For our 50th wedding anniversary we decided to celebrate by taking a cruise through the Panama Canal (actually, this was the third and last of our celebrations; more about the others in a later posting). An added bonus was the happy circumstance that one of Amelia's long-time (back at least to high school) friends, Joan, and her husband Larry, also wanted to take a Panama Canal cruise. Some months of planning ensued. On January 4 we flew to Los Angeles and stayed overnight in a hotel in San Pedro (blocks from the cruise terminal).
January 5
About noon the we caught the shuttle to the cruise terminal, where Amelia and I waited patiently for our time to board the Island Princess. We had time to ponder our cruise route and itinerary. Finally we were aboard and checking out our cabin (it was quite satisfactory). After a quick lunch in the buffet we met Joan and Larry on the forward Sun deck. Later in the afternoon a guide boat came longside to herd us out of the harbor. We were on our way!
January 6, 7
We had two days at sea and we used it to relax, attend some lectures, figure our way around the ship, try to decide what tours we might like, and visit with Joan and Larry. Well, in addition, I had not finished David McCollough's The Path Between the Seas, and what's more, I forgot to bring it along. Fortunately, Larry had brought his copy, which I borrowed and worked on finishing the last 75-100 pages (it is over 600 pages, plus Acknowledgments, Notes, Sources, and Index). A fantastic book about a fantastic project.
January 8
Today we anchored in the Bahia San Lucas, Mexico. We opted to not go ashore, but Joan and Larry walked in (after a tender ride to the dock) and reported they had a nice walk, but they didn't find too much of interest. Cabo San Lucas is pretty well developed as a resort community, also seen here. There was lots of fun being had, boating, parasailing (or whatever it's called when towed behind a boat), and sailing, As we were leaving bay, we saw whales.
January 9, 10, 11
We then had three days at sea. Lot of visiting, reading, and attending lectures. Probably saw a show or two. One enjoyable get-together was for aviators. I took the liberty of attending and heard some interesting stories by various attendees. We had some beautiful sunsets and I'm pretty convinced I saw at least one "green flash" (not so much a flash as just quick green line) as the sun dipped beneath the (water) horizon. We also saw turtles, and frigate birds. I also saw this "line" in the ocean. Here is a sequence of eight shots in order, (look left to right, top to bottom) leading up to (and including) the picture above. These pictures were taken at various angles from the ship, so while the line was actually pretty straight looking, it doesn't necessarily come out that way in the sequence. I'm pretty sure this was the boundary of an ocean current some 400 miles west-northwest of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Speaking of lectures, here's a shot of Larry in the theater awaiting a lecture. Oh yes, most importantly I rediscoverred how good the hard rolls served on the Princess ships are, and rapidly starting working my way toward the (more or less) 50 of them that I ate while on the cruise. Also long the "let's eat" line of thought were the occasional "British Pub" luncheons in the (would you believe) the Bayou Cafe.
January 12
We anchored off San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua early in the morning. Larry and I had signed up for the tour to Mombacho Volcano (quiescent), and Amelia and Joan for the tour to the Masaya market and views of the (live) Masaya Volcano. Along the way to the volcano, we saw quite a few wind turbines. There were lots of flowering plants. Part way up the volcano we needed to switch to an all wheel drive truck (I was glad we never had to put on the spare tire). During the ensuing rest stop we were able to see something about growing coffee in Nicaragua. Larry paid rapt attention to the discussion. There was a short presentation about the volcano and they had this model of it. We hiked up to and around (I think), the lower right hand caldera. Here is a line of tourists, here we are filing into a chasm in the rock. Here's one of the happy hikers. And again (I get so few chances to get shots of myself in, I couldn't resist). And, another happy hiker. What was that I said about hardly ever getting my picture in these stories? This is supposed to be the largest orchid (well, the species, maybe not this particular instance). Yes, it was raining part of the time, but not a lot. More pretty blossums. Then we came to an overlook of Lake Nicaragua and Grenada, a bit hazy off in the distance. More flowers. Oops, there he is again (guess I had a worthwhile partner on this tour). Speaking of the partner, here's a windblown shot of him. Fungus on the wooden pathway. Pretty berries and bromelieds. Back down on the highway, we saw some of the local transportation. Then, it was on to Granada where we had a brief tour, seeing the Palacio Municipal, a mismatched pair of carriage horses, and a restaurant where we had lunch and enjoyed the local cerveza Victoria. On the way back, the tour guide explained that there are no railroads in Nicaragua because the engines were all sold (maybe, except this one) during the insurgency in order to buy AK-47s. On the way back to the ship we got a view of the Masaya Volcano. Having a keen (tourist oriented) eye, the bus driver stopped so we could see some howler monkeys.
