The Slightly Longer Panama Canal Cruise

[old nutter]

These are a few comments and pictures from our November cruise from Miami to LA via the Panama Canal. Why slightly longer - the three hours when we put the clock back during the trip;)

 

We found those three hours really useful because we had to get rid of the five hours of jetlag from our UK-Miami flight and it gave us more time to get used to sleeping at night and staying awake in the daytime. The five hours across the pond at least made it easier to get up early to see us entering the canal.

 

When we travel we tend to like to see the wildlife in their natural environment and so our trips (and the photos) tend to be biased towards trips where we can see them rather than seeing another beach. We also spent a lot of time on our balcony watching the sea go by.

 

We left Miami about an hour late. Whether it was due to the luggage fishing issues or staffing in the terminal we were not told. However it did give us a great sunset departure...

 

 

When we got up for the first of our two days crossing to Cartegena the sea was pretty lumpy and because the waves were coming inn a different direction to the wind, the Star had a funny corkscrew motion that made a few people run for the motion remedies. It was particulary bad in the theatre because of it being right at the front of the ship

 

 

Like most people we spent those first two sea days getting used to the layout of the ship. I liked the atrium because it goes right to the top of the ship and has glass elevators. This photo is from one of the viewing platforms up near the top.

 

 

And this is the view from the main floor of the atrium looking up to the top window.

 

 

Day three saw us in Cartegena where we just did a short trip round on the ships tour. Quite honestly, the heat was starting to get to us so we just wanted a short sightseeing trip to see what the place was like and to at least say we had stepped onto the continent of South America. It took us to the inevitable shopping visit, but the vendors were not too pushy and we didn't end up spending any money.

 

 

Early to bed for the big day tomorrow

Edited December 22, 2014 by old nutter
Photos did not work first time

[Demonyte]

You need to use the "Share image"-links (fourth one, IMG) from the right side of page on each of the image pages.

[old nutter]

Thanks Demonte - I picked up the wrong links from Photobucket. Should be OK now...

Edited December 22, 2014 by old nutter

[Oakman58]

I'm looking forward to more of your reports old nutter. I had to chuckle at the title of your post since our cruise was slightly shorter coming from L.A. :D

[old nutter]

Hopefully OK for the next part.

 

Up at 6 just as dawn was approaching with a special Panama Canal breakfast served in our room (nice touch NCL). Nice and warm so we could eat it on the balcony watching the sun rise over the rain forest that caused so many problems to the original builders as we approached Gatun Locks.

 

 

As the light got better we saw some of the new canal workings and the huge new gates that are now apparently ready to move into place once the works are completed.

 

 

Once we got into the actual lock gates we were hitched up to the $2.8m Mark II Mules. These big machines guide the ships along so that they keep off the sides rather than pulling the ships along - that is left to the ship's own propulsion. Once the distictly low-tech couple of blokes in a rowing boat caught the light lines, the big cables were hauled aboard to hold the ship steady.

 

 

We happened to be in the left lock so I went down to Deck 7 Starboard (getting to grip with the nautical terms now) to see what was happening on the right hand lock. There was a great big tanker just a bit ahead of us so we saw it being raised and moved through the locks more or less with us. There was an excellent commentary via the deck speakers as well as in the cabins for the whole time telling us loads of facts about what was happening and how the canal came to be built. There had also been a showing of a documentary on the TV on our second sea day as well, so we were well covered with information.

 

To give you an idea of the size of this engineering marvel, this was our view from the deck before the water came in to raise us in one dock section. We were just about level with the Mule and at one time we were having a conversation with the driver more or less at our level.

 

 

Once the water had filled our section up, this is where the Mule had dropped to...

 

 

And this was our view of the tanker in the right lane entering one of he sections. The decks were level with the dock wall as it went in and towered above once the section had filled.

 

 

Next part will see us out of the engineering bit and into the canal proper.

