Feb 26, 2013 - Across The Isthmus

@@@@@@@ BACKGROUND To make my writing go a little easier, I have copied some excerpts from the History chapter of the Lonely Planet – Panamá: Panama’s future forever changed from the moment that the world’s major powers learned that the isthmus of Panama was the narrowest point between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1846 Colombia signed a treaty permitting the US to construct a railway across the isthmus, though it also granted them free transit and the right to protect the railway with military force. At the height of the California...

Dec 16, 2012 - First day at sea

Pacific Ocean Saturday 12/15/12 Cloudy, cloudy, cloudy. I’m on my way to the Equator and I’m freezing! The ship is kept very cold to freeze any and all germs and naughty viruses. I wish I was sitting with Ilene, my sister-in-law, wrapped in fleece. Today is our first, total day at sea. Roy is positive he has seen land – he would have been great working with Christopher Columbus. The lectures today were great; Charles Leavell on “Tropical Ecology”, Dr. Rocky Rohwedder “Ecotourism & Latin America”, William Webster the former Head of the CIA...

Dec 16, 2012 - Second Day at Sea

Sunday 12/16/12 “Man, Woman and Child” King Neptune visited the ship this morning! King Neptune is king of the deep, deep ocean and decides if we, the Polliwogs, should be allowed into his sea, the Pacific Ocean. We took an oath to stay true to the rules of his kingdom, some passengers were then anointed with ocean slime followed by a dip in the water, they were immediately accepted. Those of us who choose to bypass the slime and dip will have to prove ourselves daily. Later in the morning, as we passed through the equator, the ship’s...

Dec 15, 2012 - Panama Canal

Friday Dec. 14, 2012 Panama Canal The ship departed Colon last night around 8 pm. Our route took us back in the direction of Cartagena then out to sea. We then proceeded to zig zag throughout the night until it was our time to enter the Panama Canal. Apparently it is cheaper to burn diesel fossil fuel than it is to pay a docking fee At 6 am this morning we were aroused from our beds by a very loud “all call” from the ship’s deck informing us we were approaching the Panama Canal. We knew in advance it would be an early call…but it was...

Dec 13, 2012 - Colon

12/13 in Colon Panama Using the iPad & free wifi, so I won't take time to edit. Awoke to smooth seas and lots of ships in sights we neared Colon. Some sprinkles & a few brief downpours before 9:00 am.Sincecolon is not a safe city, we just hung around the ship ,but did get off to go though some duty-free shops here at the wharf. Very cute buildings. Played 'exican train dominoes for a bit on ship & started watching a movie "Sparkle" on the ship til I heard about the wifi lat the wharf. Need trove on the ship in 45 minutes & the...

Mar 15, 2012 - at Colon, Panama; 15/0

120315-We are actually about 45 minutes or 20 miles south of Colon at the Radison Summit Hotel. Today we rode the bus to Panama City and then took a boat up the canal, thru the Miraflores and San Migeul locks and thru the canal cut, to Lake Gatun and then rode the bus back to our hotel and went swimming. We just got back from dinner. The food has been great. Tomorrow we see Indians and go to a resort on the pacific.

Mar 14, 2012 - to Colon, Panama; 15/0

120314-Wed-Today we saw the Gatun locks and took a boat tour on Lake Gatun and saw crocodiles, turtles, many monkeys and a sloth plus many birds. We are staying at a Radison, in the rain forest. Nice rooms. Tomorrow we have to leave at 5:00am, changed to 7:30am, to take another boat thru the locks. Jack - You're having fun!

Mar 10, 2011 - San Blas Islands

Thursday, March 10, 2011 We were free to explore San Blas Island from about 7:30 AM until 2:00 PM on our own today. Tenders made trips back and forth every 30 minutes for anyone wishing to just walk around and/or shop. There are said to be about 365 islands and islets in this archipelago scattered in the turquoise sea. Some are mere sandbars, and deserted, but about 50 of them are home to around 45,000 Cuna Indians. Women wear elaborate traditional dress: mola blouses, skirts made of colorful printed fabrics, scarves, pearls, jeweled...

Mar 2, 2011 - Colon - Pics Need Captions

Got up to catch taxi to train by 7:15. We were told to get to train station one hour early so caught taxi just past 6! Well, it only took 10 minutes to arr and we found several others also waiting due to same info. They opened the doors to ticket sales at 6:30 and anticipating an economical trip (LP said tickets were $5), we were shocked to find the price was $22 one way ($44 round trip)! Unable to think what to do and being first in line - many others had tickets due to being on tours and filing in - we took the plunge and got round trip...

Feb 20, 2011 - La Guayra - Panama

February 19, 2011 On the 16th we took a rip to Colon and the Caribbean coast. It took one hour to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. The first stop was Colon. The bible reads, “Simply put, Panama’s most notorious city is a sprawling slum of decaying colonial grandeur and desperate existence.” Just before the city is the Zona Libre (Free Zone). This 482 hectare compound is the largest free trade zone in the Americas. I thought that this would be a good place to start. Normally you have to get permission from some sort of...

Jun 27, 2009 - Getting on Tropicbird

Well we were very excited to find out that we would be making our long awaited journey to Columbia by sailboat. But before we headed off to board the boat, there was one thing we had to do in Panama. Did you know they have this famous Canal? Cory and Elaine grabbed a taxi, and had him take us to the Panama Canal. How could we be in Panama and not see it? Well, time was short, and it was quite a whirlwind. We paid our entry fee, went to the dock, saw a boat entering the locks, took the obligatory photos and left. It was probably one of the...

Jan 24, 2009 - Good Morning from the Panama Canal

We woke up Bright and early today for our transit of the Panama Canal. At 6:30 am our ship stated to enter the first of the Gatun Locks. We were tethered to the "Mules" on the banks of the canal with steel cables which keep the ship centered in the canal and move it forward from lock to lock. It is a wonderful sight to see how it all works keeping in mind the Engineering involved and the fact that the canal opened for ship traffic in 1914. We had a large container ship in the canal to our side, and we were followed by two more cruise ships....