Day 9: Scenic Cruising Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

The calm sheltered waters of Golfo Dlce provide a panoramic view of the rugged coastline of southwestern Costa Rica.Golfo Dulce translates from the Spanish as “Sweet Gulf.” an apt name due to the abundance of rainwater and rivers flowing into the narrow inlet. Sparsely populated with small ports and villages, the area boasts only a few large towns. The largest, Golfito (population 35,000), is one of the most picturesque cities in the country. Heavy rainfall sustaining tropical rain-forest vegetation made Golfito from the 1930s until the 1980s primarily a banana port, belonging to the Banana Company of Costa Rica. Palm oil is now the major crop with the Golfito port, handling about one fifth of the Costa Rican sea borne trade. A roadway through the mountains connects this town to the great Pan American Highway. Costa Rica is one of the leading areas of conservation in Central America with more than 27% of the country protected in national parks and preserves. As we sail around the Golfo Dulce, we can view off teh east coast the Golfito National Wildlife Refuge, where a chain of mountains climb to 1,600ft (500m), then plunge abruptly into the sea, forming a jagged coastline of cliffs, tidal plains and estuaries.

Yesterday we traveled 45 nautical miles to get from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean. This saved us a voyage of 100,000 miles around Cape Horn. After we exited the Canal, we set sail for a day of scenic cruising in the Golfo Dulce. Today was a day of relaxation. We slept in, FINALLY! When we got up, we headed to an early lunch and relaxed around the pool. I finished another book on the Kindle. I really like this device and think paper books are no longer in my future.

Later in the day, they had an Indonesian BBQ on the Lido deck. The food was pretty good. We attended the team trivia as well as the afternoon tea. The evenings entertainment was a Farewell show with both Joel Mason and Rick Starr. It was a great show. Tonight’s dinner was another Formal night.

Today was basically, a low key relaxing day. Tomorrow

Day 8: Panama Canal

After departing from San Blas we headed towards the part of the voyage I have been looking forward to; The Panama Canal!  The alarm clock went off way too early 😉 I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed so I could see the approach to the first locks. Navigating through the Canal and the locks is a challenge because the Westerdam has the maximum allowable width and close to the maximum allowable length to transit the locks and the Canal. We expect to arrive at the entrance of the Canal at Puerto Cristobal in the early morning where we will board the Panama pilots and the line handlers before we head towards the first set of locks.

The Panama Canal was opened to commercial traffic August 15th 1914. Since that time, more than 900,000 vessels carrying more than 7 billion tons of cargo have passed through the waterway. Savings to shipping and ultimately to consumers are enormous, and entire trade areas and industries have been developed as a result of its opening. Though the basic design of the Canal remains the same as when it opened in 1914, there have been many physical improvements and new procedures instituted to keep pace with the growing demands of the world’s maritime traffic. The ongoing multi-million dollar project to widen Gaillard Cut will increase capacity by allowing the largest ships to pass in the area where the Canal was cut through the Continental Divide. The Canal was transferred to the Republic of Panama, on December 31st, 1999, and is being administered by a Panamanian government agency, the Panama Canal Authority.

I stepped out onto the cabin balcony and was greeted with the beautiful sight of the entrance to the northern entrance to the Panama Canal. Even though it was slightly humid, I could tell it was going to be a fantastically lovely day.

Arriving Panama Canal from the Atlantic Ocean

Many ships waiting to enter the locks

As we sailed into the locks we noticed a lot of ships anchored off shore. I read an article about how these ships are anchored waiting on their company to send the payments to the Panama Canal Authority before they are allowed to enter the locks. I figured it might be one or two ships, but we saw dozens just sitting waiting. I guess it is still cheaper to arrive and wait than to sail the extra month around South America.

View from the bow of the ship.

I wandered out of the cabin and followed the signs to the bow of the ship. They opened it up so that everyone could wander out and see the progress. The view from the bow is amazing. Your so close to everything as we passed, it felt we could reach out and touch it. As we sailed towards the first set of locks we passed a ship leaving.