[old nutter]

We went on through the three sets of locks at Gatun and I went to the stern (I still think of it at the back but having worked with some naval types in he past I know how they like their special language!) The view astern is probably as good as the one from the packed bow decks at the front, it is just a bit later to appear. Another two ships were already heading into the locks behind and another one pressing on behind as well. Looking to the right of the next photo by the big cranes in the distance, you can just see the channel for the new locks and the huge gates we saw earlier.

 

 

Gatun Lake was raised the 85 feet for the main canal by building a dam. The Gatun Dam was on our right as we came ouit of the third lock. As I viewed it from the stern of the ship, I began to see the reason for the use of port/starboard words on board a ship. As I looked back from the stern towards the locks, the dam was on my left, but it was still on the starboard side of the ship!! Had it been important to tell someone where the dam was, by saying it was on the starboard side, the receiver would know which way to look to see it - we live and learn.

 

 

The Gatun Lake is apparently the largest man-made fresh-water lake in the world and it is really beautiful in places. There are lots of islands that were presumably high land before the dam flooded the area and according to our commentator some have not seen any humans since the flood. This is just one of the larger ones we saw on our way over the lake.

 

 

There were a number of ships in the lake coming from the Pacific side. This is a tanker but there were also a lot of huge container ships and we also saw one of the great big multi-storey car parks on water that are used to carry the Japanese cars to Europe and the US. They are so ugly that put alongside the NCL Epic and the Epic would win the beauty contest hands down - they really are that ugly!

 

 

The next photo is of the Chagres River crossing. This is where the infamous river leaves us and goes back to where it can behave itself without harming the canal.

 

 

In the next posting we will have the approaches to the downward leg into the Pacific via the two sets of locks at San Pedro and Miraflores through the Guilard Cut (used to be called the Callibra cut when the builders were trying to cut through the soggy mass that caused them to have so many nightmares.) The sides of it are still slipping all the time so the idea that there was a stable angle for the ecavations was never going to be true during the building.

[daisey22]

I'm sorry but what ship were you on

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[old nutter]

Next bit...

 

This picture shows some of the constant dredging to keep the canal clear of the mud that comes down the sides of the Guilard Cut. The Bridge of the Americas is just in the distance. The markers on the right-hand side Western Side because the canal actually goes North to South for us)) of the canal are for the pilots to use to check for their position within the canal itself. When the slots in the big boards line up, the pilots can pinpoint their location on the navigation chart and make sure they are on the correct side of the channel to avoid collisions.

 

 

 

Once we had passed through the cut and under the bridge we went into the single lock at San Pedro. The workings of the new channel for the big

locks is over to the right and the hills have been terraced much like some of the original parts of the Guilard Cut.

 

 

The gap between the San Pedro Locks and the ones at Miraflores was formed by another dam at Miraflores and this is what it looks like as the ship comes close to the last two locks. These locks have to be able to cope with the high tide changes of the Pacific Ocean so the downward trip distance is decided by the Ocean. There is no such problem at the other end because the Gulf of Mexico has virtually no tides, so how the original builders thought they could build a canal without locks is beyond my simple civil engineering skills.

 

 

We were a bit of an attraction for the local tourists as we went through the last lock as there were hunreds of people in a great big five story building alongside the dock. For some strange reason everyone on the port side of the ship and those in this building were waving at one another. It was a bit like the effect when one person yawns and everyone else in the room has to follow suit!

 

 

And so something like seven hours after we arrived at the Gatun Dock gates we were heading out into the great Pacific Ocean. On the way, were given a supeb view of the Panama City skyline,. No wonder it has become known as the Central American version of Dubai. Once out, we had to slow down for a while to allow the pilots and our superb commenator to get off and to collect some of the crew who had been videoing the transit from the shore to put onto a DVD to sell us in the Photo Shop.

 

 

The Pacific Ocean was lliving up to it's original name as we came out of the main canal and it was really smooth and actually carried on being smooth for the rest of the cruise.

