Mace Trip to the Panama Canal and beyond

Our last day at sea and it was very relaxing and informative as well.  We started with a lovely breakfast after sleeping in, again, and followed this up by walking 3 miles (12 laps) around the ship on its walking deck.  Today there was only one person walking the "wrong" way (counterclockwise) and he wasn't getting in anyone's way.  There were a lot more people out walking, though, and who could resist the beautiful weather and views of the lovely blue Gulf of Mexico as we edged closer to Ft. Lauderdale. After walking, we adjourned to the Star Theater for our last port talk, and this one was on Christopher Columbus.  That was fitting because he was really the one who got this whole Central America thing started!  I was anxious to hear what this historian had to say since, as of late, the word on him has been, at best, a mixed bag.  Even in my hometown of Columbus, we've struggled with just what to do with his statue that was removed a few years ago from the...

As I suggested in yesterday's post, not much was expected to happen today as we're at sea the next two days en route to Ft. Lauderdale for our disembarkation.  It did cause me to reflect on how much I enjoy spending time with Cheryl, though, because there were really no distractions.  And, consequently, I've enjoyed the opportunity to be with my best friend in life. We slept in (until 7:00 a.m. which is late  for me since I'm usually up at 5:00 a.m.), had breakfast, and then I went to a port talk on the various explorers who found their way from both Europe and China toward the Americas.  The speaker was an English professor and she was just o.k.  The knowledge was there but the presentation was really lacking.  I always prided myself on this aspect of teaching when I spent five years as a radiography educator, and at the risk of being judgmental, it wasn't great.  Could've been a lot better but it was one of those "pass the time" events. After that, w...

Cozumel, Mexico on Saturday, December 27.  This is our last shore excursion and we spend the next two days cruising at sea (about 600 nautical miles) from here to Ft. Lauderdale where we disembark.  And, today, we were treated to the best  weather of the whole trip - sunny, blue skies, low 80 degree temperatures on this beautiful island off the coast of Mexico. There were a ton of optional shore visits, mostly centered on eating and drinking local drinks (e.g., tequila).  We passed on them, anticipating (correctly so) that the ship would be putting out a Mexican spread this evening.  Instead, we chose the "included" (no extra cost) visit to the Mayan Ruins of San Gervasio, mostly because it cited a length of only 2.5 hours (and not 4, 5, or more hours like the others). San Gervasio is an archaeologic site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization.  Its pre-Hispanic name was Tantun Cuzamil, Mayan for "Flat Rock in the Place of the Swallows", and once a hub of w...

The day after Christmas and we're in Belize City, Belize. It is a Central American country know for its coast, dense jungles, Mayan ruins, and the Belize Barrier Reef, the second largest barrier reef system globally!  Formerly British Honduras, it gained its independence in 1981 although it remains a Commonwealth member and is the only English-speaking nation in Central America. Today's activities centered on, first, an airboat ride through a beautiful mangrove lagoon and marsh, followed by a cooking class and lunch.  We took about a 45-minute bus ride to get to a facility named "Chukka".  The name made me think of Chukka boots when I was a kid.  Being the third of three children, I certainly got more perquisites than my brother and sister ahead of me and, surprisingly, my parents sprung for a pair of Chukka boots.  I thought I was the coolest! Like many of the days on this trip, the sky was overcast and I had my fingers crossed that we would avoid any rain....

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, was a day of sailing toward today's destination, Roatan, Honduras.  The weather was very nice - sunny against the backdrop of the beautiful blue seas of the Caribbean.   We capped our Christmas Eve evening with dinner onboard at the upscale "The Restaurant".  We had eaten in this restaurant on a previous cruise and its casual elegance dress requirement stymied me - no shorts, no tennis shoes, no service - I had to go back to my room and put on something a bit more casually elegant.  I was miffed to say the least, but went along with the rules as it was either stick it to the man (and not eat dinner) or have a nice meal.   This time I was prepared.  Cheryl and I split a lovely steak with peppercorns (not quite Hyde Park in Columbus) but pretty darned good), and I broke out the Bulleit Rye as my usual steak accompaniment.  After this, we decided to call it an evening and prepare for tomorrow in Roatan, Honduras. A...

