Buenos Aires to UK via Panama

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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 30
- dimanche 31 mars 2024 à 15:48
- ☀️ 29 °C
- Altitude: Niveau de la mer
- Panama Nuevo Cristóbal 9.39239, -79.9158949°23’33” N 79°54’57” W
1
Transit the Panama Canal
31 mars 2024, Panama ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Unlike yesterday we saw ships go through the locks on the Panama Canal today. One of them was ours.
Up before Sparrow Fart this morning (5:30am) to make sure I caught the action. Unlike the Suez Canal, where we missed the start, we entered the Canal at first light.
Going through the locks is quite interesting. Due to the squeeze tolerances you get pulled through the lock by these electric locomotives called 'mules'. Bearing in mind how complicated the whole process is, it's pretty quick. About 90 minutes at Miraflores which is two lifts. The set after at Pedro Miguel is one lift but it took ages to get the ship in. The wind was really strong and was blowing us around. We had to use the ships thrusters plus get a shove or two from a tug to get in. Even then we bumped the side a couple of times.
The first part of the canal from Panama City above the locks is fairly narrow and is a cut through a small range of hills. Pretty impressive for a job started in the 19th century. Then you pass into a big freshwater lake that was made by damming a river. Then drop down another set of locks (Gatun Locks) to the level of the Caribbean ( or is that Caribbean 🤔). Then is about 8km through a wide dredged channel to the sea.
I was out in the wind and sun for 7 hours. Wasn't going to miss any of it. Angela got me drinks etc coz she knows I'm nuts and loves me anyway.
I think I flattened every battery in every device that can take pictures I had.
In the process I saw a couple of shimmy lizard things that would not have been out of place in Australia. 3 or 4m long. I heavily suspect them to be American Crocodiles. Yes there is such a thing.
So we are now in the Caribbean ( or is that Caribbean 🤔) and heading for the island of Aruba, which is our last stop. Boo hoo! Then two days at sea to Miami, Florida, US of A where we plan to clear migration asap, go the the airport and bugger off to Sunny Wales.
Sorry about the lack of pictures. I was busy taking pictures but not on the phone.
So in summary we crossed the North American continent and a range of hills in a ship in 7 hours.En savoir plus
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Voyageur 🤣
01/04/2024Répondre
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 31
- lundi 1 avril 2024 à 08:12
- 🌬 27 °C
- Altitude: Niveau de la mer
- Caribbean Sea 11.258932, -75.90418711°15’32” N 75°54’15” W
At sea, Panama Canal to Aruba
1 avril 2024, Caribbean Sea ⋅ 🌬 27 °C
Well the Caribbean decided to be a bit lumpy today. Does not match the holiday brochures.
It will be crosswords, reading etc for the day. Might have a look at deck 10 as the upsy downsy weather might have thinned out the ranks of coughers.
Aruba tomorrow, which is our last stop.
Geek Fact: we are going to go past the most lightning prone place in the world but it might be too far away to see if it is going. They have lightning from 120 to 160 days per year. If you want to know more look up Catatumbo Lightning.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 32
- mardi 2 avril 2024 à 14:03
- 🌬 29 °C
- Altitude: Niveau de la mer
- Aruba Paardenbaai 12.516833, -70.04010512°31’1” N 70°2’24” W
Aruba
2 avril 2024, Aruba ⋅ 🌬 29 °C
In Aruba today, as in 'Aruba, Bahama, c'mon pretty mama'. Quite a small island and along with Curacao next door were once Dutch possessions. Neat little place with lots of colonial Dutch architecture. Also lots of shops if you like Bvlgari, Gucci etc. Was tempted to try one of the waterfront restaurants for lunch, but I was starving by the time we got back.
Anyway, this was our last excursion, and we booked a hi octane, non turbo charged adventure driving a side by side off road buggy thing to see the sights of Aruba. Sounded great, then I find I am going to have to drive on the road as well, and they drive on the wrong side here. To add to the fun, we drove out to the back blocks via the main road and multiple roundabouts where you have to remember to give way to the left. The locals have obviously decided that not killing tourists is a good idea, and they stop and let you through.
The off-road bits were quite fun except for the person in front of us in the convoy that thought the throttle was an on/off switch. Every time he accelerated, we got filled in.
