Gatun Lake Kayak & Eco Adventure??

[runnerman]

Has anyone tried this excursion? We love to be outside and be active, but want to make sure it's not a rip-off. Could anyone provide some feedback?

[kelmac]

Has anyone tried this excursion? We love to be outside and be active, but want to make sure it's not a rip-off. Could anyone provide some feedback?

 

Yes, my wife and I did this excursion in December (Galaxy). You tender off the ship after passing through the locks. Tender takes you to a waiting bus, where you board and travel to a viewing area at the Gatun Locks. You spend about 45 minutes watching ships pass through the locks (nice to see it from that side). The bus then takes you to a resort hotel on the lake. From there you walk down to the docks where your guide helps you into the two passenger kayaks. You paddle around the lake with two guides. You do see some wildlife and we could hear the Howler monkeys in the forest. At the end of the excursion they bus you back to where the ship is docked in Christobal. There is a large shopping area at the port, and they flat out tell you not to walk into the city of Christobal (it did appear to be pretty rough looking). It was pretty basic as far as the kayaking was concerned, but we enjoyed it. Great guides with lots of information and in prefect English. You do travel through some of the old American zones, which is where the military housed forces before the canal was turned over to the country of Panama.

If you have any other questions, let me know.:)

 

Kel

[runnerman]

Thanks so much for the info. Sounds like fun. Was it worth it in your opinion?

[kelmac]

Thanks so much for the info. Sounds like fun. Was it worth it in your opinion?

 

Yes runnerman, it was worth it to us. This was our second trip through the Panama Canal, so we wanted to do something different. Some people stayed on the ship so they could experience the locks again without all the crowds. We've done these kayak excursions in at least different 10 ports and have always had fun.

 

Good luck!

Kel

[clarka]

Thanks for starting this thread...we are wondering the same thing! Can anyone else comment on this tour? How long is the travel time between the Colon port and the Sol Melia Resort? How long from Gamboa Resort back to the cruise port? Is there much wildlife to be seen? How long are you actually kayaking?

 

We are trying to decide between this tour, the Gatun Lake Eco Boat Tour and Monkey Watch. The 3 hour return travel time for Monkey Watch scares us a bit.

 

Thanks in advance for any additional information!

[yoshi]

My family of 4 did this tour December 2009 and thought it was just ok. There was so much travel time by bus & boat, very little time kayaking. The area was beautiful but wasn't really what we expected.

If you are also going to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, the river rafting tour was great, much more exciting + beautiful garden tour + lunch.

Have fun with what ever you choose!

[clarka]

Thanks Yoshi,

 

I'm not finding many great reviews of this tour. I think that we'll consider other options!

[BillB48]

Thanks for starting this thread...we are wondering the same thing! Can anyone else comment on this tour? How long is the travel time between the Colon port and the Sol Melia Resort? How long from Gamboa Resort back to the cruise port? Is there much wildlife to be seen? How long are you actually kayaking?

 

We are trying to decide between this tour, the Gatun Lake Eco Boat Tour and Monkey Watch. The 3 hour return travel time for Monkey Watch scares us a bit.

 

Thanks in advance for any additional information!

 

From the Sol Melia back to Colon is not far at all, maybe a 20 minute drive. Gamboa back to the Atlantic side is not as long as it used to be, there is a new road open and the trip can usually be made in an hour. Allowing for 1.5 hours each way is a reasonable estimate for loading, unloading etc.

 

To all of you that have taken a Canal cruise and used Pier 6 in Cristobal with the nice market area within the pier, there is bad news. The Company that runs this facility has decided to expand the container operations and is in the process of demolishing the covered portion of the pier. All passenger operations are now located on the other side of Colon.

 

Even though you will be docking in another part of Colon, the same advice against striking off on your own in Colon still applies, still not a place you would wish to be without benefit of a tour or at least a taxi.

[kelmac]

Note: check the dates on this thread; I took this excursion almost five years ago. Things change.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[cruizinforever]

FYI :

There are Alligators in lake Gatun .Keep your fingers out of the water >

[Cruiseorr]

FYI :

There are Alligators in lake Gatun .Keep your fingers out of the water >

 

We saw quite a few of these critters on our Canal transit. They seemed especially fond of the waters around the locks. We wondered if people on ships toss food overboard to feed them, or if the water stirred up from the props of the ship brought fish (bait) that attracted them.