November 27 - Long Beach and Thelma and Louise Ride again!

We had two sea days since sailing from Cabo and as usual there were lots of activities to keep us busy.  We had our last two trivia days.  We won the first of the days but didn’t do so well on the last day and didn’t win the cumulative prize either. Oh well, it is only a game.  Last night most of the members of the team gathered for dinner in the Colonnade and we laughed a lot.  I’ve noticed that when a group of us get together like that we get a lot of somber looks from other tables around us.  I am going to choose to believe that they’re not disapproving, but rather they are sorry they’re not having as much fun as we are. We had to say good-bye to a couple of friends whose cruise was ending in California.  That was sad, but I know we’ll sail together again sometime in the future.

This morning we arrived in Long Beach and after going through Customs and Immigration again my great day began.  My friend Judy picked me up and we headed off for a lovely day.  Judy and I met years ago, first on a Princess transatlantic cruise (the last one Al and I did).  Actually, that’s wrong.  We did a madcap, spur of the moment, flying trip – Judy from California and me from Virginia – to Syracuse where we rented a car and went to lunch in Kingston, Ontario. Sounds mad, doesn’t it?  The explanation is too long to go into here, but at  the airport in Syracuse, NY was the first time we’d ever laid eyes on each other and we had a great time meeting other new friends in Canada.  We crossed paths again a year later when Katie and I were beginning a cruise in Venice and Judy was getting off the ship we were boarding.  We had dinner at a place along the Grand Canal.  We’ve stayed in touch and both of us have experienced the loss of someone we loved in those years.

Look what I found! A photo from our dinner in Venice.

Anyway,  Judy took me on a tour through downtown Long Beach (which is very pretty) and then past the ports of Long Beach and San Pedro (they are so big I couldn’t believe it!).  We drove first to Judy’s condo.  She has a lovely place with a fantastic view of the Pacific. The view beats the forest I see out my windows.  We then carried on and Judy took me into the Trump National Golf Club which is situated on a spectacular piece of land overlooking the ocean.  Putting politics aside anyone who sees this place has got to acknowledge that he knows what he’s doing in terms of real estate.  I was excited to see it.  

Entrance to the clubhouse

A few from the terrace of the clubhouse

We drove along the coast through Palos Verdes through an interesting and very tragic area. It’s called Portuguese Bend and is part of the Palos Verde peninsula.  It is suffering major landslides which I have seen reported on news back home in Virginia.  From what I’ve read, historically there were slides in the area as long as a couple of hundred thousand years ago.  The current slides were evidently exacerbated by the construction of a road back in the 1950’s which contributed to destabilizing the ground there.  During that period 140 homes were destroyed or displaced.  In the ensuing years there have been episodes of slides, but beginning in the spring of 2023 the movement became far worse.  What was once a flat road is now a roller coaster ride which the city of LA and state of California are having to patch daily. Since September of this year more than 200 homeowners have had to evacuate their homes because the landslides are moving at a rate of three-quarters to a foot a week! Utilities have been turned off in the impacted areas for safety reasons.  The sight of hillsides which have crumbled away is incredible.  The tragedy is compounded by the fact that the people who own those homes have mortgages to pay and insurance doesn’t cover the losses from landslides.  Hence, people are seeing what is most families’ biggest asset crumble away, while still having to make payments.  For the homes not yet condemned, clearly there aren’t going to be buyers so people are stuck. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to have owned one of those homes with a great view of the ocean and watch it crumble away.

The warning is really warranted!

Imagine a house built on a hillside that looks like this.

We drove past Portuguese Bend and drove into a beautiful resort called Terranea also along the coast.  Judy told me the property used to be the location of Marine World.  We stopped and I took a couple of photos from the main building.  There were some low-lying clouds and a little marine layer of fog otherwise I would have been able to see Catalina Island. The resort was beautiful with lush flowers and palms and a lot of fountains.  It looked busy with people checking in for the holiday weekend.  It actually reminded me a lot of Kingsmill because the property includes buildings with both guest rooms and condos, just add palm trees and a view of the ocean instead of the James River. 

The view from the terrace at Terranea wasn't too shabby either.

