Panama Canal Day 8

Today we arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I was up bright and early as I had a tour booked, an 8 hour one called “Discover Costa Rica”. We were transported by bus to a town many miles away from port. We visited the town’s square and spotted a sloth way up high in the trees. There was also an iguana watching the tourists going by. Across from the park, we stopped to view the outside and inside of a large church.

Our next stop was at the Doka Coffee Plantation. It is a large property and workers are housed in nearby homes. We had lunch there first, then went to learn about the methods used to grow the coffee, harvest the beans, and process them. I was quite surprised at what goes into the making of coffee. Now I understand the term, ‘fair trade coffee’ and what makes it so expensive.

Our final stop of the tour was at an orchid farm.

They had some colourful parrots on display, as well as a multitude of amazing and wonderful trees, plants and flowers. They had areas of bamboo, my favourite! Their height was incredible, as was the diameter of each shoot. It was not the same type as I had seen in Maui. Rather, it was ‘Giant Bamboo’ from Burma with the capacity to grow 20 centimeters in height per week. Bamboo is actually a giant grass and has the ability to absorb more carbon dioxide and release more oxygen than any other plant on earth.

The weather today was a surprise - overcast and warm but not overly humid. Everywhere in Costa Rica it is lush and green. We went to almost 4500 feet above sea level. Costa Rica has mountains and active volcanoes, and it is also earthquake country with daily tremors (which we did not experience thankfully).

It was a long day and I did not realize how far we would travel. We got back to the dock just in time to buy a few postcards and shoot some wonderful sunset pictures. The beach was dotted with kids and families running in and out of the water and it made for some great photos, composition-wise.

I grabbed a quick supper upstairs and went to the excellent evening entertainment – “The Second City” comedy and improve – a great way to end the day.

Panama Canal Day 7

Got a good rest last night with the time change and woke up early on my own.

There were lots of interesting activities onboard this morning. First came a card-making class, then a great Zumba class. It’s only half an hour but I get pretty warm. At 11 AM they had the ‘unveiling’ of the emerald jewelry and a free draw which you had to be present for in order to win. Then I attended a Q & A session on the running of the ship which was very interesting.

I met my roommate and we went to the fancy dining room for a change to have our lunch. There is no specific dress code at noon so we were good the way we were. We shared a table with others and came away with some great travel tips.

I attended a short session on our next port of call, Puntarenas, then visited the library to look up info on some of the other ports we will be visiting. After that, I returned to the room to type and hang out.

While Dawn and I were writing, typing and visiting, there was a knock at the door. Thinking it was Merv and Darlene, I jokingly asked what the password was. A staff member said, “Chocolate covered strawberries?” Another plate had appeared together with a bottle of Chilean chardonnay! I looked at the card which read “Compliments from Guest Services”! We tried to refuse them, saying we hadn’t ordered them and explained yesterday’s mistake. But he insisted there was no mistake, so how could we argue? We had a good laugh again and enjoyed the delicious combination of flavours.

Panama Canal Day 6

Panama Canal Day! It was only 80 kilometers, but what a day!

Despite having a short amount of sleep, I was up at 6:45 AM! Our ship is sized exactly the largest that it could be to get through the canal. Clearance on either side is just 2 feet. Before we headed through, crew came aboard to assist with the transit. In fact the captain’s job is also taken over.

At the bow, prime viewing spots were already taken by early birds. But I finally discovered a decent one and camped out there for transit of the first locks. The locks on the Pacific Ocean side are called the Gatun Locks, named for the townsite where it was built.

At first was hard to figure out what all the equipment was for and how it was actually working. But then I literally got down on my hands and knees and shot blind through a hole near my feet.

There are 3 locks at Gatun. The first one lifts the ship 27 feet, the second also 27 feet, and the final one is 31 foot lift for a total of 85 feet. The water that raises and lowers the ships comes by gravity from Gatun Lake.