 

We then had another couple of sea days before heading to Puntarenas in Costa Rica where we had booked a trip to a Macaw Sanctuary so at that point I will have a rest from this story.

[old nutter]

Sorry Daisy22 we were on the Star. Didn't get any pictures of her until we docked in Costa Rica.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Your photographs are absolutely gorgeous. Would you mind telling us what camera you use and what lens(es)? Just breathtaking, and until now, I haven't been interested in a Panama Canal cruise.

[don't-use-real-name]

Yes indeed awesome photos - thank you very much for sharing.

You are correct the better vantage points for photos is the stern.

Way too many people forward and those darn glass panel windshields

blocking a clear view (had to raise camera over head to try and get a pix).

Your crossing was favored by much better sunny weather than mine.

 

My NCL STAR voyage sailing 10/20 (the one before yours) MIA-LAX was

even longer by one more hour caused by DST change although the ships

arrival at San Pedro was on time. The departure from Miami was late loading

some 100 or more fork lift pallets with food (produce) topped off with a shower

of rain to slow thing down to a crawl.

 

Cross one off the bucket list - now for the NCL SUN South America.

[js4rq]

What beautiful photos you have captured of your cruise! :)

[NMLady]

Sorry Daisy22 we were on the Star. Didn't get any pictures of her until we docked in Costa Rica.

 

Thank you for letting us know which ship. We did the Miami-L.A. Transit on the Star in October 2013. Your photos bring back happy memories.

Thank you for sharing.

Edited December 23, 2014 by NMLady

[old nutter]

Thank you for your kind words.

 

Since I have been asked what I use for my photos, here is the technical stuff - The camera body itself is a Canon EOS 60D and my normal lens on it is a Sigma 17-70 2.8-4 HSM. When I need to get out a bit further on wildlife trips, I also have a big Sigma 120-400 1:4.5-5.6HSM. That is a real animal of a lens because the lens alone weighs in at almost 5 lbs and extends to about 16 inches when at full range. However, for all that it has probably more magnification than most binoculars so is great for catching those pesky animals out in the wild. These two lenses together with the camera allow me to be able to capure pictures in all sorts of light at all kinds of speed. The main secret to getting pictures is to be totally ready when the picture comes for you, and that can mean having to keep well alive whenever you are out watching.

 

Most cameras can capture masses more information on a picture if you use the right stttings on the camera and go beyond point-and-shoot so I always take my pictures so that this extra stuff is caught in the file and then I use one of the software packages to bring them out.

 

When you are fortunate to have a balcony so see what is out in the sea you will always see lots of different birds and on this trip we saw a number of Frigate birds and lots of Gannets. This gannet was determined to catch his meal during our first Pacific sead day - and I had the big lens on the camera as well at that time.

 

My OH was not amused when I told her how I knew this next one was a femail gannet - the clue the state of the mouth:) - sorry ladies

 

 

As I said before when we got to Puntarenas in Costa Rica we had booked on the ship's tour to the El Manantial Macaw Sanctuary. There were only enough of us to fill a mini van and we drove into the interior to get there. We had a very knowledgable guide who gave us a lot of information about his country in general and the sanctuary in particular. The first part of the trip was along normal surfaced roads but then we turned onto a rough dirt road for the last few miles. It was just like the old trips we did in Africa on safari. We went through some small villages with their schools and houses and along fields of different trees until we got to El Manantial. We certainly knew we were there a soon as the van door opened by the cacophony from the birds. We walked round with a guide and saw lots of both free and captive birds and animals. Some of the scarlet macaws had been rescued from the pet trade and were never going to be able to go into the wild and had huge enclosures to fly around in, but they could and did breed and their offspring were free to come and go outside the enclosures. They were in the trees and on the ground and making so much noise all of the time. This is photo of two of the wild macaws scratching around on the ground for nuts and other ground food.

 

This was on of the blue and yellow macaws in one of the huge enclosures.

