After completing the transit of the Panama Canal on Day 6, we anchored last night in Panama Bay at Fuerte Amador. Today we went on an excursion entitled “Monkey Watch & Lake Gatun Cruise”.  We took a tender from the ship to the bus which drove us to a small marina just off of the…

It takes about 12 hours to transit the Panama Canal that involves moving through three sets of locks and a trip across Gatun Lake.  We were in place for the first set of locks at 6:30 a.m., but the real motivation to get out of bed were the “Panama rolls” served on deck. We arrived…

Today we visited one of the San Blas Islands.  The are over 300 of them of which only 49 are populated.  The islands are inhabited by the Guna people.  These are not wealthy people.  One source of their income is from the sale of their needlework called “Mola” to visiting Cruise ships. The traditional costume…

Today we spent over four hours touring the city of Santa Marta and some of its most important sites with our guide Jorge.  The city is a mixture of colonial (from when the city was under Spanish rule) and republican styles of architecture.  It was the first Spanish settlement in Colombia and it’s oldest surviving…

The next couple of days will involve getting into the groove of activities on sea days.  Paul and I usually have breakfast together then head off to enjoy different events.  We also include some walking exercise during the day (3.5 laps of the ship = 1 mile) Today’s walk was challenging due to high winds…

After a restful night at the Renaissance, it was off to the Ship.  Nothing has improved in the last two years so we still stood in line for an hour checking in.  Once onboard we headed to the Lido deck for a quick bite (after all it had only been 4 hours since we’d last…

We are leaving at the end of January for our 113-day cruise on Holland America Line’s ship, the Amsterdam. This is the same ship we sailed on in 2017 but the staterooms and other areas on the ship have been remodeled and updated. We are anxious to see the changes. Our luggage is being picked…

Down the 405 Freeway about 30 minutes from our home is the Skirball Cultural Center.  This complex houses many artifacts about the Jewish experience in America, but also has various exhibits on display.  I was reading about an exhibition of Jim Henson and the many creative projects that go way beyond the Muppets.  Ron said…

We had Breakfast with Peggy and Cliff, said our goodbyes, and headed home. About an hour after we started we arrived at the California state line.  Just on the other side was the Solar Plant that I mentioned on Day 1.  Took a couple more pictures. Rather than continue down the 15, we decided to…

A couple of hours after we left Mesquite we arrived back in Vegas at Peggy and Cliff’s.  We decided that was too hot to heat up house by using the kitchen (wink, wink) so we all head to the Cannery Casino and their buffet.  The food was good.  We stayed to gamble for about an…