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| Goofing around! LOL= our normal demeanor😂 |
We just finished our trans-Panama Canal cruise with our friends Donna and Dick! The cruise was 17 nights Fort Lauderdale Florida to San Diego California, with stops in Cartagena Columbia; cruise through the Panama Canal; Panama City, Panama; Costa Rica; Guatamala; and 4 stops in Mexico: Chiapas, Huatulco, Puerta Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. Please follow along as I recount this amazing adventure!!!!!
Where it all began: Rich and I met Donna and Dick on our 2014 TransAtlantic cruise that began our Retirement Travel, and the beginning of this blog😍. On that trip, we were on the Holland America ship Noordham for 14 nights Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona, with multiple stops along the Spanish coast. We became fast friends and have visited each other multiple times, with their home in Temecula CA! Dick and Donna are cruise guru's, having cruised SO Much!!!
When this cruise came up, we were all like- its on!!! Originally scheduled for the end of January 2022, but that frakking Covid messed that up. But luckily, there were openings on this cruise!!! Know what ship it was? Holland America Noordham!!!! We returned from whence we came!
I love sea days- those days when you are only at sea, not rushing to get off and experience new, wonderful things!! I wake up early, go on deck with coffee and my book and watch the ocean, listen to the sounds of the sea, and experience life as people wake up and wander about- usually with plates from the buffet😂😂. Rich would usually find me there a couple hours later and we would get some breakfast, do our walk around the ship (3 times around = 1 mile), say hello to people we met, usually at meals or shows, and, towards the end, talk with the ship crew we met. During all this, we would plan our day! There's always something to do- lectures, demonstrations, happy hour, meals, music, movies!! We loved the lectures on each port- especially the Panama Canal!! Several days of lectures, movies, history prepared us for this epic transit!! It was amazing!! By the way- the food on the cruise ship is nothing short of amazing!!!!! And because of our walking, neither of us gained weight! So now it's time to check our our ports of call!
It's the ports of call that usually determine our choice of cruise. It's a chance to see a number of places that are usually difficult to get to and we always wanted to see, or do something there, without having to plan an entire trip around it. It's perfect! This cruise had stops in Central America, a place we all wanted to check out. Sadly, the stop in Nicaragua, birthplace of Rich's mother, was closed, so we missed it. That was really disappointing because we had the entire day planned. Maybe next time. The great thing about traveling with friends is that there are so many options for port excursions, everyone finds something they want to do. Sometimes it's together, and sometimes it's separate and you meet up later and share your experiences. This cruise was a long one- 17 days- with many ports, so this post is quite lengthy. To try and shorten it a bit, I only added so many photos for each site- enough to give a picture of what the port was like. So, the stories of our ports:
Cartagena, Columbia!!!!
Ever since Romancing the Stone with the wonderful Kathleen Turner, I have wanted to see Cartagena! And we were going!!! So excited!!! D&D had a planned excursion, but Rich and I wanted to check it our on our own. First thing to know about the Cartagena port- there is this fantastic bird sanctuary you walk through before entering Columbia! Like a beautiful sanctuary, fully wooded, walking trails, and hundreds of beautiful, colorful, squaking birds! It was amazing! And we loved it!! Once through there, Rich found us a taxi driver who was willing to drive us to the major sights for the day. His name: Carmello Banderas- the Carmel Bandit in English😎. He was amazing! Decent English, grandfather with 4 sons, he was so proud of his family! He had been a taxi driver for 42 years, born and raised in Cartagena, and he was proud! Excellent!
He took us to the 18th century monastery on the hill over-looking Cartagena- La Popa de la Galera! (http://www.cartagenainfo.com/lapopa/index.html#_=_). The ride up the hill (really, a big hill! Not walkable, as we originally thought😃- WAY too far!) But the monastery was quite interesting! And, the Pope had visited there! Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis! Great vistas!
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| From the monastery, you can view the city of Cartegena! |
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| photos of the monastery |
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| The courtyard of the monastery |
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| The entrance to the monastery |
The 17th century fort just outside the old town (https://fortificacionescartagena.com.co/es/planee-su-visita/castillo-de-san-felipe-de-barajas/). This fort was fantastic to climb!! It's quite steep, but wandering this fortification was amazing!!! Built to defend the bay, this monument has been maintained for centuries!
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| on top of the fort |
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The fort was mainly used for defense.
Canons were placed throughout, aimed towards the sea |
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| The upper area of the fort |
The fortified walls of Cartagena! (https://fortificacionescartagena.com.co/es/planee-su-visita/murallas-de-cartagena/). The walls of Cartagena are amazing! They are quite extensive, so luckily our Carmel Bandit knew the best areas to see!!!!
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| Note Rich and our guide at the top- provides perspective on the size of the walls. |
And we spent time wandering the old town of Cartagena! Including the cathedral, town squares, windy streets, and coffee- it was amazing!!!! As is always the case, we did not have enough time to really explore this wonder. A return trip to Cartagena, and Columbia in general, is needed!
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| Main square |
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| Clock Tower at the entry of the square |
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| The body of St. Peter Claver who devoted his life to redeeming for the lives of slaves |
At the port, there is an amazing bird sanctuary filled with tropical birds- quite beautiful!!!