Throughout the day, the humidity and heat were oppressive. As I travelled around the ship, my camera lens would cool in the air conditioned places then fog up as soon as I went outside. I frequently replenished my fluids as I knew how easily I could get heat stroke.

The narrowest part of the Canal is the Culebra Cut, excavated through rock and limestone through the Continental Divide. The land on either side of us was cut like steps or terraces.

To return to sea level at the Pacific Ocean, it was necessary to go down the 85 feet again. This was accomplished through another 3 locks. The first descent was through the Pedro Miguel Lock, which took almost an hour to clear. Then after a brief time on the Miraflores Lake, we entered the final locks, the double Miraflores Lock.

We then reached Panama City, with a skyline dominated by many skyscrapers. After passing underneath the Bridge of the Americas we arrived at the Bay of Panama and the Pacific Ocean in 9 hours.

After being on my feet for much of the day, I came back to put them up for a much needed rest and also to cool off in the comfort of my new room. We shot the sunset at 5:59 PM, then grabbed supper in the buffet rather than go to a formal dining room. There was a mediocre ventriloquist in the Stardust Theater and I left early.

When I got back to the room, there was a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries on the table. I was delighted and sampled one while waiting for Dawn to return. When she did, she read the card of explanation. They had been delivered to our room in error - I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears! We had a good laugh about it (Dawn laughed harder I’m sure!) She went to the guest services to explain what had happened and they told her to enjoy them. So we did indeed, but wondered who was missing their delicious treat.

Tonight we change time zones and get an extra hour of sleep – yeah!

Panama Canal Day 5

Today we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia (pronounced Carta-hay-na). I’ve been waiting since September to do an awesome jewelry making tour here! Emeralds are found in many places in the world but Columbia produces some of the finest in terms of color and clarity.

Cartagena is a city of almost one million people, settled in the early 1500’s. The ‘old city’ is walled and gun ramparts are still in place. The newer part is filled with tall office buildings and apartments. Our guide told us it is one of the most expensive places to rent or buy in South America.

Our tour began at the Caribbean School of Jewelry where we were met by our instructors. They are students themselves, learning the trade of jewelry design and manufacture. There were about 15 of us in the group and we each had an instructor to ourselves! My teacher was a lovely young lady named Wendy and she was 19.

Her English was as good as my Spanish so we didn’t converse as much as I would like to have. She guided me through the making of a pendant, earrings, a bracelet, then a ring. Although I had some previous jewelry experience, I was no match for Wendy’s expertise and she fixed a few of my boo-boos. We were also shown how the silver is melted down, then flattened, and finally made into strands of the thin wire we were using. It took about 2 hours to complete our projects. Our emerald jewelry was made from less valuable student grade stones, but I learned a lot of techniques and it was a worthwhile experience.

On the way to our stop, we had a tour of the city and saw the old walls, magnificent churches, beautiful old buildings and crowded beaches. Some places were decorated a bit for Christmas and we even saw Santa Clauses.

The next stop on our tour was to an Emerald Museum where we saw what emeralds look like after coming out of the mines. They had displays of emeralds from various countries in the world to illustrate the superiority of the Columbian stones. Of course there was a gift store connected with the museum and they had many gorgeous pieces.

After being dropped off back at the ship, I went over to the cruise ship port shopping area for a few souvenirs of Columbia. The heat and humidity were unbelievable and I realized how lucky we were to have had air conditioning for most of our morning.

The ship left Cartagena at 3 PM. I grabbed a quick bite to eat then watched a film presentation on the making of the Panama Canal. I had read about the history of the canal before the trip and appreciated the visual information on this massive undertaking.

Supper, emails, writing and walking around the ship completed my great day.

Or so I thought....

I had been hiding out in a quiet nook upstairs to avoid the noisy cabin of ours. When I returned to the room, Dawn told me the front desk had called with news of a new cabin for us to look at and move to if we were interested. I was! We hurriedly packed, got moved, and unpacked. The room is on the 8^th floor instead of the 4^th, it is slightly wider, and we have a nice window. But best of all, no loud whooshing noises and no loud ship’s motor noises. Yee haw!