 

 

As we walked round, our guide pointed out a two-toed sloth way up in one of the trees. Unfortunately, he (the sloth, not the guide!) was so well hidden that I didn't manage to get other than a picture of the branches and leaves! However, just round the corner we saw some wild howler monkeys. This one wasn't howling, but then with all the macaws he was probably a bit overwhelmed and so had a rest from howling so that I could take his photo.

 

 

At that point we were invited to sit down at a table and share some beautiful platters of fresh fruit prepared for us by the staff - most welcome as we rested from the heat.

[old nutter]

After we had our rest and refreshments we carried on walking round this fabulous place. It was not only the animals that were beautiful and bright, so were the plants. This is one of the amazing Heliconias in the area.

 

And this is Rambutan fruit growing beside the path. Our driver actually stopped and picked some of these from the roadside on the way back and offered the fruit from inside to us to eat. They were almost the size and colour of a table-tenis ball but were really tasty. A bit like lychee in texture and tasted a bit like green grapes.

 

 

Towards the end of our escorted walk we saw a small group of spider monkeys who lived at the sanctuary. This one was just sitting there eating and seemed to be enjoying his meal of green leaves.

 

 

I promised a picture of the Star and here it is. When we got back to the dock, there she was. Having seen the bow before I knew if looked like a smiling face so welcomed the chance to take my picture of it, smile, nose, wide eyes and Disney ears and all. Definitely Happy Happy - could be a good name for a song...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way once more, this time to Huatalco and a very hot bird watching trip waiting for us.

Edited December 23, 2014 by old nutter
spelling

[old nutter]

The birdwatching trip was pretty basic - another minivan and a guide. We searched around a bit just outside the town and saw a few different local birds and then set of a bit further and left the van and walked down a trail that had lots of different trees and was apparently renowned for local bird life.

 

The first things we saw were several butterflies wafting around the undergrowth. One of them was huge but very nervous. This one was a bit more cooperative for us.

 

 

I think we saw something like 15 or 16 different animals on the trail including a bee colony living in an old woodpecker's nest in a palm tree, a spiked iguana and several small colourful birds such as parakeets, oriole, kiskadeeand and tanger. The most interesting birds we saw before heading back to the ship were a family of woodpeckers who were nesting about half-way up a palm tree. This one has just come back from a hunting trip and is checking outside before going back inside to feed the chicks with the insect it had caught.

 

 

The Star was stern berthed virtually on the beach so not far to walk in the heat from the car park and shops and along the pier. We could certainly see that dent in the back from here.

 

 

Next stop the legendary Acapulco. Not too sure about doing much here because we gathered it was a bit like the wild west these days, but we were quite close to the breeding grounds of the smallest of the sea turtles so decided to take another of the ships excursions that was to take us through the sights of the city and out of town to one of the turtle sanctuaries along the beach.

 

On the way out of town, we got some fantastic views across the main bay. This photo is across the naval habour to the main beachside hotels and town.

 

 

The turtle sanctuary was on an open stretch of beach about an hour out of the town. The olive ridley turtles (locals know them as golfina turtles) mature was out to sea and after ten years the fertilised females return to the beach where they were themselves hatched to breed for the first time. The females lay their eggs in the sand and then leave them to hatch out about ten weeks later and fend for themselves. These turtles are endangered and so the idea of the sanctuary is to provide help and safety from predators during the hatching period. The people at the sanctuary wait for the eggs to be laid and then collect them up and reset them in an enclosed area of the beach until they are ready. The eggs from each turtle all hatch on the same day and normally they scrabble out of the sand and head for the sea to begin their life in the wild.

 

On the day we were there, a lot of hatchlings had come out that morning and they were held in a small tank for each of us to take one and take it down the beach and let it flap it's way down to the water's edge. Apparently the biggest predation of one-day old hatchlings is on this mad dash to the sea because the sea birds can pick them off the sand so easily. Our presence kept the birds away from the little turtles and all of the ones we released made it to their new life in the sea.