The main entrance at the resort

It was time for lunch and Judy took me to the original Red Onion Restaurant in the Rolling Hills Estates section of Palos Verdes.  The family has been in the Mexican food business for four generations and this particular place opened its doors more than 60 years ago.  I thought what I had in Cabo the other day was good, but this was even better!  The homemade chips and salsa were amazing (so was the margarita) and the crisp beef taco was incredible.  Usually crispy taco shells crack and fall apart when you pick them up to eat them.  I don’t know what trick they used, but this one stayed intact.  Thank you Judy for a wonderful lunch!

Thelma and Louise (AKA Judy and Ann)

After lunch we headed back toward Long Beach.  On our way we drove into the port of San Pedro so I could see the battleship  USS Iowa docked there. During WWII  she served first in the Atlantic,  carrying FDR to Algeria where he continued on to Tehran to meet with Churchill and Stalin.  She was then moved to the Pacific to participate in the landings on several islands in the campaign there.  The Iowa served in the Korean War after which she was deactivated for a time until being recommissioned in the 1980’s when Reagan instituted the 600 ship Navy plan to counter the Soviet Union’s naval expansion.  I remember when in 1989 she suffered an explosion in one of her gun turrets resulting in the deaths of 47 sailors while on an exercise in the Caribbean. A year later she was decommissioned and due to the efforts of people who had served on her she was eventually moved to San Pedro where she is a museum open to the public. She is an impressive sight with her array of guns.

I didn't take this photo; I stole it from the net but it's what we saw.

Then it was time for me to get back to the Quest.  I had a wonderful day seeing parts of California I’d never seen before, but the best part was seeing a friend after so many years.  One of the things I love most about cruising is the friendships I’ve made along the way. In so many ways the travels I’ve done have made my life richer.  I plan to continue doing that as long as I'm able because there are more things to see and learn and people to meet.  Tonight we've sailed and are on our way to Hawaii.  The foghorn has been soundiing for a while so that fog over Catalina must have spread.

November 24 - Cabo San Lucas

This morning we anchored in the bay off of Cabo San Lucas.  Already at anchor was the Majestic Princess and later in the day the Navigator of the Seas arrived.  Including land-based tourists that meant there were lots of us wandering around.  I can’t really remember in what year I last came here, but it was a long time ago and the place had certainly grown.

Cabo is at the tip of the Baja peninsula which separates the Pacific from the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.  Excavations have shown evidence of human habitation for over 10,000 years.  One of the first Europeans to see Baja was supposedly a shipwreck survivor who upon returning home told tales of an island inhabited by Amazons and rich in gold and pearls.  When Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who caused the fall of the Aztecs, heard the stories he sent an expedition to explore.  They didn’t find Amazons or great riches, but they did probably find sea lions of which there still are many in the area. (In fact, when I stepped out on my balcony first thing this morning I could hear them barking on the beach nearest our port side.)  One of the navigators of the ships established the first permanent European settlement in 1537. A fortress was built in  1587 to keep away pirates. In 1730 some Jesuit missionaries established a mission just north and called it San Jose del Cabo. The two neighboring communities became known simply as Los Cabos.

Today the two cities have a combined population of close to 400,000 and are popular tourist destinations.  One of the attractions besides beaches is the sport-fishing industry.  The marlin fishing tournament in Cabo is the highest-paying one in the world. In 2023 the payouts to teams totaled nearly $13 million.  In the late afternoon after I got back to the ship and sat on my veranda I saw a steady stream of sport-fishing boats coming back into the bay.  In 2022 more than 3.3 million tourists arrived at the airport that serves the area.  I don’t know how many more tourists came for at least a day via cruise ships.  Today alone there must have been at least 5 or 6 thousands of us in town.

Cabo is known for its spectacular rock formations.  Perhaps the most famous is Los Arcos de Cabo so here are a few pictures.

My friends Claudia and Colleen and I tendered ashore around 11:00 and began our wander.  The waterfront is bounded by souvenir shops, bars and restaurants.  There were lots of vendors selling everything from silver jewelry to green plastic iguanas and lizards.  People were hawking boat tours, bicycle tours, scuba tours, and driving tours.  Near the tender dock it was sort of a carnival atmosphere. On the other side of the walkway around the bay were marinas and docks with all kinds of boats. There were everything from small boats with outboard motors to multimillion dollar yachts.