Panama Canal Day 3 & 4

Monday, December 9th

With nothing pressing on my agenda today, I decided to get up when I woke up. After I opened the curtain, I began to laugh and laugh which caused my roommate to wonder about me. When she saw what the source of my merriment was, she joined me. Our cabin is located on the lowest floor (4^th) at the very front of the ship. The seas are quite rough and every so often, the ocean splashes up into our porthole window, swirls around like a front-load washing machine, and completely obliterates the light for a few seconds. It is literally black in the room. It is quite a sight really!

I went up to the buffet for breakfast on my own then came back to the room to grab my new laptop. I had purchased a data plan in order to post my blog while I am away. In case of problems, I went to the internet cafe to log on and also downloaded some programs I had brought with me. Then I ran into my cuz and we played a game of Chinese checkers while waiting for the agreed upon time to meet for lunch.

The cafeteria food here on the ship is not bad at all. There is an incredible variety so if you can’t find something you like, you are pretty hard to please. After lunch we headed down for merengue dance lessons. It was lots of fun, easy to do, and we worked up quite a sweat. The ship really began to rock so it was a challenge to dance gracefully

.

Back in my room I began to feel tired and queasy so I took a Gravol and had a great nap while the boat rocked away. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat. Oh what a life I lead whilst on a cruise ship. We dressed for supper in order to go to the Versailles Restaurant: an egg roll, kung pao chicken and jasmine rice. Life is good!

Tuesday, December 10th

The boat was really rocking last night! And oh what sounds the water makes against the side of the ship. Looking out of the porthole, the ocean seems tremendously rough from the point of view of the 4^th deck. It’s very hard to describe, but it sounds like someone rolling a huge heavy roller back and forth on the outside of the ship with the occasional loud thumping noise.

Each night we get a program of the next day’s activities and we had pre-planned what to do. No sleeping in today! After brekie, we headed over to a presentation on Columbian emeralds. We aren’t planning on any expensive purchases but were interested in them for interest’s sake. Right after that, I booted it to the opposite end of the ship for a Zumba class already in progress. It was quite crowded and hard to see the instructor but I just followed someone in front of me. I enjoyed myself and burned a few calories off I hope. There had been a vegetable carving demonstration in the main foyer going on at the same time and I took some photos of the results.

Lunch was a light bite as we had supper reservations at a special restaurant. In the afternoon we attended a champagne art auction. Few paintings were to my liking and I was amazed at the crowd of people and the prices the artwork brought. There was a talk on Cartagena, our next port of call then I headed back to the room for a quick nap.

Our supper was in a Japanese restaurant called the Teppanyaki. The chef artfully prepared our food on a large grill in front of us and explained what he was doing each step of the way. First off, we had miso soup and seaweed salad. For the main course I choose sea scallops and jumbo shrimp served with jasmine rice and green onions, egg and garlic.  Dessert was fresh fruit sashimi. All in all it was a delicious, interesting experience.

Our evening ended with a comedian, a great way to end the day!

Panama Canal Day 2

It was another sunny day in beautiful Florida. After brekie, we packed up, checked out, and headed back to the Everglades to hunt for alligators.

The logical place to do so was the Anhinga Trail just inside the park gates. We saw quite a few birds and photographed some of those but what we really wanted to see were GATORS! With higher water levels than last January, they have more choice of where to hang out in the park. During the dry season, the Anhinga Trail tends to stay wetter than other areas so that’s why that trail is considered to be a prime viewing area.

Fortunately, we ran into someone who had just seen a couple of gators so we bustled on over before they disappeared and we lost our chance. One guy was lounging in the water and the other was lying right beside the path - a boardwalk above the water level. Much of that animal was in the dark shade while some of him was in the bright sun. Photographically speaking, this makes for a lousy photo but we didn’t care. We saw what we came to see!

