Day 1 - Saturday December 7, 2013 - Gatun Locks

I am typing to you from the lounge on the Sea Lion. We are docked in Gatun Lake after having gone through the Gatun Locks.

We were up early - 5:30, packed, checked out, took the train to the terminal, checked in, went through security, and took off on time. We had a seat between us which was nice. The flight was almost 4 hours from Houston.

Immigration in Panama was interesting. We had to get both hands and thumbs finger-printed and get a picture taken. Strange.

No one was there to meet us, but we had instructions on where to meet after the flight from Miami came in. So we just hung out and waited. The Miami flight was delayed, but I finally found the Nat Geo rep who gave us forms to fill out for Wed when we go in to Costa Rica. Eventually the Miami crowd arrived.

We finally got loaded on to the bus and headed north to Colon. It took about an hour, but they had small Subway sandwiches with a banana, chips and cookies to tide us over. Most of the people on the bus were quite pleasant.

We boarded the Sea Lion and lo and behold, two of the Nat Geo guys were guys we were with in March, and they recognized us! We went to our rooms and had to immediately get our life jackets and head to the lounge for our safety briefing. We got under way while the briefing was being held.

Then we went in for a buffet dinner. I went outside first to see the Gatun locks ahead. I went in and had a quick bite. They had salad, pasta, a chicken dish, and some great mahi mahi in a citrus sauce, broccoli, roasted baby potatoes. I got a piece of fish and some broccoli and potatoes, and then left to go outside and see where we were.

It was dark when we boarded, but the locks are lit brightly. It took a couple of hours to approach the locks (3 of them) and make it all the way through. We went through with a larger ship in front of us.

So much to watch. The pilot and line handlers were loaded on board. Lines were hooked up to the locomotives who basically just guide the ships through the canals. There was even a female line handler. It was a typical lock transit....water filled in, locks opened, on to the next lock, fill, etc.

There is one other lady here in the lounge with me writing her journal by hand. Everyone seems quite pleasant so far. The crew is awesome. Our lead guy was on the Sea Lion in March when it hit the rocks. He found it funny that we were waiting for him in San Jose.

Day 2 - Sunday December 8, 2013 – Transiting the Canal

It was a busy day, beautiful and amazing day today.  The weather was hot and humid, but at least it wasn't raining.  It is Mother's Day in Panama.  They celebrate it twice a year!!  Nice tradition, but I was thinking once a month would also work!  

The Sea Lion is the only ship allowed to interrupt the Canal transit and anchor in Gatun Lake.  It was a very calm night.

Bill woke me up at 6:15 when he got up.  I had showered last night before I went to bed, so I just threw on some clothes and walked the 10 feet to the lounge for coffee.  We had started moving from our anchorage and soon were located fairly close to Barro Colorado Island, the Smithsonian research center. 

Yogurt, fruit, and muffins were out in the lounge for early birds.  The regular buffet breakfast was served at 7.  One can really go in anytime one wants to eat within a reasonable amount of time.  It was a buffet with fresh fruit, oatmeal, sweet bread, plain scrambled and scrambled with tomatoes and spinach, bacon, sausage patties, juice.  For buffet food for 60 people, the food is really quite good.

We had to sign waivers for BCI to come take their walk.  At 8, a rep from BCI came on board to talk to us.  His name is Egbert Giles Leigh, and he wrote a book that I had seen before called The Magic Web.   He is a biologist with a special interest in botany and spoke until 8:30.  He is a much older gentleman, and I found him a tad bit boring since I am not that big on botany.  

At 9 we all split up with the group taking the longer hike on the island leaving in the Zodiaks.  We could see the dock easily, so it didn't take long to drop them off and come back.  I was in the second group going on the not-so-long hike.  Bill was in the third group who were taking a 1.5 hour long ride around the island in the Zodiaks.

Our hike was led by Dr. Leigh.  I should have given my spot to someone who cared more about botany.   The hike was fairly difficult - about 2 hours of up and down in the woods in 90 degree weather in 100% humidity!  I hung back with a couple of other people and Jose our Nat Geo naturalist.  We did see an agouti, but he kept ducking behind things and finally ran away.  We heard howler monkeys from all over the island, and Jose and I finally saw one sleeping in the trees.  I worked and finally got a good photo of him.  That was the only major animal photo I took today.  I got fun artsy photos and some of weird mushrooms.