Did a really steep hill. Had to climb up and over. Lots of ruts, rocks (big), and washouts. I found we have no footage of that as the camera person had her eyes closed for most of it. We are going to have to have a talk about what constitutes good content.
The last stop was quite a nice sheltered beach (Savaneta Beach?). Angela parked herself in the shade, and I went for a paddle and looked at the tropical fish in the shallows. Nice.
Anyway, we got back in once piece, dirty, hungry, and somewhat stressed out but wouldn't have missed it for quids.
That's the last stop. Sigh... two days at sea, then the U S of A, where we get off and flit off to the UK.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 33
- mercredi 3 avril 2024 à 10:30
- 🌬 27 °C
- Altitude: Niveau de la mer
- Caribbean Sea 17.576021, -74.83595917°34’34” N 74°50’9” W
Aruba to Fort Lauderdale - Day 1
3 avril 2024, Caribbean Sea ⋅ 🌬 27 °C
Day at sea on the way to Fort Lauderdale, end point of the cruise.
Did a fair bit of packing today. Don't want to have a last minute panic.
Other than that it's the usual routine. Find a corner away from the germ distributors, crosswords, books, and get photos off devices. I've added a couple of pix from yesterday, I got off the 360 camera if anyone is interested.
Going to pass between Haiti and Cuba later today. It's probably too far away to see anything.
Cooks are putting on an Indonesian lunch today. 😋 Hope I can get some chicken rendang or ikan bilis. Probably not. I'll settle for whatever I can get.
PS - they are listening. They just played 'Cocomo' by the Beach Boys on the background music. Never done that before. Why is that creepy? Google the lyrics.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 34
- jeudi 4 avril 2024 à 16:05
- ☀️ 27 °C
- Altitude: Niveau de la mer
- North Atlantic Ocean 22.262561, -77.55946822°15’45” N 77°33’34” W
Final Day- At sea to Fort Lauderdale
4 avril 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Last day today. Have done 90% of packing and weighed the cases. Didn't buy many souvenirs, so we are well within weight.
I have run out of books, so I did 4 crosswords so far today. No whales, etc, so there is not much to photograph.
Off the coast of Cuba ATM. Not as high as the coast of Haiti, so we see only glimpses. The sea is pretty calm. I think we are sheltered by the Bahamas.
We're just having a hot dog for lunch . Food on this ship has been a bit ordinary, but the hot dogs are nice.
Weird food observation. They have sweet Danish pastries and iced doughnuts on the buffet for breakfast but not for morning or afternoon tea. Um, why is that?
Hoping everything goes OK with immigration, customs, etc, with all my meds tomorrow.
Oh, the pool area was invaded with towel animals again. Have to be careful around the crocodile.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 35
- vendredi 5 avril 2024 à 08:18
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 6 m
- États Unis Lauderdale Small Boat Club Marina 26.070379, -80.15453426°4’13” N 80°9’16” W
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
5 avril 2024, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
At the airport. It's really close to where the ship docked.
Got through immigration and security OK. I was naughty and left some (non metallic) items in my pocket and you are not supposed to. Have a couple of hours to wait for the flight but that time was 'insurance' in case there were problems.
Just bought some water and had a look at our change. The coins are weird. It's hard to work out what they are. They have a 25c piece that says in tiny writing 'quarter dollar' and what I presume is 10c says 'dime'. 5 cents actually says 5 cents. It's a bit weird.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 37
- dimanche 7 avril 2024 à 18:12
- 🌬 12 °C
- Altitude: 74 m
- Pays de Galles Llanelian-yn-Rhôs 53.276574, -3.6933853°16’36” N 3°41’36” W
Fort Lauderdale - Wales via Dallas
7 avril 2024, Pays de Galles ⋅ 🌬 12 °C
Flight from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas was somewhat disorganised to say the least. Hung around taking on bags etc for a half hour after our scheduled departure. They had to put out several calls reminding people it was a full plane and if they had more than one cabin bag to check it in as hold luggage. This is happening at the gate.
Made it to Dallas late and had to get our asses across to another terminal for the Dallas to London flight. Just made it by the skin of our teeth.
