The ship had two hot tubs, one on each side. And as usual, we were among the few that take advantage of the hot tubs, so we usually had them to ourselves.
During the day we laid in the tubs and watched the frigate birds surfing our updraft...
And dolphins surfing our wake...
Pelicans are too cool! These are the same breed of Brown Pelicans we saw in the Galapagos 10 years ago. These pelicans didn't pay us no never mind as about 20 of us were snapping photos. They are perched on one of the ropes that holds our ship to the dock.
Below is our table for most meals, with a 270 degree view of the water. We often enjoyed a favorite activity of making up stories and jobs, etc. about people at other tables. But we also dined with several folks that we thoroughly enjoyed, including one of the Expedition Leaders and his wife, a couple from Lusembourg, an interesting lady from Scotland, and an American couple we really enjoyed but who left the cruise in Peru to go see Machu Picchu.
J.R. and Guillermo (Mr Bill) and Rochelle were our usual wait people in the dining room. We loved to chat them up and tease them. Thanks folks! Breakfast and Lunch were buffets, and most evenings we had a sit down dinner with a couple of delicious entree options. It was too much... almost!
The original Fram 11. It's come a long way, in many ways...
It's not a big ship, with a limit of about 300 passengers, and we had only 66 passengers on our cruise, but we had first class service and meals, just no rock-climbing wall or water slide!
The Fram had just come from a cruise to Antarctica and was on it's way north, next stop after we got off was Miami, then up to Newfoundland, and on across the Atlantic.
Maybe it's the glasses, or something, but in our travels, people are always saying I look like somebody. It's been Paul Simon, Roger Waters, Jack Nicholson, and this trip a workman in a park said I looked like Al Pacino. Just saying.
On our trip to Antarctica, one of the drivers thought I looked like Jack Nicholson, and so I was called Jack for the duration. I'd have to agree in this photo of me with said driver, there's a certain Jack Nicholson crazy look about me. Must be the glasses.
The French ship, Le Boreal, seemed to be on the same route since we were both stopped in the same port more than once...These are nice sized ships, big enough to have great dining and services, but not the carnival atmosphere and crowds you have on the big ships.
Sitting on the deck watching our passage through the Panama Canal. It was quite interesting to see how they effect things. It's pretty slick! Three locks raise you to the level of a large lake where you wait for your turn to go through the next locks that take you back down to the level of the sea. Only it's the sea on the other side of the continent, of course.
Jan's cousin was the only woman to ever serve as a pilot on the canal. A pilot is someone who comes aboard the ship, takes over for the captain, and then guides it through the canal, then disembarks on the other side. Sometimes just to get aboard they have to climb a rope ladder from a small boat up the side of these monster ships. We enjoyed watching the whole process.
Here we are on a boat ride out to the Palamino Islands where Jan would swim with the sea lions...
Nature imitating art...
Pelicans on a cliff. And Penguins.
Jan's favorite bird... the Blue Footed Boobie...
This one a youngster... the webbed feet get an even deeper blue as they age.
They have eagle eyes and, with unerring accuracy, dive directly into the water, and come out with a fish... note the claws at the tips of the webbed feet...
Cruises like to make much ado about crossing lines, like the Arctic Circle and the equator. The usual ritual is to pour ice water down the backs of people. People who are gullible enough that is! Above is the ceremony when we crossed the Arctic Circle on the Baltic/Norway trip. Then, on this trip, we had King Neptune and his squeeze, and then they took it quite a bit farther. They poured a mix of several days' leftover soups over many of the ships officers. OMG!
Much ado about crossing an imaginary line, but it's fun!
All of which required a serious, commercial grade cleaning / hosing...
Seeing the Nazca Lines from above was a highlight of the trip. We were 10 people per plane, 5 on each side so everyone had a window. We were distributed around the plane by weight, which gave us pause! But wow, what an experience. And it's always fun to go up in a small plane anyway.
Some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air (~1,500 ft, 457 m), though they are visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places. The shapes are usually made from one continuous line. The largest ones are about 370 m (1,200 ft) long.[8] Because of its isolation and the dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau, the lines have mostly been preserved naturally
The figures vary in complexity. Hundreds are simple lines and geometric shapes; more than 70 are zoomorphic designs of animals such as a hummingbird, spider, fish, llama, jaguar, monkey, lizard, dog and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers.[2] Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general, they ascribe religious significance to them. They were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
I mean, we even got certificates! In case you thought I was making this up.
The pilot had to be good at video games...
Next to Antarctica, the Atacama desert is the driest place on the planet. A truly desolate, but interesting, looking place. But this lack of rain likely explains how these incredible pictographs have survived so long. The whole, desolate landscape was a treat to see from above, because it's just so-what-it-is. There is a highway through these desert plains, but it doesn't get a whole lot of traffic. And many of the towns at the edges of the desert are run down or abandoned. It's a harsh life in a harsh environment.
There are small oases in this, the world's driest desert, places where they are able to tap an underground spring. This area gets less that 1/4 inch of rain a year!
We were supposed to be able to tender ashore to see a group of indigenous Panamanians, but rough seas made them cancel the visit. I think they were worried about a bunch of old folks trying to get in and out of the tender boats. However, they were able to bring many of the indigenous people to the ship. It was a fantastic experience. A few of the teenage kids spoke some Spanish, but mostly they spoke their own language, and fortunately there was a guy there to interpret for everybody. As usual though, spoken language isn't the only way to communicate; there's pointing and gesturing, and mostly the simple fact that we all share the common experience of being human, which goes a long way in understanding each other.
The Emberá, also known in the historical literature as the Chocó or KatíoIndians are an indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. In the Emberá language, the word ẽberá can be used to mean person, man, or indigenous person, depending on the context in which it is used. There are approximately 33,000 people living in Panama and 50,000 in Colombia who identify as Emberá.
We had thought the folks on our trip, for the most part, were pretty staid and not into meeting people or socializing much. But after we all danced and sang with these beautiful people, for the remainder of the trip, everybody was much friendlier and more relaxed and enjoying themselves, it seemed. Amazing what some genuine interaction with others can do! Breaking bread and sharing our commonalities, and...
Jan and I got curious and snoopy, waiting for them to tell us where on the ship to go to interact with these folks. We stuck our heads in the dining hall, where they were giving some from the tribe something to eat. And Cokes! So we got to personally meet these folks and the interpreter told us all about them and their culture. Nice experience! That's like the second-in-charge-chief-type-guy there to my right in the photo below, and then in the photo below that. He was the highest ranking one to come on the ship. The women put on wrap around skirt thingy's in deference to Western prudishness., but other than their beads and jewelry and tattoos, that was it. This henna-like stuff they use on their skin is not just for show and decoration, but is said to protect from sun and insects.
These are the machines, running on tracks, that they use to pull the boats along through the locks, and keep them centered.
Official little boats flitting about. It's quite the orchestration, running boats through here 24/7...
France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passageor Strait of Magellan.
Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, in 1999, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government. It is now managed and operated by the government-owned Panama Canal Authority.
For the grandkids and great grandkids in New Orleans...
I don't know, it was colorful...
And our signature 'Feet Up' photo for this trip, as we're crossing the
Panama Canal...
And here just after we crossed the Suez Canal only a few weeks ago...
