Crossing The Line and Panama
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2007
1
24
42
Trip End
May 18, 2007
Panama City,
Panama
Monday, April 2, 2007
This day was dominated by a crossing the line ceremony, a long held maritime event which Liz had been involved in as a child when transversing the globe. The basis of the ceremony is to present to King Neptune and his wife, invariably a man dressed as a woman (any opportunity will do!), various members of the crew and passengers, who either have not previously crossed the line, or are accused of some trumped up misdemeanour or two. Once all are found summarily guilty a process of covering them in every diabolical thing possible ensues - eggs, spaghetti, chocolate sauce etc. - a demonic barber is then introduced to remove some of this and finally all are dumped into the pool, which amusingly included the 'mister cool and collected' cruise director.
We were lucky enough to be asked if we wanted to join some fellow travellers in a venture ashore the next day to Panama which we happily accepted and so it was an early night ahead of an early wakening the next day.
Saturday 31st March - Panama via Bilboa
Up early for breakfast, meet up of the group, and transfer via tender into Fuerte Amador/Bilboa. Tendering is where the ship is anchored some way out of port and tenders are used to transfer passengers to the harbour - a process that Ian loves and Liz/Josh endure! Once in with the party we negotiate with a local driver for the hire of his van for the day - by the time we complete the arrangements another 2 people have joined us and the party consists of 9. The driver - Carlos - is an excellent guide to the area and gives us a running commentary of Panamanian history as we tour the area. We try to get a train ride alongside The Panama Canal but it's sold out - big disappointment for Josh but he handles it well. We toured the old and new parts of Panama City and, as so often, there are amazing contrasts of gleaming high rise residencies almost alongside shanty town buildings. The earliest parts of the city built by the Spanish were ransacked by pirates and the Spanish moved to another area, where many monuments and buildings still exist, along with a strong French influence which, strangely, combines into a rather Italian looking area. From there we headed towards the canal, running alongside and then turning into an eco-style area for lunch at a hotel overlooking one of the many lakes in the region - it was a beautiful setting and with a keen eye you could spot the odd hummingbird and a variety of fish and other birds. After lunch we went to Canal Visitors Centre and watched a major container ship negotiating the locks. On the way back we saw more of the city and harbour area as the ship came into view. Overall an excellent day that everybody enjoyed - not always easy to do with that many people involved. Carlos had been an excellent host and thoroughly deserved his fee for the day, which in turn saved each person considerably in comparison to the ships' arranged tours, and gave us much greater freedom and flexibility.
Sunday April 1st - at sea
Today was a relaxing day after yesterday's tour. We spent several hours based at a table near the windows just looking out at sea and observing, as this area around the south coast of Panama heading towards Costa Rica, is renowned for its' abundance and variety of wildlife. Over some time we spotted several turtles, dolphins, swordfish, flying fish, another large fish with electric blue colouring and distinctive wide fins, and birds constantly diving for fish right alongside the ship.