 

This is one of the day old turtles ready to be helped out to the sea...

 

 

Two more sea days to come on the way to our final stop at Cabo San Lucas.

[old nutter]

We had heard that Cabo was the place to see whales, but it was supposed to be a bit later in December that they appear from Alaska. Much to our surprise there was a humpback whale just outside our balcony as the ship arrived to the tender point and there were still a couple of days of November left. The whale blow was easy to see in the early dawn light. A couple more blows and it went on it's way and we never saw it again. But since the camera was primed ready to go, I got the shot before it went.

 

 

We went out later that morning on one of the big catamarans to take a trip round Land's End past the famous arch. The boat turned right after the rocks and went along the coast to show us some of the developments along the coast. This was how we saw the arch as we went out.

 

 

Ther next photo is of the sequence of rocks that make up the end of the peninsular and the joining of the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere before, but from this viewpoint, that big rock that forms the arch really does look like a giant pre-historic animal resting and taking a drink. Take a complete look below and you have the head dipping into the sea, the neck, big front legs, spikes along it's spine, smaller folded rear legs and then the tail carries on behind the next rock :eek:

 

Must stop taking those funny pills before we reach customs in LA!

 

 

When we left Cabo we had another day at sea before landfall in LA and it was again spent looking out at the see watching any wildlife we could see. We saw several pods of dolphins and several whales quite a long way away, a few turtles flapping along the surface and I finally managed to capture a decent photo of one of the many flying fish that we had seen getting away from the wake made by the bow wave.

 

 

The Pacific Ocean was at it's smoothest on this leg and there was just a hint of that typical long swell - very soporific. Indeed, by the afternoon we were dozing in the cabin when we heard the ships horn sound a long blast. First thought was that there was another vessel in our way so out to the balcony to see what it was and much to our surprise we were in a very still and "Alfred Hichcock" - like fog and could hardly even see the sea! It was impossible to see from one end of the ship to the other and the fog-horn was sounding for the better part of half an hour before we broke back out into the lovely still sunshine. Another experience to add to the ever growing list.

 

Next the final bits...

 

Before starting the packing, I took the camera round the ship for a few pictures

[sfaaa]

Another great Panama Canal cruise thread. Keep the pictures coming.

[rajones007]

Before starting the packing, I took the camera round the ship for a few pictures

I'd love to see more of your photos from around the ship. I was also on this cruise and (as stupid as this sounds, not gonna lie) I would be absolutely giddy if I were to see myself in one of your photos.

[old nutter]

Last sea day around the ship. The Christmas Trees were all in full bloom in the atrium and there were not so many people around the decks..

 

 

The lifts were empty

 

 

And the Asian and Italian restaurants were gearing up for their final flourish.

 

 

On Sunday, we reached LA and surprisingly managed to get off the ship quite quickly. Immigration officers had desks in the ship and were dealing with everyone quite effectively. We had arranged to be met by a minivan from LA Insiders with the absolutely excelent driver/guide, Rivers, all set to take us round the tourist sights before heading to LAX and our ten hour flight and eight hours of jet lag.

 

The three-hour LA Insiders tour was helped by the lack of traffic with it being after Thanksgiving, after Black Friday and the day of the big parade down Holywood Boulevard.

 

This was the scene on that Sunday morning with the red carpet across the whole street ready for the great parade.

 

 

It was a bit cooler than we had been used to, and we had taken the precaution of leaving our fleeces out of our packed suitcases. But we managed to get our trip in seeing the Hollywood sign, those outrageous homes in Beverly Hills, the expensive empty shops in Rodeo Drive and the stars and foot/handprints outside the Chinese Theatre so the trip was complete.