A ship leaving the locks

Our sailing speed seems to be really slow. But I believe we are in a no wake zone and need to traverse at a slow enough speed. It made for a great sightseeing speed as nothing passed you by too quickly.  I think the speed also helps them to sequence the ships for continuous usage of the locks. The first set of locks, is the first of three sets. The Gatún Locks are a set of three locks that raises the ship up to the level of the lake.

Frenchman's cut.

As we neared the Gatún locks we passed the last remaining evidence of the French attempt at building the Canal. This is a stretch called the Frenchman’s Cut. It is significantly narrow than the working Canal. The cut is left as a reminder of what the French tried to do but failed. It really shows how this project was not thought of on a large enough scale and would never have been able to handle the amount of traffic that passes through the locks today.

The Gatún Locks in the distance

The mules at Gatún Locks

The beginning of the Gatún Locks

Once we got close to the Gatún Locks you could see the mules lines up on the side of the locks awaiting our arrival. Once we got close enough two dock workers boarded a row boat and ferried over two cables from the mules to the ship.

Bring the cables

Once the first set of cables were attached, the ship was ready to start entering the locks. As we passed each mule it would start up and pace the ship. Ahead of the ships the doors to the first locks had finished opening and we started to enter.

Entering the Locks

In the photo above, you can see the lock on the right filled with water after the ship has just departed it. This is a good reference photo that shows the different levels from the entrance to departing.

Entering the Locks

The cables were being attached on both sides of the ship now. While watching the mules I realized that they are used to keep the ships stabalized so they do not shift from side to side. Contrary to what a lot of people think, they are not there to pull the ship through the canals. The ships are under their own power. You can see below how tight the ship is, when it’s inside the lock. The ship is the widest ship that can pass through the locks. It is not quite the longest, but it comes pretty darn close. Once inside the lock, the doors are closed behind us and the lock starts to fill up with water.

The mule supervisor

We are snug as a bug in a rug

I thought you would be able to feel the ship rise or hear and see the water, but it happened slowly and quitely. If you stand and watch a fixed point on the dock/shore, you could tell the ship was slowly rising. It was actually more noticeable when there was a ship in the other lock and you could watch it rising. Once the ship rose to the level of the second lock, the front doors opened and the ship moved forward into the second set of locks. The entire process was repeated for this lock and then we proceeded to the the third one.

The Canal

Once we exited the third lock we headed into the Canal on our way to Gatún lake. The canal doesn’t look wide enough for two ships to pass. In fact, as we sailed we never saw a ship pass us. I wonder if this is by design and why they are trying to widen the Canal?

Widening of the Canal

We sailed for most of the morning and afternoon. We passed several construction areas where they were widening the Canal. We passed the city of Gamboa and through the narrow passageway between the lake and the next set of locks. As we sailed through the lake I noticed that the shore is covered with dense forest. You can tell that this is a country that gets a lot of rain. The countryside is gorgeous and lush and full of life with birds.

Centennial Bridge

Approaching Pedro Miguel Locks

As we continued to sail through the Canal we passed under the Centennial Bridge, the view was amazing. We sailed down the Culebra Cut towards the next set of locks. The Pedro Miguel locks are a single set of locks that separates Gatún lake from Miraflores Lake.

Reaching Pedro Miguel Locks Locks

Another ship entering the lock next to ours

Leaving Pedro Miguel Locks on our way to the Pacific Ocean

Once we left the Miguel Locks we sailed through the Miraflores Lake on our way to the final two set of locks. When we reached the Miraflores Locks, there was an observation deck were a lot of tourists were watching the ships sail by. We got quite a loud cheering send off when we departed the Canal on to the Gulf of Panama on the way to the Pacific Ocean. Our day of sailing took us through some of the most lushness parts of Central America. Below is a map of our route.

Day 7: San Blas Islands, Panama

Today we got up to have breakfast. It was not as crazy this morning because we can not leave the boat until 11am. Today we reached Panama.