January 13
We had a quick overnight trip to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Amelia and I opted to take a rainforest hike followed by a ride on the tram up the mountain. We could have ridden a zip line, but didn't. Larry and Joan went on the coffee plantation tour. But I get ahead of myself. As we got off the ship I took this shot of our balcony, (lowest level and midway between the two lookout ports on the promenade deck just below). There were some people on the beach as we rode the bus in on the pier. Along the way we went over a bridge and saw that the crocodiles had eaten all of the bus that went over side, except for a couple tires (just joking). The bus driver stopped so we could get a look at this Macaw. When we got started on the walking tour we saw lots of flowering plants and this iguana (poisonous, to some extent, but slow). Here is a sequence of flowering plants:
A bit further on was a display of snakes in Costa Rica. All in all, they have 23 different poisonous snakes, including one of the most venomous, the Fer de lance, Then it on to the tram, where we went up the side of the mountain. Here's a selfie of the happy trammers . It is in a rainforest, and while we had little rain, the waterfalls were running. Here's a shot back and across the valley. Now we are on the way back down looking at another "car" coming up. For the engineers among us, a shot of part of the mechanism. After a buffet lunch we headed back,this time finding a pair of Macaws. Back in Puntarenas, I took a few shots. Here's bougainvillea, a local delivery vehicle, some wooden natives guarding the Bar Imperial. One thing we had hoped to see were butterflies, but we didn't see many, and none close enough to get a picture. On the way out from the Puntarenas harbor, I looked out at the balcony, and there was a butterfly. I took a few pictures of it, then it flew in the sliding glass door and landed on the curtain and posed for pictures. Then we tried to shoo it out of the cabin, but it liked us. Finally, we got it to go out.January 14
Another day at sea. More relaxing and going to lectures and partaking in other activities. We pretty much ignored the movies (pretty much like at home), although they did have some good ones on both closed circuit TV, in the theater, and on the open air Lido Deck. Sometime along the way, probably before now, we discovered that the Rhapsody Trio played often from 5:00 until 8:30 in the Atrium, playing a variety of music during the cocktail hour(s) (well, some of those hours, anyway). Here's a video clip that does not do justice to them.
January 15
This was the big day, and we were up early with room service delivery of
coffee, croissants, and juice. Coffee tended to be luke-cold, although Joan
and Larry re-ordered their's and got hot coffee then. Be that as it may,
around 6:30am local time we were approaching the
for Bridge of the Americas,
and looking back we could see the
for Balboa Yacht Club boats.
As we got closer to the bridge, we saw the morning rush hour traffic and
for the flag of Panama
on a nearby Sosa Hill. A little later we are into the canal and can look
for back at the bridge.
A little further along are the docks and unloading
for cranes of Panama City.
We are soon joined by a
sheparding boat. It
is just sunrise for us
at about 6:50am. The
Frigate birds are out and
about. The
for LDS Temple is on the
south bank. By 7:10am we are approaching the first of the
Miraflores locks. A large
container ship is just entering the left side lock ahead of us. On the south
(well, it seems like south, but actually it is on the northeast; anyway, nearest
the Columbia)
side of the present locks a new set of larger locks are being constructed, and
some of the construction
equipment can be seen. We will be going into the right side lock, in which
the water level is still being lowered and the
gates are still closed.
Ahead of us we can see the ship that preceded us as well as the
Centennial Bridge.
As we slide into the lock, the
"donkey" awaits our arrival
so it can guide us (not pull us) through the lock. Looking over the edge one
can see there is about one foot between the
side of the lock and the
ship. The large container ship having moved to the next lock on the
left side, water is being
drained to lower the level for the next ship. There were a couple of
resting Pelicans and
an Egret along the way. Here's another shot, taken from our balcony,
of the close fit in the
lock, as well as the "donkey". On the other side, the container ship has been
lifted through both locks and we can see the
gates holding back the
water. Now we approach the building (control center, I presume) for
the Miraflores locks.
