Day 6-- Panama Canal transit

entered the Gatun Locks at 7am on schedule.. a nice sunrise...  on the approach to the locks saw a mucho large crocodile catch a fish in frint of about 2 dozen Turkey Buzzards along the bank.. grabbed a few nice pics..  a welcome bunch of clouds eased the heat..while going thru the 2nd chamber saw this odd looking animal along the east bank running thru the grass.. half ardvaark--half raccoon or so it seemed--it is a Coatimundi...  a nice transit thru Gatun lake followed then on thru the 'ditch'..on to Pedro Miguel locks followed by Miraflores locks before we approached the Pacific Ocean..looks like the NEW Canal is pretty close to be ready as we pass adjacent to it .. a lot different from when we last were here in January 2013 when it was 'without water'.. great day on this our 6th full transit of the Canal...

Croc grabbing a meal before the Canal entrance

Coatimundi wandering along in Gatun locks

Day 5-- just a sunny day at sea

a hazy mostly clouded sunrise greeted me before 6am up on the Lido Deck-Aft.. it sure got hot though--86* and sunny-- as I secured our space on the Navigation Deck-aft with Margaret & Peter joining us ..came in 2nd with golf chipping at the pool 60-55 points.. close but no ceegar  we head into the Panama Canal early tomorrow morning .. and the Canal Webcams  http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html?cam=Miraflores

Day 4-- Aruba

early day as we docked in downtown Oranjestad ARUBA at 7am..nice breeze ..on this 80+ degree sunny blue skies..walked downtown and on over to the Renaissance Marina..gotta feed the geckos

 

 

Day 3--at Sea

heading SSE as we pass the tip of the southwest coast of Haiti at Sunrise.. the clocks went ahead 1 hour and we are now in the Atlantic time zone... caught a partial sunrise with a lot of low clouds on the horizon..another quiet relaxing day at sea

Day 2--Day at Sea

a blah non- sunrise as I was up and about at 6am on the sky deck..rain squalls in the area with more heavy cloud cover.. breakfast in the Lido then waiting for it to clear for the Navigation Deck-aft for some needed 'rays'..by 830am--sunny skies temps got up to a nice 79*as we motored along parallel to the north coast of Cuba about 15 miles away.. a funny show in the Showroom featuring Steve Shaffer--originally from Philly--get that Bill !!!..  also met him afterwards while sitting with Margaret & Peter in their regular spot in the Ocean Bar afterwards.. nice guy..as soon as we clear the northeastern tip of of Cuba we'll turn SSE toward our next port--Aruba-- with arrival on Friday morning  first time I ever saw this Verizon Messages pop up on my Note 4 phone--mentioning Cuba.. unheard of just a year ago

Day 1--Ft Lauderdale..onboard the Maasdam

after staying overnite in Ft Pierce got to Port Everglades at 11am..delay in boarding until 1230..met our UK friends Margaret & Peter in the terminal--they are onboard with us for the 28 days