Colón, Panama
Exploring the Canal and our last 2 stops
Time to wake up early! As we neared the entrance to the Canal it was dark and multiple ships - including freighters and cruise ships - were lined up and waiting their time to enter the canal. Our entry was at 7:00 am and the majority of the ship were at the front to get the best views. For those that are not aware, there is the original smaller locks and a new set of locks for the larger ships, which opened in 2016. We used the larger docks due to the width of our ship as you can note in the picture below.
Our ship docked in Gatun Lake and we had the opportunity to do excursions from there. We chose to board a ferry and ride the rest of the canal to the Pacific Ocean. With the smaller boat we were able to transverse the original locks so this gave us the opportunity to see the canal in the original way built as well as the new design. This took a few hours to get through a few sets of locks and we exited the canal at Panama City. From there, our group boarded a bus and we drove back to the ship on the Atlantic side docked at Colon.
It was a long day but well worth the journey and if you are only planning to enter one side like we did, this is a great way to experience the Atlantic to Pacific connection. This was also Super Bowl Sunday so we arrived back to the ship during the 2nd quarter and able to relax and watch the game after the bus ride.
Next up was our port stop at Limon, Costa Rica. Today's adventure was a boat ride through the rainforest. We were able to see quite a few animals including sloths, howler monkeys, alligators and various species of birds.
Lastly, we had a stop in Grand Cayman. As mentioned in part 1, this was originally to be Key West and we were looking forward to that. Even though we live in Florida, Key West is about a 6-7 hour drive each way so would have been nice to see. Key West is not wanting the cruise ships to stop anymore so this is causing cruise lines to make alternate arrangement and this was the substitute for us. As we had been to Cayman Island on a few occasions, we decided just to make this a relaxing beach day at 7 Mile Beach.
We were also able to celebrate Valentine's Day on the ship and they provided the desert below as a reminder.
In summary, we did enjoy the cruise and the various ports as we had not been to Columbia or Costa Rica. The Canal is a trip worth making and we are happy with the two ways we were able to see the canal including the old canal and the new canal. The ship was a bit smaller than we have cruised in the past and there were some rocky times, luckily nothing enough to be sick, just a few nights of moving around in bed as we were moving fast at times.
It was also nice to explore areas like Costa Rica and Columbia as part of this trip as they were new to use and while only being there for a day, allowed us a small introduction to the countries.