Just a little boat

I love pelicans and there are lots of them here.

It was sunny and blazingly hot as we walked along.  Our friends Patricia and Susan who have spent a lot of time in Cabo and who were meeting relatives who were visiting in Cabo for a couple of months (they’re snowbirds from Canada) told us about a good restaurant away from the waterfront so we set out looking for that.  Eventually we found it a couple of blocks inland and we decided to have lunch at the Cabo Cantina.  Just a few minutes after we sat down our friends showed up and sat at the table next to us.  I don’t like this picture of me at all but I’m including it anyway so I can remember the gigantic glasses our margaritas were served in and the excellent food we had.  I want to make note of the fact that I only had one of those huge drinks whereas my two friends each had two margaritas.  We decided that I was the designated walker.  Everything was delicious including my shrimp fajitas and watermelon margarita.  After lunch we set out to find a mall because some of us needed a few supplies.  The mall turned out to be a very upscale place with stores like Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton.  My friend Patricia and I decided we’d walked enough, especially in the heat, so we left the others and took a cab back to the tender dock.  Our boat was waiting for us and off we went back to our home away from home.

In the evening after dinner with friends I went to a dance party out on deck.  I came back to the table I’d been sitting at before I got up to dance and on the other side there was a youngish man sitting who suddenly slammed his drink down and yelled about something (not to me or in fact to anyone else).  He stormed off and then came back and sat down again.  There were a number of officers on the staff around and then the Security chief showed up along with a couple of his security people and a big conversation ensued with the guy.  I moved my chair over to the next table and met two lovely couples from Maryland.  I think the man in question was very drunk because I heard from friends later that they had seen him at various times during the day and he had seemed smashed even then.  I don’t know what happened to him because the party ended and I left but he was still there surrounded by staff people.  We’re at sea for two days, so unless he has to walk the plank, he’s going to be here until LA on the 27th.  It was an interesting evening with a little drama to liven things up.  Never a dull day here on the Seabourn Quest.

November 23 - Océano Pacífico

Today is our second of two sea days on our way from Huatulco to Cabo San Lucas, our last Mexican port.  I looked at our position and I think we’re several miles off the coast between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta.  The seas are being kind to us today and the Pacific is living up to its name.

No, it's not the evil eye.  It's looking down from the ninth deck to the bottom of the spiral staircase and I wanted a picture to throw in here and a photo of a calm ocean would be just that, a photo of endless water.

Last night I dined with an entertainer who just came on the ship at our last port.  He is a magician/comedian, not a combination I can remember seeing before , and he was a very engaging dinner host.  We had a lot of laughs at our table, much to the chagrin of a couple of sourpusses at the next table over.  I always wonder if people like that are upset because we’re making too much noise or because they’re jealous that they aren’t having as  much fun.  After dinner I went to the show and it was quite good.  The new cast is starting to gel together.  As usual I went to the Club last night but I wasn’t in a dancing mood and I just listened.  I need to take my opportunities to enjoy live music when I can.

I’ve already told about the routine on sea days.  They are as busy or as leisurely as you want them to be.  Today I’m choosing the latter.  I also needed an evening to myself.  In the late afternoon I went and got my “toes and talons”  done (as Al would have said).  I went to the show before dinner where my host from last night made me laugh and believe in magic.  I went up to the Observation Bar and met some new friends from South Carolina and listened to the delightful pianist Amandah play.  I had shrimp as an appetizer and shrimp for a main course under the stars at Earth and Ocean.  Then I did something absolutely decadent.  I went back to the other restaurant I wrote about last time and had the wonderful after dinner coffee dessert drink again.  It’s made with amaretto, créme de cacao, dark chocolate and espresso (decaf for me).  I wasn’t sure I could just go in and order it, but here on Seabourn it’s kind of like “your wish is my command.”  Anyway it was a lovely evening with another show and then some dancing.  We go back an hour tonight, so I can stay up even later than usual.