Interesting scenery on the way. Crossed the Mississippi delta and on the London leg saw what used to be the Francis Scott key bridge complete with stuck ship.
Arrived at Heathrow and sorted the hire car. Proceeded to drive to to where we were meeting one of Angela's relatives for breakfast. As a prelude to the age of AI the dopey car navigation took us out of the airport and then through one of the car parks to get to the road it want. That cost us 7 quid. Thanks.
Then off to Wales where we are staying with the people who we went to Uganda with. 4 hrs on a busy freeway and we are dead tired. Made it in one piece though.
Fish and chips for dinner. Better than any the the ship served up and then crashed into bed. The hire car wasn't finished with us yet. The car alarm went off a couple of times in the night due to strong winds. Sigh...En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 37
- dimanche 7 avril 2024 à 18:36
- 🌬 12 °C
- Altitude: 74 m
- Pays de Galles Llanelian-yn-Rhôs 53.276581, -3.69339353°16’36” N 3°41’36” W
Llandudno and the Great Orme
7 avril 2024, Pays de Galles ⋅ 🌬 12 °C
Some sightseeing today. Weather is very UK. Went to have a ride on the cable tramway up a local feature called the Great Orme, which is a big hill/península down the coast. Had breakfast at the sea front and went to Llandudno. Tram was not running due to high winds. Sigh.. Andy and I decided to walk up and Angela and Jan went off to have a coffee/tea.
Long story short, it was effing steep but we got there. The wind at the top was so strong that we were nearly blown over. Hard to hold the camera steady so few pictures. It took about 1/3 of the time it took to go up to get back down again.
Llandudno is a very British seaside town with lots of neat buildings I presume are Georgian and a gently sloping rocky beach that would be nice when the tide is in.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 38
- lundi 8 avril 2024 à 15:23
- ☁️ 12 °C
- Altitude: 75 m
- Pays de Galles Llanelian-yn-Rhôs 53.27673, -3.69313453°16’36” N 3°41’35” W
1
Trip to Anglesey
8 avril 2024, Pays de Galles ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Quick trip over to the Isle of Anglesey to have a look around and have lunch at Red Wharf Bay. No boats involved, you can just drive over one of the bridges.
Had a look around Beaumaris on the Menai Strait. Very pretty. People were crabbing on the pier and the Life Boat shed was open so we had a look at that and donated our change as they are an all volunteer organisation.
Walked along the beach in front of the Red Wharf tavern. Short walk at the time but we watched the tide go out over lunch. Then you could have done a really long walk.
I am feeling somewhat cr*p. The cough zombies on the ship succeeded and I have the surgical. Embarrassing to bring foreign germs into a friend's house. Trying to mask up in the car etc. Not too many pix. I am focusing on YouTube footage. 😞En savoir plus
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Voyageur 🤣
09/04/2024Répondre
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 39
- mardi 9 avril 2024 à 14:28
- 🌬 11 °C
- Altitude: 69 m
- Angleterre Waterperry 51.738078, -1.09716951°44’17” N 1°5’50” W
Heading South to North Fleet
9 avril 2024, Angleterre ⋅ 🌬 11 °C
On the road again today heading south to visit more of Angela's rellies. Been tipping it down with rain but that has eased off as we have come south.
It's only 450km but the motorways are very busy and the spray off all the trucks makes it hard to see. Not like a nice easy run to Albany.
Have stopped for a break near Oxford. Nice cup of tea and coffee. It has warmed up to 11 degrees. Phew!
Have been seeing some interesting cars. Followed an Overfinch Range Rover this morning. Overfinch does custom vehicles based on Land Rover/Range Rovers. The one we saw this morning would set you back maybe $400,000 +. If you don't have that then you can get something based on an old model 110 for about $140,000. Budget model :)
OK let's hit the road again.
Actually have seen 2 Landcruisers (compared to 54 gazillion Land Rovers). Both near London. They must be towns cars.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 40
- mercredi 10 avril 2024 à 14:15
- ☁️ 13 °C
- Altitude: 37 m
- Angleterre The View from the Shard 51.50454, -0.08651151°30’16” N 0°5’11” W
Visit London
10 avril 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
Day trip to London today. In by train with Julie and Carolyn so we don't have to find parking. Get a day pass at Swanley Station and head off to the city. First stop, Tower Bridge. I have seen it before but never walked across it. Got to walk across both at street level and inside the horizontal bits that support the two towers. Part of the floor is glass so you can look down on the bridge deck and the river. Super interesting although we didn't get to see the bridge lift.
