Index of Entries, March 2025

  Entry titles are listed in order from oldest to newest (top to bottom) in this index; however, the actual blog entries are posted from oldest to newest (back to front).  Thus, the 2005 entry will be at the back end of this blog.  Find a topic in the left-hand column, then click on the corresponding archive year in the right-hand column to get close on a time scale to the desired entry before scrolling up or down for the specific entry.

 December 2005-   Building my first boat, Leaving home and Nebraska (my bio) 

February 2016-     Travel Blog, Croatia preview

March 2016-         Iceland, Copenhagen, Zagreb, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Ireland

July 2016-             Scandinavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Berlin

September 2016-   Colorado

November 2016-   California coast

December 2016-   Washington DC, Island of Maui

March 2017-        Argentina:  Buenos Aires, San Carlos de Bariloche, Mendoza

May 2017-           Northern Italy preview

July 2017-            Alaskan cruise

September 2017- Venice, Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Genoa, Nice, French hill villages,                                        Portugal & Algarve 

October 2017-      Lisbon & Sintra, Washington DC

December 2017-   Eastern Caribbean cruise:  St. Kitts-Nevis, Martinique, Antigua, Barbados, Grenada,                                Puerto Rico

February 2018-     South Pacific preview

March 2018-         Tahiti & Tuamotu cruise, New Zealand

April 2018-           New Zealand South Island, Australia

September 2018-   Road trip to Colorado. Idaho, Wyoming

September 2018-   Galapagos Islands, 2015

September 2018-   Panama 2014 trip

September 2018-   San Blas islands cruise 1981

October 2018-       Krakow, Poland

November 2018-   Zakopane, Danube, Budapest, Azores

January 2019-        European trip preview

May 2019-              northern France, cruise to Med, Mallorca, Rome, Copenhagen

July 2019-              Azores, Maine, Cape Cod preview

August 2019-         Omaha visit

September 2019-   A Voyage to Remember, Florida to Panama, 1980

October 2019-        Azores, Maine, Cape Cod

December 2019-    Puerto Vallarta

February 2020-      Madeira Island, Azores

April 2020-            The Lost Vacation (due to Covid), Switzerland, (now rescheduled)

August 2020-         Road trip to Montana

October 2020-        Road trip to Arkansas

April 2021-             Living in Panama, 1979-1982

July 2021-               Brazil preview (canceled and rescheduled April-June 2022)

August 2021-        Raising Children in the Military

September 2021-    Switzerland:  Lausanne, Interlaken, Lucerne, Zurich

April 2022-             Road Trip to Omaha, Washington DC, and Florida 

May 2022-              Roatan snorkeling, Our 1972 Road Trip

August 2022-            A Lifetime Travel Partner

June 2022-              Bocas del Toro snorkeling, Panama               

October 2022-         France:  Strasbourg, Colmar, & Mulhouse

                                Switzerland:  Basel, St. Gallen

April 2023-             Spain, Canary Islands, France, England, and DC

September 2023-    Scotland, Sardinia

November 2023-    Travel Planning Details

December 2023-    DC, Dubai, Mahe Island (Seychelles)

January 2024-      more Seychelles Islands, Maldives Islands, Sri Lanka

February 2024-    South Africa, a brief stop in Brazil

March 2024-        Snorkeling Sri Lanka & Maldives

April 2024-        Military Travel

September 2024- Revisiting the Past, Germany

October 2024-      Garmisch, Germany to Hall, Austria

                              Salzburg, Munich, and Onward

                              Istanbul, first encounter

                              Cappadocia, the Balloon Capital

                            

November 2024-    Back to Istanbul and a Cruise

                               Tuscany, Italy

                                Living in the Sweet Spot

January 2025-           New Destinations 

February 2025-         A Time for Reflection

March 2025-             Puerto Rico, instead of a Cruise

                                

Puerto Rico, part II

 

Looking toward the Hilton Ponce golf course

We had already planned to spend three days in San Juan, now it would be thirteen days, enough time to get a taste of other locations on this 100-mile-long island.  Some day we may want to bring our entire family here for a holiday; this may be our chance to preview some resorts.

After visiting Viejo San Juan, nearby Escambron beach, and an excursion to El Junque rain forest in the interior mountains, we picked up our rental car and headed for Ponce on the south coast. There we are staying at the Hilton Ponce Resort.  Lazy days by the pool, watching the iguanas feed on fallen fruit and other food scraps.  We are not used to such leisure, but strenuous activity means exposing ourselves to the tropic sun. Now we are more health conscious and prefer the shade of palm trees and umbrellas, avoiding long exposure to direct rays of the sun.  One reason we enjoy snorkeling is that it gets us under the water.

