Our Panama Canal Adventure

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Having a bucket list is an essential part of life. Jim and I have managed to check off many adventures. One of the best was our Great Loop expedition. We have traveled to many places by boat, plane, RV and of course a car. Thousands of miles, and memories that will last a lifetime.

This bucket list journey, a cruise, on Holland America’s ship MS Eurodam, was a 10 day journey which covered over 3000 nautical miles. Port stops included Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, Curaçao, One of six Dutch Caribbean Islands and part of the ABC islands (the others being Aruba and Bonaire), traversing through the Gatun, the Mira Flores, and the San Miguel Locks of the Panama Canal, and Puerto Limon, the biggest city on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

We drove to Miami first to drop off a late Christmas gift to Sebastian, our little 4 year old grandson. Jim bought and assembled a remote controlled police car. Sebastian is autistic, and on a previous trip to Miami, while we were at a park playing, there was a little girl there, who, with her parents was tooling along in her remote controlled car. Sebastian was enamored with this and showed great interest. He also is fascinated with police cars. What better gift than his very own car that he can enjoy. He is very particular and some things overwhelm him, which proved to be the case, but, as of today, his mom says he knows how to turn it on and enjoys listening to the music which plays from the radio in the car.

I’m not sure who had more fun Grandpa or Sebastian 😂

After we left we drove to The Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens to spend the night before our drive to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale to board the ship the following day.

I have been on pins and needles the last few months waiting for this day. The Eurodam is the ship my sister and I cruised on to Alaska. I was so excited to share this experience with Jim. I felt good, because I knew the ship pretty well and was happy that I was going to be able to navigate her without too many problems. I had everything planned out. Our room, which was an Aft facing cabin, is a bigger room with a bigger balcony where we were going to be able to spend lots of time enjoying the spectacular wake and views. I had all our excursions booked and our fine dining reservations booked.

We parked and were shuttled to the ship. And there she was! The Eurodam!

We boarded with no problem and headed to our stateroom. The view from the balcony of the port was awesome. My sweet sister sent us a few bon voyage gifts including a lovely flower arrangement, chocolate covered strawberries and lite hors d’oeuvres. It was a very warm welcome.

We took the obligatory selfies and enjoyed our sail away from our balcony. Someone was taking photos of us leaving port. The picture of the back of the ship with the red circle is me and Jim! Cool, huh!

The sun was setting as we got out into the Atlantic. This picture does it no justice. It was stunning!

Next port- Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Half Moon Cay is one of the 700 islands that make up the archipelago of The Bahamas. This small island is located approximately 100 miles southeast of Nassau and covers 2,400 acres. Though, only 50 acres has been developed into an exclusive beach resort. The rest of the area remains as a wildlife habitat.

Formerly known as Little San Salvador Island, the island’s name was changed to Half Moon Cay to reflect its crescent-shaped beach. This is a privately owned island by Holland America Line. There is no dock. The ship anchors off the island and we were tendered in by a ferry.

We had a jet ski excursion planned for the morning. We ordered room service and made our way to the gangway. A 10 minute boat ride took us to the island where we disembarked and made our way to a shuttle which took us to the Aqua Trax site where we were the only two going for our adventure.

Neither of us have ever been on a jet ski. Another first. We got a brief schooling and off we went with our guide.

The water in the Bahamas is spectacular! It is clear, and the most amazing color of turquoise! We both got the hang of our jet skis and our guide proceeded to take us on an hour long ride in a bay and eventually out to the open water. We went fast! It was sooooo fun.

After our ride, we headed to the beach which had white sand like sugar. We were practically all alone in the area where we were. I had rented a clam shell cover which gave Jim shade. It was quite warm, but beautiful. They offered a barbecue buffet for lunch. I walked to the area where the food was and collected our lunch. Jim ate and proceeded to curl up on the lounge chair to rest. He had stated he had a bit of a sore throat. Take note of this. His cruise goes downhill from here!🥲

I sat in the sun and enjoyed the beach. It was fantastic and I would go back to the Bahamas in a second!

Tuesday is a sea day. That means we will be on the ocean for over 24 hours. The weather is beautiful.