The Panama Canal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal)
The Panama Canal was amazing!!! We all learned about it from an early age in school, at least my generation did. But the cruise really prepared us for it!! Several days ahead, lectures and films on the history and construction of the canal were provided several times a day. The day before, literature and maps were provided everyone. Transiting the canal takes a full day- we arrived at the entrance at 0600 and exited about 1730. The ship opened up otherwise closed areas for viewing- and the viewing areas were packed!! Interestingly, only a few cruise ships can transit the canal because the final bridge you cross, the Bridge of the Americas at the entrance of the Pacific side, and exit of the Caribbean transit, was built in 1962 and is too low for most of the modern cruise shops to pass!
There are 3 locks in the canal that change the elevation from sea level to transit level and back. Much of the transit is through an enormous lake, Gatun Lake, created by flooding a valley in the middle of Panama. What look like small islands were once hill tops. The three locks, Caribbean to Pacific, are: Agua Clara, Pedro Miguel, and Miraflores. Of these 3, the Agua Clara are truly the most spectacular! Here is a very quick pictorial progression of the canal transit from first bridge, locks, lake, and final bridge of the America's! It all leads into Panama City, which is our first Central American stop!
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| Atlantic Bridge |
Agua Clara Locks- by far the most spectacular!
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| These "trains" connected cables to the ship and guided it through the canal |
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| The lock doors weigh tons! They are composed of steel and hollow inside to float |
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| Gatun Lake- these islands at one time were hill tops before the valley was flooded |
The views were beautiful!! Panama is a tropical country, so very hot, very wet, very lush!
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| Centennial Bridge- built on the 100th anniversary of the canal |
Pedro Miguel LocksMiraflores Locks
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| Bridge of the Americas |
Panama City Panama!
Panama City, Panama was our first stop in Central America. Interestingly, the US dollar is accepted as currency in Panama. The Panama Dollar is a 1:1 fixed exchange rate. We spent the day in the old town of Panama City, but did take a taxi ride to see the new town. Skyscraper condo's lined the boulevards with every imaginable shop. Modern luxurious, the new town was amazing!!! But just a cab ride is all, so no real photos as we love old towns! The old town was clean, far less rough and tumble than Cartagena, everyone spoke English, it was affordable and great day trip. Weirdly, just outside of the old town, was an area that looked run down filled with people. I went walking there and the tourist police- yes tourist police whose only job is to keep tourists safe, yelled the crap out of me to get back because it wasn't safe!! Never had that happened to me!! When I got back to Rich, Dick and Donna, there were tourist police with them telling us to get in a cab from the old town! Was a little unnerving, but we complied. Driving through that area back to the port- sure did look like there was a lot of life going on, but encased in poverty!
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| Panama City new town from our ship- really beautiful!! |
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| On shore! |
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| Main Square |
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| Cathedral |
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| Main Square in front of the Cathedral |
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From the old town looking at the new town.
Tropical, so thunderstorms!!! It rained like I have never seen for about 30 minutes!!!! |
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What do you do after a long day of sightseeing but you still have an hour
to get back to the ship?,,,DRINK!! |
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| Yup- even in Panama they oppose gentrification |
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| At least they have good taste! |
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| Signs of Poverty in housing |
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| leaving Panama for Costa Rica. Beautiful at night! |
Costa Rica!!!!So Costa Rica! We docked at Puntarenas, which was lucky as it is a cruise ship area. Originally we were scheduled for the industrial docks. Loved Puntarenas. But, our chosen excursion in Costa Rica was.....zip lining!!!! Never done it, so had to try our hand at it. We thought there would be 1 line we would zip down. There were 10!!!! It was amazing!! At first, it was unnerving as we really didn't know what to do. After about the 4th line, we all got courage, and started letting go and waving our arms and legs as we are zipping down lines! It was amazing!!! Unfortunately, because of the fast paced activity, very few photos were taken. I did take a few videos of Rich, but this blog program does not support adding video, unfortunately. Trust me, it was amazing!!
This zip line course also had a botanical and butterfly sanctuary. They said 70% of all butterflies in butterfly sanctuaries around the world come from Costa Rica.
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| The bus ride to the mountains |
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| Rich and I ready to get started |
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| Rich gearing up |
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| All geared up! |
And ready to be taught how to do this!!
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| On our way to the mountain top in the gondola |
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| Approaching the first of 10 towers |
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| Getting off the gondola and approaching the first zip line |
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Rich attaching himself, with assistance, to the zip line
And that's it for the photos of zip lining- so sorry!! |
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| Butterfly sanctuary |
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| Our guide through the wildlife sanctuary- very good!!! |
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| Leaf cutter ant!!! Shows their strength!! |
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| Our over all guide and zip line instructor Milo- he was EXCELLENT! |
Antigua Guatemala!!!
The chance to go to Guatemala could not be passed up!!!! Although we were there only one day and had to choose wisely, we couldn't pass it up. We chose the excursion to go to the historic capital Antigua in the mountains! It was a long bus ride to get there, leaving us just almost 4 hours to see the town. But we were up for the task!