   Relaxing near the pool

Instead, we enjoy a late afternoon walk on the beach and then an evening circuit of the entire property including part of the golf course.

The sunset view from our hotel room at Ponce.

From Ponce, we drove the coastal road to the resort of El Conquistador near Fajardo.  This resort is even more impressive; visit the resort website if you want more details.  My favorite activities there were evening walks on the golf course, taking the ferry to Palomino Island, and speeding down the water slides at the marina water park.   

An evening walk on the golf course

Me, speeding down a water slide.  When you hit the pool, you skim across its surface

   On the ferry to Palomino Island

   Evening view from our hotel room with a full moon

    Resident iguana at nearby hotel gardens

Our time on Puerto Rico has been very enjoyable, new and different but familiar.  English is widely understood.  Interestingly, heights in Puerto Rico are listed in feet but road distances are listed in kilometers.  Most liquids are sold in quarts or gallons, but gasoline is dispensed in liters.  Thus, they have a 'hybrid' system of measurement.

Puerto Rico Instead of a Cruise

 About one week ago, I received an email from our planned cruise company, Viking, stating that our Caribbean 10-day cruise was oversold, and they were seeking people willing to give up their reservation in return for a future enhanced cruise.  The incentives offered were attractive.  Doing our own planning and bookings, I knew what was needed to alter our plans for this opportunity.  After a quick check of open alternatives, I left an overnight voicemail with Viking stating that we were willing to make the switch.

The following morning, I received a return call.  After quickly discussing future cruises, we settled on an 18-day cruise from Buenos Aires around Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean ending at Santiago (Valparaiso) Chile. Instead of a standard stateroom, we will enjoy a penthouse junior suite, 405 sq. ft., with its added amenities. Viking has returned all our funds committed to the present cruise, and the future cruise will be free (list price $31K)!  Now, I needed to quickly fill a 10-day gap in our current vacation plans.

We needed to make travel bookings with only one week of advance notice. Kayak.com couldn’t help me for flights or car rentals, too short term.  Smaller, value accommodations were already completely booked.  We elected to stay on Puerto Rico.  The island is 100 miles long and the home to 3.2+ million citizens.  First, I was able to directly contact Enterprise for a vehicle rental.  Next, I directly contacted two attractive, major resorts, Hilton and El Conquistador, for reservations, one on the south coast and one on the east coast.  I wanted something similar to the experience of a luxury cruise. 

Our Viking cruise was scheduled to be San Juan-to-San Juan after visiting a selection of eastern Caribbean islands.  We had done a similar cruise previously (not all the same islands), and our motivation for this cruise was mainly to escape some winter weather.  Thus, our ‘sacrifice’ was not major.  We have not spent any time reflecting on the forgone cruise.

A Time for Reflection

The beach at Palomino Island

Today we visited the Fajardo yacht harbor on the east end of Puerto Rico.  The number of yachts or “vessels” was amazing.  We talked to the harbor master, asking how many vessels were there (this is only one of many harbors).  He said they count in “acres” of boats, but there are easily over 1,000 in the harbor.    We walked the docks looking at the large sizes, almost all over 30 feet with many much larger.  Think of the wealth on display here!

Dinner at the harbor viewing Vessels beyond counting, 1000+.

What do they do in case of a hurricane?  Each owner has to submit a hurricane plan when they purchase dockage.  The harbor officials take no responsibility.

The situation recalled some major memories for me, involving a vessel, which were life changing.  When I left home sixty years ago, I vowed that I would have a future avoiding unattainable dreams; instead, such thoughts needed to be expanded into detailed plans to be acted upon, or else forgotten.  I was a dreamer in HS and accomplished little; that life was done with.

 After my US Navy service with navigation training and exposure to the world across an ocean, I had sailing classes and sailboat rentals at college in Santa Barbara. I also did an engineering research project on hull design.  Looking out on the Channel Islands, I thought, “wouldn’t sailing around the world be the ultimate adventure challenge?”, and a plan began.

After marriage, Dawn & I bought a 14’ Lido daysailer for experience.  Then, we bought a 27.5’, 3.5-ton Morgan ocean-going sailboat on San Francisco Bay for expanded experience.  I read a book on Polynesian navigation methods and also other books about previous voyages.  Is this really what we wanted to do to see the world?

At the same time, I was disappointed with my engineering career, not the challenge I had expected.  Instead, my job seemed to revolve around corporate politics much more than engineering.  Was I running away from career frustrations or toward this adventure?  After such a voyage (taking a couple years) my engineering degree would be obsolete. What then?  I realized that my future career was the more important concern. Dawn suggested I look at a career change…. and the ‘adventure’ changed.

