Panama Canal Cruise - Cartagena, Colombia

I forgot to include a few facts in the Panama Canal Transit post. The cost for our ship to go through the canal was $350,000. The cost for the large cargo ships to cross in the new canal is $1 million. A maximum of 40 ships are allowed to cross per day. The annual amount of ships crossing is about 14,000.

Day 11 brought us to Cartagena, Colombia where we had booked a city tour excursion. When I first saw that this cruise was stopping in Colombia, I was a bit concerned.  For years we had heard how the country was infested with drug lords and was very unsafe. Friends who had been in Cartagena on a cruise, encouraged us to take a tour as it was a beautiful city. I'm so glad we did.

Our tour guide was very proud of his city and explained how fifty years ago things were very bad due to drug cartels. He said most of those drug lords are now in prison in the US. He also told us that fifty years ago less than half the children in the country attended school. They have made education a priority since then, and now 95% of children attend school. Their country is flourishing with these changes.

We started our tour with a drive up a steep and narrow road to the La Popa Monastery built in 1612. Here's a view of it up on the hill from our ship.

Here's the outside of the monastery up close. The second picture is the chapel and alter with our tour guide, Benny.

There were many of these fruit carts all throughout the city, sometimes in the road. Mangos sell for a dollar a box. Such a deal.

The traffic was horrific. Our bus driver was a miracle driver. I would never want to drive there. Also, there were motorcycles scooting through between cars like crazy. This was a police car on the pier.

Our next stop was the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, a fortress built in 1536. At that time the Spanish owned this land. Gold, silver and emeralds had been found, and the Spanish were constantly being attacked by pirates and other privateers. We did not go into the fort, but stopped for some picture taking opportunities. 

Cartagena reminded me a lot of Jamaica with venders constantly in your face trying to sell you their stuff. It was also quite hot and humid, so we took a few pictures and got back on the bus.

A statue of General Blas de Lezo is prominent at the fort and throughout the city. He was a Spanish navy officer best remembered for the Battle of Cartagena in 1741 where forces under his command decisively defeated a large British invasion fleet. Throughout his career, the general lost his left leg, left eye, left hand and complete mobility of his right arm. He continued to fight despite all his injuries and died four months after the 1741 battle from typhus.

Throughout the city there are these women dressed in costumes. They will let you take a picture for a price. There is usually fruit in the basket on their head which they will also try to sell you.

Our next stop was the old walled city. This was the original city built in the 1500s. Originally, the coral, limestone and shell wall was over 17 miles long. There are about 5 miles remaining. There are now lots of hotels, restaurants and tourist areas in the old city. Here's a typical square. Lots of bright colored buildings. It has a Caribbean feel to it.

Here's a section of the wall with vendors lined up along it. Our guide is pointing to the balcony across the street, which is one of the longest in the country. 

The San Pedro Claver church was originally constructed by the Jesuits in the late 1500s. It is named after Saint Pedro Claver, a priest who came to Cartagena in 1616. He worked tirelessly to help the slaves, treating the sick, ministering to the slaves and campaigning for them to be treated better. At the time, it is estimated over 10,000 slaves were sold there annually.  If you look closely at the bottom of the alter, you will see Claver's skeleton. 

This statue outside the church is of Claver and a slave.

Here's a view of the old city from outside the wall. You can see the church towers.

I enjoyed our tour, but my favorite part of Cartagena was the free bird and animal park at the entrance to the city from the pier. It was kind of a zoo, but the birds, monkeys and sloths were not caged. I think they stay around because they are fed. 

There were several red howler monkeys in the trees.

There were some anteaters in a pen. I was surprised how big they were.

This sloth was slowly moving around in the tree.

There were several peacocks around. I've never seen a white one.

There were lots of beautiful parrots and macaws. Wow, were they noisy!!

Peacocks and parrot up in a tree

I had hoped we would see Scarlett Macaws in Costa Rica, but at least I saw them here.

There was one lone toucan among all the parrots.

As I had mentioned, it was very hot and humid throughout the day. Shortly after we arrived back on the ship, a huge thunderstorm blew through. As we were pulling out of the bay, I took this picture of the Cartagena skyline.

This was our last port of call. My next post will cover the final two days at sea on our way to docking in Tampa, Florida.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Panama Canal Cruise - Panama Canal Transit

Our number one reason for taking this cruise was experiencing the transit through the Panama Canal. After attending two presentations regarding the history and mechanics of the canal, we were ready for the special day. On day 10, we got up at 5 am and were out on the front deck by 5:45 with hundreds of fellow passengers. The sun was just starting to rise, and it was a beautiful morning. Our entry was from the Pacific Ocean, passing Panama City.

