My Journey - Like It Or Not!
- Thread starter MrPants
- Start date
I have found that taking a diversion from the main River to some of it's tributaries is a better way to experience the Amazon basin. There are several options for tourists to venture into the Amazon basin and have a look at nature as it is here in the Amazon River in Brazil.
I just happened to capture this rather large hornet flying by in the sultry humidity of mid-day Amazonia. Glad it wasn't looking for a landing spot
It was the size of small bird
The boat I took was typical of what small ferryboats look like in the Amazon basin.
They even stopped along the way to let people fish for Piranha, which live here in the tributaries running off the Amazon. The pic I got wasn't well focused but you can tell that this little fellow has a major set of choppers on his lower jaw
Toward the end of the day cruise I took, the boat stopped at a so called 'authentic' Amazon village. It was clearly a tourist trap! Kids with native animals looking for tips if you took photos of them holding the animals. This little guy has a sloth ..... felt sorry for both of them!
Others were dressed in Native outfits - at least that's what they wanted you to believe. I thought it was a bit theatrical myself? But hey, everyone has to make a living somehow.
I just happened to capture this rather large hornet flying by in the sultry humidity of mid-day Amazonia. Glad it wasn't looking for a landing spot
It was the size of small bird The boat I took was typical of what small ferryboats look like in the Amazon basin.
They even stopped along the way to let people fish for Piranha, which live here in the tributaries running off the Amazon. The pic I got wasn't well focused but you can tell that this little fellow has a major set of choppers on his lower jaw
Toward the end of the day cruise I took, the boat stopped at a so called 'authentic' Amazon village. It was clearly a tourist trap! Kids with native animals looking for tips if you took photos of them holding the animals. This little guy has a sloth ..... felt sorry for both of them!
Others were dressed in Native outfits - at least that's what they wanted you to believe. I thought it was a bit theatrical myself? But hey, everyone has to make a living somehow.
No snakes .... lots of these though!Have you seen any snakes?
Coming up on 1 year quit after for years. It is the hardest thing I have done for myself.Hardest thing I've ever done for sure but well worth it
I don't know if anyone has any interest in the Panama Canal because I didn't really before traversing it the first time several years ago. Been there twice, both times on a cruise ship. The first time was going from the Caribbean through the first lock of the original lock system into Gatun Lake, which is a man made lake that was created to allow ships to cruise to the actual canal portion of the journey and to locks further up the waterway, closer to the Pacific side.
The original locks were not as long or as wide as the new canal, which was built in close proximity to the original canal system. In the original locks, they employ several 'Mules', which are like train engines sort of. They run on a rail and cables are strung from the ship's bow and stern to the 4 'mules' which run at the front & back of the ship. There's only about 6-12inches between the ship's hull and the wall of the lock so they need the mules & cables to the ship to steady the ship as it moves into the lock.
Here's a few pics of that process:
Pic @1 is a ship sitting near the entrance to the canal, waiting for it's appointment time for getting into the lock. (Ship circled in red).
Here's a look at the double lock doors in the original canal. If you look closely, you'll see the rail tracks that the Mules use on either side of the lock.
In this photo you can see the Mules and the cables that run from the mule to the ship. These mules are at the front (bow) of the ship steadying it as it very slowly moves forward. If you look part way down the ship (under the name Liberty) you can see just how tight the fit is between the hull of the ship & the wall of the lock.
Here's a view at the back (stern) of the ship as the Mules back there also stead the ship's movement side to side.
That's about it for the older photos I have from the original lock system that uses the Mules on tracks. I'll post separately for my more recent trip up through the new canal lock system
The original locks were not as long or as wide as the new canal, which was built in close proximity to the original canal system. In the original locks, they employ several 'Mules', which are like train engines sort of. They run on a rail and cables are strung from the ship's bow and stern to the 4 'mules' which run at the front & back of the ship. There's only about 6-12inches between the ship's hull and the wall of the lock so they need the mules & cables to the ship to steady the ship as it moves into the lock.
Here's a few pics of that process:
Pic @1 is a ship sitting near the entrance to the canal, waiting for it's appointment time for getting into the lock. (Ship circled in red).
Here's a look at the double lock doors in the original canal. If you look closely, you'll see the rail tracks that the Mules use on either side of the lock.
In this photo you can see the Mules and the cables that run from the mule to the ship. These mules are at the front (bow) of the ship steadying it as it very slowly moves forward. If you look part way down the ship (under the name Liberty) you can see just how tight the fit is between the hull of the ship & the wall of the lock.
Here's a view at the back (stern) of the ship as the Mules back there also stead the ship's movement side to side.