Tomorrow we’re in Cabo, our last port before LA on the day before Thanksgiving.  I think most people are leaving then.  A few friends from previous cruises are boarding.  We’re a fluid group.  In LA I’m in for a great day.  I’m meeting Judy, a friend from a cruise years ago.  Someday I need to write about our Thelma and Louise trip when we flew from California and Virginia to  meet in upstate New York to go to Kingston, Ontario for lunch. It sounds weird and that’s what the border agents thought too, but that’s what we did.

Anyway, that’s all for now.  I should go to bed because tomorrow I’ll be in Cabo.  Last time I was there Al and I managed to tip over in our kayak in the bay but that was another time. Kayaking is no longer in my future. Hasta mañana.

November 21 - Huatulco

After a rocky night we docked in bright sunshine in Huatulco.  After the captain’s warning last evening I expected a really rough ride but it wasn’t too bad after all. Good job, Captain.

As I mentioned I was last here a little over 30 years ago and things have changed.  In the late 1960’s Mexico decided to create tourist resorts to increase the numbers of visitors to the country. Five locations were identified as the best places for new, purpose-built resorts.  They were Cancún, Ixtapa, Los Cabos, Loreto, and Huatulco. In each of those places there was little more than a fishing village before the government backed construction began.  The two places most well-known to most of us Americans are Cancún and Los Cabos, which are both popular vacation spots for US tourists.  Thirty-five years ago I had seen a magazine article about Ixtapa, another of the planned resorts about 150 miles northwest of Acapulco.  There was a photograph of a beautiful hotel that looked like a pyramid  built on the side of a cliff.   Al, Katie and I flew there and spent a week.  It was beautiful and we had a good time but we all came home with a little Montezuma’s revenge.  Nonetheless, I think all three of us had good memories of the trip.

I found this picture of the hotel.  I know you remeber it, Katie.

Anyway, back to Huatulco.  I think it was the last of the planned resorts and it hasn’t developed as much as the others.  It’s the furthest south, lying where the Sierra Madre foothills meet the Pacific Ocean about 250 miles east of Acapulco.  While there are several resort hotels and some lovely beaches, it doesn’t have a very large airport nearby which perhaps may hinder its growth.  Also the Mexican government has decided not to push the planned resorts anymore, at least for the time being.  There is a long dock near a little tourist area full of shops and restaurants.  Silver is very big in Mexico so there was a lot of silver jewelry and items like silver sea turtles and jaguars.  There was one very large silver jaguar sculpture which would make a very nice door stop.  The only problem would be getting it home.  Al always told me “Charge it, ship it” were the four most important words when shopping on a cruise.  I didn’t feel compelled to buy a jaguar though.

Huatulco from my balcony

If you look carefully, you can see that in between the finished buildings there are some concrete structures with the rebar sticking up that may have beeen that way for a long time and may never be finished.

The main square in the town

A big fish mural on one side of the square

We walked around for a while and looked in the shops.  My friends each found something they liked.  I’m not a big fan of silver jewelry so I didn’t feel tempted (that’s a good thing!).  It was incredibly hot and very humid and I felt like I was broiling despite wearing loose clothing.  After less than an hour we returned to the ship and retreated to the air-conditioning.  

We sailed by this little cove on our way out.

In the evening I had made a reservation for dinner in Solis, the alternative restaurant and we had a marvelous time.  We were five women and one man, all of us on the same trivia team.  It was great fun.  We were seated at 6 PM, kind of early, but we had drinks first and talked and laughed a lot.  We didn’t leave the restaurant until not quite 9:30, just in time for the show.  We discovered the most wonderful after dinner coffee drink.  It’s dessert and coffee all in one.  If I could, I would have it for dessert every night, but you can only get it in that restaurant.

The show was entertaining and after it was time for the Club and dancing.  There were actually more people there than I’ve seen any night on this leg of the cruise.  We have two sea days and I think people figured they could stay up late and sleep late.  It was a good day – not particularly exciting, but fun.

November 20 - There’s a storm brewing!

