We are coming off the high of the cruise and getting back to the grind. It’s real easy to get used to great weather, having people wait on you with good food and drinks, visiting new places. Now we’re back to work, commitments, and water polo games. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t stop when you go on vacation. Following are a few observations from the cruise. I wanted to do this within a couple days of getting back but it just didn’t work out. Just reconciling the species lists took longer than expected. Sorry if it overlaps a little with what I posted before.
Waiting to depart on the fantail. So Continental with a gin and tonic in hand.
Caribbean sunrise
Enjoying the ride.
Happy to be at sea.
Cartegena, Columbia
Cartegena is a commercial port filled with container ships. We didn’t sign up for any excursions but took a cab into the old walled city. We shared a cab with a couple from Toronto who happened to be birders. The guy spoke Spanish too. A fortuitous encounter too, since he was an excellent birder and we conferred numerous times during the cruise.
The old city is a Spanish city dating to the 1500s and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Narrow cobblestone streets, with multiple levels for each building. If you can’t build out, you have to build up. You get the idea of a business or shop on the ground floor and the family living over the shop.
Packing cars, horse carts, and pedestrians into this area makes for interesting walking and driving. Cartegena would turn an American insurance underwriter into a mass of quivering Jello. Third world driving involves extensive use of a vehicle’s horn, apparently in lieu of brakes. Carrying a Rosary is probably a good idea. I rode in the front seat with the cab driver. Not for the faint of heart and worth every penny of the $15 fare. Third world taxi riding deserves to be an Olympic sport more than say, curling.
Cartegena gave us 20 bird species for the year, 10 of them lifers.
Sunrise over the port of Cartegena, Columbia.
The new Cartegena.
Cartegena old city views.
Cartegena narrow streets.
Birding from the walls of the old Cartegena
Colon
Colon is the Caribbean entry side to the Panama Canal. It has always been considered a pit and it still is. Rumor has it that when Columbus first sighted it as a potential port he wouldn’t go ashore because it was too muddy and mosquito-ridden. During the canal building days both the French and the Americans imported help from the Caribbean Islands and later Africa. When workers got hurt or were too sick to work, they were dumped in Colon without a means of income or a way home. Colon is a poster child for images of third world poverty. There was a chain link fence around the port area and it was recommended that we not go unescorted past the fence.
We did a kayak excursion in Lake Gutan, the reservoir made for the canal. The trip to Lake Gutan was a study in contrasts between economic levels. Some really spiffy walled-in communities interspersed in a matrix of not so nice looking living conditions. Seemed like there was nothing in between. Either you are well off or you are dirt poor.
Our excursion was at a very nice hotel that was once the Panama extension of the School of the Americas. This is where the US Army trained various Latin America despots and dictators to torture and kill their own citizens. All in the effort to fight them godless Commies. Noriega was a graduate of the School of the Americas. He used his training well, running drugs while dictator of Panama. Now he is in some decidedly less luxurious accommodations.
They put us in two person kayaks, also known as divorce boats. This was a disaster movie in the making. Let’s put people that have never met before, and in some cases don’t speak the same language, into a tipsy watercraft that requires coordinating two people to steer. Packing a couple thousand in camera gear, I didn’t want to chance being rammed into tomorrow, so Lise and I just hung back to watch the circus. You have to get your entertainment where you can. Nobody went into the water but there were numerous collisions and several close calls. We got five new bird species, all of them lifers, and saw howler monkeys too. After the kayaks they took us to the Gatun Locks see ships going through the canal. Pretty cool.
School of the Americas
Gatun locks, 100 years of operation.
A cruise ship entering the locks.
A really tight fit in the Gatun Locks.
After Colon it was the canal transit. This is the reason most of us were on the cruise. The transit was slow, taking all day. We just birded and drank our way through.
Doing the canal.
The French failed in their canal building effort because they tried to dig a huge ditch across the isthmus. The shop stopper was trying to cut through the continental divide, at a place known as the Culebra Cut. The unstable soil would not hold and the cut kept collapsing. Yellow fever and a lack of capitol didn’t help them either. Or, the over 22,000 workers’ deaths. In the location they choose, there was no way the canal could be built without locks. Even today mudslides are still a problem in the canal.
Fixing a current mudslide.
