Our last port, Grand Cayman Island, and we have an invite to what??

We tendered into shore at George Town, Grand Cayman Island.  Our original plan for the day was to take the local bus to Seven Mile Beach, with its white sand, tranquil turquoise waters, and blue skies.  It is considered to be one of the top beaches in the world.  But today just didn't look like the above picture.  It was overcast, much cooler than Aruba, and not really what we wanted for a relaxing day on the beach.

So, we switched up our plans and opted to take a 2-hour island tour with Roger, who was peddling - err--arranging taxi rides to the beach or island tours for the many cruisers just getting off the tender boats from the ship.

We boarded an 8-passenger van for the island tour.  Another couple was already in the van waiting and within minutes Roger's associate arrived with a family of 6 for the same tour.  Due to the overbooking, Roger felt really bad that he had  to "kick" us off the van so he offered us a private tour in his van instead of doing beach runs.  We said yes, and off we went.

We drove through the city and Roger pointed out various government buildings and talked about the island.  First stop was at the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory, with its pirate statues adorning the front entry.  The Cayman Islands were a haven for pirates back in the day.

Terry's always dreaming of owning an old truck!

We then stopped at Roger's favorite hotel midway up Seven Mile Beach, the Westin, and walked through the lobby to the beach.  We passed a group of people with scuba gear in one of the pools getting a quick lesson before going into the ocean.  Grand Cayman is great for snorkeling and scuba diving.

Now this would make for a great relaxing beach day!

What Seven Mile Beach really looked like that day.

Our guide, Roger

Scuba lessons

Next Roger drove us to Hell, which is a popular tourist attraction of short, black limestone formations in the town actually named Hell.  It even has a post office.

This was once a lake bed; now it is Hell

We can say we've been to Hell and back.

Much better idea

And here's the devil, himself.  The gift store proprietor.

Then it was off to the Turtle Farm.  We opted not to go in to see the turtles swimming around in large pools. We just had a view from the fence.  Thirty thousand turtles are raised here each year.

Then the tour took an interesting twist. Roger asked if we could stop by his apartment for a minute so he could leave a key out for a repairman.  While he stepped into his place, we got out of the van to take a photo of the beautiful flowers in the parking lot.  He saw us and invited us in to his apartment.  And we went!

Because he saw that we had an interest in plants, Roger wanted to show us a tree in his back yard.  It has seed pods, which according to Roger is Moringa Oleifera and is a cure-all for anything that ails you and you can buy it over-the-counter.  He offered us a seed to chew, but we declined....  He popped one in his mouth and the rest went in a jar in his kitchen.

The tree with bean pod.

While standing in the kitchen, Roger showed us his pot of leftover conch stew from last night's dinner that was sitting on the stove.  He turned on the burner to heat it up and offered us a taste, but again we declined.....you know, still full from breakfast on the ship!  So he just turned off the heat, put the lid back on and we left. Hmmmmmmmmmmm...no refrigeration of leftovers?  No, thank you.

The weather still was not ideal for a beach day so we headed back to the port where we said goodbye to Roger.  He was a very friendly guy; I think we know his life history--I hope he didn't get food poisoning from the stew left on the stove as he was going to have it for lunch!  But then, I think he's used to it!

And now a note about our totally unexpected, and will probably never happen again, invitation that we received to attend a Most Traveled Passengers Luncheon, hosted by the Captain and his senior officers for approximately 50 passengers.

We do have quite a few days traveling with Princess Cruise Line--doing transatlantic cruises really adds up the days-- but no where near the hundreds and hundreds of days accumulated by many of our cruising friends.  Lucky for us the really, really most traveled passengers were not on this voyage and we got to attend!

We had heard about these luncheons but never thought we would actually attend one.  This was special for us as we got a glimpse as to how nice Princess treats their loyal customers.

At the door of the restaurant, we were 'announced' to the Captain, Nicolo' Binetti, and then had our photo taken with him.

We were escorted to a table with personalized menus and name tags.  Six passengers were seated with one Senior Officer at each table.  At our table, seated right next to Terry, was William, the Chief Engineer from Wales.  Terry had a great time chatting with William about the inner workings of the ship.

The lunch was delicious!

Musicians provided entertainment

All in all, the cruise was very good.  We enjoyed sailing on one of the smaller ships.  This one held 1,904 passengers.  Going through the Panama Canal is a wonderful experience, and we would recommend a cruise like this to everyone!

And that's all folks, until we cruise again.....

Limon, Costa Rica and we take a walk on the wild side...

We've been to Costa Rica before, but it was on the Pacific side of the country.  The port of Limon is on the Atlantic side.  Instead of repeating rain forest, banana plantations, and zip lining excursions, we chose to go on a ship's tour to learn all about sloths.

Our tour guide, Cynthia, was an excellent guide.  Her presentation of facts about her country during the hour-long bus ride to the Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Sanctuary Rescue Center did not put anyone to sleep today.

Before we knew it, we arrived at the Sloth Sanctuary where Cynthia turned us over to the sanctuary's staff who brought us in to first meet 5 adult sloths.

This non-profit sanctuary and research facility is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and research of this slow-moving mammal with the ultimate goal of releasing them to their natural habitat. Those that cannot be released (disability or lack of essential survival skills) are provided with balanced nutrition, veterinary care, exercise, socialization with other sloths. 

