Mexico

The last four post were all in Mexico: Puerto Chiapas, Huatulco, Puerto Vallerta, and Cabo San Lucas.

Puerto Chiapas is about 8 miles north of the border of Mexico and Guatamala. In 2005 these facilities were added for cruise ships -- basically two pyramid-shaped buildings. The one on the left houses small shops and the one on the right has a restaurant and outdoor pool area. There is really not much at the port area, and I didn't take an excursion.

Huatulco is also a tourist development on the coast. There was more development on the shore and at the cruise pier here. Lots of shops and what looked like condos, and some restaurants and a marina. It was nice to walk around, but, again, I didn't go on an excursion.

Puerto Vallerta was a much larger resort area. There is an older part of town, where I did not go. I spent most of my time in the tourist part of town. There were, again, plenty of shops and restaurants. There was a sculpture at the foot of each street along the boardwalk area at the beach, and a nice church. The ship docked at an even newer part of town, where there were built-up resort hotels and even a Walmart and Sam's Club.

Cabo San Lucas was very much a resort area. We used tender boats to get ashore, as the port was not deep enough for cruise ships. I didn't take an excursion, so I spent most of my time walking around the marina area where there was, again, lots of shops and some restaurants.

The setting for each of these ports was beautiful, with the mountains coming down close to the sea. And the famous rocks at Cabo San Lucas were impressive. This was a very relaxing part of the cruise. After this, we had another day at sea. Then we were in Los Angeles, where we headed to the airport and home.

Costa Rica

I was looking forward to the port call at Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Patricia and John had been there, and John had given me a restaurant recommendation at the foot of the cruise ship pier (but I think the restaurant has changed hands since they ate there).

I had signed up for an excursion by bus, train, and boat, so bright and early, off I went. The first leg was by bus --  past Caldera we pulled off the road and up to a little two-car tourist train. Until an earthquake in 1991, the rails had been used for normal train service. Train service has been suspended, but a company runs this little train for tourists. We chugged along for about an hour, until we got close to Ceiba, where we got off the train and back on the bus to go to the boat trip on the Tarcola River featuring crocodiles and other wildlife. After the boat, it was back on the bus to Puntarenas. After the tour was over, I spent some time walking around Puntarenas -- mostly along the beach area, where there was a tourist promenade lined with little booths for shopping.

Inside the little train -- quaint and crowded.

At the "crocodile safari" -- music and shopping, naturally!

This is the type of boat we were on.

The first croc -- directly across from the boat landing.

Our "capitan" hand-feeding raw chicken to a croc.

Another croc -- they open their mouths to keep cool in the heat.



 

 

There was other wildlife to see, besides crocodiles. This is a white ibis, but there were various herons and egrets and my favorite, a little blue and white mangrove swallow that was much too fast to even try to photograph. We also saw two howler monkeys high up in the trees, but they were too far away to get a good picture. 

 

Puntarenas was very compact, as you can see by the tourist map.

This is the building at the foot of the cruise ship pier, with a tourist info center on the left and a small restaurant under the trees on the right -- not Capitan Merano's.

These are the two buildings across the street from the cruise ship pier -- neither Capitan Merano's!

OK, so I struck out on Capitan Merano's, but this restaurant a block away from the pier was highly recommended by our tour guide, who told us all the tour guides have breakfast there before meeting their tourists for the day. And when I looked in, there were lots of local types eating there. Gugas is the name of the place.

There were lots of locals at the beach, as school had let out for the holidays and it was Saturday, besides. Sand, sun, sea, and more shopping for the tourists.

I enjoyed the countryside and wildlife in Costa Rica. I only wish I had had more time there. I guess I'll have to go back.

Tomorrow: The Mexican Ports



Panama Canal Transit

Our transit of the Panama Canal lasted from about 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to cover the 48-mile length. The canal consists of three sets of locks, plus channels and artificial lakes. We took onboard, in addition to pilots, a person who broadcast over the loudspeaker system during the transit, explaining where we were and what we were going through. It was a fascinating experience.

The canal opened on August 14, 1914 and began round-the-clock operations on May 12, 1963, with the addition of new lighting in the Culebra Cut and the three locks. Previously, transit had been limited to daylight hours. Panama took over full operation of the canal from the US at noon on December 31, 1999.

