Sunday, April 24th, 2005- La Guaira, Venezuela

Today I went on the Mount Avila hike. Our first stop was the Sabas Nieves Trail that has an altitude of 1,300 meters. Due to the fact that it was Sunday, the trail was crowded with people trying to get exercise. We then drove to the cable car station at Mariperez and took a cable car to the top at 2,150 meters in altitude. The ride up was quite scary because it was so high. When we reached the top I was surprised to find a five-star hotel on top along with an ice rink, shops, and vendors. It was especially surprising because the only real way to get up the mountain was by way of the cable car.

We then returned back to the ship and I decided to walk around by the ship to see if there was anything around. There was absolutely nothing.

For dinner I ended up going to the only restaurant in the area called Restaurant Avila and arrived just in time before all the other SAS people showed up. By the time we left the place was filled to capacity with SAS people.

In the evening I decided to just sit out by the back deck and write in my journal.

- We had a water conservation emergency. Due to the fact that a pipe broke in La Guaira, we couldn’t get anymore water to the ship and we had run down on our reserves. No one could take showers or use water for any reason unless it was emergency. We did make it and left with a little bit of water. It takes 10-15 hours to clean and replenish the ocean water for ship use.

- The film Our Finest Hour, that Ari made on the ship was shown.