Fifteen year after the French failure the Americans helped ferment a revolt so Panama would break away from Columbia. We then secured a one-sided deal that gave us the canal zone and came in with a different design. The successful American design involved three sets of locks along with a dam to tame the Changres River and make Lake Gatun.
The canal was, and still is, one of the engineering wonders of the modern world. Via telegraph from Washington D.C., President Woodrow Wilson remotely set off the initial charges to blow the last dike holding water back from the canal. Over 240 million cubic yards of dirt were excavated and used to build the harbors at Colon and Panama City or the Gatun Dam. The financial cost was around $375,000,000. A bit over 5,500 lives were lost in the American effort. Non-union I’m sure.
Little tractors pull ships through the canal locks. There are literally just inches to spare on either side of the ship. In the locks, we could look out our window and see a stone wall. Not something you’re supposed to see outside the window of a ship. Newer larger ships are too large for the locks so there is a multi-billion dollar effort in process to enlarge the locks.
Tight squeeze in the lock.
Doors for the new locks. These things are huge. They will slide in and out of a recess in the lock wall.
Our one-way transit cost the ship $365,000. During the transit we set up a spotting scope for birding. We got ten new species for the year, nine of them lifers. That makes the cost for each species $36,500. Those are expensive birds.
Puntarenas
After the canal transit we hit Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Our excursion was a river boat ride. We got 16 new species for the year, four of them lifers. Plus saw some really cool reptiles. Costa Rica had some poverty but seemed a lot better off than Columbia, Panama and Guatemala, our next stop. Costa Rica is politically stable, has no standing army, universal health care, and is a retirement place for Americans. One that I could consider after the ungodly winter we had.
Costa Rica sunrise.
Costa Rica coastline.
Iguana on the river.
Check out that fang.
Costa Rican deck hand catching 40 winks in the shadow of the ship.
Puerto Quetzal
After Costa Rica we hit Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. Our outing was a hike to the Pacaya volcano and across a lava flow. This was major cool. Pacaya has erupted as recently as last year. The lava flow we crossed started in 2006 and continues to slowly flow. It is still hot just below the surface and steam comes out of vents. Lise was thinking we were on Mt. Doom and had to destroy the One Ring to save all humanity. Unfortunately, it was my Nikon 18 – 200 mm lens that we destroyed.
Guatemalan tour guide using an interpretive prop. Lise wanted pictures.
Pacaya volcano
Minerals in the lava flow
Lava flow 2
Ubiquitous dog.
Birding with a tour group was tough. We did get five new species for the year, four of them lifers. Plus we got two lifers from the ship while sailing to Puerto Quetzal. We were trying to use a Panama guidebook which was only marginally useful. The guides would call out birds but used colloquial or Spanish names. Often the name wasn’t in the Panama guide. Or, those we found in the Panama book would sometimes have a different name than what the guide called.
Guatemala is still recovering from an ugly civil war. Security forces, public and private, were very prevalent. We passed a police checkpoint pulling over trucks and our guide told us that security was beefed up because the cruise ship was in port. The guide pointed out a security detail behind the bus providing security.
In both Guatamela and Costs Rica I detected a feeling of pride in the country and in their indigenous cultures. Our guides were extremely proud of their countries, and especially the quality of their coffee. Both made a point of saying that coffee built their economies and both were quick to point out the best coffee to buy. In Guatemala, the guide made a point of showing us shade grown coffee, contrasting it to Brazilian coffee grown unsustainably on burnt out jungle.
The modern Guatemalan Indians are descendants of the Maya. One of their trademark crafts is beautiful intricate weavings. We bought a table runner from a shop where a woman was weaving. I asked the male proprietor if it was OK to take a picture of her working. It was his wife and he was more than happy for me take a picture. He was obviously quite proud of her and her artisanship. He kept saying, “You tell everyone she made your weaving.”
A poor picture of the lady that made our weaving (lens issue).
Puerta Vallerta
After Guatemala it was two days steaming to Puerta Vallerta, Mexico. The area of Puerta Vallerta was a stop over site for the Spanish Galleons. Consequently, it was also a stop over site for pirates and privateers. The modern port is now a major Mexican tourist destination. The pre-visit lecture was all about buying diamonds and tanzanite, both from Africa, neither a native craft. The diamond store ran free taxis from the ship to their store in the old town. We took the free ride but passed on diamond shopping, wandering along the coastline promenade and in the old city instead. We found a small park where a river flows out into the ocean. Saw dolphins jumping out of the water and got four new bird species, one of them a lifer.
