizers, Soup & Salad

Penang Coconut Pork

Shrimp and crab fried rice

We joined our usual trivia group although myself and one of the other wives were just observers. There were quite a few teams, but ours won with a perfect score!

Each night it seems that one must arrive earlier and earlier to get a seat for the 8:00 show in the main theater. By the time we left trivia at 7:40, space was pretty limited. The Zaandam singers and dancers performed a show called Variations.

Tomorrow we will be in the port of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. Knowing the day will be very hot and humid, I am opting to leave my heavier Canon SX50 on the ship and use my iPhone as my sole camera. And thanks to T-Mobile, I will be able to navigate our way around the city of Antigua using Google Maps. Isn’t technology great!