We also can get a good view of the second of the Miraflores locks on the
left side, the container
ship having moved out. Note the secondary gates for safety and possible use
in case the primary gate fails. As we proceed we can look back and see the
water being drained from the
second lock on the left
side. Then we are on to
Lake Miraflores, following
the conainer ship, which is going into the third lock (separated from the
first two by Lake Miraflores). As we enter the third lock, we again see
the tight fit and the
"donkeys". Well yes,
a tight fit. Just going in,
980 feet to the end of
the lock. A good shot of the
flag of Panama. We're
kind of getting there, only
250 feet to go. The three
locks have raised us about 85 feet, depending on the tide. Finally,
here we are in the
Culebra Cut about 4 hours
after approaching the Bridge of the Americas. The Culebra Cut was one of the
most challenging parts of building the canal. It was continually over-estimated
how steep the sides of the cut could be. There was a slide that partially
blocked the channel a few years ago, and you can see from the activity on
the side of the cut, and from this
dredging that the land
is not giving up easily. An hour later we are
emerging from the cut
where the water is quite silty looking and 40 minutes after that we are in
Gatun Lake, where the
water and the Lake are
quite beautiful. Oh, there's that container ship again. The excitement being
over for a while, Amelia takes time out for some
relaxation. The view
is very pleasant with a few ships in
view, some at
anchor for a day or
two, during which time the
barnacles drop off, unable
to tolerate fresh water. Must be a lot of barnacle shells on the lake floor.
About 1:30pm we approach the
Gatun locks, this time
going to the left while the container ship goes to the right. Getting the
guide ropes to the "donkey" is a
low tech job. Here the
container ship has exited
the first lock and water is refilling the lock
while the next lock is being drained to lower the ship. Following that ship
is the Sinochart Beijing.
Now the lock is nearly filled
and the gates will open to allow the Sinochart Beijing to enter. As it does,
some of the sailors onboard are
taking pictures of us
while we are taking pictures of them.
Here they
January 16
Overnight we cruised to Cartagena, where we took a combination tour/self guided
walk to the old town area. Getting off the ship there was the usual "kodak
moment" available, and I snapped a picture without getting in it myself, of
what appeared to be one of the
occupations available.
On the bus ride to town we saw the
old fort on the hill,
with the flag flying.
Here's a statue of a South American hero,
Simon Bolivar. All of
the churches (this one in the background)
face west. One could take
a buggy ride past a
statue of Simon Bolivar,
mounted this time.
Larry and Joan took a
different tour, but we ran into them here. We then went to the Museo del Oro
Zenu to see a display of
gold artwork by South
American natives, some of it
quite intricate. There
was also a small display about how they lived, including this interesting
picture of their
farming and irrigation
methods. When we left port in the early afternoon we saw this view of
modern Cartagena, then
further along the coast.
January 17
The next day we arrived in Oranjestad, Aruba around 1:00pm. Along the way we
saw this Gannett ligntening
his load. In Oranjestad Joan, Larry, Amelia, and I decided to just take a
walk to the city, a hike of a couple hundred meters. We did some shopping
(well, Amelia did some shopping). After all of that physical exertion, we
decide to check out the local
beverages and found them
satisfactory. We then took a ride on the trolley, seeing
shops, among them the
Best of Aruba (think so?).
January 18, 19
The next two days we were at sea. The streaks in the water in this picture
are flying fish. That
night was our final formal dinner, so we sort of dressed up. Here are
Joan and Larry enjoying
the Rhapsody Trio, and
we are
too. The cruise path
during these two days took us through the passage between Haiti and Cuba,
then northwest off the coast of Cuba toward Florida.
January 20
We arrived in Port Everglades Harbor bright and early this morning. Since we
were not taking a flight, we were given a late department time (11:00) from the
ship, so I have time to take a picture or two. Here is the
Celebrity Constellation
docked nearby. Some pretty nice
yachts across the way.
And an interesting trimaran,
I'm guessing a tour boat of some kind. Here is another
cruise ship in the harbor,
but I'm unable to figure out which line. Eventually we disembarked and got a
shuttle to Ft. Lauderdale airport where we picked up a car (after we figured
out how to pick our way through the airport).
January 20, 21, 22, 23
We made our way to Pembroke Pines to
Elise's condo. Later
Jack and Dawn came by (fortunately, since Jack had to travel the next few
days). One day we went over to Dawn's new house to visit with her. She
has two poodles, but I only got a good picture of
one. One day we went to
the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of
Science and Discovery. The 22nd was
Dawn's birthday, so
we went out to dinner with Dawn,
Elise, and Alexa, Britt, and Emory (EM). Here's
Alexa and Em. And
Alexa and
Britt and Em.
On the 23rd we flew back to Tucson and were soon at home in Green Valley.
Afterword
This was a great trip from several perspectives. The canal transit is awe
inspiring. What a tremendous undertaking it was to build it. Having Joan and Larry on
the same excursion was a wonderful chance to touch base with them on a more
extended basis than we've had for 50 years or so. Maybe we can do it again
soon. We met some wonderful folks on the cruise and hope to get back together
with some of them again.
Then there is a short bit about food presentation. I've been accused of not paying
enough attention to presentation of food and not taking
enough pictures of such (I haven't been accused of not paying
enough attention to eating it). Not for everyone, but here's a few shots of food.