Our second day in port has been a bit more active than the first. We chose to go on a kayak tour of Gatun Lake today in Colon, Panama. We got a light breakfast when we got up around 7 this morning then went up to the buffet to have something with a bit more protein and carbs to fuel us for the exercise to come. We waited in the Celebrity Theatre for our excursion group to be called, and while we waited we tried to figure out who was going to be in our group. It turned out to be about 20 people, of all ages pretty much, but mostly couples.
We rode through the city of Colon and into the old military zone where the US military base was (it now has been converted, and is still being converted, into civilian housing). We were taken to a beautiful hotel resort that was a hospital during World War II and then a school they called “The school of dictators” that apparently dictators like Noriega attended. Some folks changed into bathing suits (Jeremy and I had worn quick drying workout clothes) and then headed down to the water and boarded our two person kayaks.
We paddled around for about an hour, and it was great to get some exercise. We didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife, a few birds, moving branches that supposedly housed black howler monkeys. We did see some beautiful wild white orchids. I brought my little digital camera so whenever we saw something interesting Jeremy would paddle over after carefully handing me the camera out of the ziplock bag inside a drawstring bag we had brought with us on the kayak.
After we returned to the dock we were given a little time to shop their souvenir store or buy a beer from their bar, so Jeremy and I split a Panamanian brand beer (a quite tasty lager) and then we boarded the bus.
Our next stop was the Gatun Locks, and we timed it just right that we got to see one ship finish going through and see the locks fill and open for another ship. It will be very cool to see the same process tomorrow morning from the ship. Jeremy was definitely geeking out at the locks, he even let me take his photo on one of the “electric mules” that pull the ship through the locks that was out on display.
After getting dropped off at the dock and perusing a little shopping area next to the ship we headed back to the room. Since we got back around 3pm we ordered a sandwich, fruit and cheese via room service to tide us over until dinner.
Since we had four open spots at our table tonight the maitre’d sat the two couples from the other night with us again. It was another interesting evening of conversation, we even ventured into discussing Chick-fil-a and gay marriage a bit, with Jeremy and I both repressing some of our commentary to keep the conversation polite and not too heated. We learned that Sheila was a flight attendant for America West airlines and that both couples had experience sailing so planes and boats also ended up being topics of discussion.
Tomorrow we are heading through the Panama Canal and locks, starting at 6:30am so I have a feeling Jeremy will be up bright and early to catch the whole thing 😉