We stopped in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico today and once again I stayed on the ship.  The tour I wanted to take didn’t clear the waitlist so I hung out here taking care of some business things.  There is literally nothing but a dock and a tourist information building at the port.  There was a shuttle bus that took a 45-minute ride to the nearest town of consequence where I was told the highlight was a Wal-Mart.  From the ship I could see a few houses on the opposite shore of the inlet and there was a fishing boat harbor around the corner somewhere because I saw boats coming in.  When we sailed we passed what might have been a golf course, but it didn’t look like there was any development associated with it.

The tourist center

The houses across the inlet

The Don Antonio Perez XXIV coming in to port

I swear this looks like a golf course here in the middle of nowhere

The fishing harcor round the bend

I watched the pilot jump off to the little pilot boat as we passed the breakwater.  There were flights of pelicans flying along with us and I got a so-so photo of a few.  Pelicans are some of my favorite sea birds to watch.  As we set sail the captain came on in an unusual in-cabin announcement telling us that tonight we’re sailing into some weather.  He told us the winds are forecast to be about 70 mph (not quite hurricane force, but close) and pretty heavy seas.  He told us to be careful moving about and to secure loose items in our cabins.  I think dancing is not in my future tonight.

The pilot jumping off the ship. I'm fascinated because no way on God's green earth would I leap from a moving boat to another moving boat.

A flight of pelicans

If this is going to be a big resort they'd better get cracking on building because there's nothing but flat land.

Storms building to the west.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Huatulco, Mexico, and I’m going ashore!  A friend told me that we dock right in town and there are shops and cafés (or should I say cantinas) right there.  Al and I stopped there 32 years ago when the Mexican government had just decided to create a resort there and at that time the only thing built was a dock.  Obviously time has brought changes.

Hasta mañana!

November 19 - Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and remembering

I’ve been really lazy about writing and, truth be told, about everything for the last few days.  After the Panama Canal on the 15th we had a sea day on our way to Punta Arenas, Costa Rica.  I did the usual sea day stuff – you fall into a routine on sea days – which included listening to some talks on Costa Rica, shipwrecks, and Mayans, playing trivia,  and talking with friends about all kinds of things with much of the focus being on where we should go for our next meal.  In the evenings we generally get together in the Club for a drink before dinner and after dinner many of my friends go to their cabins.  A couple of us go to whatever show is on at 9:30.  The entertainment has been pretty good most nights with some better than others.  After the show I’m usually the only night owl who goes down to the Club to listen to the live music there and if the songs hit me right, I get up and dance a little.  There are generally a few other people there, mostly couples, and it’s not unusual for just the wives to get up and dance.  I guess it doesn’t sound like a very exciting day, but I enjoy it and it’s more exciting than my typical days at home.  In Williamsburg I don’t have any opportunities to sit and listen to live music, limited chances to see any kind of show, and not even all that many times to sit and just talk to friends about whatever.  Here on the ship I’m getting one of the most important, and oftentimes most neglected, things we seniors need and that is socialization.  Getting old can sometimes be a very lonely thing.

Moving on, two days ago we arrived in Punta Arenas, Costa Rica.  I think this was my fourth visit there and I’ve done tours to the rain forest and butterfly sanctuary, a coffee plantation and the capital of San Jose.  So, I stayed on the ship as did most of my friends.  We intended to walk into the little town, but it was very long dock with no shade on a very sunny, humid day and we all decided to stay onboard.  The town has not much to offer but some little craft shops and a beach.  As it turned out in mid-afternoon it poured and if we’d walked into town we would have been drenched.

Yesterday was another sea day and a repeat of what I just wrote about.  I did have a very nice dinner last night with our captain and his wife and two other couples.  This captain is very engaging and his wife is a lovely lady.  Unlike some captains I’ve sailed with, this one has his wife on board with him all the time.  He gives the best noon reports of any captain I've had.  Most just report the position of the ship, the wind and sea conditions and the depth beneath the keel.  This captain tells us information of historical or scientific interest in the seas we’re passing through.  At dinner we had interesting conversations about world affairs and how they are affecting cruising and I learned a lot.  That’s always something I enjoy.

