Transit the Panama Canal

Colon, Panama

Day 73 - Colon, Panama

Princess did a great job on arranging port lecturers and shopping guides and tours in a short time frame for the port change. We docked in Colon 2000 a duty free shopping area that is gated and in a safe area in Colon. Colon 2000 is the 2^nd largest duty free port in the world. It really does not do us any good unless we want 20 TV, 20 Stereos and so on. We were advised not to go into Colon City as it is not the safe. The population of Colon is 198,500. There is 80% unemployment in Colon and in Panama City the rate is 4%. It is the case of haves and have not's. The drive is around 1 hour to Panama City and the difference is dramatic. All the money from the Canal goes to Panama City. We took a tour van with Joanne and Garry, Ros and Arnold, Dennis and Anthea and Bev and Ed. Our tour took us to the Gatun Locks and Fort St. Lorenzo. Randy and I were very glad that we went to the Locks as we were able to get a good view of how we were going to transit the Panama Canal. It is very interesting and we saw how the locks worked giving us an eye view, that we will not get during the transit. We spent about 1 hour at the lock, where we saw several ship going thru the locks. Next we traveled through the rainforest and passed through the old us military base that was left and is in ruins. Fort St. Lorenzo is a fort from the 1500'S. It had been attacked, destroyed and rebuilt three times. We then traveled back to Colon 2000. We were able shop a little and go to a beauty salon and then we went to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner. They had free Wi-Fi but we could not find anyone on Skype or Facebook. Sorry we missed you family. Looking forward to LA! Tomorrow we transit Panama Canal.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Day-70, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Since we have been to Fort Lauderdale a few times, we decided to rent a car with Dennis and Anthea and go to the Sawgrass Mills. It is a large outlet mall with over 300 stores. The Day before we got to Florida, I began to realize that I was very excited to step on USA soil. There is no place like home! (Even if it is not California) We enjoyed our day in Sawgrass mills but we only had about 4 hours to shop which was not enough time. I was just getting started and it was time to leave. We did run into a few of our friends from the ship. Sawgrass mills is a nice mall and would have enjoyed more time there. So we had to head back to the ship and I must say that I had been a little bit worried about driving again after 4 months of not driving and having been in counties were they drive on left side of the rode. I have to tell you that it had started looking that the left side was the right side. I am happy to report that it is like riding a bike, you don't forget. It was like I had been driving on the busy freeways every day. I did ask Dennis if I was scaring him and he said yes, only because it looked like I was driving on the wrong side of the rode.(He and Anthea are from New Zealand where they drive on the left side) I got us back in time and in one piece. After the sail away the Capitan informed us that due to Hurricane Emily we were being diverted from our next port Cartagena, Colombia which would have put us in the storm's path. Instead we are headed to Colon, Panama for an overnight stay.

Sawgrass Mills

Bermuda

Day 66- Bermuda

Before Bermuda we spent 5 days a sea. The first 3 days were foggy and cold so most of our time was spent in doors. The North Atlantic is known for fog and rough seas. We were fortunate to have calm seas, so no complaints about the fog. The last 2 days got warmer as we approached Bermuda. We picked up our pilot about 1 ½ hours before we got to Bermuda. He guided the ship through "The Narrows" a shipping channel through coral reefs. I can tell you that we were sailing in beautiful water with various colors of blue with the coral reefs on both sides of us. In early shipping days they called this area "The Devils Islands" because of all the ship wrecks due to the coral reefs. When you think about Bermuda you think Triangle, but we are not really in that area, until after we leave from Bermuda and have been at sea for two days. Well we did not realize there is so much history in Bermuda. Bermuda is several Islands and has a population of 65,000. Bermuda sits 1100 miles north of Miami; 600 miles east form North Carolina; and 800 miles south of Halifax Nova Scotia. It is a British colony. Currency is the Bermuda Dollar. Bermuda has many beautiful beaches. Some of their beaches have Pink sand. We found the Island beautiful and well cared for. Bermuda is very prosperous due to foreign investment and tax shelters. We docked at the Royal Naval Dockyard and are plan was to catch a ferry to St. George but we found out that the Ferry did not run on Saturday's so we took a ferry to Hamilton which is the Capital of Bermuda. We spent time walking around the Capital and the shops. You name it and it was available, all the top stores. We took the last ferry back to the Dockyard and spent our two last hours in port checking out the area which has an Old Fort. We enjoyed our day in Bermuda and would like to spend more time here in the future. Next Port Everglades, Florida.

Bermuda