Adrian and I had a fabulous time at the Faulty Towers Dinner Theatre held in the Halifax Marriott Hotel on the waterfront. So much fun - the actors portraying Sybil, Basil and Manuel were fabulous and it truly felt like we were in the Faulty Towers Show. For fans like us the antics were spot on, the actors had the mannerism and  the lines were perfectly delivered. Great way to spend a Friday afternoon!

Huge thank you to Vicki for hosting us and the Suttles crew for leaving some fabulous Christmas party food for us.

So happy to be home - our flights were delayed as usual and we didn't arrive in Halifax until midnight Sunday night. We ended up staying all night at the Alt hotel. Our mini "Ruby" was hit by a dear and totaled so the only car we have right now is the Z28 Camero, The Hornet, is really a summer vehicle and has only summer tires. We waited to the leave the hotel on Tuesday for the sun to come out and help with the roads. Managed a shopping stop on the way home too! We're finally settles, laundry all caught up, groceries in the fridge and the house decorated - phew!! We tried something new this year with our tree grouping. We had something a tad similar last year when we used the wedding trees as our Christmas tree. Loving this new look!

Heading home! Managed to find some Bugles in Panama and I'm taking them home for my Christmas party mix - whoohoo!!

We spent today in San Jose, Costa Rica. We had a driver booked to transfer us from the ship to our hotel. We stayed at the Balmoral, in the heart of Old Town , San Jose. Close to museums, the park, the market and a lovely pedestrian only area. We lucked out the city is decorated for Christmas and the park was filled with Christmas themes photo opportunities for families - especially fun at night when they were lighted. There was also a Christmas market that was open all day and into the evening. We had lunch in our hotel restaurant and then dinner in one of the many second level restaurants. The street level shops often had restaurants, and bars above them with views down the street. Tomorrow we have an 8:30 am flight home.

Today is our last full day onboard. Tomorrow we disembark and travel to San Jose for our Sunday flight home. Great day walking Quepos. It was cloudy, which was a blessing, way too hot the few times the sun peaked out. The community is beautifully decked out for the holidays, I was sorry we didn't get to see all the lights at night. We walked the waterfront and then stopped for lunch. This time we remembered to take a photo before we finished eating. Adrian had the traditional Costa Rican meal with chicken and I had the chicken nachos. Super yummy. Adrian had a 1pm zoom call and of course it started to pour just as we finished lunch. We ended up walking really fast back to the port and getting completely drenched on the way. We wandered up on deck for our last sail away only to discover we were delayed by 20 minutes. We took our wonderful wine - a great Adrian find, only $10 US for a wine that would cost many times that at home to the lounge for our disembarkation talk and to meet our friends Steve and Mary for drinks and dinner. All in all it's been a fabulous cruise and we're excited to switch gears and get into the Christmas spirit!

Today we're in Puerto Jimenez, slightly bigger community than yesterday and another wet landing. We had a great - if very sweaty time - exploring the town and walking all the streets. As is our custom we stopped for lunch. Sadly we didn't get a picture of our food when it came so I included the picture of the empty plates. Adrian and I shared a wonderful seafood platter or local lobster, jumbo shrimp, squid and steak.  We also tried Panaderos - banana pancakes, delicious. I am not a huge squid fan and could learn to be one here - hands down the best I've ever had.
This afternoon I had another opportunity to swim off the back of the ship. Happily no sea lice today so I got to spend some great time in the water and we remembered to get a picture of this unique Windstar cruise feature. In the afternoon the ship hosted some local dancing and singing provided by an area school. The children were ages 6 - 14 and the costumes were amazing. 
Tonight our deck BBQ got moved to the restaurant due to weather and they served the BBQ favs such as lamb chops, grilled shrimp, ribs, suckling pig and flank steak. Followed by an amazing apple pie. Wonderful end to the day - one again we didn't stay for the line dancing but retired early to our cabin. I managed to get Amazon Prime to work on my computer so we've been watching a 2021 series "9 Perfect Strangers" with Nicole Kidman and Melissa Mccarthy. We're enjoying it - and that may be because entertainment options on the Tv are pretty limited!

Today was a beach day and another Beach BBQ. Adrian got to experience his first wet landing form this cruise line - similar to our Arctic zodiac landings only much warmer water and no need for boots. One of the best things about these small ships is that we can venture onto beaches and islands larger boats can't and of course can also swim off the back of the boat. The ship goes to so much effort for their Beach BBQ experience, transporting everything from food, drinks, towels and so on from the ship to shore so that we're not missing anything. We had a great time - except for the stinging plankton also known as sea lice. We noticed them in the water before but today they were out in full force. You couldn't see them but you sure could feel their sting. I finally had to give up the water and we came back to the ship and decided to walk the deck to get some exercise, it was a great day for our deck walk, most folks were ashore so the ship wasn't too busy and it was mostly cloudy with a bit of breeze. We managed 16 times around the ship or 2 miles. 
Tonight we had our last meal in Candles - the deck dining opportunity onboard. Tomorrow is our first port in Costa Rica.

Our final sea day was today. We had a wonderful lazy day. At 5 pm we were invited to our second reception (one each leg) for repeat Windstar passengers. I was surprised to be recognized for my 4 Star Yacht Club status and 252 days onboard Windstar ships (at the end of this cruise). Lots of fun and we of course made good use of the free drinks on offer. 

Lazy day today. We were anchored in Balboa and while we could have take a bus into Panama City we decided just to visit the port terminal and the duty free. Found some great deals on wine and Adrian bought a new shirt. Tonight was our second Captain's welcome party and we once again got our money's worth of free drinks. This time we managed a picture - not great - but a picture none the less of the crew introductions. Tomorrow we're as we make our way to Costa Rica.