Today we’re as I indicated in Guatemala.  This is a container port and there is zero here except a little town to support the people who work at the port.  There are a few tours to a coffee plantation or to the old Spanish colonial city of Antigua.  I’ve been there before and despite it being very picturesque I didn’t feel like taking the hour and a half bus ride each way to see it again. So I, with all my friends, stayed on board.  It gave me an opportunity to read and answer some emails, take care of a little business, and write a little.  We also sat and discussed potential future voyages.  We don’t purposely book cruises together, but one of us will mention a cruise we are thinking about and the rest of us might say it sounds interesting and we often wind up sailing some or all of a cruise together.  We’re kind of a wandering band of cruise gypsies.

This has been a very rambling and unexciting entry in this, my online version of a journal.  I could post a photo of the container ship at the next dock unloading its cargo, but that’s really boring.  Instead I found some photos from the blog Katie and I wrote a long time ago (fifteen and a half years!) when we stopped here and went to Antigua.  I don’t know which of us took them but they brought back memories of the times we cruised together.

This was carpet made of colored sawdust and seeds with fruits and vegetables lined around the edges in a church in Antigua

Palace of the Captain General when Antigua was the capital of the Spanish colony of Guatemala from 1543 t0 1773

Some little musicians who entertained us on our tour back then.  By now they're all grown up and I can't help but wonder where they are.

November 15 - The Path between the Seas

That’s the name of the best book written about the conception and construction of the Panama Canal.  It was written and published  by David McCullough in 1977.  For anyone planning to take a trip through the Canal I think it’s a must-read work. 

Today was our day to make our transit through the Panama Canal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. I’m not going to write  a lot about the history of its construction.  I’ll just say a few things that weren’t as well-known to me that I learned after reading the book.  Back in the 16th century a Spanish king ordered a survey of the Isthmus to determine if there might be a way to shorten the voyage of his ships from the real Indies and western South America back to Spain.  In the 17th century an English philosopher pondered the same idea of a way across the narrow piece of land.

After the California gold rush and the construction of the Suez Canal in the mid-19th century the concept and efforts to actually do something about it began to take a more active form. For nearly 20 years from 1881 to 1899 the French attempted construction under the inspiration of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man who had successfully guided the construction of the Suez Canal which was hugely profitable.  Unfortunately, Panama presented many more challenges like tropical rain forests, unhealthy climate, disease and mountains which necessitated the use of a lock system.  His efforts at one point nearly bankrupted France.

When Teddy Roosevelt became president the US efforts to build a canal became serious.  One camp wanted to build a canal through Nicaragua which would have been longer and could use a couple of lakes and rivers along its course.  But there were also volcanos to contend with. It was finally decided to build across the Isthmus of Panama, which was then part of the country of Colombia.  We helped the people in Panama to successfully rebel and separate from Colombia and we signed a treaty with the new country granting us rights in perpetuity to build on and administer the land to be used for the canal.  The work began on May 4, 1904 and took a little over 10 years to complete. Between the French failed effort and the US construction project it’s estimated that more than 27,000 people died, many from disease.  Walter Reed from Gloucester, Virginia (my part of Virginia) was instrumental in figuring out how yellow fever was transmitted and his research played a big part in figuring out ways to control the disease.  The canal was officially opened on August 15, 1914.  It was a pretty momentous occasion, but interestingly it didn’t receive a tremendous amount of attention at the time.  Why?  Just two weeks earlier WWI began and German troops were driving across Belgium toward Paris and newspapers relegated the Panama Canal opening to inside and back pages.

That’s a brief history of the original canal.  Here are a few facts about it.  The Panama Canal is about 50 miles long.  On the Atlantic(Caribbean) side there are a series of three locks which raise a ship 87 feet to enter Gatun Lake. From the lake ships transit for a little over five miles through the Chagres River until they reach the Culebra Cut, which was the most challenging part of the construction.  The cut is a passage through a mountain ridge crossing the Continental Divide.  It’s nearly 8 miles long and required the excavation of nearly 100 million cubic yards of rock and soil. Approaching the Pacific Ocean ships transit through first the single chamber Pedro Miguel lock lowering the ship 31 feet.  Then traffic goes through the Miraflores locks lowering it a further 54 feet. Along the way ships travel under two bridges, the Centennial Bridge and the Bridge of the Americas.