That's about it for the older photos I have from the original lock system that uses the Mules on tracks. I'll post separately for my more recent trip up through the new canal lock system
My most recent trip through the whole canal was between the Pacific & Caribbean. The locks in the new canal route are much bigger to handle newer 'super ships'. I didn't even take any photos of the actual locks as they are pretty boring - just a standard lock. No more Mules or any of that.
These photos just show little snippits of the canal journey.
First up was taken on the Pacific side of the canal entrance. This basin area is just offshore from Panama City. You can see the cities skyscrapers from here (not in this photo as it's in the opposite direction). You can see here the ships all waiting offshore for their appointment time to enter the canal. You show up early because if you miss your appointed time, you're SOL! "Sorry, make a new appointment and come back then. Have a nice day!"
Our ships appointment time was very early in the morning, around 6:00 AM I think so just at sunrise. You can see the sun rising as we sailed under the Bridge of the Americas, which isjust as you enter the official canal harbour area on the Pacific side.
Lots of powerful tugboats to keep everyone in the proper line before entry into the first lock!
You can see just how the constant heat, humidity & excessive rainfall affects the landscape in the central area of the Isthmus of Panama in this next shot. Everything has at least a tinge of green to it! It's like looking out at a nature scene through a cheap pair of sunglasses with green lenses.
Once out of the narrower canal, ships enter Gatun Lake, a man made lake that eliminated a lot of digging to create a canal in that large geographic area. It's literally like a ship highway. Eastbound ships on one side, westbound ships on the other side
These photos just show little snippits of the canal journey.
First up was taken on the Pacific side of the canal entrance. This basin area is just offshore from Panama City. You can see the cities skyscrapers from here (not in this photo as it's in the opposite direction). You can see here the ships all waiting offshore for their appointment time to enter the canal. You show up early because if you miss your appointed time, you're SOL! "Sorry, make a new appointment and come back then. Have a nice day!"
Our ships appointment time was very early in the morning, around 6:00 AM I think so just at sunrise. You can see the sun rising as we sailed under the Bridge of the Americas, which isjust as you enter the official canal harbour area on the Pacific side.
Lots of powerful tugboats to keep everyone in the proper line before entry into the first lock!
You can see just how the constant heat, humidity & excessive rainfall affects the landscape in the central area of the Isthmus of Panama in this next shot. Everything has at least a tinge of green to it! It's like looking out at a nature scene through a cheap pair of sunglasses with green lenses.
Once out of the narrower canal, ships enter Gatun Lake, a man made lake that eliminated a lot of digging to create a canal in that large geographic area. It's literally like a ship highway. Eastbound ships on one side, westbound ships on the other side
I have actually sailed through the Tent Canal system way back when I was a kid. My dad had a cruiser and we sailed from Lake Ontario, near Brighton Ont., up the Trent system to Cooks Bay at the south end of Lake Simcoe. - was a fun time for sure!
Have you ever been to the Welland Canal Museum?
https://www.visitniagaracanada.com/do/st-catharines-museum-and-welland-canals-centre/
It's well worth a visit if you're in the area
For those that don't know, the Welland Canal is how freighters and other boats travel between Lake Erie & Lake Ontario to avoid Niagara Falls.
Boats and the falls are NOT a good combination!
Jules
SF VIP
We sailed with Holland America and almost didn’t make it through. One of the engines on the ship failed and they had to delay for a day while they got it repaired. Even then, they had to pay a fine (~$100K) and negotiate for a new time. It would have been a real disappointment. It was 2003, the same year as SARS and when some people became ill with whatever, they cancelled lots of things, including the stop in Mexico. Luckily we got to Nicaragua instead. Lots of problems on that trip, though still excellent.
Yes, we've been to the Welland Canal Museum .. we lived in Niagara Falls for several years (late 70's/early 80's). Our daughter was born there.I have actually sailed through the Tent Canal system way back when I was a kid. My dad had a cruiser and we sailed from Lake Ontario, near Brighton Ont., up the Trent system to Cooks Bay at the south end of Lake Simcoe. - was a fun time for sure!
Have you ever been to the Welland Canal Museum?
https://www.visitniagaracanada.com/do/st-catharines-museum-and-welland-canals-centre/
It's well worth a visit if you're in the area
For those that don't know, the Welland Canal is how freighters and other boats travel between Lake Erie & Lake Ontario to avoid Niagara Falls.
Boats and the falls are NOT a good combination!
View attachment 230683
Wow! Over two years since the last post!
Guess it's time to revive this thing?
