Lesson number one.....save, save, save!
So, what was I saying five hours ago...……that's right, how was life aboard a not so huge cruise ship full mostly of US retirees. Wonderful, some of the most sincere, interesting and positive people you could share travels with. We really enjoyed it. We were the novelty though, there was only two other kids under 18, one was a baby and the other a kiwi boy Molly's age travelling with his grandparents. And other 20 somethings like Shelley - just a few, chaperoning their elderly relatives. And people of similar age to Julia and I - nope. The great thing was, the young and young at heart met nightly in the top floor disco and it was a pretty good crew, maybe 20 folks but a lot of fun.
So day to day, the girls did the pool / games thing, I enjoyed a routine of morning gym and then good coffee with good books in the nice downstairs cafes / library.
Ecuador - there were two stops, I stayed aboard for the second and the girls went to the markets I think. We were in a busy fishing port so plenty to see from on board. The first port visit was interesting, lots of lizards in town, like lots - Iguanas I think. Also turtles and Catholic Churches. I am pretty sure it was their biggest city, Guayaquil but until I get off my arse and pull some other reference material, we are going to cuff this with my memory.
Stop two was Manta, again, I am pretty sure. It looks from satellite like the port area I stayed in to watch the fishing boats unload and saw whales out past the breakwater. The girls went ashore, shopped, returned.