December 9th marked the last time I would ever board the MV Explorer. Walking up the gangway, all I could think about was how the next time I was on the gangway I would be walking down it, done with the voyage forever. The MV Explorer has really come to feel like my temporary home. It will be weird leaving it for a home in Atlanta that doesn’t rock around.
My three days in Costa Rica were spent relaxing with 9 wonderful friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better last port. We rented a house right on the beach. It had a swimming pool, five bedrooms, a kitchen, TV, and a grill. We had so much fun making our own meals. The homeowners were super cool and even hung out with us a little bit. Most of the SAS crowd went to a more touristy beach about an hour away, and I am so glad we didn’t do that. I just wanted to spend the last port without an agenda and with people I knew I would enjoy being around, not hundreds of college students all crammed into three bars. It was so nice to spend some quality time with my friends before the trip ended.
On the last day in Costa Rica I went zip-lining through the rainforest. There were a series of 8 zip-lines, and they had amazing views. Sometimes we would be going over a river, other times right through the trees. The zip-lines were really long too, nothing like at Girl Scout camp. On most of the lines you are responsible for slowing yourself down with your hand. Having spent the first 4 lines getting accustomed to the whole thing, I decided to see how fast I could go. In order to do this hey told us to open our hand around the cable. So, on the 5th zip-line I let go of the cable, picked up speed, and started spinning uncontrollably. As I approached the bottom I had no way of stopping myself. Without slowing down a bit I came hurdling towards the platform, body slammed the guide, and hit the fence of the platform in the tree. I rebounded so hard I almost went back out on the line. My leg has a little cut on it now, and will soon be turning all kinds of purple and green. Right now it’s kind of swollen and hurts to walk on, but it could have been much worse. Talent show tomorrow…
Last night we advanced our clocks for the last time. We are finally on Eastern Standard Time!! Now it really feels like we’re coming home. There was a lecture on the Panama Canal last night which was pretty interesting. I had no idea what a big deal it is to go through it. Ships have to plan it waaaay in advance. Here are a few facts I thought were interesting:
- Approximately 40 ships go through the Panama Canal every day
- Depending on the ship, it can cost hundreds of thousands just to go through (for our trip it works out to $200 per person)
- The Panama Canal is 48 miles long
- The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are at different sea levels, making the canal an impressive engineering feat
- The widest vessel that can go through can only be 130 ft. wide. Our ship is 85 ft. wide
Tonight we had the Ambassador’s Ball. It was just like prom. Everyone dressed up and took lots of pictures. The dining staff made us a fancy dinner and dessert buffet. Then we all crammed in the Union and danced awkwardly to music that is probably really old, but we don’t know any better. Anyway, I can’t wait to see you all in just 4 more days!!
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