Panama Canal

Welcome to the Panama Canal ladies and gentlemen!

An amazing piece of engineering begun by the French, and finished by the United Corp of Engineers United States of America.  Design is amazing as it raises the ships up through a series of three locks to reach an inland lake.

The ships are guided by electric trains, front and back, as the clearance is only about 18 inches on each side of our ship.

The rain gives quite the impression on these photos.  No the water is not splashing up.

 After the water raises us up, then the locks open and we are towed by the trains and pushed by tugs to the next one.

Here you can see the ship ahead of us through the third lock.  The water depth in the locks is showing.

Friends from the USA originally from Japan, who now live in Miami.

Two doors on the locks solved both pressure issues as well as ensuring a good fit.

Crazy Larry and I up early for the show!

View from the bridge in the cabin on TV.

Good photo of the electric trains.

The water pressure plays against the lock doors as they open towards the ship.

Economically the Canal is amazing as goods travel 7-8 days less.  Fuel consumption is lower, costs are lowered, jobs created, and environmentally less fuel used is a good thing.

Cargo is amazing to see on the other ships.

After a day of getting up early, and watching our way up over and back down to the Pacific Ocean we retire to our room for a good nights sleep.  Greeted by our new mascot compliments of our cabin steward.

First stop, Cartagena, Colombia

So, after 2 days at sea, (and who knows how many pounds gained with the delicious meals), we have arrived at our first Port of Call in Colombia.

After meandering through Cartagena's lovely greeting area, including flora and fauna galore, and of course the prerequisite souvenir shops, 

we found a tour bus that was short 4 people - perfect for Kitti, Larry and us! And we were off to explore the city!

 

Our tour bus guide Cony was a wealth of information, 

and brought us to see several great monuments, as well as Cartagena's original Fort, which protected the port city.

Amazing artwork on the sides of buildings

and in the streets of Old Town, sidewalk art (available for sale)

And in Old Town, Kitti and I did some souvenir shopping as we wandered

enjoying the fresh vendor stalls we have come to enjoy throughout Mexico

The streets were gorgeous and had a definite European flare, with small cobbled roadways

and beautiful vegetation that tropical weather makes possible

some artwork maybe a little odd by my standards, but lovely in its own way and larger than life!

A few doors within a door were amazing and very intricately designed

And the streets were gorgeous!

with balconies everywhere

And before heading back to the ship, we enjoyed a free beer at the Cartagena Hard Rock Cafe!

Which tells us to "Take Time to Be Kind"

Some gorgeous fully fenced houses on the trip back to the ship 

And it's off again on our new floating home!

With a new day's pet! Our cabin steward, Jeffrey, wanted to make sure we weren't lonely on our voyage!

Our frog friend - all towel art!

Cruising home

So, at our hotel in Miami we met up with our new Progreso friends! What are the odds?

Kitti and Larry are a couple we've met a few times in Progreso, from Langley, and when we bumped into each other at a fundraiser last fall, we ascertained that we were all cruising back towards Canada, on the same ship, and as we later learned, in cabins about 5 doors down from each other!

So, we grabbed the shuttle to the cruise ship together, and off we went.

Boarding in Miami, we got to discover a little of the ship

and Vic quickly went about finding the best places to relax.

On a lounge chair on the deck..

by the pool...

or in the pool!

Having the extra layer of flotation around his belly, combined with the pool's salt water, apparently made it really easy to float!

And then we leave Miami

With our new pet dog,

and our new home away from home.

Compact but with all the creature comforts

Except no kitchen needed as meals were all made for us for the next 15 days aboard the Norwegian Pearl!

a gem of a ship!