In 2006 an expansion project began to build a new set of locks which could accommodate the larger generations of cargo vessels which now ply the oceans. That project was completed in 2016.  The new locks are 180 feet wide, 1400 feet long and 60 feet deep enabling them to accept 79% of all cargo-carrying vessels today.  Earlier I wrote that when the US began the canal construction in 1904 we signed a treaty giving administrative powers in perpetuity for the Panama Canal Zone.  In 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed a new treaty ceding control to Panama in 1999.  Of concern to many people since that happened is that China has funded many of the expansion projects which have been undertaken and has won several management contracts.  That might potentially give it significant ability to control access should there be conflicting interests.

Leaving a lock on the Atlantic side

I have been through the canal several times and I didn’t feel compelled to get up at Zero Dark Thirty to see us approach and enter the Gatun Locks.  By the time I was up we were exiting the last lock before  Gatun Lake.  I did watch us go through the Cut and get lowered through the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks.  Several of us informed friends and family at home to look for us on the webcam at the last lock.  I don’t think the resolution was good enough to make any of us out, but we were waving and toasting as we went by.  We were lucky because it wasn’t very sunny and hot and rain held off.  In the distance at the Pacific end we could see the very modern Panama City with its many towering high-rise buildings.  It’s a little surreal to see them when all around are lush, tropical forests.

Gatun Lake

Part of the Culebra Cut

More of the cut with the Centennial Bridge in the distance

Pizza time with the girls

Entering the last lock at Miraflores

Panama City

I don't know what this building is but I thought it looked neat

We had two pilots onboard and if you really squint you can see one of them go from our ship to the pilot boat. I don't think you could pay me enough to jump from one to another.

Now we’re in the Pacific Ocean sailing north along the coast of Central America.  We have a sea day on the 16th and then we’ll be in Costa Rica.  Here are a couple of interesting pieces of trivia.  The sea level on the Pacific side of the canal is about 20 cm higher than on the Atlantic side. I don’t pretend to understand why but I’m told it has something to do with the density of water and prevailing weather and ocean conditions.  Another fact is that the name Pacific was given by Magellan in 1520 as he made his voyage around the world.  He didn’t survive the whole thing but we still call it his expedition.

It’s the 16th now and I had a very nice dinner last night in Solis with my friend Claudia and a guest speaker and his wife.  We had a great time and closed the restaurant down.  Today is a lazy, sea day.  A win at trivia is still eluding us on this leg of the voyage.  I don’t mind because on the previous segment my then team won all the available prizes, but I know my teammates would like a win or two.  We still have time.

This afternoon we have birds playing around in the draft of the ship.  This was the best shot I could get of one skimming along above the waves.

November 13 - - Cartagena de las Indias, Colombia

After three days at sea (which seemed to fly by!) we docked in Cartagena early in the morning on Wednesday.  I’ve been here before a long time ago so I didn’t plan on taking a ship’s excursion.  Two friends and I had planned to get a cab to go into town to  see the old city and to shop, just a clue – Colombia is famous for its emeralds.

This is a lovely city.  It was founded by the Spanish in 1533 and named after the Spanish city of Cartagena. A little interesting linguistic note is that the original Cartagena in southern Spain was named after Carthage in North Africa because it was founded around 227 BC by a Carthaginian general. The city lies on the Caribbean coast of the South American continent and close to the Isthmus of Panama.  Because of its location it was an important and strategic port for the importation of slaves and the exportation of silver, gold, and other products coming from the New World. The city was sacked and burned several times  by pirates, privateers and enemies of Spain, including Sir Francis Drake.  As a result of the attacks the King of Spain commissioned fortifications to be built and they were finally completed in the 1650’s.  At one time the city was protected by 29 stone forts and walls that were 16 miles long and in places 40 feet high and 50 feet wide. The principal fortress is the Castillo of San Felipe de Barajas which after its completion was the largest one constructed by Spain in the Americas.

