Blogs from Colón, Panama, Central America Caribbean
November 21st 2011
Sunday, November 13 - Colon, Panama Arrived at this busy port at 6:30 a.m. under cloudy skies. Heard last night that it has rained hard here the last couple of days. The disembarkation process was very speedy after our last breakfast in the dining room. Shortly after 8:00 a.m. we were collecting our luggage dockside, then looking for "our friend, Mario", who Fred had made advance Internet arrangements with for transport to Panama City for $20 each. It was a small bus for 12 passengers and we headed off a half hour later, over semi-flooded roads after the bus filled with other cruisers who had also reserved ahead online. While we were waiting, Fred phoned our condo accommodation contact to advise of our arrival in Colon, only to find out that there was some problem with ... read more
Oerwoud in de kanaalzone
Published: March 8th 2011Central America Caribbean » Panama » Colón » Gamboa
March 5th 2011
Zondag 27, maandag 28 en dinsdag 01/03/2011 Ook om het paradijs te verlaten heb je geduld nodig... maar we hielden het op 2 uur deze keer! Dit wordt echter gecompenseerd met een bijzonder mooie vlucht op lage hoogte over de archipel, met een tussenlanding in El Porvenir. Onze taxichauffeur praat meer dan een mondje Engels, of beter gezegd Amerikaans aan de zware nasale uitspraak. Hij heeft de allures van een toeristische gids, en legt ons uitgebreid uit dat, we de oudste wegverbinding tussen de Atlantische- en de Stille Oceaan volgen (was reeds in gebruik door de Conquistadores!), voorbij de Miraflores- en de Pedro Miguelsluizencomplexen rijden,... Hij is gewoon niet te stelpen! De Centennial Bridge, de sierlijke brug over het Kanaal die de Eeuwfeesten van de onafhankelijkheid van Panama in 2004 moest opluisteren, is na enkele jaren... ... read more
Turning away from life on Land....
Published: June 27th 2010Central America Caribbean » Panama » Colón
June 10th 2010
After a long refit in Camden Maine, we were anxious to get back onto the water. Living on land is always different. Living in the US is always different in good and bad ways to us. We enjoy the ease of picking up our cell phone to call friends and family. We enjoy the ease of fast internet and the simplicities of large groceries and cars that bring our supplies directly to our apartment down smooth roads and straight into a large fridge where we don't worry if it works or not. Usually people follow the rules of the road (unless when driving in Southern Florida) and we are not awakened by weather usually, or alarms in the night telling us that there is a gas leak from a sensor that does not even exist (yes ... read more
November 18th 2009
When we left Shelter Bay Marina of Colon, Panama it was a warm, sunny day. We were full of emotions, sad and excited at leaving friends behind but with hope of seeing new sites ahead. The trip, all 2 ½ miles of it, was uneventful. The coastline is beautiful with its mixture of palm trees, very large hardwood trees and rocky, low coastline. The water was flat calm. At the entrance of the river is Fort San Lorenzo. It is mostly gone now, crumbled away with time and covered by vines. The river runs out at the mouth causing some wave to be negotiated but nothing scary! The river twists and turns as we continue up towards the dam built in 1910 creating the Gatun lake which supplies the water for the locks of the Panama ... read more
November 9th 2009
Here we sit in Shelter Bay Marina after having hauled and painted the bottom contemplating the trip ahead. Although exciting it is sad to be ending this phase of our last 5 years sailing the Carribean. We will be leaving behind an army of new friends from all over the world who have experienced this wonderful country with us. We take with us hours and hours of memories. Each and every stop held exciting new people, foods, cultures, wildlife and friendships. We learned to be self-sufficient and frugal something we would never have learned safe and warm at home working 24 x 7 with two cars, 3 bedroom home, a TV on every floor, internet cable, etc.... As is the case for many of our friends we travel back to New Bern, NC, USA to a ... read more
sailing to San Blas and Colombia
Published: August 16th 2009Central America Caribbean » Panama » ColónAugust 16th 2009
the reason why I moved to Panama City was because I wanted to go to Colombia. is not really safe cross the border by land due to the presence of paramilitary guerrilla colombiana, so I had 2 options: by air, according to the seasons, the price varies from 200 to $ 400 by sea, sailing with a price that ranges from 350 to $ 420, depending from which port you leaving and type of boat, almost always include food, reservation costs, customs fees. Few captains include alcoholic beverages in the price but not all of them so you must to bring on board your own bottles of rum beer wine etc .... to organize the trip on a sailing boat I have being directed to 2 hostels in Panama City " Mamallena and Luna castle" but ... read more
Carnival Freedom - 8 Day Western Caribbean
Published: June 18th 2009Central America Caribbean » Panama » Colón
June 18th 2009
We were on the May 9th sailing on the Freedom (8 night Western) out of Fort Lauderdale. This sailing normally goes to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama, but our itinerary got switched to Panama, Costa Rica, and Belize because of the H1N1 virus. May 8th - Wee hours of the morning… we’re off to the local airport to catch our flight away from Florida (we have to fly west from the east coast of Canada first to a major airport before we can catch flights to other major centers) so our trip can get started… we arrive in Fort Lauderdale mid afternoon, luggage in hand… this was our 5 year anniversary trip, so we splurged on a balcony cabin on the ship and executive class flights… going to have a hard time flying cattle class again ... read more
May 2nd 2009
My last entry only talked about the adventure of getting from Vancouver to camp so I really feel like I need to write about the jungle. I've been working everyday in the jungle for the last three weeks so its hard for me to recall my first impressions and first trepidations but I'll do the best that I can. I came to Panama to do a seismic survey with explosives but there was a delay in delivering the explosives and so I worked my first day in the jungle with the resistivity crew. I didn't pick up much of the field methods of resistivity but I wasn't really interested in learning something that I could possibly confuse with my own array and hinder me. I basically stuck to carrying a car battery all day through the ... read more
April 18th 2009
Since I'm in a foreign country again I thought I'd start up my travel blog again. Pretty exciting times in Panama so far. We left Vancouver last Friday on a 8am flight to Houston and then caught a flight to Panama City. There were 5 of us from work flying in to replace other colleagues who finished their rotation. Our Russian geophysicist, Andrey, was really keen to get some duty free Scotch in Houston but there was a problem. The camp we were moving into was dry, no alcohol. This meant we would have to drink the whole bottle the one night we were in Panama City. We got into Panama City around 7:30pm and stood in the immigration lineup for 1/2 hour and when we got to the front of the line they tell us ... read more
March 13th 2009
My first Blog! We are cruising on a Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas repositioning cruise leaving from Colon, Panama and arriving back in Ft. Lauderdale. Looking forward to visiting new ports - Cartagena, and Santa Maria, Columbia and Oranjestad, Aruba. Will also dock in Limon, Costa Rica. Have been on the ship before and we're traveling with good friends, so it's bound to be a good time. Looking forward to taking some great photos.... read more