Second stop, the Shard, for afternoon tea. We had a drink at a pub on the bank of the Thames on the way.
Afternoon tea is not cheap but it's a challenge to eat it all, especially the lolly crocodiles. View is great, especially when relieving the bladder pressure in the gents.
Then off ,er St James and the Guards but they were all closed up. It was damp and rainy so the horses may have gone on strike.
Back around Trafalgar Square to Charing Cross station. It's Monopoly for real but way more interesting.
Maybe off to Brooklands tomorrow. Birthplace of British motor racing and has a motor museum. I think they have a Concorde there.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 41
- jeudi 11 avril 2024 à 17:36
- ☁️ 18 °C
- Altitude: 28 m
- Angleterre Gravesend 51.442568, 0.35020551°26’33” N 0°21’1” E
Trip to Brooklands
11 avril 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Trundled an hour round the M25 to Brooklands which is probably the birthplace of world motorsport and also had a facility there that developed aircraft including the Concorde. The attraction for me is the motor museum and a small aircraft museum.
Wound up parking on the old circuit. It's a shame but the old banked corners seem to have gone.
Was some very nice cars and bikes there. Angela was drooling over an old Bentley. Not a supercharged job but so fast it had brakes on all 4 wheels!
For me the big attraction was the Concorde in the air museum. I have seen them flying but never up close. Although it is considered small by passenger numbers it's way bigger than I imagined. Close up it is more beautiful than from a distance. Shame there are no SSTs flying today.
There was an option to see inside but it was all booked out. Much sadness. I would have loved to see the interior and sit in one of the seats.
Not planning on going anywhere tomorrow. Out in the evening for a curry. Mmmmmm :)En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 42
- vendredi 12 avril 2024 à 11:32
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 28 m
- Angleterre Gravesend 51.442533, 0.35023751°26’33” N 0°21’1” E
Stay at Home Day
12 avril 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Staying in today. Took a bit of a stroll around Northfleet and Gravesend where we are staying. Can see across the Thames to Tilbury Docks.
Had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Very yummy.
I'll post some pix of the general area.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 44
- dimanche 14 avril 2024 à 19:50
- ☁️ 11 °C
- Altitude: 21 m
- Angleterre Heathrow Terminal 4 51.460333, -0.44805251°27’37” N 0°26’53” W
Last Day - For this trip
14 avril 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Last day for the trip today. Repacked the cases and packs. Serious cameras etc all put away. Our flight isn't until 9pmish but the hire car had to be back by 5:00pm. After some hold-ups on the motorway we made it with 10 minutes to spare
Just veging and waiting for our flight now. Don't know what gate we should be at yet. 12hrs or so to Malaysia and the 5hrs home. It's been a long trip.
Have included a photo of a British kebab. Different to what I am used to and way bigger. Could not eat it all.En savoir plus
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Buenos Aires to UK via Panama
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- Jour 45
- lundi 15 avril 2024 à 18:39
- 🌩️ 30 °C
- Altitude: 60 m
- Malaisie Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2.747022, 101.7124712°44’49” N 101°42’45” E
Most of the way home
15 avril 2024, Malaisie ⋅ 🌩️ 30 °C
Made it to Kuala Lumpur. 12hr flight from Heathrow. Got some sleep.
First part of the trip was a long haul over land. Apart from the channel, Black Sea and Caspian Sea we did not cross an ocean until after crossing India.
Breakfast was Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang. Yum. Also some Ikan Bilis but I could not eat that. Very dry and made me choke. Problem is I lurv ikan bilis. A curse on people with coughs that can't mask up.
Landed in the middle of the afternoon thunder storm. Pretty smooth landing considering. We are right down the back on the run to Perth so I hope there isn't a big easterly there to give us a bumpy landing.
A few hours to go and I can cough my lungs up in the privacy of my own home.En savoir plus
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Fin du voyage
16 avril 2024