Panama Canal Cruise Trip
Date: October 14 to 28, 2012
Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles
Countries: Aruba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico
Ports called:
Oranjestad, Aruba
Cartagena, Colombia
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
1. Aruba
This is a small island country, it used to be a Dutch colony. There is one Internal Airport - Queen Beatrix. It is a very clean country. Vacation in this island is not cheap, it is more expensive than other Caribbean islands.
2. Cartagena, Colombia
When I was on the van from Fort Lauderdale airport to port Everglades, the driver told me he is from Colombia. I was chatting with him and told him we will get to Colombia, the place is Cartagena. The pronunciation sounds like car-ta-ge-na, he could not understand this place so I showed him the place. He said it should pronounce as car-ta-hen-na. Oh, no wonder - Spanish.
The old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is very interesting to me. We used the vendors at terminal to do our excursion. The price is much cheaper, they charge only $20 per person. It is like a tour with mini-bus, better than city drive. The old city is very beautiful, somehow, I feel it is like Havana.
3. Panama Canal crossing
From Caribbean Sea to Pacific ocean:
Early morning, Coral Princess reached Gatun Locks, most people were excited and found anywhere they could see the canal. It looks like cruise ship has been pre-arranged to get through in daytime. There were many ships are waiting in the ocean for their turns. Please see below pictures from Gatun Locks to Miraflores Locks. From the log of the cruise -
06:08 Pilot onboard
07:20 entering Gatun Locks
09:09 exiting Gatun Locks and waiting on traffic to process through Gatun Lake
14:07 entering San Pedro Miguel Locks
15:05 exiting San Pedro Miguel Locks
15:27 entering Miraflores Locks
16:25 exit from Miraflores Locks into Pacific Ocean
The crossing takes one day. No wonder, the canal can only take about 40 ships to cross per day (24 hrs).
Bridges - Centennial Bridge and Bridge of the Americas
4. Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Use the local tour vendor at pier, they are pretty honest. We paid $30 per person to see crocodile river, rain forest, city drive, a famous church. The rain forest region, so raining is common and could be anytime. Tour guide works for a church and guiding is his part-time job. The place is pretty safe. I believe we all have tasted Costa Rica fruits - banana and pineapple. Along the beach, there is a large flee market. We had sampled local beer in the city.