As we were coming back, we ran into the other shorter hike folks.  Apparently they had a 'medical emergency'.  An older gentleman had underestimated the heat and steepness of the hike.  Luckily the boat doc (female ER doc) was on the island and was able to get him cooled off and back to the Sea Lion.

I was totally soaked with sweat by the time we got back to the boat at 12:15.  I took a quick shower, and Bill came back to the room.  He had a similar trip on the Zodiac around the island - howler monkeys and a croc were about all they saw.  But it was interesting to see some of the research projects that are being done on the island.  

Lunch was a buffet with salads and pastas - Alfredo and pesto - with a chicken parm.  They also served a leak and potato soup.  I had a little of the pastas with some greens.

After lunch while we waited for clearance to continue down the canal, we had waivers to sign for snorkeling and kayaking.  Then we all went up to the top deck to find masks, snorkels, fins for the next few days.  We are provided bags to hold them all in.

Then it was time to continue the transit of the canal.  It was a semi-overcast day which made for great viewing and photos.  It wasn’t long before we passed the Chagres River which feeds the Canal, and then we were in the 9 mile long  Culebra Cut - the narrowest part of the Canal which is about 9 miles long.  

A couple of crocs were spotted along the shoreline, but Bill and I couldn't see them.  Then we approached the Pedro Miguel locks which only has one lock.  An awesomely huge car panamax was in front of us.  It took us quite a while to get through this lock.  I had been waving all along the cut to tugs and canal patrol boats, and most waved back, and a few even tooted their horns.  Everyone around me soon got in to the spirit of things and started waving, too.

In the Pedro Miguel lock, I smiled and waved at the locomotive engineer who smiled and waved back.  The locomotives don't pull ships through the canal but just hold them tight in position - one or two or even three locomotives on either side.  Finally my engineer held up a sign for me saying "Welcome to the Panama Canal" and then a sign saying "My name in Angel".  He hollered over to me asking what my name was.  It was cute!

We had another Panamax ship that shared the lock behind us which took a while for him to get into the lock with us.  Meanwhile, on the top deck, the wait staff set up an hors 'd ourvres table with ceviche and a cheese, cracker, fruit plate.  The wait staff passed around decent margaritas.  

We finally made it through the Pedro Miguel lock and sailed the one mile through Miraflores Lake to the Miraflores lockes (3 locks).  This took a while to get through, and then dinner was served.  I stayed outside to see us sail through the Bridge of Americas.  Everyone else was at dinner, but Bill and I made it down in time to eat.  There was a nasty looking beet and potato salad.  I don't like beets, so I didn't try it.  I did have some of the Central American roast beef which was quite good along was a white sweet potato and corn salad.  For dessert they served an awesome Tres Leche cake - one of my favorites.

We sailed to just outside the Canal to anchor until about 2am when they will sail to the Pearl Islands in the Bay of Panama.  We are now anchored in Panama Bay with a beautiful view of Panama City.  Since we are now in the Pacific Ocean, there is a bit more rock and rolling!

Day 3 - Monday December 9, 2013 – Pearl Islands

It was another glorious day aboard the Sea Lion.  Some folks were complaining bitterly about the rocking and rolling last night, but Bill and I never felt anything and slept like logs.  When we woke, we were in a large group of small islands called the Pearl Islands in the Bay of Panama.

Bill's alarm went off at 6:15.  He was doing the "early bird" Zodiac tour at 6:45 and then coming back for breakfast.  Half the boat signed up for the early bird, and the rest of us stayed on board for breakfast at 7:30 and then the Zodiac tour at 8:20.

Breakfast was another buffet with juice, coffee, regular scrambled eggs, hot and cold cereal, huevos rancheros, torte de elote.  The huevos were rather interesting, almost like a Spanish eggs Benedict - a soft flour tortilla square with refried beans, a poached egg and topped with queso fresco.  The torte was a cornbread kind of thing with onions and some jalepeno.

