Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Panama

Paul and I were invited by a guest to join her on a dive off Panama. We ended up taking the ship's doctor, Charles, with us as he enjoys diving as well.

The scuba diving company arranged to meet us at Fuerte Amador - it was easier for us, going straight from the ship and meeting them there rather than taking a taxi into Panama City. We were picked up and driven to their base where we were assessed for diving equipment (sizes, etc) and then we were loaded into a boat and headed out into the bay, towards islands not far from the ship.

Paul - feeling a bit warmer after the dive!

We didn't have wet suits on because the water was supposedly warm. Well... we soon discovered that sometimes the currents brought along icy water (!!) and we regretted not putting on the wet suits. We had booked two dives each and were somewhat disappointed. There was plenty of fish and spiny urchins, etc., but the water was too silty (from water run-off from the Amazon River) and we couldn't see very well. We even lost our diving guide at one point so, as a group, we sat on the bottom and waited. We could hear him sounding an under water clicker but couldn't see him. Eventually we saw him above us, heading to the surface, so we managed to attract his attention. After that he made sure he stayed a bit closer to us!

Charles had problems with his mask during the first dive and ended up abandoning the second dive. The rest of us put on wet suits but we were still cold in the water so we agreed on a 30 minute dive - but ended up being down for about 45 minutes 😞. When we finally surfaced the boat was quite a way from us. It turned out that the pilot and Charles had spotted whales so they went to look at them. We climbed into the boat as quickly as we could and our pilot took us towards the whales. We had lunch on the boat while watching the wales. There were about 3 or 4 of them, making a huge circle. It was magical and turned a potentially disastrous day into a nice one. We felt elated!

As we headed back towards Panama/Fuerte Amador, our diving guide and pilot kindly agreed to drop us directly off at the ship. It was way better for them rather than taking us back to their base and then drive back into Fuerte Amador to the pier. And more cost effective fuel-wise.

Ship security and the sailors were delighted to see us when we rocked alongside the ship. It's not often the staff/guests rock up on a different boat other than a tender.

PHOTOGRAPHS

The ship's doctor - heading out for a dive with us.

Going through the Panama Canal from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean was reasonably uneventful. The Prinsendam had to anchor in Gatun Lake for a while so that larger ships passing west to east could get through a narrow part in the canal, the 'Gaillard' or 'Culebra' Cut. The rest of the canal was, as they say, plain sailing.

At Miraflores Locks there were crowds of visitors at the locks viewpoint. Little did they know that they were saying goodbye to a bit of history.... This is the last time that the Prinsendam sails through the Panama Canal.😢 She has been sold to another company but there is hope that she will still sail through the canal even if it be under a different name and flag.

As we neared Panama City we lowered the anchor off Fuerte Amador for a scheduled overnight stay.

PHOTOGRAPHS