Where is Waldo? Where is Sandy?

In October 2012 we took a two-week cruise from San Diego to Miami passing through the Panama Canal. Two weeks is an enormous amount of time to be trapped in a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Our dinner partners from Puerto Rico-Waldo and Alicia made the fourteen days sail quickly. Neal’s Spanish helped bridge the gap of communication between us. Waldo was a retired business man who now traipsed around the island preparing paella for parties. Going through the locks was anti-climactic. I was fascinated with the machinery in grade school and for a science project tried to recreate the exercise. When the Royal Caribbean vessel glided through the various levels of ocean there was no sense of magic or seven wonders of the world. As tour approached its final destination of Miami, Hurricane Sandy was on the horizon. Again, a non-event when the ship docked. And our flight from Miami later that day took off without a hitch. The hurricane had passed us by.

Hurricane Sandy | South Florida – YouTube