Bill got back just about the time the late risers were ready to go on the hour long Zodiac ride.  There were 7 of us on our boat, and we went from island to island going along the shoreline checking out the reptiles and birds.  We saw spotted sandpipers, great egrets, spiny black iguanas (of various sizes), sanderlings, whimbrel, oyster catchers.  I was rather impressed with myself when I spotted a spiny black iguana in a tree.  It was our first reptile siting.   The weather was amazing, sunny but not yet too hot, the water was gorgeous.

While we were out, the Sea Lion followed us and anchored a way out from a lovely large bay with a sandy beach.  We went back to the Sea Lion to change into swim suits, slather up with sun screen, grab our beach towels that came in our rooms.  The zodiacs shuttled back and forth from the beach to the ship whenever anyone wanted to go.  

The staff had brought the kayaks and some lawn chairs to the beach.  The water was just right, and we swam for a while.  Bill had brought his snorkel equipment to check it out, but there really wasn't anything much to see.  That will be tomorrow.

I took a single kayak out for a while, and it was just gorgeous out there without the crowds.  We spent about an hour on the water before we took a zodiac back to the boat.  We hosed off, but I still dropped some sand in the room when I took off my suit.  We showered, and now we are left with wet stuff.  There are two dryers on an upper deck that we might end up using.

Lunch was a salad buffet.   We sat with some fun people and had some roasted red bell pepper soup before the salad bar.  The soup was rather spicy but quite good.  The salad bar had a large assortment of good stuff including hearts of palm, the regular onions, mushrooms, etc.  The interesting item was called pejibaye which is a fruit from the peach palm. The guys told me it must be boiled.  It has a really interesting taste and texture.  Dessert was peanut butter cookies.  All of the bread, desserts etc are made on board by a chef named David who I have yet to see.

After lunch (almost 2pm) we sailed all afternoon on the 150 mile journey to Coiba National Park which we will see tomorrow.

It was fun to see people fuss over the dryers.  Mid-afternoon the staff had a fire drill, so we all had to stay out of the way.  I read and sat on the upper deck in the shade.

They showed a TV special on the Panama Canal in the lounge.  Then at 4 they had a photo lecture.  This is supposedly a photo exhibition and there are photo staff galore on board.  And people with mega-cameras.  I sort of ignore it all.

At 6:40 we had our first "daily recap".  The photographers talk about our day and show photos.  They also discussed what we would do tomorrow.  The seas started really getting rough.  It was rather fun watching everyone try to walk around.  We were coming out of the Bay of Panama into the Pacific, so there was lots of competing winds, seas, and currents.

Dinner was served at 7.  It was our first served meal, but at least a third of our companions didn't show, about 20 people who were sicker than dogs.  I sat with Bill and 3 other guys.  We started out with a tortilla soup which was a bit too thick and spicy for most of us.

I had ordered a small portion of black snook with a citrus sauce.  This came with green beans and mashed sweet potatoes, neither of which appealed to me.   I also got a small portion of the vegetarian entree - quinoa and avocado with an aoli sauce.  That was really good!  For dessert we had chocolate pot au cream which was amazingly good.

It calmed about 9:30.  There was finally a dryer open, so I put our wet t-shirts and my beach towel in.  

As I sit here, there are two of the Nat Geo naturalists playing with their computers and one little old lady who was terrified during the worst of the seas that she was going to die.  She is a sweet lady, but I think she just wants to chat!

It was a really good day, and I hope tomorrow is a repeat!

Day 4 - Tuesday December 10, 2013 – Coiba Nat’l Park Panama

It was another glorious day aboard the Sea Lion.  We woke up at 6:45, and the ship was still moving towards Coiba National Park off the coast of Panama.  It was a rather cloudy start to the day, but the sun came out, and we had a lovely breeze so it was comfortable.

Breakfast was at 7:30.  This morning they had the typical scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, fruit (including gooseberries which a local described as fruit d'amore).  The special on the buffet was cheese filled crepes with a strawberry compote.  They were delicious.