It's a bit hard to see in this picture (click on it to enlarge), but this is the approach to the first set of locks -- the Gatun Locks.

Approaching the Gatun Locks, you can see a cut that the French made in their unsuccessful attempt to create a canal. This attempt began in 1880.

This is the first of the Gatun Locks. At the left, you can see one of the engines on rails that help move the ships through the locks.

A closer view of the track and engine.

A closer view of the lock gates. The Gatun Locks are a series of three locks that lift vessels to the level of Gatun Lake.

We were followed by another cruise ship through these locks. I imagine we looked pretty similar.

The lock buildings at Gatun Locks.

Going through Gatun Lake, a man-made lake created by damming the Gatun River.

Passing through the Calebra Cut, which crosses the continental divide. The cut has already been widened in the canal expansion program, which began in September 2007. We saw quite a bit of work going on as we passed through the canal.

The lock house at Pedro Miguel Lock, which is a single lock and begins the descent to the Pacific side.

This is one of the gates at the two-stage Miraflores Locks, the last set of locks, which lower us to the Pacific level.

This is the visitor center at Miraflores Locks. Lots of tourists had a good view of our transit.

This is the lock house for Miraflores Locks.

As we exited the canal on the Pacific side, we passed the Biodiversity Museum: Panama Bridge of Life, designed by Frank Gehry.

A glimpse of Panama City.

As I mentioned, the canal is being expanded. As we entered on the Atlantic side, we could see large lock gates awaiting installation.

As we left the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side, we could see the construction of a parallel set of new, larger locks.

The information officer from the Panama Canal mentioned that they have webcams. Here's a link if you want to see ships going through the canal. It is actually a very slow process. PanamaCanal Webcams So I looked for a time-lapse movie on Youtube -- this is a pretty good one done by someone who'd taken a NCL cruise. It's pretty much like what we experienced. FYI -- the area on the bow with the tiny swimming pool is a crew area, so that's off-duty crew enjoying the view of the transit. Transit in Time-Lapse

The transit of the Panama Canal was truly a highlight of this cruise. The canal itself is an engineering feat. The water is gravity-fed -- no pumps!

Tomorrow: Costa Rica

My Fabulous Panama Canal Cruise

This really was a fabulous 14 day cruise on the Norwegian Star, a ship that hold about 2,350 passengers at full occupancy. It is 965 feet in length, and is called a "panamax" ship because it is the largest size that will fit through the current Panama Canal.

The cruise began in Miami and ended in Los Angeles. There were 6 port calls: Cartegena, Colombia; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; and Puerto Chiapas, Huatulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The transit of the Panama Canal took a full day, from about 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The rest of the days were at sea. There was plenty to do, and lots of food. The buffet was open almost constantly from early morning to late night, and there were other venues in which to eat, too. The entertainment, particularly the shows in the theater at night, was superb. We like Norwegian Cruise Line because it is casual. There are nights when you can dress up, if you want to, but it is not required.

I really looked forward to the first port, Cartegena. We chose a "hop-on, hop-off" bus excursion arranged through the ship. Although it was not quite as "hop-on, hop-off" as big city bus tours of the same type (they only had 2 double-decker buses that ran every 45 minutes or so), it did give us a good overview of the city and included a walking tour of the old town section.

This is the tower at the main entrance to the walled Old Town section of the city, where our walking tour started. The old city is a UNESCO world heritage site.

This is the interior of the cathedral.

This a street scene near the cathedral.

This is the church of San Pedro Claver.

A view of the walls.

Beyond the old town, this is el Castillo de San Filipe de Borajas, built by the Spanish to protect the city beginning in 1536.

 
Finally, this is a view of the Bocagrande beach resort area, taken as we were leaving port. I was a little surprised to see how built up it was. It is a very crowded, high-rise beach area, and the narrow streets were clogged with traffic on the day we were there.

This was a quick stop in Cartegena; we had to be back on the ship by 1:30 p.m. It would be nice to go back and see more of Colombia and Cartegena some day.

Tomorrow: transit of the Panama Canal.