April 15th through April 21st

 April 15^th through April 21^st:  Monday was a day at sea as we sailed from Curacao to Cartagena, Colombia. The day was spent in playing cards, eating and talking.  The talking is the best part of being together with family.  We tried to come up with trivia questions about my mom and dad for a trivia game to be played during the family reunion of my parents descendents that we will have this next July.  We really laughed a lot about the things we remembered growing up together.  Tuesday we docked early in Cartagena, Colombia and took a taxi to the historic district of the city.  This was a colonial port and has a famous fort that protected the city from the English and pirates.  Part of the film “Romancing the Stone” was filmed at the fort or at the Castile San Felipe.  It was hot and humid and we only lasted a few hours.  We went back to the boat and after lunch everyone got in the pool to cool off.  

Docking in Cartagena.

The new part of Cartagena.

4 pretty ladies.

The clock tower entrance to the old city.

Each street was full of charm and old colonial architecture.

Every building had a balcony overlooking the street.

One of the churches we visited.

A Botero sculpture of "La Gordita"

We really thought Cartagena was charming.

We saw a lot of cool old doors.

The cathedral in Cartagena.

We just finished some ice cream and felt happy and refreshed.

This little fellow was one of our greeters as we got back to the terminal.

Proof that we got in the pool.  Where is Tove?????

Wednesday we arrived at the entrance of the Panama Canal before sunup.  We got a good spot on the front of our deck and watched as we got in line to enter the locks.  In 2016, a new set of larger locks were finished to allow larger ships to cross the isthmus.  However, we went through the old locks that are now more than 100 years old.  They still work and use the original doors.  It was fascinating to see how 3 to 4 small locomotives on each side of the ships work together to keep the ships centered in the canal.  It took us about 2 hours to go through the 3 locks.  The locks on each side of Panama raise each ship 85 feet to a manmade lake that covers most of the interior of the country.  After passing through the locks to the lake we dropped anchor and let about half the passengers off for shore excursions.  We stayed on board and went back through the locks and we docked in the city of Colon about 4:30 pm which is on the Pacific side of Panama.  When the passengers that went on excursions got back to the ship we left and sailed for Costa Rica.  

We are lined up to enter the fist lock.

This is the water coming out of the lock so that the ship lowers down to sea level.

The gate is open and we are entering the first lock.

Click below to see us enter the lock.

Video of the first lock.

Click below to view second lock.

Entering the second lock


Click below to see a huge ship.

A ship passing next to us.

Click below to view.

Gates closing on third lock

This is coming back out and entering
the middle lock.
Click below to view.

Entering the second lock on the way out.

This barge was enormous and passed us going through the opposite locks.  It must have been a couple hundred feet tall.
Click below to view.

The huge barge passing us.
 

We stood on the deck for about 4 hours and got some sun.

Thursday we arrived early in Port Limon, Costa Rica and we went on a shore excursion in a small boat through the rain forest.  It was a lot of fun and we saw sloths, monkeys, an alligator and many different types of birds.  We finished of the day with more card games.  At this point, Alice has won most of the games of “sets and runs”.  

On the bus to the river.

Our guide and captain.

Our boat ride through the rain forest.

This guy was only interested in getting a suntan.

This is a banana flower and the yellow fingers at the top are what grow into bananas.

One of the sloths.

Friday and Saturday were two days of eating, card playing, eating and laughing as we sailed back to Fort Lauderdale.  

This was Saturday morning during our walk.

Sunday we arrived early and got off the ship. We had enough time to find a chapel and go to church.  It was a Spanish speaking ward so Chris translated for Alice and Tove and I translated for Tad.  It was a nice Easter Sunday meeting.  

When we arrive in Fort Lauderdale, there were already 5 cruise ships docked.

After church Sunday morning.

We then took an Uber to the airport for our trip home. We had a layover in Atlanta and then our plane was taken out of service and we did not get home until 1:00 am Monday morning.  What a long day, but what a wonderful week we had cruising the Caribbean.