Today, Tuesday, December 23, got off to an ignominious start.  We were advised last evening that we'd be changing time zones and that we'd need to set our clocks back an hour.  "No problem" I asserted as we both have iPhones and surely they'll set themselves back.  Oops.  They didn't.  When we got up at what we thought was 6:10 a.m., I thought I'd better just check what time it really was.  First, the TV told me it was 5:10 a.m. - uh oh.  Then, I thought I'll just call down to Guest Services to doublecheck.  Sure enough, it was 5:10 a.m.  What good is it to have a feature on the iPhone for automatic updates to time zone if it doesn't actually do that? Anyway, we didn't let that little snafu dampen our enthusiasm for today's trip to the Veragua Rain Forest.  And, Cheryl got in the mood right away as we left the ship in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, taking up the position of guest dancer for the band playing on the dock (3 guys with guitar, co...

Last night coming out of the Panama Canal, the wind was blowing up the ocean pretty significantly as we made our way to Colon, Panama for our third day.  It was kind of funny seeing people walking down the hallways like they were drunk as the ship was definitely bouncing around.  I worried, at first, that I might get seasick but that didn't happen and I was glad for that.  It continued throughout the evening until we docked in Colon about 4 a.m., so sleep was a bit disrupted. We awoke about 6 a.m. and were ready for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. to allow time before our shore excursion. Viking offers a variety of shore excursions each day.  There's always one that is "included" with the overall cruise package and several others that are "optional", sometimes costly and other times pretty reasonable.  We started off with our first shore excursion on this trip with the "included" one - a visit to Fort San Lorenzo which was about 8 miles from where our ship ...

Today we spent the day traversing the Panama Canal. It was fascinating, for sure, but somehow very tiring and we never left the ship. We worked in TWO naps - a really good mark for two old people - and still got the entire Panama Canal experience.   Perhaps we were just recovering from two nights ago in Columbus when we were up at 2:15 a.m. The Canal is a 50 mile waterway that connects the Caribbean with the Pacific Ocean. In fact, it is the only place in the world where the sun rises in the Pacific Ocean and sets in the Atlantic, believe it or not.  The French actually initiated construction of it in the 1880s based on their significant achievement of creating the Suez Canal in Egypt. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong plan and tried to connect the two oceans on a sea-level basis. After losing upwards of 20,000 men to malaria, yellow fever, or work accidents as well as running out of money, they abandoned their quest after about a decade. Along comes Teddy Rooseve...

I know it is warming up in Columbus, but it is HOT!! here in Panama - 85 degrees on arrival.   Good thing I packed some shorts and t-shirts because I'm going to need them! We had set our alarm last night at home for an awake time of 2:30 a.m., but we found ourselves wide awake at 2:15 a.m. with great anticipation of the day ahead.  Why so early you ask?  Our Uber to the airport came at 3:45 a.m. for our 6 a.m. departure to, first, Atlanta.  Our driver, Prince, was about half asleep (as anyone should be at that time of day) but managed to get us to the airport in a quick 15 minutes, and check-in went without any snafus. Our first flight at 6 a.m. was a one-hour flight and actually worse than the nearly four-hour flight from there to Panama City.  Why?  I was in the middle seat (trying to be a gentleman for my wife) and the lady to the left of me was, shall we say, large.  That caused me to sit at an angle for the entire flight and my back hurt like...

Sort of out of nowhere this summer, Cheryl and I decided that it was time to stop talking about visiting the Panama Canal and actually do it!   We leave on Saturday, 12/20 for ten days on a Viking ocean cruise from Panama City (Fuerte Amador), Panama to end up ten days later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Why Panama?  My dad spent a couple of years there before World War II, in the service as a fledgling medic (skills he put to good use later on in Europe as part of Patton's vaunted Third Army).  I have a photo album of him and his buddies and some of the sights, and more than a few stories of his time there and, well, I was captivated by all of this as a child.  So, we're going to see for ourselves. But over Christmas?  Yes, we'll actually be in Honduras on December 25 and looking forward to an untraditional celebration.  We're hoping to have all three kids and families with us next Christmas so this seemed to present an ideal time. We've got quite a nic...