Jim has come down with what at this point, we are calling a cold. He is not feeling well and is very tired. Ugh. Cruise ships are big. If you want to go anywhere, it requires a lot of walking. Jim was not up to it. I think I sat by the pool and checked on him regularly. We were able to go to the dining room for dinner. But that was not a long walk at all. He slept fitfully. The following day we docked in Curaçao. We were to be here overnight. The walk from the ship to the town was way to far to even consider him getting off the ship. We were hoping he would feel better the following day so he could enjoy this port. As the day progressed, he got increasingly worse. He was short of breath, anxious and not ok. I had come to check on him and found him on the balcony. He stated he couldn’t breathe. Shit. I went into nurse mode and immediately called the ships hospital. They sent a wheelchair and off we went to see a doctor. I had given him 2 COVID tests, which were negative. Doctor checked him out quickly and found his lungs sounded yucky and he was retaining water. She started some breathing treatments right away. He had a Chest X-ray, blood work, and a COVID test, again, negative.

Diagnosis- pre pneumonia. Not good. I was so sad and I know he felt like crap. They rented us a nebulizer machine and gave us medicine so he could do treatments in the room. She gave him some meds to get rid of the water he was retaining and some medication for his anxiety. He had a better nights sleep. The following day he as still not able to leave the room. I got off the ship to go explore Curaçao, after he assured me he would be ok.

The island of Curaçao is a constituent country of the Netherlands that is located in the southern Caribbean Sea. Along with the islands of Aruba and Bonaire, Curaçao forms a part of the ABC Islands which are the westernmost island group in the Leeward Antilles. Curaçao is situated about 65 km north of the South American nation of Venezuela.

I had a mission that had been planned for Jim and I at this port. There is a heart shaped sculpture at the end of the Queen Emma pontoon bridge in Punda. It is a “Love Lock” sculpture. People bring a lock to place on the sculpture that will stay there forever and memorialize your trip to Curaçao. Unfortunately Jim could not join me. This is the Lock I bought for us.

I found the sculpture and placed our lock. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be “Locked in Love” with than Jim.

This city is so beautiful. It is covered in beautiful and bright colored buildings and homes. The city of Willemstad is the capital of Curaçao. It is walking distance from the port. In town there is a landmark called the Queen Emma Bridge. It is a pontoon bridge which swings on the pontoons when a boat needs to pass. I was lucky enough to get to stand on it while it opened and closed. I found a pharmacy where I picked up some DayQuil and NyQuil for Jim. It’s what he asked for. I got him a hat too😂.

I was very sad Jim couldn’t join me. He would have loved it!

We left port in Curaçao at 4:00 pm. We would be at sea until 6:00 am Saturday morning when we would begin cruising through the Panama Canal.

As I write, it’s hard to recall what we did and didn’t do. Jim spent most of his time in the room and using the nebulizer medications. He rested. We did go to the buffet for a few meals and I brought treats to him. I hung out at the pool and oh, I forgot to talk about the spa! I purchased a spa package and went there every night. It was an amazing experience. A huge hot swimming spa with high jet bubblers and in water loungers. There are wonderful steam rooms with aromatherapy vapors. Also, heated lounge chairs that overlook the sea. It was fabulous! Most evenings I was the only one there. It was so zen.

Jim tried to be a trooper. We went to a few shows in the theatre and I know he sat on the balcony often. Our view of the wake was awesome. I love wakes!

Saturday January 21, 2023 The Panama Canal

This is a time lapse video of a full transit through the Panama Canal. It’s quite fascinating. Below is a Wikipedia page you can access if you’d like to learn more about the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is an artificial 82 km waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America.Wikipedia

On our trip through the first set of Locks, the Gatun Locks, Jim was feeling a bit better. You can see by the smile on his face. Trust me, the last few days that smile hasn’t been there. I was so happy about this because he was up to doing our excursion for the day. I was worried I was going to have to do this alone. The picture of the Eurodam in the lock is a screenshot from a webcam! This cruise only does what’s called a partial transit. It only goes through the first set of locks and then cruises around Gatun Lake and then goes back through those locks and docks in Colon, Panama.