The San Blas archipelago is made up of 365 islands ranging in size from tiny ones with a few coconut palms to islands on which hundreds of Cuna Indians live. The cuna are the most sophisticated and politically organized of the country’s three major groups. They run the San Blas Territory virtually on their own terms, with internal autonomy and, uniquely among Panama’s Indians, send their representatives to the National Assembly. They have their own language, but Spanish is widely spoken. The women wear gold nose rings, earrings and costumes with unique designs based on local themes, geometric patterns, stylized flora and fauna, and pictorial representations of current events or political propaganda. Many tribesmen work on the mainland, but still live on the islands. If you’re going to take some photographs of the Cuna Indians, have plenty of small change as there is a price for the Cuna to pose. They also have an unique handicraft, which are decorative hand sewn appliques called Molas. You will also notice these fearless natives around the ship, for their main form of transportation is hand carved canoes. Whatever you choose to do today, enjoy your time with the Cuna Indians. It will be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.

Since we had some time before disembarking, I had a massage after breakfast. It was a good massage, but I get tired of spa’s trying to sell you hundreds of dollars of overpriced lotions and chemicals. Just once, I would like to go to the spa and not feel that type of pressure. If anyone from HAL is reading this, take note. While I was getting my massage, Angie went to go work out at the gym. When we got back to the cabin  we got ready to disembark to the island of San Blas.

The islands

Huts on the island

San Blas Island huts

This is a very small island occupied by native Cuna Indians. We boarded the tender and headed over to the island. I was amazed at how low the islands are. It looks like if the ocean were to rise a foot it would flood the entire island.

San Blas Island

The island appears to be a very poor, but the wealth of the families are worn in the form of gold jewlery and beads, not in their homes or other posessions. This could be a side effect of where they live. Why put any wealth into property that could disappear in a hurricane or flood. We walked around the island which was  lined by huts and narrow dirt streets. You can see that the islands have both telephones and electricity, but you would not think so unless you looked up or inside the huts.

The narrow streets

As we walked down the streets we saw lots and lots of hand crafted fabric. They were very colorful and intricate.

Quilting patterns

More patterns

A local home

The humidity and temperature were quite high today and walking around was difficult. The streets were also packed with people so it was hard to get a decent breeze. As we continued to walk around we found the main square where the school was. This was the first place we saw older children. In the square, Angie found some jewlery and I found some very cool painted feathers. I found one with a dolphin on them.

Steve trying to stay cool.

Angie trying to stay cool in line for the boat.

We got in line for the tenders and returned back to the boat. The line was very long and took almost an hour before we got back on the tender. As we rode back to the ship a sailboat came around the stern of the ship. I was able to snap this photo. It really shows how big the cruise ships are.

Our ship is bigger than yours.

Once back at the ship we had lunch and attended the afternoon tea service. After tea, we went to the crows nest to listen to the trivial contest and read. We got dressed for dinner and hung out at the bar waiting for dinner to start. The evenings entertainment was “An Evening with Musical Virtuoso Salima Wazir” but we decided to skip it this evening.

After dinner, we relaxed and went to bed early because I wanted to get up bright and early in the morning as we are scheduled to enter the canal tomorrow.

Day 6: Santa Marta, Columbia

After leaving Aruba, our ship set a westerly course along the northern coast of South America towards Santa Marta.

Colombians like to call their country Locomibia, or the “mad country.”, a nickname that alludes not only to their self-destructive streak but also their penchant for revelry. This exuberance is among Colombian’s’ greatest charms, as though they are compensating for their country’s poor reputation abroad by being some of the warmest and friendliest hosts anywhere! Perhaps this warmth owes itself to their diverse roots – more than any other country in the Andes, the mixture of the European with the African and indigenous is more complete. The result is a rich culture and a nation of proud citizens anxious to show their country off. There’s certainly plenty to show off! In an area roughly the size of France, Colombia – the only country in South America to border both the Pacific and the Caribbean – offers every eco-system imaginable, from the Amazon Rain-forest near Leticia to the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. For now, though, tourism is barely even an industry. Only about 750,000 foreigners arrived to Colombia in 2002, most of them for business or to visit family. Perhaps that’s why experienced travelers refer to the country as Latin America’s best kept secret!