I don't believe we were told the staff member's name, but we did learn all about the sloths named:

Millie

There's 2 in here....Johnny Depp (hiding)  and Tasmania

Delilah, who slept away the day

Toyota

All these sloths are permanent residents at the sanctuary because for one reason or another they would not be able to survive on their own in the wild.  We learned how sloths are solitary creatures with their only relationship being with their mother, and that relationship is only for one year as the mother educates her young one to survive before she sends the sloth out on its own.

Toyota was injured as he grabbed on to an electrical wire in the jungle and as a result suffered severe burns on one arm.  He was found in the wild and brought to the sanctuary where his arm was amputated.

Next was the room with the baby sloths, most of which had been abandoned by their mother during that first year of life or were orphaned before their year of education to survive was over.  They, too, will be permanent lifetime residents at the sanctuary, which could be 30-40 years.

Then it was time for a jungle canoe ride on the Sanctuary's grounds, where we were 6 passengers plus a driver, who pushed the canoe through the quiet waters of the Estrella River and pointed out wildlife in the jungle.

We saw iquanas, a black hawk nest, land crabs, lizards, various birds, and a few sloths way up in the trees.  Those sloths were able to return to the wild and reside in the safety of the Sanctuary's grounds.

Cynthia then took us on a short walk through the jungle where she talked about the various plants and trees.

After the hike we were treated to a nice plate of fresh papaya, pineapple, watermelon and orange slices.  A refreshing treat in the hot, humid climate of Costa Rica.

Buttercup slept peacefully among all the tourists

Then it was back on the bus for the ride back to the ship and an afternoon of relaxation on 2 deck chairs...inspired by by sloths, I guess!!

Coming up....our last port, Grand Cayman.

Transiting the Panama Canal

Around 5 am the ship entered the channel leading to the set of locks we would transit through on the ship.   Everyone was up and about very early this day to watch the process of going through the locks.

The ship entered the first of the three chambers at 7:00 and entered Gatun Lake at 8:30.  The Gatun locks have three chambers that raise the ship 85 feet from the level of the Atlantic to the lake level.  Each chamber has a length of 1,000 feet and a width of 110 feet. Our ship is 964 feet long and 105 feet wide, so it is about the largest ship that can pass through the Canal.

People were lined up everywhere to watch the progress through the locks

A mule passes in front of the lighthouse at the Gatun Locks

Close-up view of the mule which is tied to the ship as it goes through the lock

The gates open as the ship enters the first lock

Everyone awaits our entry into Gatun Lake

Once in the lake the ship anchored and all the different tour groups would tender off the ship.  Only tours arranged through the ship were allowed off the ship.  Our tour included a bus ride to Gamboa, where all 400 of us boarded a large ferry boat which would take us through the locks on the Pacific side of the lake.

The 8 buses transported us all to Gamboa where a ferry boat was waiting for us to board.  We would spend a couple hours cruising about 9 miles on Lake Gatun toward the Pacific locks.  We passed several huge cargo ships, the prison holding Manuel Noriega, and we could see the construction of a new set of canals that will allow larger ships to transit the canal.  During this time we had a narrator on board who talked about various points of interest along the shoreline and explained more about the history of the canal, how the locks work, and the construction of the future expansion.

Our ship anchored in Lake Gatun

Many, many buses

The Turia II ferry holds 400 passengers.

The prison that holds Manuel Noriega along the Canal.

We traversed through the Culebra Cut and arrived at the Pedro Miguel locks about two and a half hours after boarding.  It was interesting that they use a couple of guys in a rowboat to gather the lines to attach the ship lines to the mules.  The locks are a sight to see from a small boat.  

The Culebra Cut--an enormous amount of earth removed at this point during the canal construction.

The Centennial Bridge named for the 100th anniversary of the canal, 1914-2014.

Gathering lines from the ship to attach to the mules in the locks

You can appreciate the size of the locks from a lower vantage point

After going through the Pedro Miguel single stage lock that lowers the boat 31 feet, we entered Miraflores Lake for the short trip to the Miraflores locks.  This is a two-stage lock that lowers the boat a total of 54 feet to the level of the Pacific Ocean.

Another ferry shared the lock with us.

The slip knot used to tie the ferry to the mule while in the lock

On the remainder of the trip to the Pacific we pass beneath the Bridge of the Americas, and view the new Frank Gehry Biodiversity Museum that has been under construction for the past 10 years, a strange looking building!

The PanAmerican highway cross the canal at this point.  The highway stretches from North America to the very bottom of South America.

The Frank Gehry Biodiversity Museum.

We then leave the ferry and board the bus for the ride to meet the ship.  During our day-long excursion the ship has transited back through the Gatun Locks and was waiting for us in Colon, Panama.

It costs between $320,000 and $350,000 for a large ship to go through the canal...cash only and reservations for the transit are made months in advance, or the vessel would have to wait perhaps 48 hours before getting an assigned spot in line to go through the locks.  Cruise ship fees are based on the number of beds; cargo ships on the number of containers.

It was very interesting to go through the locks in a smaller boat--a much different perspective being so low in the water.  I actually thought this was a better experience than when we did a full-transit of the canal back in 2008 and stayed on the cruise ship for the transit through all the locks.

Next port.....Limon, Costa Rica and we meet the strangest creatures named, Millie, Johnny Depp, Tasmania, Delilah, and Toyota....