Wednesday, February 10, 2016 – Cartagena, Colombia – Hazy – 90F

Distance from Miami to Cartagena, Colombia: 1127 Nautical Miles

Port Information.  Cartagena de Indias is named for Cartagena, Spain.  Cartagena is the fifth largest city in Colombia with a population of approximately 1.2 million people.  The city is ringed by a series of fortresses built by the Spanish starting in 1586.  The San Felipe Fortress, which is the largest fortress in the New World.  The La Popa Monastery is located on the highest spot in Cartagena – a height of 420 feet.  The historical buildings have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1984.

Another beautiful standard breakfast on the back deck.

The ship doesn’t arrive until about 1 PM so I am scheduled to speak at 11:00 AM. 

Very few people arrived early for my third talk -“Forensics and History: Mystery of the Romanovs”.  The final attendance was about 150 (the same crowd as yesterday) but I felt hurried and was out of rhythm.  Not my best effort (on what is usually the most well received presentation) and the time slot was not optimal because people had to leave for lunch and excursions.

We had lunch in the Windows Cafe - Salad, Veggie Pizza, scoop of tuna, two pretzels, peanut butter gelato.  A little more food than usual but it was pretty good.

Ellen is on tour today - “Cartagena Land and Sea” and I have opted to stay on the ship.  Based on the number of buses out there, probably about 500 plus passengers will be leaving the ship – for a few hours, I will have the ship basically to myself.

I started off on Deck 5 thinking I could make some good progress on my book.  However, I got the urge to do some laps up on Deck 9.  It was warm and very windy but my goal was to walk a mile (13 laps) to burn off about 150 calories.  I kept upping the number of laps so by the time I finished my session, I had completed 30 laps. 

During my laps, I only saw three other people on Deck 9 and 10.  From the track, I went to the Living Room to get some bottle water.  I eventually played a music trivia round with five people (maybe the only passengers left on the ship) that was run by Sasha.  We didn’t do well but since we were the only players, we won.  I contributed about five answers to the effort.  I met the same group of people for another trivia contest (Cruise Ship Logos) in Spirits (also run by Sasha).  No one recognized me until I told them who I was – again, Clark Kent had it right.

Dinner was in the Windows Cafe – Crusted Mahi Mahi, Salad, breadsticks, lemon tart and fruit tart.

Tonight is the scheduled Azamazing Evening for this cruise. 

We waited in the public areas as the buses were loaded by deck number (starting at 8 and working down).  The buses started loading at 7 PM and proceeded very quickly.  We got a little guided tour on the 30 minute ride to Teatro Heredia to see Colombian Pianist, Ivann.  Although Ivann was an excellent musician, he was also a super showman using multi media, lots of light effects, and a male and female dancer (super good). Lots of background tracks.  The evening was very entertaining and the venue was superb.  The organization of the even was flawless.  The concert took about an hour.  The movement of passengers from the theater to the buses (only two could park at the venue at any one time) was orderly and efficient.  It took very little time before we were back on our bus.

Waiting for our Bus Number to be Called

We stopped to get some post show snacks in the Discoveries Dining Room – Mushroom soup, veggie wrap, and mini quiche.  Better than dinner.

The series of photos below are from the Azamazing Evening.

A long but enjoyable day.