A feeling of nostalgia has settled on the ship as we make our way to our last foreign port, Puerto Quetzel, Guatemala. It is also exam time and the students are busy studying and the professors are busy grading papers and administering exams. Global Studies is complete and the final exam has been graded. The MV Explorer has been our home for nearly five months and soon it will be time to pack up and vacate the vessel for the next group of voyagers. We have been living in a community of people where we eat, socialize, work and exercise together. It has been a supportive community as we study and travel around the globe. Together we have endured rough seas and have been dazzled by beautiful sunsets and rainbows.
The feeling of sadness is tempered by the adventure that we will have in Guatemala. Some voyagers are planning to hike a volcano, travel to Mayan ruins or rest at a resort. I am excited because Mariah, my daughter, will be meeting us in Antigua and will sail back to the States with us. I look forward to showing off the ship and spending some quality time with her.
We leave Guatemala on April 30th and have one more study day and one more day of final exams. Things will get hectic in the Textbook Center for a few days while we buy back textbooks and pack them up for shipping. On May 3rd we transit the Panama Canal. All of you back home will be able to log on to the web cams along the Canal and watch us go through the locks. In addition the M.I.C.E. group will have one final concert on the bow of the ship. This will be a live feed to WTJU, a community radio station at the University of Virginia. You will be able to listen to this on the Internet. I will send more information on that later.
Here are a few photos from our Pacific transit.
Jogging on the bow
Coming in out of the wind
A red footed booby resting near the top of the mast
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