To start off with, I've been running around gathering a few things and packing for an upcoming adventure; trying not to forget something important as well as being careful not to over-pack. That's hard to do but I have learned from past travels if you let youself pack everything you think you'll need, you're gonna end up not using 25% or more of it! After all, there is such a thing as laundry available.
This next big adventure will be a 51 day cruise out of San Deigo, Calif. That's almost two months and the longest I've done but the places it'll be going are ones I've always wanted to see in person and this is the best way to squeeze them all in within a fairly short time frame.
Lots of days just sailing at sea cuz it take a long time to get to these places by boat. For starters, takes 5 days to get from San Diego to Hawaii! We'll be stopping in about 4 different Islands there, each for a day but two days in Honolulu. Then we'll be heading south to the Fiji chain of Islands and stopping at 3 or 4 of those Islands as well. We'll take a short break from sailing on the way to Fiji at an Island called Fanning Island, which is between Hawaii & Fiji just north of the Equator and in a place where the International Date Line takes some weird twists & turns. I expect we won't know which day it is for awhile
Once we are done in the Fiji chain of Islands, we'll be headed to American Samoa & Tonga then off to two or three Islands in the Cook Islands chain. Once we've seen those places it's east to French Polynesia and 5 or 6 Islands in that area, which is quite a large territory in the South Pacific. Islands like Tahiti & Bora Bora, which most have at least heard of. I've been there once years ago and it's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful!
Getting excited to get going! One more day of organishing last minute stuff then off to the dreaded airprot experience. In this case it'll be well worth the hassle of international air travel
Hopefully be coming back with some photos and tales of my travels through the South Pacific.
See you in late November
Guess it's time to revive this thing?
To start off with, I've been running around gathering a few things and packing for an upcoming adventure; trying not to forget something important as well as being careful not to over-pack. That's hard to do but I have learned from past travels if you let youself pack everything you think you'll need, you're gonna end up not using 25% or more of it! After all, there is such a thing as laundry available.
This next big adventure will be a 51 day cruise out of San Deigo, Calif. That's almost two months and the longest I've done but the places it'll be going are ones I've always wanted to see in person and this is the best way to squeeze them all in within a fairly short time frame.
Lots of days just sailing at sea cuz it take a long time to get to these places by boat. For starters, takes 5 days to get from San Diego to Hawaii! We'll be stopping in about 4 different Islands there, each for a day but two days in Honolulu. Then we'll be heading south to the Fiji chain of Islands and stopping at 3 or 4 of those Islands as well. We'll take a short break from sailing on the way to Fiji at an Island called Fanning Island, which is between Hawaii & Fiji just north of the Equator and in a place where the International Date Line takes some weird twists & turns. I expect we won't know which day it is for awhile
Once we are done in the Fiji chain of Islands, we'll be headed to American Samoa & Tonga then off to two or three Islands in the Cook Islands chain. Once we've seen those places it's east to French Polynesia and 5 or 6 Islands in that area, which is quite a large territory in the South Pacific. Islands like Tahiti & Bora Bora, which most have at least heard of. I've been there once years ago and it's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful!
Getting excited to get going! One more day of organishing last minute stuff then off to the dreaded airprot experience. In this case it'll be well worth the hassle of international air travel
Hopefully be coming back with some photos and tales of my travels through the South Pacific.
See you in late November
Paco Dennis
SF VIP
- Location
- Mid-Missouri
Please take and share pics with us. Would love to see what you see.Wow! Over two years since the last post!
Guess it's time to revive this thing?
View attachment 370217
To start off with, I've been running around gathering a few things and packing for an upcoming adventure; trying not to forget something important as well as being careful not to over-pack. That's hard to do but I have learned from past travels if you let youself pack everything you think you'll need, you're gonna end up not using 25% or more of it! After all, there is such a thing as laundry available.
This next big adventure will be a 51 day cruise out of San Deigo, Calif. That's almost two months and the longest I've done but the places it'll be going are ones I've always wanted to see in person and this is the best way to squeeze them all in within a fairly short time frame.
Lots of days just sailing at sea cuz it take a long time to get to these places by boat. For starters, takes 5 days to get from San Diego to Hawaii! We'll be stopping in about 4 different Islands there, each for a day but two days in Honolulu. Then we'll be heading south to the Fiji chain of Islands and stopping at 3 or 4 of those Islands as well. We'll take a short break from sailing on the way to Fiji at an Island called Fanning Island, which is between Hawaii & Fiji just north of the Equator and in a place where the International Date Line takes some weird twists & turns. I expect we won't know which day it is for awhile
Once we are done in the Fiji chain of Islands, we'll be headed to American Samoa & Tonga then off to two or three Islands in the Cook Islands chain. Once we've seen those places it's east to French Polynesia and 5 or 6 Islands in that area, which is quite a large territory in the South Pacific. Islands like Tahiti & Bora Bora, which most have at least heard of. I've been there once years ago and it's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful!
