All the Way From Wichub Wala to Wailidup in a Rubber Boat

Tuesday, 29 September - San Blas Islands, Panama

 

Last evening we passed the sea lanes for the Canal. Apparently the man had a plan as there were lots of ships. We sat by the pool deck, well actually the Jacuzzi deck since there's no pool on Prince Albert II (or the ship by the same name) and played the, "What kind of ship is that" game. We then watched the sun set west into the Atlantic. (Look at the map.) A good time was had by all.

 

We were invited to the Captain's Table for dinner, and much to our surprise the Captain joined us. Most of those at the table talked with each other, but I chatted with the Captain about, uh, ships. Nice dinner. The oso bucco went well with the Chianti.

 

After being anchored all night in the nice calm (!) anchorage we took the Zodiacs this morning to Wichub Wala Island, a 1 acre atoll inhabited exclusively by Kuna Indians, a protected self governing group who make and sell Molas which hand make textiles. Molas are very colorful, made by cutting away holes in multilayer fabric--a kind of reverse appliqué. Since selling Molas are almost the sole source of income for the Kunas, every house on the little island had a number of women and children wearing and selling identical Molas. There were a lot of houses and therefore a lot of Molas for sale. I say that Molas are almost the sole source of their income since charging $1 per photo is the other. Knowing this, I took a number of pictures of some dug out canoed Kuna and decided that a word is worth a thousand pictures. You will have to imagine, therefore, the folk dance (with pan pipes, of course) we observed. Something about a starfish or marriage rituals. Maybe both.

 

We then shuttled by a 5 mile Zodiac run (at 18.5 mph, but who's counting) to Wailidup (I'm not making these names up) Island which we apparently rented for the day. There are a lot of San Blas islands, really a lot. We snorkeled, swam, some kayaked in plastic boats, and had a lunch of local rock lobster--which went quite well with Balboa Beer. A quick Zodiac ride took us back to the now repositioned ship so that we could enjoy an elegant tea time. The English Breakfast Tea went well with my left over dairy free morning pastries. Note the Cruise Director who is called "Expedition Leader" on this ship looking self important in his expedition leader garb. He also talks a lot over his walkie talkie with things like, "Is the Zodiac #1 in position?". Very impressive.

 

This evening we set sale for the NW entrance to the Panama Canal where we will start a daylight transit tomorrow morning. I remember from the last time that the ride has its ups and downs.

You Can Pronouce it Both

Sunday, 27 September 2009 - Puerto Lemon, Costa Rica

 

Some pronounce it "slarth"

Some pronounce it "slooth"

You can say it one way

Or you can say it both

 

We arrived at this small port town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica during lunch time and disembarked the ship at 2 pm for a 4 hour tour (!) to the "world famous" sloth sanctuary. Apparently an American lady has devoted her life to rescuing these very slow moving and painfully cute creatures. Even I thought they looked, uh, cute. When another guest on the ship asked me if I liked sloths, I said, "Of course, especially with onions." We drove along the spectacular coastline for a about 45 minutes for a video about the efforts of the sanctuary to save this endangered species, looked at dozens of them being healed back to health and/or in the trees and then took a canoe ride into the jungle. We saw lots of birds, more sloths, monkeys in the trees, various scary slithering things, and then took a guided hike in the rain forest with an enthusiastic docent as the sun set and it got scarier and more slithery creatures seemed to appear and more screeching monkeys, uh, screeched. We visited the gift shop where I avoided buying sloth refrigerator magnets and came back to the ship in the dark where the Chianti went quite well with the Weiner Schnitzel.

English Speaking Colombia

Saturday 27 September 2009 - Isla de Providencia, Colombia

Santa Catalina Island is connected to the much large Providencia Island by a wildly colored unstable foot bridge. We landed on the larger island after an equally wild (but safe, the ever patronizing Cruise Director/Expedition Leader said) Zodiac ride of 3 miles. Since Providencia is owned by (not settled or particularly desired by the English speaking locals) Colombia, this is my country number 128, the only new "bagged country" of this cruise (but who's counting).

The onboard docents conducted a morning guided walk of a couple of miles on Santa Catalina to a namesake's statue and old fort. The naturalists pointed out crabs, lizards, more crabs, more lizards, and a couple of birds. Some of us saw iguanas, but the docents didn't. Very loud toads were heard but unseen, really heard, and we observed a number of homes built no doubt by the builders of the foot bridge. Everyone seemed happy, thought, so who am I to say.

After lunch, we joined the "4 hour snorkel trip". Noodles (not for lunch but for flotation, make of that what you will) were provided to those who needed them, and a good time was had by mostly all. We snorkeled over the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world, which means that the water was very deep off the boat with live coral heads coming almost to the surface. Lots of fish and all sorts of coral forms were observed, even my those with 41 year old cracked (but prescription) masks. Maybe I should have used the ship's modern (but not prescription) equipment. On the way back we stopped at a local bar for a "Redds" cider beer, a most refreshing beverage. The cervaza here is of the apple cider variety. Travel is wonderful.No drug cartels were noted.

