Yes, you can call me a hypocrite.

Day 1 in Panama City

I wasn’t going to write a blog this trip, and I definitely will not be as fastidious about it as I normally am.  But thought at least I should share some pictures. 

I know, I know, I said given the current state of affairs in the US, that I wouldn’t give my money to an American company.  However, given my advancing years I decided that I was the one suffering by not sailing with Windstar and it really wasn’t going to make on iota of difference if I gave up something I loved.  So I caved when I saw great rates on an interesting itinerary.  And what a brutal winter in Ottawa this year. Call me a hypocrite, I have thick skin.  I’m still doing what I can to buy Canadian when possible, and am mostly successful.  

This 19 day trip starts in Panama City and travels north up the coast of Central America, to Cozumel, across just south of Dominican Republic, Cuba, and on to the British Virgin Islands, before finishing in Sint Maartin.  I can’t seem to find the map of the itinerary but will add it when I do.

I arrived into Panama an extra day early as a precaution in case of bad weather so overnighted last night at the same hotel where I stayed at the end of the cruise last year, and will leave here tomorrow morning to board the ship.  The Bristol is a lovely hotel in the heart of the Panama City financial district, which is huge with lots of modern high rises. 

I met up over breakfast this morning with friend Clair who traveled from Denver yesterday and arrived earlier in the day than I.  After breakfast and some catching up, we went for a 3 km, 8000 step walk from the hotel down to the ocean to capture some views from there.  It was so nice to be warm, sweating even! And not in the gym! They’ve done a really nice job of linear parkways along the ocean. We had a leisurely afternoon with a nice lunch in the hotel restaurant, some patio time, and of course the mandatory nap.  It will be an early dinner and off to bed early tonight to try and catch up on some sleep, having been awakened by my alarm at 3 am on Saturday morning to get my Uber to the airport.  I think I’m getting too old to be doing this stuff.  But I’ll keep on trucking as long as I can.  

Tomorrow we will travel by bus across the isthmus to the port of Colon on the Caribbean Ocean side to board the WindSurf and set sail for ports yet to be discovered, by us at least. After 2 trips through the canal (the Big Ditch) I’m ok with just bussing over instead of taking the day for the ship to traverse through the canal.