I quit my engineering job, went back to school to fulfill some prerequisites, got a part-time job as an airline agent, signed up for the national Dental Aptitude Test, and started completing applications to dental schools. Would my application be looked on favorably?  Oh.... and we took a big loss on selling that sailboat.

With successful application, we moved to the Midwest (Omaha), and I went back to school for four years.  Dawn found another hospital job; we were still living the student lifestyle, and I applied for an Army scholarship.  We discovered that the military lifestyle includes travel and new circumstances which appealed to us.  Later came three years of post-graduate training and testing for National Board certification. There were no dreams, only plans to be pursued step-by-step.

It all worked out. I have had an interesting and successful career in dentistry. As a dentist in the US military, our entire family traveled widely.  Our children were raised in South Carolina, Panama, Alabama, California, Germany, the Netherlands, and Virginia.  They watched the Panama Canal be handed over to Panama by President Carter.  They were in Berlin to participate in the Wall being toppled.  We were in Yugoslavia just prior to the Balkan War (and again afterwards). We watched Germany be re-united and the “Iron Curtain” collapse.  We joined the celebrations in Prague as freedom was regained in Eastern Europe.  We were in New York, including standing atop the World Trade Center, shortly before 9/11 and then returned with our children shortly after 9/11.

In the end, we have traveled the world (60+ countries), we continue to travel, and we have had our adventure while also meeting career challenges.  We simply chose a different path to get there. We didn’t sail around the world, but I did serve as navigator in bringing a 46-foot-long trawler from Miami to Colon, Panama.

A dream is simply the ephemeral product of imagination.  A plan includes all the needed steps to make that thought into reality, plus the commitment to get started.  Sixty years ago, at 19 years old, I made a vow to myself to live a life of plans, not sterile dreams, it has made all the difference, and we have future plans still to unfold.

Wayne & Dawn, Feb. 2025

New Destinations

 Since my US Navy service in the Pacific, I have not spent much time in the western Pacific, except for New Zealand and the cities of Melbourne & Sidney in Australia.  To correct that, we have reservations for a cruise from Taipei to Perth.  Included are stops in Taiwan (2), the Philippines (1), Malaysia (1), Brunei (1), Indonesia (6), and Perth, Australia.  We skip the major ports of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok instead preferring lesser-publicized destinations.  We are tired of really big cities and their crowds, although we understand their attractions.   Also, the cruise ship is small, about 600 passengers, providing a relatively uncrowded atmosphere on board and access to smaller ports.

Looking at a globe, to fly from Denver to Taiwan is a very long flight passing directly over Japan.  Thus, we will include a stop near Tokyo for a few days (a stay in Japan could be a trip in itself) before continuing on to Taiwan.  The last time I was in Tokyo was 1968 when returning from Vietnam duty.

Next, we will fly to Taipei.  The Asian airlines flying this route were unfamiliar; I had to do some research to decide which airline to trust.  Anyone familiar with EVA Air?  The Taipei airport is actually 20 miles west of Taipei and our cruise will be departing from Keelung, 20+ miles NE of Taipei.  Best to show up a few days in advance for the cruise and also to see some of the sights in Taiwan.  We have a hotel and transportation arranged.  Again, this area could be the basis for an entire trip.

Learning what to see, and what excursions to sign up for (if any), at each of our twelve cruise stops took some research.  Perth is at the western end of Australia, a new destination for us; thus, we will be staying there for a few days to check it out.  When we were previously in New Zealand, we met some tourists from Adelaide, who encouraged us to visit their home area.  I booked a flight and hotel in Adelaide and reviewed area attractions, the wine country of Australia.  Most Australian airlines do not get very positive reviews from passengers (3.5/5).  We will mainly be flying Quantas with upgrades.

Our daughter asked, "Are you going to include Tasmania?"  After coming so far, of course we are.  We fly into Hobart, rent a car, and spend several days touring north to Launceston.  Expect cool weather there and more intimate accommodations.  I would have liked to spend another day, but, because the airlines are reported to not always be on schedule, we fly to Melbourne for our last night in Australia.  We don't want to miss our next flight.

Next, a Quantas Airline overnight business class flight to Oahu, crossing the international dateline, and we get to repeat the same day over again.  At Honolulu, we switch to a Southwest commuter flight to Maui where we have a car rental, and a stay arranged by Hilton.  Maui is our favorite Hawaiian Island; we have visited several times previously; this time it will be a five-star resort.  United Airlines has a direct flight from Maui which will bring us back to Denver.

This will likely be our last long trip with many new destinations.  Even at six weeks long, we only have time for a brief introduction at many of our stops.  Few new places remain that highly interest us.  Instead, we expect future trips to be more focused on our favorite areas. Then, there is the health concern.... how much longer before we have a health issue?  A recent bout of food poisoning/virus while traveling made us realize how serious this can be.