A cruise via the Panama Canal

[Richard Brown]

The top level continued....




























The crows nest lounge gave a superb vantage point for viewing. I was sitting near the commentator.







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[Richard Brown]

Lake Gatun and locks to the Carribean Sea.....

























Our pilot approaches to take us down through the Gatun Locks to the Carribean Sea.

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[Richard Brown]

Gatun lake etc continued...



This is the earth retaining dam for Gatun Lake.





















Friends of passengers on Arcadia were on the Pacific Princess!








I will continue tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying the trip so far.

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[scifan57]

I'm certainly enjoying your cruise photos, Richard. I assume you have lots of Caribbean photos as well?

 

[J. A.]

Great pictures, as usual, Richard! I also enjoy reading your comments.

 

[Richard Brown]

I'm certainly enjoying your cruise photos, Richard. I assume you have lots of Caribbean photos as well?

Thanks Scifan. Yes, you are right I've quite a few photos of the Caribbean segment of the voyage. A pleasure of the cruise was to unpack once and to have changes of scenery each day

Great pictures, as usual, Richard! I also enjoy reading your comments.

Thanks Johanna. It really was a holiday of a lifetime.

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[Richard Brown]

Days 6 - 7. - The Carribean.

Our first day plus in the Caribbean. The seas were a little rough for this leg of our journey.













On board life was good with a variety of theatre shows, fine dining each evening if we wished and time to enjoy sights on the ship,....











We spent many happy hours watching the seabirds which were constant companions...























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[scifan57]

That doesn't look too rough, Richard. You know it's getting rough when you have to look up to see the top of the waves when you're standing on the upper deck.

Nice shot of the cable windlass, were you able to see the engine room?

 

[Richard Brown]

That doesn't look too rough, Richard. You know it's getting rough when you have to look up to see the top of the waves when you're standing on the upper deck.

Nice shot of the cable windlass, were you able to see the engine room?

It turned rougher later, but it wasn't as bad as the Pacific.

Tours of the engine room weren't permitted for security. Arcadia's main engines are in pods which rotate for steerage. They replace the traditional rudder and propellor arrangement. The pods, couple with the bow thrusters gave her incredible manoeuvre ability, as it was to be demonstrated later in one port of call.

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[Richard Brown]

Day 8 - Curaçao

Our first stop on the Caribbean was Curaçao....















The market trader as a customer to the lottery seller..







The buildings are so colourful....























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The briefing .

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This museum of mankind covered subjects as diverse as Darwin's theories, African villages and the slave trade. There was certainly food for thought there.

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[scifan57]

Great pictures yet again, Richard. Speaking of Curaçao, did you buy a bottle?

 

[Richard Brown]

Great pictures yet again, Richard. Speaking of Curaçao, did you buy a bottle?

I believe we still have a bottle stashed away. It's not as full as it was when we first bought it.

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[The OB]

Fascinating photos Richard, I'm really enjoying them.
In some of those areas, eg like Panama, did you see many examples/areas of poverty? Why I ask is that on our last cruise (South Pacific) at one morning's breakfast table, we upset an apparently wealthy couple complaining bitterly how sights of dire poverty in the Panama area were tending to ruin their previous cruise and they were just not happy about it at all. They were also quite unhappy with me when I answered that those poor people were probably not overjoyed about it either. Ahh, that gob of mine


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[J. A.]

I believe we still have a bottle stashed away. It's not as full as it was when we first bought it.

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We like to call this effect "evaporation". ;-)

 

[Richard Brown]

Thanks the OB. Yes, we did come across poverty. Especially in Nicaragua. I'm glad the cruise lines visit these places as they help the local economy both by bringing in tourists and by have locally produced victuals delivered to the ships.

As a whole, we were very sympathetic towards the citizens. Seeing conditions first hand brings home the issues.

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