Entering Panama Canal under a full moon

Entering the canal at dawn with a pilot ship off to the side

Panama City at dawn

Here is a diagram of the transit through the canal. Starting from the Pacific, you go through two sets of locks called the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks. The Pacific Ocean fluctuates with the tides up to 18 feet. The Atlantic Ocean side only changes about 3 feet. Therefore, the locks had to be built to raise the ships up into the canal to a point of 85 feet in the center at Gatun Lake. Then the ships go through the Gatun Locks to lower then to the Atlantic Ocean level.

The French tried to build the canal in the late 1800s using the same method they had successfully used building the Suez Canal. Their engineers were flawed in believing they could just dig straight through without any locks. Over 22,000 people died during that time from accidents, but mostly from malaria and yellow fever. 

In 1904 the Americans took over the project from the French. US engineers designed the lock system. Also, they had doctors familiar with tropical diseases, and were able to deal with that problem. The canal was finished in 1914, and basically still operates the same as originally built. There are two sets of the original locks. Amazingly, in over 100 years, the canal has never been blocked and only closed one day in 1989.

The US had a pact with Panama to own and operate the canal until the 1970s when President Carter signed a treaty turning it over to Panama by the year 2000. In 1999, Panama took complete control of the operation and maintenance of the canal.

When we entered the canal, a small ship came aside us and a crew of over two dozen Panamanian pilots and technicians boarded our ship to guide it through the canal. Our captain did some of the navigating, but mostly it was the Panamanians. 

There are three bridges across the canal. The first one we passed under at dawn before getting to the locks was the Bridge of the Americas.

Our ship is considered a Panamax, meaning it was the largest ship that could go through the original locks. The locks are 1,050 feet long and 110 feet wide. Our ship was 965 feet long and 106 feet wide. That's only 2 feet margin on each side. We were close!! Here we are entering the first lock. You can see in the second picture that we are below the lock doors. The chamber fills with water and the doors open. You can see the ship next to us just left the lock on that side.

Our ship had four mules (silver train type cars) attached on the corners with cables. These mules gently moved along with the ship to keep it centered within the canal. They used a system of bells ringing to communicate with each other.

Mule guiding us through lock

Here's the view from the back of the ship after we went through and the lock doors close behind us.

After going through the first two sets of locks, there is a narrow section of the canal that looks like a river. The ships have to navigate through here on their own. This area originally had some hills that had to be blasted away. This hill is the continental divide for the canal. Do you notice how they terraced it when they cut into it?

Continental Divide

Narrows with large cargo ship in front of us

We passed under the Centennial Bridge which is part of the Pan American Highway that starts in Alaska and ends in Argentina.

In 2016 a new set of locks were opened for the larger cargo ships. These locks are 180 feet wide. Tug boats steer the large ships through these locks. I guess they built them extra large for even bigger ships in the future. Here's one going through near us. It's amazing to me how they built it uphill from the current canal. 

Next we entered the man made Lake Gatun. This lake was created when the canal was built and the Chagres River was dammed. There were many ships sitting in the lake waiting for their turn to enter the Gatun Locks. Some of them had their anchors down. We sat in the lake for four hours. 

We later found out that earlier in the day there had been fog in the narrow section of the canal. This backed up traffic and caused the delay. Cruise ships have priority going through the canal. It normally takes 8 to 10 hours. It took us 12 hours. 

Here's our Captain Stig on the bridge. 

We finally were able to enter the Gatun Locks just before supper time. Here we are going through the locks that will lower our ship to the Atlantic Ocean level.

Entering Gatun Locks

In Gatun Locks

Gatun Locks gates opening

Atlantic Bridge visible from Gatun Locks

We went inside to have dinner. As we were sitting in the dining room, I glanced up and saw us down inside the lock through the dining room window.  Normally, when we looked out the dining room window, we saw the ocean. It was strange to see a concrete wall.

After dinner, we went back outside. We saw the Panama Canal offices and an osprey. We were just sailing under the Atlantic Bridge.

Canal de Panama Offices

Osprey on top of one of the cranes

Jupiter is the star in the upper left corner

As I looked down, I saw the pilot boat along side with the Panamanian crew leaving us. 

And, so after a full day, we were now in the Atlantic Ocean. The canal is about 50 miles wide. Before it was built, ships had to sail an extra 8,000 nautical miles around the southern tip of South America. What an astonishing accomplishment this canal is. Some say it is one of the eight modern wonders of the world. It was an amazing experience!!

Royal Caribbean left these certificates in our cabin that evening. If you look closely it says our entire trip is 4835.1 nautical miles. That's 5,564 miles. Wow! No wonder we had so many days at sea. It sure is a luxurious way to travel. 

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!