10/6 -- Visit Gamboa and Board the Discovery

Today is the first step of our canal transit: we board our ship. Our morning was officially unscheduled, but Octavio planned a hike in Gamboa at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center and the Summit Municipal Park, leaving the hotel at 7:30 am.

Our first stop was the rainforest walk, posted as 2.2 km, though I am not sure that was the round trip distance. We saw a bunch of Blue Morpho butterflies, which are quite big, but difficult to photograph: Just when you get them in the camera sights and click, they dart up and you take a photo of random greenery. We also saw a Quetzal relative, a Smoky tailed Tragon, an agouti, and a coatimundi along with tanagers and hummingbirds that were impossible to photograph. We also saw a couple of spaced apart sign posts used by canal ships to line up and verify they were on the right path. I am curious to see  how they look from the water.

A two-toed sloth. They are more gray.

Herman the German crane - a reparation from
WWI we think.

A Tragon, a cousin of the Quetzal we saw
in Costa Rica

Octavio showing us a weaver bird nest.

Our best photo of a monkey. They didn't pose well.

A coatimundi, raccoon relative, I think.

Above and below: another bird poses. This
may be another tragon relative.

 

Above and below: Front and back of navigational signs. When
the vertical lines line up, you are in the right place. These
have been replaced with taller signs we saw later.

 

A three-toed sloth: browner and hairier.

Jim captured this butterfly

Our next stop was the municipal park, which is not a standard zoo. They rescue animals and try to release them back to the wild and only display those that cannot be safely released. Our objectives were the Harpy Eagle (the national bird) and the jaguar. The Harpy Eagle is one of the biggest eagles, with a wingspan approaching 7 feet and 3-4 inch talons. We watched video that focused on an eagle feeding its young -- the adult plucked a grown sloth off a tree, breaking its back, and carried it back to the nest for lunch. They lay one to two eggs every three years and only one survives. They spend two years raising each chick before it is ready to go out on its own. The bird they have here was born in captivity and could not support herself  in the wild. Unfortunately, she was not visible any where in the enclosure when we looked. 

Two photos of photos. The most distinctive feature are the
short vertical feathers on the back of the head below.

 

 

Off we went to the jaguar cage and we saw him pacing about, and he came right up to the window we stood at. We gave another shot at finding the eagle, then went back to the hotel to finalize packing for the ship and taking a bus to the harbor.

We wandered around  mall and had a small pizza for lunch before boarding our ship. We were supposed to have sailed to nearby Taboga Island and anchored there overnight, but the sea was too rough, so we stayed in the harbor and had time to unpack, explore the ship, and do a bit of hand laundry so we would have clean clothes to come home in. 

Practicing how to evacuate if needed.

Princess Cruise ship waiting in the evening for their canal trip.

We were treated to a lecture explaining the operation of the canal, which included a discussion of some of the prices charged for transit. It is based on ship weight and size. For many years, it was $1 or $2 per ton, but when Panama took over the operation of  the canal, they raised the rates to cover their administration costs and made money for the treasury. The least charged was in 1928 when a swimmer wanted to swim the length of the canal. There was also a support row boat. They charged the swimmer 36 cents. I think it took him about a week.

The ship will be our home for the next three nights. The cruise director spent about an hour explaining our planned transit. Although most boats go through the canal in a single day, we will be staying overnight just outside  the north most locks on the Caribbean side.