 

As we approached LAX, it got darker and darker and almost as soon as we waved Rivers off, the heavens opened on LA for the first time in ages. Only Hollywood could have arranged to set us up to feel completely at home with the weather. The final picture below was taken across the airport pan at about 1pm when the storm was at it's best. I gather from looking at the Californian news broadcasts when we got home, that the Christmas Parade was virtually washed out. Made us feel at home but a shame for all the kids who had to endure such a horrible day after that very long dry and hot spell.

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed these memories of that trip of a lifetime as much as we did experiencing it. If this paricular cruise is on your list - get out there and do it ASAP. We put it off for years and thanks to a very old dog at home, a dicky heart and a so far successful operation to remove a bowel tumour in June this summer, we nearly left it too late. Don't risk not reaching the bottom of that bucket before you have emptied it completely. Thanks to those wonderful doctors in our local NHS hospital who took me apart and put enough of me back together we made it and got home in one piece to remember it all. And a big thank you to all of the CC posters who gave us the information that helped make our trip a success. If I can help with answers to anyone's queries just ask and I will do my best to help.:)

[marsworth75]

Great review with great photos, thank you. My wife and I will be on the Star Jan 19th headed for the Canal.

[js4rq]

What did you think of the ship's El Manantial Macaw Sanctuary tour? The animals are just beautiful!! :D I think this is somewhere we'd like to check out. Thanks. :)

Edited December 24, 2014 by js4rq

[old nutter]

The tour round the sanctuary is pretty standard and is done by the staff there so it would probably be the same however you go. It is not rushed at all and the staff are extremely knowledgeable. Wildlife tours don't seem too popular on cruise ships so we were a small group and a minivan was OK. It was full (I can't remember how many of us there were, probably 12 or so) but the guide never stopped talking about his country and we felt it was quite personalised. Although some birds were in enclosures, they are massive and the birds are able to both fly and socialise. It is not a zoo, it is a conservation project. The visit money helps to fund it so the visit does help keep it going.

 

We were pleased with the value so if you want to see the range of animal, both captive and free, go for it.

[Oakman58]

Old Nutter, what software do you use to post-process your photos? Also, do you use any filters for your indoor shots?

[old nutter]

Oakman58. Great photos by the way from your trip. I always feel a bit awkward taking people photos, so I stick to scenes and animals. Your style is much more social and I do like it for these sort of stories.

 

I use Photoshop for post-processing these days. I started using all sorts of odds and ends until a few years ago and when Adobe did a slightly cut-down version of it that was on offer at a very reasonable cost (Photshop Elements). I then found out just what you can get out of images that are stored in RAW format rather than stright into JPEG. They came out with a very reasonable monthly subscription offer for amateur photographers earlier this year and I went to the full version and never looked back. It has got some amazing bells and whistles to improve the photos like straightening the horizon and changing perspective on sloping walls for just two. It also lets me set the camera to take slightly darker shots because the software can recover details from dark parts, but if an area of the photo is burnt out (like skies and bright backgrounds) it is gone forever. I got that tip from a top whale and dolphin photographer on a specialist trip I went on some time ago.

 

I tend to use my wide-angle zoom for inside shots and never bother with filters. I don't like using flash either unless I have to if things are moving a lot and I try to use natural lighting if at all possible. It makes the photos a bit less harsh and I personaly like that for those sorts of shots. The lens has image stabilisation on it, so I can go for much slower speed shots without getting shake on them or digging a tripod out. I also wind the ISO setting on the camera up to give me a bit of lattitude on the settings and then let Photoshop get rid of any noise. Those inside photos near the end of my posts above were taken at ISO 400 and went down to 1/25th of a second because the scene was pretty stable. I think I got an image quite close to how I saw it at the time. Not using flash also stops that annoying thing with deep backgrounds where the flash helps the close part of the picture, but leaves the background getting darker as you go back further - that is not how our eyes see it at the time so the image loses some of itself as a record of what you see.

 

I hope that helps explain what I did anyway.

 

by the way, What do you think of my dinosaur description of the Cabo rock?

Edited December 24, 2014 by old nutter