I had so hoped HAL would work with us in the tendering process. We had 30 people in our group needing to tender as soon as possible but HAL made them all get in line for a tender ticket. We could have removed those 30 people from the group trying to get individual tender tickets off the ship. It's a process I've done many other times on other HAL ships.
The first two tenders were filled with 4 and 5 star Mariners. It didn't take long for them to send tender ticket groups 1-7 (10 persons per group to shore although boarding the tenders in the swell was a bit of a challenge. It was even more of a challenge at a he end of the day when the crew was loading the tenders back on the ship. They were really swinging on their davits.
The road out to the Manuel Antonio National Park was along a narrow and twisty 4 mile long road. There were lots of restaurants and hotels along the way including one restaurant built out of an airplane. At the park entrance there was a search of all bags as one can't smoke or eat in the park. Millie, our guide was wonderful and we discovered lots of flora and fauna including sloths (two varieties), howler monkeys, frogs, bright red land crabs, iguanas, White faced monkeys, raccoon, aguti (huge member of the rat family), large and small grasshoppers, a snake, and more. We were served a light fruit snack and water at the beach. It was definitely well worth it to have a guide.
Back at the port we walked back into town for stop number two on my quest to find the ultimate ceviche. What we found was good, but I need to take more samples. We shopped a bit and bought 12 cans of Coke Zero for half the ship's price. We caught a 3:45 tender and we're back on board by 4:10pm. There was quite a swell when disembarking the tender.
After a couple quick showers, we attended the 4:30pm EXC lecture on Inca Ice Maidens and then watched the two remaining tenders get hoisted back onto the ship. The general quality of the lectures is quite good and the quantity can be overwhelming.
After dinner we were sitting in the Showroom At Sea when we received two pieces of very bad news. First the Captain made an announcement in duplicate that due to continued strike and unrest issues, ALL HAL shore excursions in Puntarenas tomorrow were cancelled and we should make the best of it locally. Then Jonathan, the Asst. Cruise Director took the stage and announced that Joep had a family emergency in Holland and had to return home. He, Jonathan, would be our new Cruise Director.
The Costa Rican folkloric show was okay by me (my wife loved it) and we followed it up with David's EXC story time. This night's story was about the lost treasure of Panama City said to be hidden somewhere near the Manuel Antonio National Park. After that we enjoyed some tea beside the surging waters of the Lido pool.
Stay tuned for what adventures we encounter tomorrow with the entire show descending upon Puntarenas.
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