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| Tom captured this Sierra Birdbum after being stunned from hitting the window, dropping to the top landing steps leading to the ground level. He called out to me to come to see her, which I did, but he stayed in place, taking photos of her eventual recovery. |
“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”
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| This appears to be a Tropical Kingbird spotted sitting on the roof above the veranda near the master bath. |
Last night, as Tom often does, he replaced one of the batteries we have for the camera charging in the plug-in charger. The camera only requires one battery at a time, but we have four to ensure we never run out of juice when taking photos almost every day.
When he removed the battery from the charger, inserting another for a charge before we depart in three days, he noticed something was wrong with the charger. The charging light wouldn’t stay on even when he tried multiple outlets.
Inserting the batteries into the camera, we noticed the recent replacement wasn’t fully charged. Gosh, we’re dependent upon our equipment! Immediately, we pulled out all of the possible cables we had, searching for one that was a USB.
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| It was quite a while before she began to regain awareness. |
What a dilemma! With the thought in mind that we’d purchased the camera in New Zealand in 2016, the adapters and plug-ins were not suitable for our universal adapter set up for US plugs to accommodate outlets worldwide. But, it wasn’t ideal for New Zealand plugs to accommodate worldwide outlets.
After monkeying around with every possibility, for which both of us are pretty adept, we were left with only one alternative…order a new charger from Amazon with two-day delivery, having it sent to our hotel in Florida where we’ll be on Wednesday for a total of only 18 hours. Tricky.
Hopefully, Amazon’s usual trusty delivery dates will be as accurate as they’ve been for us in the past, and the charger will arrive on time. It’s scheduled to arrive on Tuesday (two days before the US holiday Thanksgiving) when the hotel will hold it until we reach the following day, Thanksgiving Eve.
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| Finally, she began checking out her surroundings. |
If we hadn’t had enough time to order and receive this essential item and, with stores all closed in Florida for a holiday, we’d have found ourselves aboard the ship, unable to recharge the camera. It was a case of “safari luck” that happened last night, allowing sufficient time to receive a replacement.
Cruise ships generally have a camera shop but carry few accessories other than those for the expensive cameras they sell. If we couldn’t receive a replacement charger, we may have had no choice but to purchase another camera from the ship. (We plan to buy another camera before the Antarctica cruise anyway but prefer to have more options than what’s usually available on the boat).
We’d planned to look for another camera in Buenos Aires, certainly a big enough city to accommodate our needs. We weren’t disappointed with the current camera we’d purchased in New Zealand, never anticipating this issue when we thought we had all the adapters we needed.
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| We both waited patiently until finally, only seconds after taking this photo, she was able to fly off. Whew! |
Oh, the trials and tribulations of world travel never cease to amaze us! It’s not uncommon for us to be searching for a variety of products when we don’t have access to the well-supplied stores in the USA with vast options for brands and specifications.
Online purchases, although handy, require exorbitant shipping fees to most locations outside the USA with customs checks and subsequent tariffs and fees. Many US-based online suppliers don’t ship outside the US. In Costa Rica, many items cannot be sent into the country or are not worth the added expenses. (See this link for details on importing items to Costa Rica).
Often, we pay more for necessary supplies, such as the added cost of US $450 (CRC 255,277) for shipping and insuring the heavy box of cold weather clothing and supplies to Florida from Nevada. It’s the “nature of the beast” that we accepted a long time ago and is always considered when planning our budget.
Today is another gorgeous sunny day which we’ll enjoy poolside. The pool is heated using solar panels and is pleasantly warm on sunny days and icy cold. Tom decided to wait until later in the day to watch the Minnesota Vikings Football game on NFL GamePass since he doesn’t want to miss the prime sunshine while we “play” in the pool.
Have a delightful Sunday watching your favorite sports team!
Photo from one year ago today, November 19, 2016:
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| There was a “future cruises” presentation in the Centrum. For more details, please click here. |