Our excursion was an experience that would take us off the ship in Gatun, we would take a tender to shore, get on a bus for a hour and a half bus ride, and get on a ferry boat at the Gilliard Cut. This was going to be a very long day. The ferry boat would then take us through the Mira Flores Locks and the San Miguel Locks and put us in the Pacific Ocean and Panama City. This would be what’s called a full transit of the 50 mile Panama Canal. At that point we had now been sailing on the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. What a ride.

The bus ride through Gatun was a series of bumpy roads. Eventually we were put onto a nicely paved hiway for the rest of the ride. As we got to the ferry port, just as I expected Jim and I and 250 of our new closest friends piled on a piece of shit ferry boat. We headed directly to the somewhat air conditioned lower deck and found our seats at a table. That’s as far as Jim got. It was cool enough for him and he just enjoyed our day through the locks from that seat. I wandered around the two story ferry and took in the sights. Let’s face it, for Jim and I a lock is a lock. We have been through 107 of them now. Our Great loop trip saw us through 101 locks, some of them, not bigger, but much higher or lower drops. We are lock pros. The history of the Panama Canal is why we are here. It certainly didn’t disappoint.

The lunch that was served on the ferry was crap. At least they had free water. I was able to touch the wall of the Panama Canal lock. I guess that’s a big deal. All the other passengers thought so😂

We finally got through the last lock and arrived in the Pacific Ocean with Panama City off our bow. We docked in Panama City and boarded the bus back to the ship in Colon. We arrived around 9:00 pm. They kept the buffet open for us, so that’s where we headed, got some food in our bellies, went to the room, got Jim to bed and I went to my spa before calling it a night and the end of our Panama Canal adventure!

The ship left Colon Panama as soon as we were all on board. They had been waiting for hours for this excursion to return. We were to awake in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

Which we did.

Another long walk from the ship to the marketplace. It was a rainy morning. Jim still was short of breath, so he stayed on board. I went and did a little shopping. He managed to get himself up to the pool deck and spotted me walking back to the ship. There were some taxis down by the gangway which offered side trips around town. Jim came down and off the ship and we hired a car to show us around Puerto Limon.

Puerto Limón is the biggest city on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, the capital of Limón province, and a hardworking port that sits removed from the rest of the country.

We found it to be very poor, with small shanty’s and rundown businesses. The main source of income here does not come from tourism. It is well known for its rich soil and tropical weather, which produces a plethora of fruits and vegetation. Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita, have banana plantations here In Limon. There are a few touristy souvenir places, but we found the lush vegetation amazing.

I got to see some monkeys in a tree and walk inside the Del Monte plantation. Our driver looked for some sloths for us to look at, but unfortunately didn’t find them. 🥲

We stopped at a few roadside fruit stands and at a restaurant which was right on the beach of the Caribbean Sea. It was a nice little tour and I know Jim loved getting out to sightsee.

As we leave port on this afternoon, we will be at sea for 2 days until our arrival back in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday morning. Jim was feeling a bit better, but still not 100%. I sat in the sun by the pool, went to a origami class, we were able to go to two of the specialty restaurants, and had lovely meals. I know my husband, and I know he just wanted to be in the comfort of our home. There was nothing we could do about that. We watched some movies in the room, and went on a few walks on the promenade deck. We enjoyed sitting in the lounge chairs, watching the beautiful views.

On Wednesday morning we arrived to Port Everglades, gathered up our luggage and disembarked the ship. We were home in Florida and after a 3 hour drive we were in our own home, with all the comfort that comes along with that.

Our Panama Canal bucket list cruise had come to an end. Was it everything I expected it to be? Nope. Did I have a good time? Yes, I did. Did Jim? Nope. This cruise was very hard on him. As I write this blog, it is now January 31st. We have been home for a week. He was still not getting much better, so I finally got him to a doctor yesterday. He had a diagnosis of bronchitis and the doctor gave him a few breathing treatments and a bunch of steroids and antibiotics. I’m so happy to say that today he is feeling so much better.