ON CRUISE OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA
By Bob Van Leer

  (SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 1997) - This afternoon we boarded the Legend of the Seas, a cruise ship of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, at San Juan. Betty and I are taking a ten-day cruise with my sister and husband Bud and June Pallardy of St. Louis.

  The cruise will take us to several Caribbean islands, through the Panama Canal and end in Acapulco, Mexico.

  We left Gold Beach Tuesday and planned to fly out of North Bend to Portland from where we fly to San Juan by way of Atlanta.

ONCE WAS MAJOR PORT IN CARIBBEAN
By Bob Van Leer

  (CHARLOTTE, AMALIE, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997) - This city is the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands and is located on St. Thomas, the largest of the three islands.

  We arrived here last night after a short, 74 mile sail from Puerto Rico. This is still U.S. territory and the island has a population of about 25,000.

  Curiously, even though U.S. territory, vehicles drive on the left side of the road, a leftover from when Denmark owned the islands.

SHIP ANCHORS OFF OF LA ROMANA
By Bob Van Leer

  (LA ROMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, Jan. 31, 1997) - Our cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, anchored this morning off Catalina Island, Dominican Republic, and we took a lighter, a small passenger boat, to shore at La Romana city on the main island.

  The Dominican Republic is a country of 7 million people occupying the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola. (Haiti occupies the western portion.) It is located between Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

  It is located on the southeastern coast 70 miles east of Santo Domingo, the capital city and the oldest city in the western hemisphere. La Romana has a population of about 14,000 and is a clean and well-kept city, especially for this part of the world.

  Our guide, Samuel, said tourism, sugar cane and light manufacturing are the mainstay of the economy. Sugar cane used to be number one, but is now of lesser importance.

  The minimum income is $2000 per year, according to our guide. A trade pact worked out under Pres. Reagan allows exports to enter the United States duty-free and has built a large textile industry, which may explain what happened to the U.S. textile industry.

A FEW MILES NORTH OF VENEZUELA
By Bob Van Leer

  (CURACAO, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES, Saturday, Feb. 1, 1997) - Curacao is the largest of the five islands that comprise the Netherlands Antilles. We arrived here this morning after an overnight sail from the Dominican Republic.

  The Willemstad harbor is on the south side of the island and has a very narrow entrance crossed by a bridge that is high, but our ship's masts pass under with just a couple of feet to spare.

  The harbor is already inadequate for the largest cruise ships and larger ones are on the way, so a dock to accommodate them is being built.

PANAMA CANAL POLITICS NOT FINEST HOUR
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Sunday, Feb. 2, 1997) - Our cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, continued heading west today and Capt. Bengt Ronsen said we should arrive at the Panama Canal breakwater about 6:30 a.m. tomorrow.

  We are cruising at 21 knots through 15 foot swells. The stabilizers on the ship work well and even with this swell, there is little movement of the ship.

  At noon Ronsen said our position was 11 degrees, 30 minutes north and 25 degrees, 10 minutes west, with 313 nautical miles to go to to Panama. The weather is clear and a balmy 79 degrees temperature.

  Our ship is registered in Liberia and was built in St. Nazaire, France. Its maiden voyage was May 16, 1995. It is 867 feet long and 105 feet wide, with a draft of 24 feet. The maximum allowable dimensions for regular transits of the canal are 965 feet long and 106 feet wide, and a draft of 39.5 feet.

  The ship has 11 passenger decks and nine passenger elevators. Two of the elevators are glass-fronted and overlook the five deck atrium.

  An assistant waiter said there are 55 nationalities represented in the crew and "We all have to learn to live together". 

CANAL LOCKS IN USE SINCE 1914
By Bob Van Leer

  (PANAMA CANAL, Monday, Feb. 3, 1997) - We arrived at Colon harbor at 6:30 a.m. to begin the transit of the Panama Canal.

  The basic procedure is ships are lifted up 85 feet to Gatun Lake. Ships sail across the isthmus on the lake and through a cut, and are lowered down the 85 feet to the Pacific Ocean.

  The geography is turned around in this part of the world. The country of Panama is narrow and runs roughly east and west. At the site of the canal, the country runs a little to the north.
We arrived on the Atlantic side as dawn was breaking. The sun was rising from behind the isthmus on the Pacific side. We are used to seeing the sun setting in the Pacific, not rising.

BIRDS USE SHIP FOR A ROOST
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1997) - Our course is northwest over a flat sea with the outside temperature in the 80's. Yesterday we passed through the Panama Canal and we're still thinking about that marvel of engineering. 

  The canal averages 35-40 ships passing through per day. Lights were installed in 1962 to allow 24 hour per day operation.

COUNTRY POPULATION SIMILAR TO OREGON
By Bob Van Leer

  (CALDERA, COSTA RICA, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997) - A white water raft trip was the highlight of this short visit to Costa Rica.

  Our cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, arrived in Caldera this morning after a 1013 mile sail from the Panama Canal.

  Several shore excursions were available and one billed as Corobici River whitewater rafting looked good to me. Given the time limitations, it was a two-hour float and the river wasn't very white, more like the lower Rogue River, but much narrower.

  Our guide said Costa Rica offers challenging rafting, but up in the mountains too far to reach in the short time our ship is in port.

OR, YOU CAN JUST SIT AND RELAX
By Bob Van Leer

  (AT SEA, Thursday, Feb. 6, 1997) - During days at sea we can be as busy as we want to be, or not busy at all. This ship has something scheduled from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.

WE DISEMBARK AT ACAPULCO, MEXICO
By Bob Van Leer

  (LAST DAY AT SEA, Friday, Feb. 7, 1997) - Our cruise aboard the Legends of the Seas is nearing an end and tonight will be our last day on board.

  Getting 1803 passengers disembarked and sent on their various ways in just a few hours is quite a task, but the ship's people are used to it.