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Part Two, 4/30/07, is here.

May 1 (Tuesday, Day 5, Transiting the Panama Canal)

Phil was up at 5 AM to see our entry into the Panama Canal via the Gatun locks. While we were anchored in Gatun Lake we went on an “eco-cruise” excursion.  On the way to the eco-cruise, we saw a three-toed sloth in a tree.  Our guide said that it takes 14-23 days for a three-toed sloth to climb up and down a tree – that’s how slow they are!  We also saw a big iguana on the ground and a cat-like coatimundi with a very long ringed tail.  During the cruise in our “rustic boats”, we saw a cayman (like an alligator), several snail kites (birds), another sloth and survived a 5 minute tropical rainstorm.  (We didn’t see any monkeys and we were hoping to.)  May is the start of rainy season and the “May trees” were in full bloom (big trees with orange/yellow flowers on the top that bloom at the start of rainy season).

Gatun locks

May trees

An interesting fact about the Panama Canal is that it takes 52 million gallons of Gatun Lake water for each ship to transit the Canal and this water is only replaced by natural rainfall.  Panama gets 200 inches of rain a year.  The construction that is being done on a new set of locks to allow larger boats to transit the canal is supposed to be done by 2014 and will be paid by the fares of the ships passing through the canal between now and then.  Yeah, right.

Gatun Lake

Approaching the locks on the Pacific end of the canal

Phil and I ordered in tonight from the menu for the main restaurant and Mom and Dad went to La Veranda for dinner where they had lamb shanks.  La Veranda is the Italian-themed restaurant that has an antipasta/salad buffet and then you order off a menu for your entrée and dessert.  We left the second set of locks around 9:20 PM and the third (and final) set of locks around 10:30 PM.

May 2 (Wednesday, Day 6, At sea)

After waking up at 10 AM (after going to sleep around 9:30 PM – our clocks got set back an hour last night), Phil looked outside and saw a dolphin.  That’s our first ocean wildlife sighting so far. Naturally, dolphins and other sea life are uncommonly camera-shy—at least, shy of Phil’s camera—so pictures were hard to come by.  As you’ll see, it took a while for them to settle down and give Phil some good shots of them.  We went to lunch at noon for the Tex-Mex buffet out by the pool.  I put on capri pants and a ¾ sleeve blouse since it was overcast.  Phil sweated some, but since the sun wasn’t out, it really wasn’t that hot.  Humid, yes, but not too hot.

After lunch we looked at the boutiques since we have around $150 left to spend.  So, Janet might be getting two Regent polo shirts and Phil might get a bottle of premium port.  Otherwise, there is really NOTHING to buy.  But, in case you feel sorry for Janet and Phil--Mom and Dad have about $550 left to spend!  (Phil and Janet spent our shipboard credit on shore excursions but they didn’t which is why they have so much left.)

We went to the 3:00 movie “Pursuit of Happyness.”  It was okay, but the popcorn was stale and burnt.

Tonight we went to Latitudes, the Indochine restaurant that requires reservations.  We’ll only go to it once this cruise since we’re never very impressed with it, but it’s a change of pace so what the heck.
There’s nothing really wrong with it, it’s just that nothing we’ve been served there has ever really grabbed us.  We’re not sure why it rates a separate restaurant which only changes its menu every 8 days.  Latitudes just isn’t our cup of tea.

May 3 (Thursday, Day 7, Puntarenas, Costa Rica)

Today was forest sky walk day.  Janet and Phil went on the excursion, which featured a walking trail through the rain forest, with several steel suspension bridges.  We didn’t see much until at the last bridge, Janet spotted a coatimundi in the gully underneath the bridge.  (Couatimundis are, possibly, more camera-shy than dolphins, it seems.)  Most of us caught at least a glimpse of the creature, but all of us heard him (or her!) pawing through the leaf litter looking for lunch.  Another highlight of the sky walk was seeing a couple of beetles doing the Beetle Nasty on a leaf.  Actually, we saw more wildlife at the small resort we stopped at after the forest tour than we did during the tour, including an iguana munching on a papaya tree, another couple lounging on the sidewalks, and a yellow social flycatcher bird.  Janet found a desiccated frog belly-up on the sidewalk, and later a large moth with a wingspan about as big as your hand lying beside another sidewalk.

Mariner at Puntarenas

Costa Rica

Iguana

 The story continues in Part Four, 5/4/07-5/5/07.