We sailed away towards Puerto Limon, Costa Rica after recovering the Zodiacs with a big hook. The "Study of Beef" entree was delightful with the Chianti.

Zodiacs Are Fun

Thursday 24 September 2009 - Black River, Jamaica

Black River is in the SW corner of Jamaica. 41 years ago I was told
not to venture to the area due to Arawak attacks and "lawless people".
Today it is an area of small, clean fishing villages surrounded by
very large ostentatious homes. The nearby hills are full of fruit,
flowers, small guest houses, and lots of unemployed men who help
themselves to the fruit: ackee, mangoes, bananas, etc., and don't seem
to want to attack or be particularly lawless. The Rastas are allowed
to indulge in their smoking at religious ceremonies and "at Bob
Marley's grave site". There's lots I don't understand about the
Jamaican government.

We took an all day bus tour after a 3 mile Zodiac ride. The Zodiacs
can float with three compartments deflated. I didn't test this. We
stopped at a small restaurant where the tour guide shuffled to Harry
Belefonte music and at a workshop where women make prints on hand
towels and scarfs with leaves. Apparently the skill is being taught by
a 1st grade teacher.

Friday 25 September 2009 - At Sea

I am tuning green. The Prince Albert has the stability of a cork. So
do I. The sea is not bad and wouldn't be noticed on Silver Whisper,
but oh well it will be ok. I did notice that the dining room chairs
are TIED DOWN WITH CHAINS. Otherwise all is well I suppose. We will
arrive at Isle de Provendicia early tomorrow for snorkeling and quiet
walks on the beach. Sounds like a singles' ad. Tough life. More
later....

Jamaica 41 Years Later

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 - Port Antonio, Jamaica

We arrived in Port Antonio, Jamaica after a day at sea on board the
Prince Albert II. The overnight stays in Miami and La Romana,
Dominican Republic were quite pleasant with a wonderful Cuban dinner
with old friend Neil (N3DF) and spooky respectively since the Case de
Campo resort isn't in La Romana but kind of the other way around. It's
on 7000 acres (that's 4,974.3 hectares, I believe), so big that every
room comes with a gasoline golf cart and a map that dissolves in high
humidity. We rode all over a small corner of the resort in a downpour,
found a bar with a small amount of shelter but high amount of pesos
per glass of wine and had a nice dinner before embarking the next day
with less money but memories that will last a week or so.

I visited Port Antonio in 1968 during a trip with the Bell Labs
Holiday Club. At that time I didn't take the "world famous" raft trip
on the Rio Grande. Now I did. The rafts are about 20 feet long but
made entirely of bamboo held together by ants. The float to the
Caribbean takes 2 hours during which the guide said nothing other
than, "We work for tips". The ride was said to be very safe except for
the rumor that circulated after the trip that another guide fell off
and was now being searched for, presumed drowned. We were told at the
most annoying and mandatory evening "briefing" that the rumor was
absolutely true. Yikes.

Nevertheless, the ship's food and service is even better than the
standard Silversea product (which is unbelievable fantastic anyway), the
crew includes many old friends, and the Expedition Staff aren't completely
annoying. We saw a Rasta fisherman as we sailed away that evening to a
nice sunset while hoping that we wouldn't see the lost raft captain
float by.

A Prince Albert, but not that kind

The Prince Albert II is the Silversea Cruise's expedition ship and also its smallest. The name of the ship is for the prince of Monaco, the home of the owners of the cruise line and not for the, uh, unique jewelry of a similar name. One hundred seventeen crew members--the largest group involved in food preparation and service I believe--serve an absolute maximum of 132 guests and probably much fewer given IT'S HURRICANE SEASON. So the adventure aspect may involve getting in and out of the Zodiacs after overeating and figuring out where we might be the next day. The 6072-ton ice-class 1A vessel, originally the sister ship of the one that hit a sand bar (not an iceberg) in Antarctica and sunk a year or so ago, will not see any sea ice I presume on the upcoming Dominican Republic to Costa Rica itinerary, but there will be lots of bird watching, jungle bug swatting, and a bit of snorkeling, hiking, and visits to a couple of quaint native villages. The usual Silversea showrooms featuring a couple who can sing but not dance and another who can dance but not sing that well are replaced with a lecture hall where naturalists (no, not naturists) will share more than they know with the hung over guests. (See Silversea's "all inclusive" policies on their web site.)

This trip should be fantastic nevertheless--for a number of reasons. The transit of the Panama Canal will be my second, but this time I will definitely not be wearing a "Computer University @ Sea" (sic) tee-shirt and be locked in a class room with 80+ year olds as I try to teach Windows 95 while looking over my shoulder at Lake Gatun and attempting to hear the announcements about the ascent and decent of the ship through the locks. The voyage begins in just over two weeks, starting with an overnight at a resort in La Romana that is so huge that each room is provided with a golf cart (for traveling over the hotel's property, not the room I presume) and ends with an overnight in San Jose, Costa Rica. The cruise covers only 2500 miles but looks like a nice change of pace from the larger ships (for Silversea anyway since my other SS cruises have been with no more than 300 or so guests at most and sometimes just over 100), and the plane flights involve no overnight economy tortures.

Further reports to follow after departure.