At 8:30, the Sea Lion anchored off a tiny little island with a large sandy beach and an interesting but not too colorful coral reef.  This little islet is called Granita d'oro.  The staff had taken canvas chairs and cold drinks ahead of us.  Bill and I spent about an hour in the water snorkeling.  There were some interesting fish - I liked the parrot fish and damsel fish - some sea urchins, and some interesting coral formations.  

When I turned into a prune, I headed back to the beach.  This tiny little beach is covered with hermit crabs, thousands of them of every size and shape of shell covering.  I felt badly about even walking on the sand since I knew I must be stepping on tons of them.  I loved the variety of shells that each of them had picked.  Some were so small they looked like fast-moving ticks.  

We were the first to head back to the boat.  Others stayed another hour or so, kayaking and snorkeling or just beach sitting.  While we were gone, the staff had done a major clean with clean sheets, so I dropped my gear in the hallway and took some photos of the cabin.  I showered and put on dry clothes and sat outside enjoying the view and the breeze.  

Eventually everyone made it back on board, and we headed 4 miles down the main island to the ranger station of Coiba National Park.  The staff went first taking all the fixings for a picnic.  As soon as we landed, we were told there were capuchin monkeys up the walkway, so I went to see.  There were 4 or 5 of them working on a coconut that they had gotten open.  They weren't too skittish around us, so we got some fun pictures.  I stayed after the others went back to the picnic shelter on the beach.  I was rewarded with an agouti (large rodent like creature) and some large lizards.

The picnic consisted of hamburgers and hot dogs and some good potato salad.  Wonderful homemade oatmeal cookies were for dessert.  We just wandered around the area or sat in chairs facing the beautiful blue waters and beach.  I got a neat shot of some pelicans sitting on a rock in the water.  Vultures were hanging out.  People went kayaking and a few snorkeling.  

About 2:30, Bill and I along with a few others headed back to the Sea Lion.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon.  A couple of the staff came back from a diving trip.  It seems the Sea Lion treats its staff well.

We got our wet t-shirts in the dryer before most of the people came back, so once again we avoided the 'dryer' wars.  People are getting rather testy about people not checking the dryer, taking other people's clothes out.  Now we have people sitting in front of the dryers outside to guard their clothes.

When I got back I stayed down by the zodiac talking to the second mate and jokingly asking if I could do the donuts with the zodiac drivers.  When they get ready to load the zodiacs back on top of the ship with a crane, the drivers scream around in circles emptying the water from the zodiacs.  They look like they are having a ball!

After all the zodiacs and kayaks were on top of the ship, we left Coiba at 4:30.  At 5, one of the naturalists, Christian, gave a long talk on the history and future of Panama.  Instead, I went up to the top and watched the scenery float by.  It was so peaceful and pleasant since I had it almost all to myself.   I also got to see the hotel manager and his team load at least 75 net bags of dirty linen onto a huge tarp.  They had a fire bucket system tossing it from the deck below, up the stairs, and onto the tarp.  At 5am tomorrow morning, we will dock in Gofito where they will toss all the bags onto a truck to be taken to a laundry.  The purser will take our passports and forms to immigration so we don't have to go through the process.  

I went to the bow to watch the sunset.  It was a beautiful sunset.  Just before the sun set, the crowd let out from the lecture, and a group of folks came to the bow.  There was a green flash which pleased everyone.  

We then had a social hour with hearts of palm empanadas, cheese and crackers, and fruit.  The crew gave a recap of our day with photos they had taken.  Tomorrow's program was given with times, clothing needed, etc.

Finally at 7:10, we went in to dinner.  We had a great salad of spinach, apples, blue cheese, candied pecans with a citrus vinaigrette.  I had half of two entrees - rainbow trout with Romesco sauce [which came with a great rice and roasted cauliflower] and herbed crepes with roasted veggies served on lentils.  Both were good.  Bill got a NY strip steak which was also great.  For dessert we had an interesting almond cake a la mode.

I had been talking to servers for two days about who made the pastries, and people kept saying David.  Somebody finally took me into the kitchen to meet him.  What a sweet young guy.  He seemed to really appreciate the compliments on his desserts and breads.

After dinner we had the standard recap of the day with the staff showing some of the photos they had taken.

 It was a beautiful day all day, but we might be going into the area where there could be passing showers.  No matter, it will still be great!