We got up early and ate breakfast. The ship was still sailing into port when we got up. It was clear that we were in a working port not accustomed to cruise ships. We saw lots of coal processing bins along with stacks and stacks of Ammonia Nitrate. Today we are taking a shore excursion that would take us to one of the country’s national parks. We disembark to the buses that took us to the Toyrona National Park. Our guide Ryhan was a student in international business and communication. He had just returned a few days earlier from a four week school trip to the USA.

When we left the port, we noticed the mounds of coal and ammonia nitrate sitting at the port. I sure hope it’s being used as fertilizer. As we drove out of the port, we noticed a lot of scooters and motorcycles. Many of the bikes carried two passengers. It was also interesting that they used them as taxi’s. In some cases we would see a bike with two passengers on them carrying packages. As we exited the port you get a good impression of how poor a country this is. Along the road we saw areas of shacks  were people lived. they were basically three walls of plywood against a rack background with another piece of wood as a roof. There were hundreds of these rooms that lines the roads and railroad tracks on the way out of the port.

After a couple hours on the bus, we reached Toyrona National Park.

Toyrona National Park Map

This is a park that is tucked away into the rain forest. A short walk through the trees we saw lots of neat sites. We saw quite a few termite mounds up in the trees. Along the path we saw thousands of fire ants all in a line carrying leaves from the forest to their homes.

Steve in the forest

fire ants carrying leaves

As we walked through the forest we could hear the roar of the surf. Just before we reached the beach there was a side trail that went up the side of the hill to a rock outcrop. The view from here was pretty amazing, you could see all the way down the beach and see the surf crashing on the rocks. The sky was a bit overcast, so you couldn’t see too far out to sea.

A rock with a view

The view from a short climb up the rocks

We spent some time at the top of the rocks and then walked our way back down the steps. Once we reached the bottom again, we walked out on the beach. The beach was gorgeous, we took some pictures of the surf. Just on the other side of the beach was a small lagoon.

The Lagoon

The beach

We walked along the beach to the resort where we rested and had some drinks. The view along the beach was wonderful. This is definitely a place to come to enjoy the peacefulness of the rain forest and the ocean.

Angie walking along the beach

We had a group of about 20 people walking along the beach. It was hard for some of the people to keep up. I am sure they didn’t expect this much walking on this trip. It was only rated as “two hikers”, meaning moderate walking. I would consider this a “three hiker” tour. It was a lovely day, so it was not a problem taking our time as we strolled along the beach.

huts in the trees. This is part of the resort.

The surf

The sign between the beach and the resort.

Along the way I noticed sand crabs running along the beach. One of them stopped just in front of me, so I took a picture of it. It was amazing how it blended into the sand. I would not have seen it there unless I had noticed it moving.

Sand Crab

After we reached the resort, we rested and cooled off with a cold refreshment. We rested for about forty minutes at their outdoor pavilion where the guests of the resort eat. Along the path from the beach to the pavilion we noticed a huge bed with a canopy. I assume this is for relaxing out by the beach, rather than the cheap rooms 😉

It was a short walk back to the buses. On the ride back to the ship we saw a lot more motorcycle taxis carrying a lot of passengers. When we arrived back to the ship we grabbed lunch and took a nap, both of us were very tired after all the walking we did. After a short nap, I headed up to the crows nest with the Kindle to do some reading. I was watching the port and noticed they had these really interesting ways to unload the coal trucks.

Watching the trucks, I noticed they backed into a flat bed area. the entire truck was lifted up to about 75 degrees and all the coal slide out the back of the truck onto the conveyors. The port had four working lifts all running at the same time. It was quite a surreal site to see these semi-trucks lifted in this way. I spent a few hours reading and watching the port operations. After the ship had re-loaded all it’s passengers we went back to the cabin to watch the ship sail out of port. There were a lot of dock workers that had not seen a cruise ship before and they were waving and cheering us as we sailed by.

We got ready for dinner and tonight’s show. The show was a comedian Rick Starr. His comedy was really good, and I think I have seen him someplace before. We turned in early since we were both still tired from all the walking we did.