Antigua is a UNESCO world heritage site (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/65/). Great town to wander through and explore a country we could only dream of visiting, if even for just a few hours. Plus- they had a Starbucks!!!!! And a hill over-looking the town with a cross to bless the people- so of course we went there!
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| Wall Art in Starbucks |
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| Arch over the street to the religious area- very historic! |
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| One of the many floats for the Semana Santa- Easter Parade showing the Passion of Christ |
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| Outside view of the La Merced convent |
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| Reconstruction everywhere! |
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| Main Plaza |
What do you do when you have an extra half hour before you need to leave? Go for a drink! Rich and I had Mojitos (delicious!). The bartender asked if we wanted a shot of tequila- sure! Giant 3 shot glasses were given us- each!. Along with the traditional cricket- Rich ate the cricket!!! That's my new chant for Rich..."Rich ate the cricket, Rich ate the cricket!". He said it tasted good, like it was marinated......ok.....Chiapas Mexico!
Our next stop was Chiapas Mexico! Along with Dick and Donna, we chose the excursion to the Tree of Life (snore) and then a tour of a cute little town and chocolate making demonstration, which was amazing!
The first part was a traditional Mayan dance that was pretty interesting, then we saw stelae, or rock carvings, from a Mayan city they are unearthing now (really boring!!)
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| Off the ship and ready to go to Chiapas!!! |
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| Tree of Life of the Mayan culture- about 50 years old (snore!) |
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| stelae- barely see the outlines of the carvings |
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| to entertain ourselves- selfie at the Tree of Life |
After the Tree of Life thing, we went to the town of Tuxtla- which, although quite poor, was quite interesting!! Rich and I ate carne asada tacos from a taco cart that were delicious!!!!! And no, we didn't get sick:-) |
| The cathedral |
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| Inside the cathedral- very nice! |
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| Altar |
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| farmers market |
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chickens at the farmers market, with the heads on
(Diana and I saw this in France, as well) |
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| I bought some of the chocolate- it is quite good! |
Huatulco Mexico!!We loved Huatulco Mexico!!! The town is so cute! We had the most excellent mole lunch (mole is a Mexican dish made of chili's and cocao! Delicious!) And we had a mezcal mojito- strong but good!!! Then drinks on the beach. Pretty much it! Perfect day, to tell the truth!
The cathedral in Huatulco is fantastic!! Check out the art in the church!
Puerto Vallarta!!!
Puerto Vallarta is an incredible city and so scenic! So cute! So alive!!! We had no plans! Well, we did have plans for a sunset cruise, but lost track of time and missed it (along with the cost of it- prepaid- ugh!). But it was still amazing!
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| Andre and Gretchen tour staff from our ship |
The cathedral is just incredible outside and inside!
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| tons of food booths in the plaza in the evening! |
Sunset was beautiful!!!!
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| An Alien busker!!!!!! |
Cabo San Luca/Todos Santos
So we had a scheduled stop at Cabo San Lucas (snore). Really, what's to do there other than drink and people watch. Mind you, I love both of those things. But, I would have more fun staying on the ship. Thank God for Donna and all her brilliant OCD behaviors! She and Dick thought just like me, until her OCD kicked in and she found out Todos Santos is a town close by and Hotel California (supposedly) is there. I could do that! We dock in CSL, get a taxi- yikes! $220 for 4 people there and back- and that's with Rich and Donna super-finagling them until they gave up (or committed suicide just to get away- and trust me, that's a viable option when those two get wound up!) Turns out it's an hour away!!!! Yikes!!! Turns out, it was an amazing decision!!!!!! Loved it! Totally cute artsy town, Hotel California lived up to everything one would think, and they have margaritas and t-shirts!!!! The one caveat: Cabo bay is beautiful!!!
I present to you: Todos Santos!
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| Sunrise |
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| Cabo bathed in morning light |
Hotel California is beautiful!!!!
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| Breakfast is Served! |
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| Margarita Time!!! |
So that is our cruise stops! We loved this cruise as we saw so many places we have wanted to go, but, well, never enough time!!!
But, on a cruise, you will spend a ton of time ON THE SHIP! What to do? Every cruise we have been on has kept us BUSY!. Plus, you meet tons of people! People from all over the world!!! Some will become life-long friends! That is how we met Dick and Donna👍. Every day, there are lectures, games (i never play games, so I read while they played), movies, shows- all VERY good! Cooking classes, music, or sit and read by the pool! And food- never had a bad meal yet. There has always been a good variety. Luckily the portions are small, so you can try several things. And, just being on a ship is fun!
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| Two ship board staff- one from Indonesia and one from Italy- we saw them every day we were on the ship, and once in Puerto Vallarta when they had leave. |
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| These people are one of the reasons cruising is so much fun! Rose, the lady in the center, we met zip lining and then ran into again (awesome person!!) and Dave and Tracy, who are from England! Funnier than heck, we loved seeing them every day and spending time with them! And of course Dick and Donna are great friends! |
Go on a cruise, see the world, meet people- it's amazing!!!!
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