The fortress system and city have a little interesting historical connection to Virginia.  In 1741 the English under the leadership of Edward Vernon laid siege to Cartagena.  The English had a large armada of ships and more than 25,000 troops, including 2000 American colonial infantry.  Among those was Lawrence Washington, George Washington’s half-brother.  When Lawrence inherited some family property in Virginia along the Potomac he named the house there after his commander, hence the name Mount Vernon.  George kept the name when he inherited the property.  The siege and attack were unsuccessful despite vastly outnumbering the Spanish.  The defender was Don Blas de Lezo whose statue is at the foot of the castle.  He is still considered a hero here.

Cartagena is a city of contrasts.  With a population of about 1.2 million it’s the fifth largest city in Colombia.  On one side of the bay are modern high-rise buildings and on the other is the charming and very Spanish old city with typical colonial architecture.  The streets are narrow and many of the houses have their stucco painted in bright colors.  There are wrought iron balconies with flower boxes with cascades of bright blossoms and the entrances are massive carved wooden doors.  The old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is easy to imagine that you’re in a city in Andalucia in Spain.

To get out of the port terminal area we had to pass through a small zoo.  We only walked through the area with lots of birds.  There were many parrots, flamingos and peacocks all roaming and flying around, and making lots of noise, with no enclosures to keep them there.  There is no reason for them to leave because there were food bowls full of ears of corn, papaya and watermelon everywhere.  They were well-fed birds.

A pair of happy flamingos

Isn't this guy gorgeous?

I couldn't persuade this guy to spread his feathers

I did zoom in on his tail feathers.  Look at those colors.

We hired a taxi driver named Teo to give us a little tour of the old city and to take us to a place where we could look at emeralds.  I sat in the front seat with Teo so I could practice my Spanish.  He spoke English better than I did his language, but I had fun remembering words I had forgotten.  I think if I stayed here for a while I would regain proficiency.  

Our first stop was a stop at the Castillo San Felipe.  We walked around the little park area at the foot of the fort.  To get to the top we would have had to walk up a series of ramps and steps which none of us wanted to do. I’m sure we would have had a great view, but between the hike and the heat and humidity, it wasn’t on our to-do list.  Next we drove into the old city.  Teo stopped at a little arcade in the shadow of the old wall.  There were several souvenir shops in the arcade, but the gem (literally) was a shop that sold emeralds.  We spent a lot of time there and we all found a memento of our visit to Cartagena.

Castillo San Felipe

Three amigas with Don Blas

After we’d taken care of business Teo took us on a slow tour through the old city.  As I mentioned the streets are very narrow and there’s an interesting design feature. Many of the streets are built with curves which allowed the resident defenders to hear their enemy coming through the city before they were visible, thus giving them time to prepare defenses street by street.  The exteriors of the old colonial buildings must be maintained but inside the owners can do whatever they like.  Teo told us something interesting about a way that the government incentivizes owners to keep some of the lovely old colonial homes.  As the older generations die some of the younger ones want to sell the properties and move to the high-rise condos which offer lots of amenities.  The government won’t tax the inherited property if they keep it and continue to use it for residential purposes in its colonial style, but  if the heirs decide they want to sell and get the money, they have to pay big inheritance taxes.  That’s a good way to maintain the character of the old city.

Old Cartagena

A peek into one of the courtyards these colonial buildings have

One of the many little plazas

Finally, it was time for Teo to take us back to the ship.  (We were also wilting from the heat and humidity – or at least I was.)  He was a great driver/guide and I got his name and contact information in case I come back here some time.

Last night we sailed later than we were originally scheduled to leave – no idea why.  We don’t have all that far to go because our next stop is the Panama Canal and we have a time slot for Friday morning.  There was a sailaway party on deck and I went and danced a little. For dinner my friends and I went to fried chicken night in the Colonnade, the casual venue.  We sat outside because it was a nice night and cooler than earlier in the day. Two of us made it to the show which was a second performance of the Australian-Japanese rock violinist.  I liked him better this time.  Then I have to admit I went down to the Club for a little while, but I was yawning so much I had to call it an early night.  I’m blaming it on the heat not age.

The skyline as we slowly sailed away

An almost full moon over Cartagena

Tomorrow is  a sea day so I’ll have plenty of time to rest if they don’t schedule too many fun things.  Of course, there’s the most important event of all – noon Trivia.