Day 5: Oranjestad, Aruba

Today we are in Aruba. Aruba’s first inhabitants were the Caquetios Indians from the Arawak tribe. Fragments of the earliest known Indian settlements date back to about 1000 A.D., as do ancient painted symbols still visible on limestone caves found at Fontein, Ayo, and elsewhere. Pottery remnants from this period can still be seen at the Museum of Archaeology. Some centuries later, the first European landed on Aruban shores. Spanish explorer Alonso De Ojeda is thought to have arrived about 1499. The Spanish promply exported the Indians to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where they were put to work in the copper mines. In 1636, near the culmination of teh Eighty Years’ War between Spain and Holland, the Dutch took possesion of Aruba and remained in control of it for nearly two centuries. In 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, the English briefly took control of the island but it was returned t Dutch control in 1816. Although Aruba continues to exist within the kingdom of the Netherlands, it operates as an independent region under the crown. Aruba has a melange of people from the South American and European continents, and also from the far east and other islands in the Caribbean. These different settlers have added a unique flavor to the lives of the inhabitants of the island.

We got up early and showered. (Why are we always up early on vacation?) The ship was late getting into Aruba so we had some extra time to get ready and eat breakfast. The Lido was totally packed, so I decided to just come back to the room and rest for a few more minutes while we waited to disembark. We headed down to wait for our tour. We decided to take “The Colors of Aruba” tour. After we disembarked we boarded our bus. I did remember to turn on the GPS, so I hope that Geo-Tagging will work properly when I get home. We headed out on the bus and we drove by some of the fancy hotels on the island, and a brief stop at the original windmill on the island. After that we then drove out to the California lighthouse. This was named after the ship The SS California that sank here off the coast.

The Light House

Steve at the light house

After stopping at the lighthouse, we road to the Casibari Rock formation. We waited in line to walk up. It was not a very high climb, but it was a one way path for those going up and coming down and some of these people should not have tried to go up.

Entrance to The Rock

The Rock

angie on The Rock

After the visiting the Casibari Rock formation, we drive down to the beach. The swells were as tall as the rock shelf of the shore/cliff line. Watching the water break just below and then crest over the wall spraying foam and salt onto everyone was pretty amazing. Both Angie and I were covered in salt spray when we returned to the bus.

natural bridge

After visiting the beach, we then visited an ostrich and emu farm. We saw quite a number of them. Their expressions and mannerisms were quite amazing. I got some really great close ups using Bert’s 70-300mm lens. I really like this lens, but someone had an 18-250mm that I really liked and it was smaller and and lighter. I am now torn as to which one to get. We walked through the farm and got to watch some of the visitors feed them.

Aruba Ostrich farm.

Feeding the Ostriches

It was amazing to see these animals. They are quite large and looking at their feet, you can understand how they are able to kill a lion with a single kick. As we walked around the grounds we saw all sorts of different color Ostriches. The most spectacular ones are the the all black ones.

Angie posing with an ostrich

After the ostrich farm, we rode the bus back to the ship. We got off the bus at the gate to the terminal and wandered around the downtown area of Aruba and visited Wilhelmina park. On the pathways we saw a ton of iguanas. All different colors and levels of cautiousness. Some would walk away the minute they saw us while others would just site there as we passed inches away from them.

We walked through the shopping mall area and picked up an Christmas ornament and then we re-boarded the ship. We returned to the cabin and offloaded our excursion stuff. Mostly just the backpack and my camera. Then we headed up to the Lido for food. After we ate lunch we wandered up to the crows nest and hung out as they played team trivia. I only got 12 out of 20 questions right 🙁 Who knew that a pregnant goldfish was called a TWIT? I wonder if Leo Laport knows this?

We headed back to the cabin so I could pick up the kindle. I decided to do some reading up on deck. I started reading “Kitty goes to Washington“. Angie joined up with me after showering and getting dressed for dinner. After a little while, the noise level was pretty high in the crows nest so we decided to go to one of the other bars that was closer to nights entertainment.

The entertainment this evening was Joel Mason, a piano player who does an Elton John tribute. The performance was excellent. We really enjoyed the show and would recommend it to anyone. We headed to dinner and turned in early for the night.