Getting excited to get going! One more day of organishing last minute stuff then off to the dreaded airprot experience. In this case it'll be well worth the hassle of international air travel
Hopefully be coming back with some photos and tales of my travels through the South Pacific.
See you in late November
katlupe
SF VIP
- Location
- Norwich, NY
Sounds like a dream trip! Be safe and take lots of pictures!!
Very true. Sometimes the quitting comes far too late to prevent the damage already done. I have asthma due to being a former smoker. Haven't smoked in 50 years. Found out during my Kung Fu training at age 48 when I was unable to stop being out of breath while everyone else was just fine.
Lol; no wife but a travelling partner
Well, I'm back from my wanderings now and I must say that this trip was a real treat! I'm not sure I've full absorbed all the beauty I saw during the 53 days I was gone. It was sensory overload at times I believe 
Buyt the memories I built during those 53 days will last me for the balance of my life and I also met many fellow travellers who were seeking the same things I was. The oldest 93.
I'll take the next while to post the memories and photos of my trip and do it in bits starting with the beginning - San Diego!
What I found amazing and uplifiting was all the people I met with disabilities who were travelling along with me and enjoying, as best they could, the many activities that were available to us all along the way. I guess the moral of my story is, you're never too old or too limited physically to enjoy waht life has to offer. You just have to engage and do it! Of cource money is always an issue as well but my philosophy on that is .... you can't take it with you!
Enough preaching ....
It all started when I flew into San Diego, 2 days before the 51 day cruise was to begin. I had never been to San Diego so didn;t know what to expect. What I found was a beautiful city with a very positive vine; full of young people who were all fit - obviously health conscious!
(Outside my hotel in San Diego)
I arrived early Sat morning. Too early to chck in so I (we - travelling partner included) dropped our bags at the hotel and walked up the street where we understood there was a street market being held. Some of the streets in the area; "Little Italy", were closed off for the maket.
Buyt the memories I built during those 53 days will last me for the balance of my life and I also met many fellow travellers who were seeking the same things I was. The oldest 93.I'll take the next while to post the memories and photos of my trip and do it in bits starting with the beginning - San Diego!
What I found amazing and uplifiting was all the people I met with disabilities who were travelling along with me and enjoying, as best they could, the many activities that were available to us all along the way. I guess the moral of my story is, you're never too old or too limited physically to enjoy waht life has to offer. You just have to engage and do it! Of cource money is always an issue as well but my philosophy on that is .... you can't take it with you!
Enough preaching ....
It all started when I flew into San Diego, 2 days before the 51 day cruise was to begin. I had never been to San Diego so didn;t know what to expect. What I found was a beautiful city with a very positive vine; full of young people who were all fit - obviously health conscious!
(Outside my hotel in San Diego)
I arrived early Sat morning. Too early to chck in so I (we - travelling partner included) dropped our bags at the hotel and walked up the street where we understood there was a street market being held. Some of the streets in the area; "Little Italy", were closed off for the maket.
One thing that struck my facy during our walk around the street market in San Diego was a man making special sandwiches.
The menu looked good and watching him prepare them was even more facinating!
We decided we had to have "The Breakfast Sandwich" and watched as he prepared it for us! The facinating part was that he had a huge half-wheel of French Cheese that he heated with a torch until the surfce of the cheese was moulten. Then he would slowly scrape the moulten cheese onto the surface of the sandwich that he'd already prepared on a crusty bun.
The menu looked good and watching him prepare them was even more facinating!
We decided we had to have "The Breakfast Sandwich" and watched as he prepared it for us! The facinating part was that he had a huge half-wheel of French Cheese that he heated with a torch until the surfce of the cheese was moulten. Then he would slowly scrape the moulten cheese onto the surface of the sandwich that he'd already prepared on a crusty bun.
We dug into that sandwich like it was our last meal!
Next day we took a Hop-On; Hop Off trolly around the area and saw the sights! Really nice city with lots to see and do. What struck me was that it was both clean and there was no traffic congestion as you'd expect in most major centers.
The old town area was also something to see. It was a Mexican part of town with many restuarants & tourist shops. Was a nice walk around time waster. There were a lot of scary displays around as it was late Sept. and Halloween was on the horizon.
There were so many eateries in the area of our hotel that it was hard to decide where to eat.
