Panama City: A Mirage on the Water

Like that first sight of the snow capped Rocky Mountains as you drive west, Panama City rises out of the ocean like some kind of a gleaming mirage.

We also had a chance to take a closeup look at the canal in the daytime when we stopped at the Visitors Center along side of the Miraflores locks.

Returning to the Trip

Lord love a duck. Where has the time gone. It is more than easy to see how well intentioned bloggers fall behind. The world goes on and thank heavens the few souls who stumble on this offering have not risen up in fury at being left stranded in the middle of a small Pacific island. But onward we now go to the Panama Canal.

Pachecca Island--Birds and More Birds

On Tuesday January 13 we made an early morning stop at a bird sanctuary on Pachecca Island. The zodiacs ferried us in close for a marvelous view of brown boobies, frigate birds displaying their fire red mating pouches, herons, pelicans, and even a few iguanas

With all birds in hand or bush, we returned to the ship for a relocation to get into position for the "creme de la creme" of our trip--a passage through the Panama Canal. As I have reported before, this has been a dream of mine ever since I read Richard Halliburton's Book of Marvels when I was a boy. Halliburton remains to this day a singular personage in Canal history. He has the record for cheapest passage through the canal as a result of having himself declared a ship in 1928 and swimming through the canal. His fare was 36 cents. Our ship will pay $22000.

We Meet the Embera People in Darien

Methinks the ship folks had anticipated the rough water on the night of Jan. 11. They scheduled a brunch for the following morning at 9:30 AM. Jan and I had both taken Dramamine the night before and lost some shuteye, but didn't get sick. Several folks, including a crew member or two, did have some tummy trouble though.

As the morning dawned we were anchored blissfully just off shore in the Panamanian province of Darien. The beach was a long unbroken stretch of brown sand with some thatched roofs visible amid the coconut palms.

The beach was broad and shallow so it was a true wet landing from our zodiacs. The sand was soft and oozy, but as we struggled ashore we were met by smiling inhabitants of all sizes.

In the shade of a small shelter musicians were playing

After the initial welcome we split into groups and toured the village. Houses were generally raised on stilts and open to the air on the side away from the beach. This spot is only accessible by boat or long hikes on jungle trails. We were told that our boat was the only tourist ship that visits regularly. There are no phones, no electricity, no TV's. It is a simple life on the land culture and the land is plentiful. Coconuts and fruit are ubiquitous. There is some hunting and some cultivation of sugar cane and vegetables. Flowers grow in wild profusion.

We re-assembled in a large open sided thatched roof assembly area for more music and dancing. That was followed by displays of the native crafts, which were available for purchase.
Later in the afternoon the ship's crew had a soccer match with the village men.

The village chief, pictured below, was a happy and communicative man who spoke good Spanish in addition to the native tongue.

But you do have to wonder how long this "seemingly" idyllic and simple existence will last.

There is a government school in the village and . . .

this young future chief may not be as willing to stay at home.

I leave you to ponder that along with this fellow.

Snorkel Time on Granito de Oro

We woke up on Sun. Jan. 11th to see a land mass to starboard, some hummocks to port, and on our stern a tiny patch of land with a pleasing sandy beach, a ring of trees, and some jagged, dark black, clearly volcanic rocks. If ever there was a Gilligan's Island it was there. Our zodiacs descended like lemmings and soon we were picking our way through the hermit crabs that seemed to think they owned the beach and worked our way toward the shade of the trees.

We donned our snorkeling gear and then set out to enjoy the coral, an old wreck, and plenty of multicolored and multisized fish. Thanks to Kiana we even had a few pictures available from her underwater camera.

When the snorkeling finished we had a chance to paddle a kayak around the island and to enjoy the birds.

We returned to the ship for lunch and shortly got underway for the long cruise to Darien. The afternoon was broken up by a chance to visit the bridge and some nice rest and reading time.

We were warned that we would be in open water tonight and that it might get a little rough.
Around midnight I woke up as we started to pitch and roll. The ceiling was groaning, the cupboards vibrating, and some of the dresser drawers were opening and closing all by their little selves. Wow! Not much sleeping until things calmed down about 3:30 AM. And no pictures I'm afraid.

On to the Saladero Lodge for an Afternoon Hike

More of those yellow flowering trees pepper the shore.

A brightly colored toucan or parrot was high above.

Giant trees with great buttresses were common along the way.

A wild turkey followed us around for a while.

The sunsets continue to dazzle

On To the Casa Orquideas

Sorry to have left this story in mid ocean, but an intervening trip to Carolina has kept me away from the old blog. And I need to get crackin so as to get the rest done before we head off to Arizona.

So here we are on January 10th dropping anchor at the House of Orchids, a garden paradise overseen by an American couple who came thirty years ago and never left. They raised a family on this little bay and there is no access other than by boat. The nearest town, where they shop once a week, is thirty minutes by sea. They grow orchids and also have trails where you can see hundreds of other jungle plants and flowers.