WHAT'S IT TAHUYA?

Cruise to the Panama Canal

I was fortunate to go on a 10 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to the Panama Canal with a long time good college friend, Colleen. Here's a glimpse of the past 12 days:

Day 1, 1/28 at Sea-Tac airport:

Day 2, 1/29 leaving Ft. Lauderdale on the Island Princess:
Day 3, 1/30 - first formal evening:

Day 4, 1/31 Sea Day:

Day 5, 2/1 Aruba (Aruba is only 74 square miles):

Day 6, 2/2 Cartagena, Columbia:

There's a fortress and protective wall around the city:

View from the fort:

Day 7, 2/3 Panama Canal:

We went through the Gatun Locks to Gatun Lake, and re-exited through the same locks several hours later - a set of 3 trains on each side of the ship pulled our cruise ship through the locks, with only a foot to spare on each side of the ship. An additional lock is under construction to accommodate much larger ships - it's set to be ready by 2014. We saw lots of excavation in preparation for the new locks.

Exiting into the Caribbean Sea:

Day 8, 2/4 Costa Rica.. Note the sloth hanging in the middle; he was green with algae:

We rode an aerial tram for 2 miles through the jungle:

Day 9, 2/5 another day at sea:

Day 10, 2/6 Ocho Rios, Jamaica:

View of our ship from Jamaica's shore:

I wish I'd had this shirt when I first went shopping in Jamaica:

Day 11, 2/7, our final day at sea - our wonderful waiters Donn (Me) & Kitti:

Day 12, 2/8 - we spent the day in Ft. Lauderdale and expored the sites of the luxury yachts and homes from an intercoastal water taxi:

Colleen:

We had lunch at the Café La Bonne Crepe, where Joe & I dined two days in a row several years ago. It was just as good now as it was then.

We met some great people on our cruise: Bob & Joyce (Colleen) and Irene and Mike from New York:

(Colleen) Ken & Barbie (Me) from Palm Beach: