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Panama Canal cruise
  • WendyTravels
  • WendyTravels

Panama Canal cruise

Christmas getaway - one-way cruise from LA to Ft. Lauderdale with a couple extra days in the Keys. Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 19, 2024
    WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler
    1

    Embarkation

    December 19, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    And we're off! Eaten too much already with some beautiful people, including a lady celebrating her 90th with her children. The whole cruise thing reminds me of Mom and how much she loooved cruising; missing her a lot.

    2 days at sea and then stopping in Puerto Vallarta.    Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler
    Pic from day before as we passed southern tip of Baja California and Cabo San Lucas
    Coming into PV41Looking at part of PV and Sam's from our berth

    1st day in port - Puerto Vallarta

    December 22, 2024, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌙 79 °F

    After 2+ days at sea (totally calm...perfect weather) we docked in Puerto Vallarta. We had whale watching tickets for 12:30 but were a little concerned about making it back to the ship on time, so we switched so we could go see whales with our new friends from DC area. Thar be whales, captain! Lots, as this is their birthing grounds. Hopped over to Sam's for some cheapy stuff and to practice my Español some more. Great day.Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler

    Huatulco port

    December 24, 2024, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    After another day at sea (saw a huge pod of dolphins next to us for part of the way!) we arrived in Huatulco, Oaxaca (home of mezcal, apparently). Wandered in nearby La Crucecita (beautiful church), ate shrimp ceviche on the beach, and swam in the perfect-temperature ocean. Fun caroling in the atrium after dinner and then a magician and game show competition against the staff (we guests won) to wind out the evening.
    Christmas tomorrow - come Lord Jesus!    Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler
    This cargo ship next to our ship was loaded with bananas!

    Puerto Chiapas - Izapa and Tapachula, MX

    December 25, 2024, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    Feliz Navidad! Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your willingness to give up Your throne and come to Earth to bring us new life! What a selfless, loving God You are!

    Port day waaayyy South in Mexico (a few miles from Guatemala). Ship excursion (since we weren't sure what would be open) to 3500 year old Mayan ruins! Amazing; really gets my curiosity going. Then a chamber-of-commerce tour of the regional town, Tapachula.

    Dressy night for Christmas dinner with our new friends, Don and Diane. Then my amazing husband booked us a Swedish couples massage as a surprise Christmas present. Gotta love a man who knows my love language! 💕

    Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.    Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler
    22Happened to see a rare, protected Macaw on the drive back. (If u can c it!)3You had me at CONDENSED MILK!3Gator with a dead/bloated lizard - cool!

    Puntarenas, Costa Rica

    December 27, 2024 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    So I'm certainly not the stenographer my friend, Laura, is on this app; I completely forgot to write anything last night, but some of that is because I'm fighting something.

    Port in Costa Rica yesterday and took an excursion on a crocodile cruise - very cool! Lots of big Crocs, turtles, lizards, monkeys, and a gazillion birds.

    Upon returning to the Port (Puntarenas means sandy point, BTW), Greg went back to the ship and I ventured out to have a Churchill A Churchill (apparently the guy it's named after looked like Winston). Snow cone meets fruit meets condensed milk. You're not missing much) and find a farmacía for some throat spray. My español is sufficing.    Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler
    Ultra-modern cruise terminal so we didn't have to tender (take a boat to shore).
    Former barracks from when US was here now turned into local housing and business offices.Very nice Museo de Canal included history on Panama and it's complicated history with the US.So many cool, modern buildings.Bella calling people to mass in the old town (Casco Viejo).

    Fuerte Amador (Panama City)

    December 29, 2024 in Panama ⋅ 🌧 81 °F

    Docking outside Panama City for the day before we head into the canal (soooo excited!) and booked a private guide for a look at the canal plus old and new city. (BTW, Fuerte Amador - "Fuerte" means "strong" because the army used to be stationed here; Amador is the name of the first president of Amazon when it gained independence .) Gilberto was a sweet guy and let us pop in and out of museums (and supermercado for snacks).

    Actually really liked this city. (And in case you haven't read up on Panama lately, it became its own country in 1903 just before the US took over the canal digging after France failed. (Used to be part of Colombia.) Finished in 1914...the same day WW1 started and the US had a 10 mile swathe with the canal they totally controlled. Eventually Panama got tired of the US being so entrenched in their country and President Carter signed it back over to the Panamanians, which finally happened in 1999. In 2016 the new, wider canal opened to accommodate the bigger ships of today. Canal revenues are 1/3 of their economy. ($1.2M was the most fees ever on a cargo ship a few years ago.) Plus Manuel Noriega and other controversial stuff we're still trying to catch up on. Fascinating if you like history!)    Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler
    Bridge of the Americas (Pan American highway)The morning crowd, looking up at the bridgeOne of the 8 mules (4 each side) that pull us and keep us from running into things.Vehicle carrier going in before us

    Transit through the Canal - old locks

    December 30, 2024 in Panama ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    I think I was channeling my inner-Dad mechanical engineering nerd today as we went through this amazing place. After reading McCullough's Path Between the Seas it was amazing to actually see it.

    In brief, finished in 1914 after a failed French attempt and had been going ever since-still using original locks and everything! In 2016 Panama built a new canal for the bigger ships, but the old is still used. 2 locks up at the Pacific, a small manmade lake they use for refilling, another lock up, the HUGE Gatun lake, then 3 more locks down and voilá, the Caribbean!

    We had great weather and I got up at o'dark-thirty to get a great spot up front to watch. It was in some ways like watching very cool paint dry as it's a slow process to hook us to the "mules" and close and open lock gates, etc. But worth it! Highly recommend.

    If you want to read more on Carter and the Canal, here you go: How the Panama Canal affects Jimmy Carter's legacy https://www.npr.org/2024/12/29/1161146405/presi…    Read more

  • WendyTravelsPanama Canal cruiseTraveler

    Cartagena, Colombia

    December 31, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    Who woulda think we would have liked Cartagena, Colombia so much! Our first foray into South America and last port before we hit Fort Lauderdale after 3 days at sea.

    Cartagena was (of course) colonized by the Spanish, a couple dozen years after Columbus. Because it's a port city facing the Atlantic it was a very popular pirate spot after the Spanish started pulling the gold out (Henry Morgan and Francis Drake, who were both working on the sly for Queen Elizabeth I).

    All that pirating made Cartagena have to develop a giant wall fortification over the course of 400 years, and it's one of the longest lasting and best preserved walls in the world. These walls surround the beautiful old city of Getsemaní, which has lots of colorful buildings) and colonial architecture elsewhere nearby.

    Because Greg has some serious plantar fascitis going we couldn't walk around so we did the hop-on/hop-off, but we both would have loved to have walked around despite the incredibly oppressive humidity. At least it hasn't rained on us! They keep saying "100% chance" of rain and we keep getting lucky.

    Loved using my Spanish again.
    Bye Americas! Hope to see you again!    Read more

  • Trip end
    January 8, 2025
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