Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

After a day at sea we arrived in the capital city of the Bay Islands of Honduras.

as seen from the aft of the ship and our breakfast table

at this port we had time for the geocaching

before our excursion

buying trinkets for Miss W from the geocache guardian

our December 3rd destination

OFD chose most of our excursions (with our input). Since none of the three of us are big water/beach or adventure fans, our excursions included wildlife when ever possible. We were all looking forward to this destination as it was a sanctuary for no-longer-wanted-pet-capuchin monkeys and for macaws. We were not disappointed.

this guy has a fungus (the white stripes)

another sloth in the tree

colorful plants

LOTS of lizards

the macaws, green and scarlet, who would be working

at this excursion

the macaws at work

notice the tip can

just too cute!

a couple of capabaras at the park

(I expected them to be larger than they were!

In reality maybe the size of a badger?)

the trainer put some sunflower seeds in Curt's pocket

momma and baby

these guys were well-trained and well behaved

After the tour and some more shopping of local hand-crafted items, we stopped at the Drinky Monkey. This is a view of the shopping area at the port. (We went beyond this area for the geocache in the morning. Very safe and fun to do a bit of exploring of the town.)

We ate and drank at each of our stops, if we had the time and opportunity. This lunch/snack included chicken nachos (devoured), chicken strips and fries and three adult beverages. Always good food and yummy, strong drinks. We ended our day in Roatan with a geocaching event because I wasn't certain we'd be able to get the geocache in the city market place, as the geocache guardian keeps her eye on it by taking it home each night. 

a very small geocaching event

Good-bye Honduras

Limón, Costa Rica

December 1st found us in Limón. The balcony room was awesome as we got lots of great photos by just opening the patio doors.

tour buses ready for the day's excursions

all of our tour guides were excellent; English speaking

and gave great info about their native country

and what we would be seeing

(hand crafted shopping in the building in front of the red-roofed 

building) town of Limón behind that area

our Costa Rica excursion was a walk in 

the rain forest to see native plants

the MOST UNIQUE flower I will ever see

our excursion group meandering

through the rain forest

a 'lunch' of fresh fruit

delicious when picked right off the tree and vine

watermelon, pineapple, and bananas

Then it was a ride on a canal in the rain forest to see monkeys and sloths and other creatures.

a green lizard

two-toed sloth

blue heron

a monkey showing off for the tour boats

three-toed sloth

This guy was hanging on the fence, probably moving from one tree to another when people/tourists stopped to take its photo. Our bus driver stopped and made certain everyone got a photo (without leaving the bus) before we moved on. I know we were there for at least 5 minutes and the sloth never moved. His arm is out towards a group of people taking his photo.

drove by a banana plantation/farm

I don't usually eat bananas because I taste them for hours after first eating them. BUT that was not the case when I ate one right from the tree. No time for any things to grow while it ripens waiting for shipment. I also tasted yellow and green plantains while in Miami. They were cooked and did not bother my tummy.

When we got back to port we had enough time to geocache (found the two placed for us tourists) and to shop.

Chris stopped here in the late 1490s

this geocache was also placed by the Rapid City geocachers

*Disclaimer: some of these photos in these blog posts are from OFD. She used her iPhone and had some great photos. I charged two batteries for each of the two cameras I took along, and had two used/dead batteries in the Panama Canal. I had to conserve the camera batteries, as I did not take the battery charger. Big Mistake! Besides, she had better animal shots than I did from her side of the boat. Thanks for sharing photos, OFD!

Panama Canal

We were scheduled to enter the Panama Canal at 7 AM on November 30th. I had the alarm set for about 6 but awoke at 5:30 and decided to step out on the balcony for any action. 

I knew we were close to the channel as we had never seen this many or these types of lights any of the other days. These ships had either just left the canal coming from the Pacific or were waiting to get in line for entrance behind our ship.

lights of a cargo ship 

sunrise in Panama

light house along the canal

crocodile sunning itself in the canal channel

entering the first lock

this is the west lane lock used by ships 

going from the Pacific to the Atlantic

lock gates closing on the west lane before filling with water

our ship rising in the first lock

the amount of room from the hull of our ship to the 

canal wall

built in 1915

a tanker or carrier ship in the west lane

the 'mules' that attach cables to each ship

(I think 2 or 3 on our side of the ship)

to help move it through the 3 locks of the Atlantic

side of the canal

our geocaching photo from the Panama Canal

yes, a geocache in the canal placed by

Rapid City SD geocachers, whom we have met

another ship ready to enter the west lane as we are 

exiting the locks and entering Gatun Lake

our cruise ship dropped anchor in the lake

dropped off excursion groups

and then got in line for a return through the locks

and porting in Colón Panama

we boarded tenders from our cruise ship

to get to shore and board a bus for 

our Panama excursion

we visited the Agua Clara Visitors Center

built when the third lane was completed

now used by cargo ships and the new bigger

ocean liners/cruise ships

In the background is a new bridge connecting the east and west side of the canal. It is not complete, but is an awesome sight. As it is now, commuters must wait until ships (going in and out, often at different speeds) clear the channel so they can cross on ferries.

Our bus took us south to Panama City where we drove along the Pacific Ocean for a bit and had a nice view of the capital's skyline.

Panama City

then we boarded a train for a ride through the rain forest 

and along Gatun Lake to Colón 

Colón 

we had a couple hours to shop and geocache

before boarding our ship 

we met a geocacher from Canada while looking

for one of the caches