San Lorenzo National Park and Fort / Gatun Lake / Panama Canal November 3-6, 2018

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We are finally back in Wifi range, here is an account of the last few days.

November 3, 2018

This morning, before heading to Colon to board our boat, we went to San Lorenzo National Park. We drove through part of the park and got off to walk the last mile to San Lorenzo Fort. We saw howler monkeys and a toucan. There is not much left of the fort, only ruins, but you get a spectacular view of the Caribbean.

In the afternoon we boarded the M/S Discovery, a 24-passenger catamaran to spent 3 nights on the canal. That afternoon we went through the first locks from the Caribbean to Gatun Lake. This man-made lake was created during the construction of the canal by damming the Chagres River which supplies the Gatun locks with more than 52 million gallons of freshwater per ship that passes through. After passing through the locks, the boat anchored on Gatun Lake for the next 3 nights.

November 4, 2018

This morning we visited the Agua Clara Visitor Center to get a view of the Panama canal. This observatory not only provides great views of the canal, but also history of its construction. While we were at the centre we took a walk down a nature trail where we saw an ant eater, and sloths. The first sloth just hung there in the tree. Looks like a big brown bag. But the second one we saw started moving so we hung around to see what he would do. He came down the tree very sloooowly. Everyone was very excited about this, especially my friend Sue. This was the one thing she wanted to see. He came right down to the ground. Our guide said he came down to have a poo. We also saw a Gato solo (a small, racoon-like mammal with a slim body; long, ringed tail and long, truncated snout).

After lunch, we were supposed to go kayaking but it was cancelled because of a thunder storm. Later in the afternoon, after the rain had deminished we took a tour of the lake by zodiak. As we were approaching one of the islands so the guide could show us some flowers the monkeys started howling because we were too close. We could see them swinging from vines and carrying on. Everyone in the boat was very excited. I had not brought my camera because I was afraid to get it wet.

November 5, 2018

We woke up to a beautiful sun today so the Captain gave us permission to go kayaking. The boat has a platform at the back where they sit the kayaks on, then they lower it until the platform is under water and the kayaks are floating. We were gone only half an hour but very happy to have done so

Later in the morning we lifted the anchor to continue our trek through the canal. Our boat is small so we shared the chamber with three other boats. Two of them were smaller that us but the fourth one was a big ship. It is very interesting how they bring these these big ships through the canal and locks. First they have tug boats accompanying the ship to keep it on its course. On each side of the locks there is a series of locomotive that run on a track. The locomotive are tide to the boat by wire cables and move forward with the ship, they keep the ship straight so it does not touch the sides of the canal. You will see from the pictures that there is not much room between the ship and the canal walls. So we have now crossed the canal from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean. We went through the locks in the rain.

Later on in the afternoon we visited Tobago Island, also known as the "Island of Flowers". It is a volcanic island in the Gulf of Panama. It is a tourist destination, about 20 km from Panama City, Panama. The island was discovered in the 16th century and was originally named Isla de San Pedro. Its current name derives from an Indian word aboga ("many fish"). Tourism is the major economic activity on the island, although fishing and agriculture are also practiced. The island has become a popular touristic attraction due to its beautiful natural areas and its proximity to Panama City Daily ferries link the city to the island. Aside from beaches, the island has trails for hiking, small hotels and restaurants. As soon as we arrived there it started to rain. So we walked around the small town with our guide who told us a bit about its history. On our walk we came upon a sign that said « No parking except for Bob » so of course we took pictures of Bob with « his » sign. We had a good laugh about it.

November 6, 2018

We disembarked the boat this morning. We visited the Canal Administration Building before heading to our hotel. Tonight we have our final dinner with the group. It has been a good tour but it is time to head home.

see more photos in the photos tab

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Photos

Lowering the kayaks
Joce and I are in the blue one, Marc & Lise in the orange one, Rick & Brenda in the green one

Comments

[Colette]

Cool Creatures
I love the photos and stories about the creatures. I would be excited too to see a sloth moving around but that ant eater is so different than the ones I've seen in the zoos and I never heard to seen a gate solo. I shall make a point of looking for them next time I visit a large zoo.