Magnificant frigatebird
Puerta Vallerta
Cabo San Lucas
After Puerta Vallerta we steamed across the Gulf of California to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Cabo is the very southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. It pretty much only functions as a vacation resort, complete with a Senor Frog’s bar. Lise and I did an excursion into the Baja desert along the coast. I could have lived without the camel ride but the walk through the desert was great. The authentic Mexican lunch and tequila tasting was just as good. We got eight bird species for the year, three of them lifers and saw seals along the rocks in Cabo.
Cabo sunrise
Baja California terminus
From Cabo it was San Diego and back to Michigan. We did get to see a whale, on the last evening of the cruise.
So I would say the mission was a successful. Our main objective, doing the Panama Canal, got me around the world on water. Secondary objectives, like just being on the ocean, seeing new places, and nailing some new species were met too. On land or sea, it looks like between us we got 78 species for the year. Of the 78, I believe 37 were lifers. Plus we saw other cool things like monkeys, lizards, iguanas, crocodiles, sea turtles, seals, whales, and lava fields. Met some great people and we had some time to just sit back and enjoy ourselves.
As with any mission there are usually some causalities. Like my $600 camera lens for starters. Then there is my loss of ability to tolerate a cubicle and inane meetings. Not that my ability to tolerate cubicles and inane meetings was all that good before the trip. Now the only thing I can seem to focus on is where the next trip will be. And water polo. Need to focus on water polo for another few weeks.
Some black and whites of the ship just for fun.
Lessons learned
Good photography from a moving ship is close to impossible.
Good photography with excursion groups is close to impossible.
Good photography with malfunctioning lenses is close to impossible.
Some photography is possible, but bring back up gear.
Birding with excursion groups is close to impossible.
Some birding is possible, but bring the right field guides
Being multi-lingual is a major asset. The entire crew and most of the passengers were at least bilingual. We were not. Unless you count Penn Dutch and Pig Latin.
Scotland should not be called an English speaking nation. We met a nice Scottish couple but talking to them was a “linguistic adventure” as Robin Williams has said. I could understand people for whom English was a second or even third language, better than I could understand the Scots. And they claim English as their native tongue.
Species lists:
Miami: Green heron, White ibis, Common moorhen, Palm Warbler, Collared dove, Blue-headed vireo
Cartegena, Columbia: Magnificent frigatebird, Royal tern, Laughing gull, Snowy egret, Brown pelican, Neotropic cormorant, Great egret, Black vulture, Yellow-headed caracara, Common ground dove, Scarlet macaw, Blue-yellow macaw, Yellow-crowned parrot, Rufous-tailed hummingbird, Red-crowned woodpecker, Great kiskadee, Tropical kingbird, Gray kingbird, Barn swallow, Clay-colored thrush, Brown booby
Colon, Panama: Blackthroated mango, Collared aracari, Social flycatcher, Southern rough-winged swallow, Tropical mockingbird
Panama Canal transit: Osprey, Ringed kingfisher (Ed), Gray hawk, Keel-billed toucan, Gray-breasted swallow, Yellow-rumped cacique, Southern lapwing, Snail kite, Mangrove swallow, Forktailed swallow (Ed)
Puntarenas, Costa Rica: Anhinga, Wood stork, Roseate spoonbill, Yellow-crowned night heron, Tri-colored heron, Purple gallinule, Cattle egret, Bare-throated tiger heron, Black-necked stilt (Ed), Whimbrel, Willet, Spotted sandpiper, Mangrove black hawk, Groove-billed ani, Turquoise-browed motmot, White-winged dove
At sea between Costa Rica and Guatemala: Masked booby
Puerta Quetzal or Pacaya, Guatemala: White-eared hummingbird, White-throated magpie jay (Lise), Sooty robin, Mountain bluebird (Lise), Wedge-tailed shearwater, Grey silky flycatcher
Sailing in Mexican waters: Red-footed booby
Puerta Vallarta, Mexico: Blue-footed booby, Yellow warbler, Orchard oriole, Hermann’s gull (Lise)
Cabo, Baja Outback, Mexico: Crested caracara, Snowy plover, Hooded oriole, Red-shouldered hawk , Gila woodpecker, Scrub jay, Vermillion flycatcher. Scott’s oriole
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 