The morning was zooming along and we had miles to make so we left the park, satisfied with our Everglades expedition. We plugged in the GPS and headed to the airport. But along the way, we made a quick stop at the Fruit and Spice Park, an attraction Dawn had read about. We wanted to check out their gift shop. It was rather unremarkable so we continued on. Traffic was much busier than when we came in, of course. After driving on roads with lots of stops and limits of 45 mph we finally reached the freeway, a toll highway. Unfortunately, due to much road construction and the GPS not giving us enough warning when to turn, we zoomed past our turn-off. The rental car needed filling and at the gas station, we got good directions to the airport.

We were later than we wanted to be but not late enough to be in trouble. Returning the car went very smoothly and we connected with my cousins from Saskatchewan. The shuttle took us to the Port of Miami where we checked in and boarded our Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, the Norwegian Star.

We found our rooms, dropped off our carry-ons, then went to explore the ship. We hadn’t had lunch so we grabbed a quick bite before attending the mandatory safety drill. By that time our luggage had arrived and we began to unpack but soon realized the ship was underway. We headed out to take a few pics and see the sunset. 

Supper was at the Aqua Restaurant: steak, potatoes and the delicious wild mushroom quesadillas we remembered from the last cruise. There was chocolate on the dessert menu so that was the only choice, naturally. Enroute back to our rooms, we stopped to watch the last part of a Welcome Show at the Stardust Theater, then back to our rooms to call it a day!

Panama Canal Day 1

The alarm got us up after only 6 hours. We didn't want to miss any of the day sleeping in. Breakfast was a passable hotel offering including make-it-yourself waffles. 

We then headed to the Everglades National Park and stopped at the Visitor Center for maps and information. After paying the $10 entry fee we headed along the main road hoping to see a 'gator jam' - people stopped by the side of the road who have spotted alligators. 

We decided to head to the end of the road then make our stops on the way back. As it was a 38 mile drive we stopped halfway at Mahogany Hammock Trail - an area with trees that were hundreds of years old. 

At the end of the main road is the Flamingo Visitor Center. After a brief tour we went over to the Marina where there were two osprey in a nest. Several photographers were enjoying the view and we joined the group viewing the spectacle. Also nearby was an American crocodile.

They prefer the salt water areas while alligators like the fresh water area more. We learned this fact during the 'Croc Talk' given by one of the park rangers. After a bite of our lunch from Subway, we explored the area a little more then began to head back along the trail. 

The weather by the way, is hot, humid and almost unbearable without air conditioning. The temperature got to around 28 C. After leaving -33 C yesterday you wouldn't think we should complain! But the humidity is the killer. 

And then, and THEN, we stopped at a photogenic little spot called Coot Bay Pond where we were devoured by mosquitoes! Although we really wanted to take more photos, we couldn't bear the swarming of the bloody-thirsty insects.  I can't remember when I was bitten so many times on such a short period. The next few stops were almost as bad. Dawn had some mosquito repellent along and it helped a bit but it did not contain DEET. 

A more pleasant spot was the Pa-hay-okee Overlook with a view of the Shark River Slough on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. A beautiful Anhinga bird posed nicely for us. 

We had seen no gators as of yet but were sure the Anhinga Trail would be a sure thing. When we were here last January it was amazing! Well this time we were surprised to see only birds. The water levels seemed to be higher than they were during our last visit. At least the temperatures finally dropped to a more pleasant range. The sun set around 5:30 PM and we headed back to our vehicle shortly after. There isn't much twilight at this latitude. 

After a hot busy day we were more than ready for a stop at a famous fruit stand called 'Robert is Here'. It is now a thriving popular tourist destination which was started by a young 6 year old Robert. He began his business selling cucumbers by the side of the road and  bit by bit developed the business into the success it is today. We had milkshakes, mine - key lime and Dawn's - black sapote - a delicious fruit tasting like chocolate pudding. We also bought a bunch of Apple bananas - sweet delicious mini bananas. 

We stopped at a Walmart for some necessities, grabbed a quick bite to eat and called it a day.