Review - Our 34 Day Cruise On Veendam - Panama And Amazon River, Part 3

I am writing this as we are going through the Panama Canal. We were up at 6am this morning to watch the pilot come on board. We are so lucky as it is a lovely warm day with a light cloud covering so it is not so hot as it could be. We have already passed through one lake and two locks and will go through another in a short while. We also have another lake to get to - Gatum Lake - before we finish the full transit. It is going to take about 9 hours altogether.

We had a lovely day in Costa Rica. We went with Sandra and Peter and went to Poas National Park. We were hoping to see the active volcano but all we saw was mist and smelt the sulphuric acid that comes from inside the cone. We also walked to the lake and was able to see this. The park is about a 3 hour drive from where the ship was docked so we did see a lot of the countryside. It is a very fertile country with a good standard of living. We had a great guide Andre who told us a lot about Costa Rica. He is studying to be a teacher.

Yesterday we spend the morning cruising around Golfo Dulce which is off the coast of Costa Rica. It reminded us a lot of the Chilean Fjords without the ice. Lovely scenary.

We are both well and are enjoying the meals especially at dinner. Last night's meal was excellent.

We are now in Aruba and after looking at the small shopping centre we are off to one of the beach resorts for the rest of the day. The weather is again perfect, blue skies, slight breeze and warm. How lucky we have been.

We finally finished transiting the Canal around 6pm on Saturday. What a wonderful experience made even better by the wonderful commentary from Dick Holt who amongst having a distinguished career grew up in the Panama area as his father was a Pilot and his grandfather was an engineer in charge of the building of the Canal. He spoke all day and was so informative. HAL had fresh fruit out on deck and lots of drinks. I think we were all exhausted yesterday after such an exciting day on Saturday. We have been moving our locks forward quite regularly so have lost quite a few hours of sleep over the past week. Anyhow, that apparently is the end of the clock movement which is a bonus.

We have had some good acts on board for entertainment but the highlight has been "Black Tie" a group of four Ausralians, two brothers with their two wives. The girls play piano and cello and the boys sing. The voices on the men are outstanding, they were Opera singers and the girls are also highy trained. They do a variety of dfferent acts and are just wonderful. They have won the "Mo" award down home for the best variety act. Mind you, when I say girls, I mean women in their late forties or so!

We are in Grenada today and what a beautiful, green island this is. We have just finished a wonderful tour with Mandoo who is the most informative guide. He took six of us all over the island - to the Spice Plantatation, to the Lake, the Waterfall and elsewhere. We certainly saw a huge amount and now know the history of the island. They are busy building the new stadium for the World Cricket Series in April and are very keen for Aussie's to attend.

We also had a lovely day in Aruba. What a contrast between the two islands. One is so sparse and has high rises everywhere and the other is so green and natural. After looking at the shops in Aruba we went to a resort for the day with Sandra and Peter. It was great to swim in the lovely warm Caribbean, a first time for Peter and myself. We also couldn't get over all the jewellery shops in the main street. I think it was wall to wall jewels. Obviously many U.S. citizens come to the Caribbean to buy their jewellery.

Yesterday we started the lectures on the Amazon by the Exploration Speaker, Jean Paul. On Friday afternoon we will start to see the muddy waters of the Amazon, 200 kms out to sea. We have had a letter from the Captain telling us that the laundries will be closed from Friday for 8 days and to start to preserve water as the ship cannot make water from the Amazon river. We are all very excited that finally we will be going up the Amazon after 18 days from Vancouver.

We had Dutch night last night and had a fantastic meal. I love the Green Pea soup and the duckling was delicious. It was one of the best meals we have had.

Jennie