Next day we took a Hop-On; Hop Off trolly around the area and saw the sights! Really nice city with lots to see and do. What struck me was that it was both clean and there was no traffic congestion as you'd expect in most major centers.
The old town area was also something to see. It was a Mexican part of town with many restuarants & tourist shops. Was a nice walk around time waster. There were a lot of scary displays around as it was late Sept. and Halloween was on the horizon.
There were so many eateries in the area of our hotel that it was hard to decide where to eat.
All good things must end and so our stay in San Diego did as well after mush enjoyment and we were then off on the real purpose of this trip ... the 51 day South Seas Cruise! The sun set as we departed on our much anticipated journey.
Five days at sea is a loong time before setting foot on land again but when we did, we were in Hilo Hawaii!
There's something about Hawaii that is just so different from any other place on earth. Everything you see is just ... different somehow.
Five days at sea is a loong time before setting foot on land again but when we did, we were in Hilo Hawaii!
There's something about Hawaii that is just so different from any other place on earth. Everything you see is just ... different somehow.
Sliverfox
Well-known Member
Will be looking forward to more of your adventure
I suppose before I go further I should explain a little about the cruise ship we were on.
It was the Holland America HMS Zaandam. An older, smaller ship that Holland America tends to use on longer itineraries so they have a better chance of selling the ship out. It holds about 1,500 passengers + crew. It's small enough to get into some ports that larger ships can't get into and it's a nice size to be able to find your way around very easily.
Many ports now are refusing larger ships to come into their location just because having that many people flooding into a small place can overwhelm services available and the port is left to deal with the aftermath!
Our shio had all the basics such as pools, an auditorium, a smaller auditorium used for showing movies or small crowd presentations etc. It has a buffet restaurant, a large more formal dining room plus 3 specialty restaurants (that cost extra ro go to). There are also several bars both inside & outside around the ship as well as a burger/hot dog place near the main pool. There's a library, games room and a number of outdoor sports venues such as pickle ball court, shuffle board, basketball court and even a couple of ping-pong tables. No roller coasters or zip-lines as with some of the current monstrositries but there's always something to do onboard.
Contrary to what some believe about cruising, a ship of this size never feels crowded and there's no long lines for anything. The only time there's minor delays is when there's no dock large enough to dock the ship and we have to anchor offshore and run people to shore on tender boats (which are the actual life boats that double as tender boats ferrying people to shoe and back when necessary and yes; the tenders can even accomodate people in wheelchairs, scooters or walkers!
(Not sure why there's two colorful cows in the back of the pool but I'm told there is a story behind them)
We were pretty fortunate in having pretty calm seas most of the time we were travelling over such a large area of the Pacific Ocean. The only rough weather was on the final leg of our journey travelling back from Nuku Hiva (Society Islands) to San Diego - 6 sea days! We had 12 foot waves during that leg of our trip which makes walking around the inside of the ship very challenging
It was the Holland America HMS Zaandam. An older, smaller ship that Holland America tends to use on longer itineraries so they have a better chance of selling the ship out. It holds about 1,500 passengers + crew. It's small enough to get into some ports that larger ships can't get into and it's a nice size to be able to find your way around very easily.
Many ports now are refusing larger ships to come into their location just because having that many people flooding into a small place can overwhelm services available and the port is left to deal with the aftermath!
Our shio had all the basics such as pools, an auditorium, a smaller auditorium used for showing movies or small crowd presentations etc. It has a buffet restaurant, a large more formal dining room plus 3 specialty restaurants (that cost extra ro go to). There are also several bars both inside & outside around the ship as well as a burger/hot dog place near the main pool. There's a library, games room and a number of outdoor sports venues such as pickle ball court, shuffle board, basketball court and even a couple of ping-pong tables. No roller coasters or zip-lines as with some of the current monstrositries but there's always something to do onboard.
Contrary to what some believe about cruising, a ship of this size never feels crowded and there's no long lines for anything. The only time there's minor delays is when there's no dock large enough to dock the ship and we have to anchor offshore and run people to shore on tender boats (which are the actual life boats that double as tender boats ferrying people to shoe and back when necessary and yes; the tenders can even accomodate people in wheelchairs, scooters or walkers!
(Not sure why there's two colorful cows in the back of the pool but I'm told there is a story behind them)
We were pretty fortunate in having pretty calm seas most of the time we were travelling over such a large area of the Pacific Ocean. The only rough weather was on the final leg of our journey travelling back from Nuku Hiva (Society Islands) to San Diego - 6 sea days! We had 12 foot waves during that leg of our trip which makes walking around the inside of the ship very challenging
Gardenlover
The world needs more love
Love reading about your adventures, than you for sharing them with us.