Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica

By 7:00am on January 21^st, we were anchored off the coast of Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica.  This was the first time that a Princess Cruises ship has visited this port.  On a tropical inlet midway down Costa Rica’s Pacific coast Puerto Quepos; a quaint little town is situated where the rainforest meets the sea.  It was named for the fierce Quepoa Indians who once inhabited the land.

We departed on the ship’s tenders before 7:30am headed for a fun filled day in the rainforest and on the Tarcoles River.  We boarded our bus for the 1 ½ hour ride to the Pacific Rainforest Aerial Tram.  This gave us the opportunity to see lots of the countryside along the way.  Once at the aerial tram we broke into groups of seven people and one tour guide.  On board the tram, our tour guide pointed out monkeys, birds, various trees, exotic plants and all the unique features of this very unusual ecosystem.  We were literally flying through the dense jungle canopy in our open-air gondola suspended from steel cables.  The gondola went up many hundreds of feet on the densely wooded mountain.  Then, it was back down the mountain and prepare for a guided nature walk through the jungle. 

The jungle walk gave us the opportunity to get up close to many of the animals and plants.  In fact, we were surprised to see that bats spend the day on the underside of palm fronds.  Everywhere we looked we could see bromeliads growing in the trees.  The jungle walk was well worth it and we were please to see so many new things. 

We then proceeded to the main building in the rainforest and had a wonderful lunch of vegetables, beans, rice, and chicken.  The best part of lunch was the very sweet pineapple that is grown locally.

After lunch, we were off again on our bus for a short 30 minute drive to the Tarcoles River.  At the river we met our guide at the Jungle Crocodile Safari who would narrate our trip along the river.  We boarded our flat-bottom boat and headed out past lush jungle and mangroves.  We saw many more birds than we had expected.   During this safari we saw up close about 32 species of birds and many crocodiles.  This river has one of the largest crocodile populations in the America’s.  One very large croc actually swam out and was ready to attack our boat.  After more than 2 hours out viewing all the animals, we returned to the main building at the Jungle Crocodile Safari and enjoyed pineapple, bananas, papaya, juices, water, and excellent Costa Rican coffee.  Then it was off again for our return trip to the ship.  By 5:30pm we were back on board and heading out to sea for our next stop, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

Black-Necked Stilt

Little Blue Heron

Boat-Billed Heron

Panama Canal

Our journey across the 50 mile Panama Canal began early on January 19, 2012.  A Panamanian Pilot boarded the Pacific Princess just outside the breakwaters of the Atlantic as we entered the Canal.  By 7:30am we were making our way through the three stages of the Gatun Locks then across the Gatun Lake.

 It’s always amazing to make this passage and considering the effort that went into building this engineering marvel which was finished by the U.S.A. in 1914.  And, over the past few years we have seen the work to expand the Panama Canal continue.  This work entails deepening of the Pacific and Atlantic Canal entrances; widening and deepening of the Gatun Lake navigational channel and deepening of Culebra Cut; building of the new locks and water-reutilization basins on the Atlantic and the Pacific; raising of Gatun Lake maximum operational level, and adding a new 6.1 kilometer Pacific Access Channel.  This expansion program will add a third set of locks which in effect adds a third lane of traffic which will allow the transit of longer and wider ships.  This third lane will handle ships in excess of 1200 feet long by 160 feet wide.  Work is scheduled to be completed on this project during the 100^th anniversary of the Canal in 2014.

By 1:30pm we had cleared Gatun Lake and passed under the Centennial Bridge en route next to the Pedro Miguel Locks.  At 2:00pm we were working our way through these locks.  Cindy spent some of her time at this lock in the Thalassothearpy Pool at the front of the ship in the Sactionary.  We really got a good view from this vantage point.

Continuing on through the Canal, we next entered the Miraflores Locks under the view of hundreds of tourist watching our passage from a three story building that has viewing balconies.  The Pacific Princess continued through the Canal and passed under the Bridge of the Americas at around 5:15pm. At around 6:00pm we were looking back at downtown Panama City as we headed out into the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.

By the way, on the last sea day before arriving at the Panama Canal many of the passengers made colorful posters to hang on their balconies or display on the open decks.   We chose to highlight that this was our 9^th transit through the Panama Canal.

January 20^th is a sea day as we head northwest to our next destination, Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica.  We should be arriving there at around 7:00am tomorrow.