twangster

As we approach Colon we begin to see dozens of ships at anchor waiting to transit the canal. That's the more economical price to use the canal. Radiance will pay a reservation fee to go through tomorrow morning. It would be hard for a cruise line to keep an itinerary if we saved money but had to wait at anchor for a day or two, or three. In the distance you can see the new Atlantic Bridge completed in 2019. That's the path to the canal. We'll pass under it tomorrow.

The mountains of Panama on our port side. Who thinks digging a sea level canal is a good idea?

Sunrise in the wake this morning given our Westbound course. Early signs of the day forming in the sky. Finally the sun made an appearance.

Day 7 - Colon, Panama Progress report

For families with kids there is an arcade on board.

30 minutes after the Emerald factory, or slightly longer if, like me, you escape the Emerald factory early and wander to the cheese bakery next door for a snack.

Yes, I like him.

Hypnotist in the theater. Not really my thing. I'm just going to walk off dinner and head to bed early. My six CAS drinks consisted of 1 beer, 3 water and 2 Powerade. That Cartagena heat zapped me out.

Chops update - the Truffle Fries were truffled!

Tomorrow is Colon and a port to book an excursion. My excursion focuses on the new locks. If we start at the Miraflores locks we must drive there so I'm looking forward to seeing the area from the ground.

Chops for dinner tonight. I may not be dining with Mary, but I may have a little Lamb tonight. Chops price on board is $52.99 for dinner, $26.99 for lunch.

Another look at The Protector.

Yes, but did you take a tour of the bay? 🤣

And we're off... Next stop, Colon. Captain reports tomorrow's weather should be similar to today.

There is more to Cartagena than just the old, walled city. You could consider a tour that visits many attractions, the Hop On Hop Off bus that visits the same attractions minus a guide and admission fees where there are any, or it is easy to spend several hours in the walled city. My first time I did an organized tour and learned a lot. This time my plan was a taxi or HOHO bus, but the water tour of the bay drew me to this attraction. Many around the city have some english skills but a lot do not. If navigating through a foreign language doesn't appeal to you then consider a tour. If you are the type that can figure out a few language barriers then doing it on your own, with some research before, it very doable.

Let's try this again. Starlink has been giving me issues uploading these PDFs, so I went for a swim. Here goes attempt # 4. Day 6 Cruise Compass RD Day 6 cruisecompass.pdf Day 7 Cruise Compass RD Day 7 cruisecompass.pdf

It was a little too guided for me. I'm glad I did the harbor tour just to see Cartagena from a different perspective but I wouldn't do it again.

Think we're having a Starlink moment. Internet coming and going. PING 4.2.2.3 (4.2.2.3): 56 data bytes Request timeout for icmp_seq 0 Request timeout for icmp_seq 1 Request timeout for icmp_seq 2 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=0 ttl=49 time=3746.267 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=2747.857 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=1745.655 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=743.289 ms Request timeout for icmp_seq 7 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=4 ttl=49 time=4930.651 ms Request timeout for icmp_seq 9 Request timeout for icmp_seq 10 Request timeout for icmp_seq 11 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=5 ttl=49 time=7929.060 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=6 ttl=49 time=6942.021 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=7 ttl=49 time=6008.810 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=8 ttl=49 time=7461.725 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=9 ttl=49 time=6689.788 ms Request timeout for icmp_seq 17 Request timeout for icmp_seq 18 Request timeout for icmp_seq 19 Request timeout for icmp_seq 20 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=10 ttl=49 time=11806.571 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=11 ttl=49 time=10801.030 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=12 ttl=49 time=9795.593 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=13 ttl=49 time=8793.454 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=14 ttl=49 time=7790.139 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=15 ttl=49 time=6850.346 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=16 ttl=49 time=5887.928 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=17 ttl=49 time=4883.951 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=18 ttl=49 time=3876.419 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=19 ttl=49 time=2875.362 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=20 ttl=49 time=2091.770 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=21 ttl=49 time=1088.600 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=22 ttl=49 time=949.298 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=23 ttl=49 time=1196.747 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=24 ttl=49 time=217.091 ms 64 bytes from 4.2.2.3: icmp_seq=25 ttl=49 time=196.622 ms ^C --- 4.2.2.3 ping statistics --- 26 packets transmitted, 26 packets received, 0.0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 196.622/4924.848/11806.571/3358.292 ms

From here it is a short walk back to the ship. They offer a free shuttle.

There is a souvenir shop here as well, a last chance to grab something Columbian. They have coffee here as well. They are $25 USD each. Here is what I picked up in the walled city. I paid $33 USD total for all three. They are the same! One is dated Oct. 2023 while the other two are dated Apr. 2024.

A Peacock walked into a bar... The birds and some other animals are roaming freely. As I was drinking my beer a monkey jumped on my table. Seeing no food he moved on. "Is my order ready?"

Time for a cerveza, or two. $2 and $4 respectively.

As @little britain mentioned one of the cool aspects of the Cartagena cruise port is the mini-zoo / aviary that you walk through to get back to the ship. It's complimentary. It's hard for me not to take pictures in such close proximity to the animals with their vibrant colors. Ant Eater:

Ship tour - Amazing Cartagena Bay and Walled City

360 from the harbor tour