56) Sea Day, Heading to Costa Rica

Sea Day, Heading to Costa Rica             

77F (26C)               Formal Night

There was a celebration somewhere on board because last night we crossed the Equator, but I skipped that one. Neptune will surely forgive me.

The Best Ammolite Has All 4 Colours

Carol spent a lot of time learning about Ammolite, an opal like organic gemstone, mainly found on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and produced by a company in Alberta called Korite.  


She should have been a Geologist; she loves this stuff.

I went to learn how to make a good cup of coffee. 

We have a new passenger on board who owns a coffee roasting business. In a casual setting he talked about what are the best beans, what are the best areas to grow coffee, how to best roast the beans, how to grind the beans, brew the coffee, what coffee makers to use to get the most flavor out of a pot of coffee, etc.

David told us to drink out of ceramic cups. Grind the beans a bit rough. The temperature of the water should be between 195 and 205 F. Use a French Press, steep for 2 minutes, then press down. For 6 oz of coffee, use 1 tsp. of roughly ground beans. 

I had a good time and while I am not a connoisseur, I do like a good cup of coffee.

Ideally, the man told us, you should drink coffee black, but to me coffee is like a dessert, it needs sugar and cream. 

Still it was a good lecture, lesson, discussion, setting.

Picture of the Panther Bracelet

I ran into Carol here and there on the ship and at one point she asked me to name a panther that Effy designed.  Well I put in 2 tickets, naming this panther bracelet “Mirage” because it was not so obvious that it was a panther and then again named it another time ‘Effigy’ a takeoff of the name Effy. (You were allowed to submit as many entries as you wanted.) Carol named this panther bracelet ‘Grace’.

All of our 3 names were picked as ‘possibilities’ among dozens and dozens of entries. Not bad, I pat myself on the shoulders here… However, the final pick was an obscure French name that was so memorable, I’ve already forgotten it.

The late show was ‘On the Bayou’ and it was formal night so the ship’s singers and dancers performed. They are much improved from a few days ago, and the costumes were much more colorful and enlivening. Good show.