2023 Panama Canal and Central America Adventure

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In November we spent two exciting weeks on a cruise to the Panama Canal and Central America. The cruise was filled with relaxing sea days and tropical port destinations.

Our adventure began in Ft. Lauderdale where we enjoyed a night at the beach before boarding our ship the Viking Mars.

There were two relaxing days at sea before we arrived at our first destination. It took us most of those two days to sail around part of Cuba. As you can see in the image below there were times we were close enough to see land.

Rain was coming down hard as we arrived at our first port of Montego Bay, Jamaica. After traveling in a small bus up a narrow, rocky, dirt road we arrived at Rockland’s Bird Sanctuary where the rain came down all around us but we were cozy and dry on a small covered terrace. We were surrounded by rain forest with native hummingbirds flying all around us. I even had one land on my finger to feed from a small bottle of nectar.

Our ship docked for a day in Colon, Panama near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. The excursions for the day were all cancelled because of large demonstrations which caused wide scale disruptions in the country of Panama. We were able to set foot in the country of Panama by visiting the duty free shops at the cruise ship dock. Later in the day Panamanian dancers came to the ship to put on a fabulous show.

The main event was traveling through the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. These locks are over 100 years old and the gates are the original gates. New locks were opened in 2016 so that the new, larger ships can travel through the canal. The ship traveled from the Atlantic into the Gatun Lake and then turned around and went back through the locks to return to the ocean.

Passing through the Gatun Locks on our way to Gatun Lake
A cargo ship was going towards Gatun Lake as we made our return trip through the locks
As we traveled back to the Atlantic this huge container ship was right beside us in the new canal
Lush tropical landscape beside the canal
Our ship passed under the Atlantic Bridge going and coming

Our next port was Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The Monster Bus, a custom made six-wheel drive air conditioned vehicle, was our transportation into the rain forest and through a banana plantation. Our journey took us through small villages and farms where we saw water buffalo, pigs, and other animals. I was on the lookout for sloths and howler monkeys the entire time. We could hear the monkeys high up in the trees but all I could see was the leaves moving as the monkeys moved through the treetops. On our way back to the ship the bus driver stopped so we could get a look at a sloth in one of the trees.

In Roatan, Honduras we boarded a small bus and traveled up narrow roads to visit the Carambola Botanical Gardens. We learned about the plants and medicinal purposes of many of them. The first image below shows different stages of the cacao beans.

Thanksgiving day started with a boat ride up the Belize River. Our wonderful guide Melissa pointed out wildlife and told us a about the history and customs of Belize. Just outside the mouth of the river we saw West Indian Manatees surface to take a breath but they didn’t cooperate for a photo.

Later that night we enjoyed a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. In the gallery below is a Great Blue Heron, an Iguana, a Crocodile lying beside the river in someone’s front yard, and a Black Howler Monkey watching his us as we rode by.

The port of Cozumel was crowded with several other large cruise ships and the temperature was in the 90’s so we oped to skip our excursion for the day. I wandered around the shops at the port to pick up some Mexican Chocolate and other goodies to take home.

In between ports we had several sea days. Many activities were available while at sea. We enjoyed a tour of the bridge, a galley tour, had high tea one afternoon, and I got a massage one day and took a cooking class another day. We both enjoyed the many beautiful places to sit and read or just relax. We stared off into the ocean in search of whales but what we mostly was were birds such as the brown booby shown below. The chefs prepared some special meals with foods from the region. One afternoon we sipped coconut juice fresh from the coconut – with or with rum. I enjoyed the pools and the Nordic Spa every day.

We arrived back home the week after Thanksgiving relaxed and ready to enjoy the holidays.

20 thoughts on “2023 Panama Canal and Central America Adventure”

  5. Your Panama Cruise was so different than ours! How fabulous.
    I would love to have a hummingbird sit on my finger… how fun!
    It was a beautiful cruise for you both, filled with sweet memories. The experience of a lifetime.

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    1. Nancy, when I read about your cruise I thought how different they were but both of us had an experience of a lifetime. We would have enjoyed a full transit but we didn’t want to fly back from LA 😀 I had to be very patient waiting for a hummingbird to land on my finger. I am not a patient person! It was worth it.

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  7. It looks like a great holiday! The bird sanctuary sounds neat. I wonder if we visited the same garden in Roatan, Honduras? I can’t remember the name of it as it was a number of years ago. That was a fun place and one I’d like to return to one day.

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  9. What a wonderful trip, Beth. You covered so many ports and excursions. It all looked fun, but the tropical forest drive must have been fun, and you saw a sloth! I was particularly interested in the botanical garden and the medicinal uses, and the grounds are gorgeous. My favorite photos is of the tropical forest. And what fun to hold, and feed a hummingbird. Very nice!

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  10. Your tropical adventure with Viking sounds like a memorable trip. We will be doing a 7 day cruise in two weeks. Some of the same ports but not through the canal. I enjoyed all of your photos from your experience.

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    1. Thank you. We really enjoyed Belize. We never thought we would like cruising, either. We don’t like crowds and didn’t ever want to go on a cruise ship filled with several thousand people. After we stopped taking RV trips we decided to give cruising a try. My brother recommended Viking. Their ships have a maximum of 930 passengers. We’ve now done four Viking cruises and loved them all.

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